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Imac 27 runs hot as ****, won't sleep, and cpu runs wild in w7

I have been having audio issues with the imac 27. plugging headphones or speakers causes cpu to run crazy, the mic in the triband trrs jack does not work, and the imac runs hot, and will not go into power saver mode.

When I came in I found my nephew who was listening to some music on the imac, and I felt the back top of the imac and it was hot as ****. I almost burned my hand. I realized then that he had plugged his headphones in.

Unplugging the headphones or speakers can solve some of these problems.

But, this is not an acceptable fix.

Please contact Apple and urge them to fix these sound card issues.

If anyone does not have these problems in w7 with the imac 27 even after the latest bootcamp and imac updates, let us know right here. I think this affects every one of the late 2009 imacs and maybe some earlier ones too running windows 7.

Here's the post I recently ran on the headphone jack issue.

Not only does the cpu run crazy but the imac 27 gets very, very hot. Since I unplugged the headphones, it runs much, much cooler.

Certainly, some Mac engineers should take care of this problem, it seems it is universal on all the imac 27's and from what I gather, the smaller screened cousins too.

Also, we certainly want a stereo mix option for audio in or out, or what is called "what you hear" or wave out. Imac is supposed to be much geared to multimedia apps.

Finally, the mic jack part of the trrs set up MUST be fixed! A lot of manufacturers are going to headset combo jacks as they call them, mic in and stereo out on the same tribanded plug. But, the old single jack for mic in and single jack for stereo out are two tiny parts of the hardware and super inexpensive for the manufacturer. Why in the **** to go to the "advanced" triplug if the **** thing doesn't work.

Mac has a great reputation. I hope they remedy these problems right away.

Anyone whose imac 27 or 24 whose headset plug is working correctly. Let us know! I don't think anyone's is, but I think that few people understand that their cpu is running so much faster with the plug in, plus few even understand the combo jack and the triband, or trrs audio jack! Out of 4 audio technicians I talked to, not one of them knew what a trrs jack was or that you even have a mic in jack as part of the headset jack!

When I told one senior that it worked on the Mac side, he didn't believe for a while, thought my sound might be recorded from the onboard mic, but I proved it to him by tapping iaudibly on my iphone mic headset and and it showing up in garage band clearly and listening to big difference in audio.

As for a usb audio adapter, I am in a neon light environment and find that those adapters are more sensitive to electrical interference. Besides I want to use the headset jack as it was meant to be used!

Thats it.

Again, if anyone using an imac 27 and windows 7 64 or 32 doesnt have these problems, let us know! We are all anxious for a fix!

Best to all!

imac 27, Windows 7

Posted on Jan 23, 2010 2:15 PM

Reply
45 replies

Jan 24, 2010 3:49 AM in response to EuropeanAmerican

I can confirm these issues when running my 27" i5 under Windows 7 (64 bit) in boot camp. Was getting appx 30% CPU usage constantly until I unplugged the external speakers. Furthermore, the screen saver nor sleep mode would automatically engage. Must be a sound driver issue, I guess.

Also, even after unplugging the speakers, sleep mode is still problematic. It will go to sleep but sometimes will not wake up and requires power button to be held down for rebooting.

Jan 24, 2010 11:16 AM in response to EuropeanAmerican

Cancel that, even though the socket does work, i am also after further investigation having cpu running at approx 20% with plug in and 0% with it out, also rather confusingly task manager and resource monitor both show 8 cpu cores instead of 4.I am guessing this is going to be a chipset driver problem as the sound is integrated on the main logic board.It was only 1 core that was running at 20 % the others were at idle or there abouts.

Jan 24, 2010 11:57 AM in response to jqworle

Yes, obviously Mac needs to support all aspects of the sound card in Windows 7.

I think this affects all Macs, and I think the high heat generated is dangerous to both the equipment and surroundings.

Some users just don't realize the cpu usage and how efficient the i5 and i7 is.

Please contact Mac support.

Demand (politiely):

1)fix the headset cpu and heat issue in windows 7
2)fix the no mic in on the trrs headset jack, which works fine on mac ocx
3)give us a stereo mix in/output in the audio.

