iMac (i3 2010) random freezing and now with 3 beeps

Hi I have a 21" iMac i3 base model with 8Gb of Ram (see below).

Ever since I got the mac about 10 months ago it has been randomly freezing up, becoming completely unresponsive to any input (keyboard mice etc), and can only be fixed by a hard reboot (holding down power button).

It can happen while I am away at lunch and I come back to find it frozen on the screen saver. Other times I'm just browsing the web (nb has happens with safari, firefox, and chrome). While others times I have been using the system to its fullest. There never seems to be a reproducible way of triggering it. I can go for a week without issue, and then it can happen 6+ times a day, and they go back to being fine again for awhile. Although it has been getting progressively worse over time and more constant.

I have tried repairing permissions (disk utility and onyx). Defraged the drive (drive genius), run TechTools pro and it passed all the tests. I don't have access to the orginal disks (work iMac) so running the AHT is not possible, as is a clean instal.

I updated to 10.6.8 this week, and now when it freezes, it is now accopained by 3 loud beeps...pause...3 beeps etc etc.

This suggests that it could be a memory problem, but I have never had a problem during the boot up process, and as I said it has passed the memory test on both TechTools6 and Rember, I'm not sure if this is the case.

Because the system completely frezzes, there is no log or error reports created, meaning that pin-pointing the issue or even having proof for the tech-guys/Apple is difficult.

Has anyone got any suggestions on a fix, or how I might be able to get an error report, or how I could induce the problem on que.

Thanks heaps

Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac11,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i3

Processor Speed: 3.06 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Processor Interconnect Speed: 5.86 GT/s

Boot ROM Version: IM112.0057.B00

SMC Version (system): 1.64f5

Posted on Jul 13, 2011 5:19 AM

18 replies

Underpantman Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 16, 2011 11:47 PM in response to Community User

Try removing 1 of the memory sticks and droping down to 6Gb. I have yet to have a crash (over 4 months now) with this config.

Its super easy to do and does not void your warranty.

🙂

Dec 17, 2011 7:51 AM in response to Underpantman

Thanks! You have encouraged me to try this. 🙂

Dec 17, 2011 7:59 AM in response to Underpantman

If you purchased your iMac 10 months ago, it is still covered under the free 1-year AppleCare, even if you didn't purchase the 3-year AppleCare plan.

The problem is almost certainly related to one or more of the memory sticks installed in your machine, possibly a pair that is not perfectly matched. I'd suggest that you call AppleCare and insist that they replace all four memory sticks for you – assuming that RAM was installed by Apple at the time of purchase.

Make that call and then take it to your nearest Apple Store ASAP so that you can have the last two months to thoroughly determine if whatever Apple does to repair your iMac actually sticks and fixes the problem.

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iMac (i3 2010) random freezing and now with 3 beeps