iMac turn off by itself

Hello v:

It appears you have a hardware issue.

I have been told this is a factory problem and that Apple is recognizing it.

Who told you this? If it is not directly from Apple, the information is suspect.

Barry

I'm having the same issue. I know nothing more than you do about the subject, but I'm going into the Apple Store today to see what I can turn up. I'll report my findings tonight.

I have this same problem - My iMac has been turning off repeateadly in the middle of a job. It has become more frequent (10X daily) since I added a 2G memory stick. This is driving me crazy. Can anyone advise?

It has become more frequent (10X daily) since I added a 2G memory stick. Can anyone advise?

Remove the memory stick you added and see if the problem continues. If it stops then you know it's either the RAM you added or the slot it's inserted in.

Regards,

Roger

Thanks, but I have remove the just added stick and it still happens, turns off by itself.

I have the same issue. 20" iMAc purchased in May of 2008. Just started a few days ago.
Reset the SMC and reseated the memory.
Tonight:

Shuts down.
Will not power on.
Unplug the cord and wait 5-10min.
Plug in the cord and power it up.
About 2-3min of use and it powers off again.

Not happy! I have a mini, 2 macbooks and this iMac. This iMac is the newest and things are looking grim. Guess I'll be going to the apple store to diagnose this.

Let it be known. And pray your parts are under warranty.

Went down to the genius bar today at lunch.
They ran hardware diags and nothing showed up, which is good.
Based on the symptoms they are going to swap out the power supply and see if that fixes it.
Assuming that is the problem it'll be $162 out of my pocket.
I think the next system I buy will be based on research from osx 86 ... should not be seeing failures like this after 2 years.
Will post the final outcome.

I can understand your frustration, it seems like you like OS X however aren't satisfied your machine may have had a hardware failure after 2 years. This why AppleCare exists to cover you in the event a hardware failure that shouldn't have happened did. In addition I can't say I blame you considering a Hackintosh however there is no guarantee that is viable solution either. From what I've read many that have tried them have them fail and eventually step up and buy a genuine Mac. If it does come down to a new machine (a genuine Mac I would hope) perhaps next time you will consider AppleCare.

I am a convert for about 4 years now. Will never go back to windows. Would use linux, and do on an old pc, but it doesn't do everything I need ... OSX does.

I've bought AppleCare on my laptops but figured I was safer with the desktop. If it ends up being the power supply alone, I'm still ahead. The Apple care would still only give me another 9mo. Then what? I'm paying a premium for the iMac hardware but the reliability is not there.

The problem I have with the iMAC is that I guess it is really laptop technology when you pack everything, including the display, into one package. When there is a failure you potentially lose it all. I wish they had more offerings where you could buy the system unit separate from the display so you are risking less and it is easier to fix if things go wrong.

Maybe another mini ... who knows. Hopefully I won't be shopping for a while.

The problem I have with the iMAC is that I guess it is really laptop technology when you pack everything, including the display, into one package. When there is a failure you potentially lose it all. I wish they had more offerings where you could buy the system unit separate from the display so you are risking less and it is easier to fix if things go wrong.

Yes I believe it's true they use laptop technology in order to package everything into such a small package. Like you sometimes I wish there was a model between the iMac and MBP however Apple clearly isn't going down that path. They do offer the MacMini and wouldn't it be nice if they were able to package an iMac's power into a MM? Technically it may be possible however from a business perspective it probably doesn't make sense and my guess is that's why Apple hasn't gone down that path.

Well we really can't speculate on Apples decisions on this forum (per the Terms of Use) and I've probably said more than I should have already so I'll leave it at that.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Roger

Same issue on my 2 week old 27". Reset smc and zapped pram. i am hoping this will help.It seems there are other users experiencing this issue in various forms. I will monitor this forum for any updates on this issue.

T update; I get the blackout without the restarts and tried all the suggested remedies on these forums with no relief. I can see light from the grill covering the ram access port so I do not think it is fully shutdown but will not respond to any wireless input devices so I must press the power bottom on the back to restart It which it does in a normal fashion. The machine does not seem to be running hot (much cooler than my black Mackbook) . I guess I will be bringing it in but I do not feel optimistic given the posts by users who did so and did not get a fix. I think this issue will take some time to resolve. I just wanted to add my two cents.
See Berry's list of similar posts as follows:
27-inch / 27" iMac Random Shut down:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11791328#11791328

Random Restarts on Intel based iMac
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1943134&start=0&tstart=0

Sudden restarts and shutdowns on iMac
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1865839&start=0&tstart=0

And this current one here: 27" Core i7 iMac blacks out then restarts itself for no reason:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2258132&start=0&tstart=0

Just to follow up on my situation. It appears that it was the power supply. To clarify, I love my macbooks, iMac, mini, and iPhone, love, love OS X. We all get frustrated when things go wrong and these days we expect 100% reliability, maybe unrealistically, but we do.

Frustrations:
- Power supply dies after 27mo. On my pc's that historically outlived the use of the machine. Reading this forum, it appears to be too common of a failure.
- I dropped my iMac off at the Apple Store and was told it would be 3-5days for the repair. It took 7days and cost me $162! On a pc I would have done the repair myself and paid probably $20-$30.

Still would like to see another option for a desktop machine, something with the monitor separate from the cpu, size is not an issue for me. A bigger cpu enclosure equates to cheaper parts, better cooling and easier service.

My next computer purchase will probably be a macbook for my daughter going off to college in a few years but I'd really like an option as described above, for me, just the cpu with iMac-like specs.

Good luck to the rest of you on this (and related) threads.

i have been using my imac less than a week and in the last 2 days it has shut itself down on it's own three times. i have read elsewhere it is a heat issue. mine runs hot, but it's just as hot as my macbook pro ran without any issues? if anyone knows of any fixes that i might be able to do myself i'd love to hear about it. i'm a very busy photographer and really can't surrender my imac for a week or my work will heavily suffer. 😟