Late-2006 iMac has horizontal lines on screen, freezes and shuts down

HI James and welcome to Apple Discussions...

Boot from your install disc and run the Apple Hardware Test

And try Resetting the PRAM

Possibly a video or graphics card problem.

iMac has been playing up for around a year now,

That's a long time to wait to take care of anything on a Mac. If the AHT comes ok and resetting the PRAM doesn't make a difference, take your iMac to an Apple store or Apple certified repair provider. They would be aware of any recall.













Carolyn 🙂

Edit by Carolyn

Please report how this ended up, I just came onto this board with the issue in my late 20" 2006 iMac!

Thanks!

Lots of people are having this problem. I have seen at least 500 unique complaints for this exact problem including myself. This is more than the number of complaints received for the 4850 GPU on the previous iMac model which was fixed. We also have the longest thread on the Apple Forums about this issue which was locked by the mods. We have a topic on Get Satisfaction and another thread that we continued from the locked thread here on the Apple forums. We aren't sure of the exact problem but it affects all graphics cards on the Late 2006 and early 2007 iMacs.

The systems are defective lemons - made that way. Apple will not acknowledge at this point. "Not a known issue." You can pay $900 to replace the logic board or just buy a new system. Mine has been running on life-support, i.e., fancontrol for almost 2 years.

Here is the link to the other topic: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2136365&tstart=15

Here is an independent blog on the issue - note all the comments with the same problem: http://lapsusbloggus.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-intel-imac-is-dead-logic-board.html

There is a class action lawsuit looking for plaintiffs. You can contact Jerome Noll at JNoll@mdpcelaw.com and let him know you are one of the affected parties.

Hi James,

I am having exact the same problems with my early 2007 20" iMac. just after the support ends, very frustrating, it seems a theme, the same happened to a 24" iMac, a 500GB time capsule and a 17" Macbook Pro. I own a company where we only work on macs, we are probably prone to more trouble then the average user with 1 mac, but in my opinion the quality of apple´s machines is running backward.

I would like to know of any progress on your problem. I´s also like to see an answer from Cupertino.

KR

Bas

I have the same problems. At first the horizontal lines were minimal and would go away. Now, there is a different one in a different spot every day and the crashes are constant. At first I thought it was software conflicts, but I run the same software on my MacBook Pro without any glitches.

Today it crashed three times and the only thing I was doing was tossing documents into the trash.

I will be checking out the links provided. But I hope that someone does have a solution, because I've ran every diagnostic I can find and the problem still exists. Naturally, the problem came right after my extended warranty ran out as well.

Sigh.

*iMac Serial Begins 'W870'*

Hello Everyone,

I have a late 2006 20" iMac OSX 10.6.3, which has served me well for about three years.
Recently I noticed the odd graphical glitch, corners of Finder Windows/Application Windows.
Thinking back... For some time now there has been small graphical errors on my desktop backgrounds, thin lines that did not stretch the full screen, in random positions. I did not think too far into it, more of a niggle.

Over a relatively short period of time the promblem/s grew from small graphics niggle, onto graphics nightmare, though non-stop Kernel Panics/System Freezes/Random Reboots... (continued at bottom)

At first I put it down to software/OSX, so I wiped my system drive(zero's), installed OSX 10.5 Leopard. During the install I witnessed graphical glitches and found the same problems once Installed. So I Wiped the drive(zero's) again and installed OSX 10.6.3, happy it was not the OS. To back that finding up I have noticed display errors whilst running Linux & Windows natively and Linux from a 'Live CD/DVD' on the iMac.

I had a little Google and found this was not just happening to me.
I have read posts on here and on other forums telling of these problems, the majority of them relating to the Late 2006 iMac and the x1600 Graphics Board seems to crop up often, which I believe is hardwired with the motherboard. Also alot of the owners had taken out the 'Apple Care' package, yet alot of the problems occured close to the end or after the three year cover period.
Don't quote me on this just yet, but I'm finding alot of the serial numbers of the iMac's in question begin with 'W86x' & 'W87x'.
I am drawn to beleive that they were all made in the same factory, in Singapore I think.

I think this is becoming too large for a first post...
I am not sure of the facts yet...
I am a little worn out, due to all the wiping/installing/researching/worrying I've been doing...

(continued from top)... currently at a point where my iMac doesn't respond to the power button when pressed.

I am going to try and reset my System Management Controller (SMC) and hope for it to come to life long enough for me to get files/info I need.
Info on SMC - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Thanks for reading, I'll visit this forum as often as I can...

*iMac Serial Begins 'W870'*

This has been happening to me too. I called Apple and took it into the Apple Store where they performed "stress testing" on the system. They gave it a clean bill of health yet the problem persists on occasion.

I think that it's the integrated NVidia Geforce 7600GT coming to the end of its life. Given that I can't switch out the video card myself (something I could do with a non-apple PC) I'm weighing my next purchase option. The new 27" iMac looks pretty sweet but I like to update/repair my hardware as need dictates. Maybe I need to consider building out my own PC and just going the Ubuntu route. One nagging gripe I have about Apple and video drivers is that they don't update them to keep current (see the current kerfuffle about iMac owners who have Nvidia GeForce 7 series not being able to use the Steam service).