Anyone who checks their cpu activity, there are some gadgets that do it easily, and has the other problems or those who don't have any of these problems, check in with us here. We need some attention from the apple engineers!

Best to all, Dr. Duke

Feb 7, 2010 9:57 AM in response to EuropeanAmerican

i have been running boot camp 3.1 and windows 7 64-bit on my 27" i5 for about a week, and have also noticed that the cpu meter in windows 7 runs constantly hot at about 37% (according to task manager, most of this activity is in the 3rd and 4th cores, and yet only the 'system idle process' is shown to be 'using' any significant amount of cpu resources). after reading this discussion, i tried unplugging the external speakers from the back of the imac, and the cpu meter immediately dropped down to about 2%. if i plug it back in, the meter jumps right back up. so there appears to be an audio device driver conflict or something. i hope they release an update fix for this soon, because i'd really like to be able to get windows sound out of my imac. i have tried using the windows device manager to temporarily disable some of the various HD audio devices listed there, but this has not worked for me.

i had also noticed that windows doesn't always drop into screensaver or powersave mode after letting it sit for long periods of time, but i haven't made a focused observation regarding exactly what conditions are present when this occurs …

Feb 17, 2010 10:20 PM in response to EuropeanAmerican

I have the exact same issues on my iMac 27 running Windows 7 32 Bit via Bootcamp.

When speakers are plugged into the headphone jack, the CPU runs hot and power management settings don't work (computer won't enter sleep mode, screen won't turn off). It's a major inconvenience and daily source of frustration.

@ Apple: Please develop and release a fix for this - many are affected and it significantly impairs user satisfaction. I spent a lot of money on a multimedia machine, an important part of which is to be able to hook up real speakers...

Feb 21, 2010 1:09 PM in response to EuropeanAmerican

Yes, I have been dealing with this problem since early January. I just can't believe that apple would not have the necessary driver for the sound card in the Imac 27! That's like trying to run a race and not bothering to tie your shoes! How can they not have something as basic as the sound connections working???

I was encouraged to buy a top of the line imac 27 because Apple had told us that bootcamp would enable Windows users to use the machine just as if it were a native windows machine, then they don't give us the **** drivers to use the trrs mic jack. And you can't use the external speakers without the cpu going wild and heating up like a pot bellied stove.

This is really disheartening and now I am really thinking I made a big mistake. I wouldn't mind migrating to Mac gradually, but I have lot of scientific and other programs that require windows. At this rate there will be thousands of other mac buyers who will never make the same mistake again.

As you can see I am quite angry about this, and getting more angry with each day Apple ignores every imac purchaser who expected to use Windows on the machine! Is the software for a sound card driver that difficult?

Having a computer which doesn't have sound that works correctly, is like having a car without seat, you can still drive it but isn't very **** comfortable.

Mar 4, 2010 8:38 AM in response to EuropeanAmerican

I have EXACTLY this issue.
And after upgrade to BootCamp 3.1 the 16bit color issue.
This is solved with another hardware vendor's video driver because Nvidia do not provide notebook drivers to end users.
But back to this case....

I have contacted Apple 2 times here in sweden and they replied the first time:
"Contact Microsoft for fix for their OS". (and he contacted 2nd level and they referred to Microsoft too)
MORONS!
This is an issue with a couple of bad Windows drivers provided by Apple for Windows.
The second time I called, the technician called some 2nd level support too and he was a bit more intelligent... He confirmed that this was an issue with the BootCamp drivers but could say when or if Apple would fix this.
There wasn't any internal release info or other internal "how-to-fix" info.
I'm a first time Mac buyer and it started with the iPhone... perhaps Apple should care more about their Windows customers? We have pockets with money that Dell, HP, Acer and other got in the past... now we are spending it on Apple products..... Care a bit more about us, thank you.
This is serious audio and video driver issues that would be considered alpha drivers elsewhere.
So, we'll just have to wait to 3.2 bootcamp or specifically released drivers.

Imac 27 runs hot as ****, won't sleep, and cpu runs wild in w7

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