I wanna love you Apple. We've spent a good 4 years together but, baby, you need to grow with my present needs.

I have a late 2006 with these symptoms and my serial number does being with W86x.

I have been nursing it along since last April when the crashes became so frequent that I hauled it into Apple where they suggested a new video card which wasn't in stock.

At the suggestion of various posts, I downloaded SMC fan control and upped the fan speed which seems to help. My computer really is sensitive to ambient warm temperatures so I need to use air conditioning when it is warm. Of course now it is sensitive to almost anything.

I think it's most definitely the video card but I don't think it worth it to spend $500 or so on an almost four year old computer.

Hello All,

Instead of flooding other peoples threads with my rather lengthy posts, I will be starting a thread of my own.
This is because I have ideas of my problems being inherent in iMac's produced either during a time frame, in a certain factory, both or heavens forbid, iMac's in general.

I will post a link to my thread in all threads I see with similar/related issues and leave it up to the viewer to decide wether my ramblings are relevant to them.

I will post the link as soon as I get my thread underway.

Yours,
GaBeech

Hello again,

Just for information and to limber people up for what's to come in my thread;

To begin with my thread will focus on the serial, which tells of where, when, production number... etc...

I was tentative to display more than the first few characters of my serial to begin with, subconsciously believing it to be a piece of private information.
Please correct my if I'm wrong, yet I do not believe it deserves as much protection as your bank details.
Check my Profile Biography for a brief rundown of what the serial represents.
I will give as much of an incite into the serial in the first post or two of the thread I am due to create.

"Go on then, create that thread!!!", I hear you say...
I want my thread to be concise, due to my iMac being out of action and me being in desperate need of correct information.

So forgive me for seemingly beating around the bush.

Yours,
GaBeech

PS The first reply directly to what I've said gives me hope;

Helen Berman:
I have a late 2006 with these symptoms and my serial number does being with W86x.

That tells me that Helens iMac was Made in Shanghai China(W8) in 2006(6)...
+(Shanghai China and not Singapore, like I mentioned in an earlier post)+
Same factory, same version and produced close enough to mine to make me believe the issues could be linked in some way.

Hello,

I'll keep it short this time.
The link to my Topic is below:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2442166&tstart=0

Yours,
GaBeech

Has Apple ever recalled products because of issues like these or are my chances of fixing this issue slim?

Your chances of a recall are unfortunately pretty slim. Apple has occasionally ordered recalls but generally only when a clearly identifiable defect affects large numbers of Macs during the extended 3 year warranty period. Sometimes it extends this to cover units older than this, sometimes not.

From a technical standpoint, that's because all Macs (or any similar device) will fail eventually & when they do is largely a function of their age. Only if the failure rate vs. age is much higher than expected for that type of device is there reason to suspect a manufacturing or design defect is the cause.

From a legal standpoint, Apple does not warrant any Mac against these defects for longer than 3 years & is careful not to claim or imply that a longer life should be expected in its advertising or marketing materials.

This leaves good will, customer loyalty, product reputation, etc. as your only real recourse for Macs out of warranty. FWIW, class action suits based only on these grounds will likely do nothing other than make a few lawyers a little richer. Unless there is some accompanying credible argument that (for instance) customers were led to believe +by Apple+ that their Macs should last longer, they basically are just a fishing expedition to see how Apple will respond to the threat of bad publicity.

You also should consider what the best or most likely outcome would be, assuming that the suit is successful in one way or another. The value of a four year old Mac isn't that high even if it is in perfect working order, so a one-for-one replacement with a new one probably won't happen. You might get a refurbished or repaired one of similar vintage, but it will still be a Mac subject to the age vs. failure rate of non-defective ones & given the rate of technological advancements in the computer industry it is well on its way to obsolescence.

(I know it may be hard to accept that -- I've got a lot of old Macs that I value & some even still do useful work, but the newer ones are so much more capable that it is mostly just for sentimental reasons that I use the old ones at all.)

So, taking all this into account, I suggest that your best bet is to take the Mac into an Apple Store, explain the situation, & see what they say. It would have helped if you had done this as soon as the problems started occurring, & even so there isn't much chance they can do anything for you, but it can't hurt to try.

R C-R I think you are right on the money WRT to the fallout from the design.
The particular design problem in my 2006 iMac, with non-removable GPU, is that the CPU two-piped-heatsink is pre-heating the small, single-pipe GPU one (note airflow is UP through that combo heatsink as indicated by arrow):

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/pbcubed/?action=view&current=imac2006LB.jpg

It's apparent that between the GPU's single, long heat pipe & associated heatsink that is pre-heated by CPU cooling, that the GPU is run too hot. At temps appalling to anyone coming from the PC realm, where we like to keep 'em < 55C or so. Clearly a quiet computing vs longevity decision was made. The only way to avoid the problem appears to install 3rd party fan control software & speed up your fans esp. CPU fan either BEFORE any signs of artifacts appear or at the 1st sign of them. Your mac may not be as quiet but it might last longer.
That and consider R C-R's advice.