Q: OSX Lion + 2011 iMac 27'' + Video = Freeze

Here's the latest update on my situation. I have a mid-2011 iMac with an i7 and Snow Leopard, 10.6.8. I've never installed Lion, my computer came with 10.6.8. Still, I had the annoying freeze issue just like most people in this thread.

I actually had 3 issues:

1. The freeze. This typically occurred after the computer woke from sleep. I'd typically be running several programs and have multiple tabs of Chrome open. Flash video, HTML5 content, whatever. Then I'd click on a new tab or try to open a program and it would freeze. Nothing is responsive, but the mouse moves. Can't force quit. Have to hard reset the computer. I never reset holding down R or P.
2. Audio popping. Similarly, every now and then when the computer woke up, there would be popping in the left audio channel. Not hardware, because this would occur on headphones, or the iMac speaker if the headphones weren't plugged in. Had to restart to make it go away.
3. Install fails. I couldn't install any software that was disk based. If it was downloaded or a disk image, no problem. If it was a CD or DVD, it would fail every time.

I've talked to Apple Care and in-store Geniuses. Now I'm talking directly with AppleCare supervisors. I've brought my computer in at least 5 times now. First they replaced my Superdrive. That didn't fix anything. Then they replaced my SSD. No luck. They did some other tests. No luck. Finally, they tried taking out my 16GB of Crucial RAM and putting in 4GB of Apple factory RAM. Supposedly, they were able to install iWork, which never worked before.

This was kind of a drag, because now Apple was blaming everything on my Crucial RAM and taking no blame. I ran memtest and OSX diagnostics for 24 hours straight and got zero errors. Nevertheless, I RMA'd the RAM, and just got 16GB back. The subtle difference is that the batch number was originall split in two. Meaning, 2 of the 4GB sticks were GW22238.HB and 2 other were GW22238.GU. When I got the replacement, the entire batch was now the same: GW222238.YW, for example.

Since the new RAM, I've now been able to install some DVD based software. In this case, MS Office. So that's a good start. In a few minutes I'm going to try an install some Adobe software, fingers crossed! I've had a paperweight since July...

I'm trying to stress test it as well to see if I can get the freeze. But so far, so good. No freezes or audio popping. So, maybe it was my RAM after all? Too early to say for sure, but I'm hoping.

Probably NOT going to install Lion any time in the near future. Not worth the risk....

For what it's worth I was able to install the full Adobe CS 5.5 DVD where I wasn't able to install even a single program before. I've also left my computer on without a restart for 48 hours stress testing it with various apps and types of content. So far, so good. Guess in my case it was the RAM.

If you have mixed brands of RAM or mismatched batches of RAM from the came supplier, consider trying to get only your Apple factory RAM or a true matched set. That may be a key to solving the problem for others as well.

I bought the iMAC 27 inch a couple of weeks back with OS X Lion installed...exactly the same problem as everyone mentioned...this is my first apple device and it's very disappointing as i was trying to avoid the most common windows problem...i re-installed the flash player and no luck..have no option other than waiting for an update...Feel cheated by apple. ! sigh !

How can a 89p topic pass unnoticed?

I also had a freeze with my 2011 iMac and 2010 MBP. However since I disabled sleep, it didn't occur.

It is a Lion issue.

I noticed another unusual thing with this one yesterday when my computer froze.  My daughter had left her account logged in, and it froze while on the screen saver.  I bumped the mouse when I was reaching to shut the system down, and noticed that the mouse pointer appeared on top of the screen saver (everything was still frozen, but the mouse pointer was not visible prior to me bumping the mouse).

This makes me think that the system isn't genuinely "frozen" so much as the OS is not responding to input, and has "stalled".

Each time it crashes, I send the crash report to Apple.  In looking at them, it does appear there's a common task that's crashing:

       Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

         com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement(167.0)[C29A54C1-C6C9-3830-81EC-3E 0D6B35AC96]@0xffffff7f81c1a000->0xffffff7f81c43fff

Given that it's a power management task that's crashing, this would explain why it's more common when the Mac is allowed to sleep, and why it seems to be affecting iMacs while leaving other models alone (likely different chipsets, so different power management hardware).

Like others in the thread, though, I'm disappointed that Apple hasn't come out with any kind of fix, or even an ETA on a fix for this issue.

Having the same problem. Brand new 27" with Lion. Freezes when I try and watch a you tube video through Safarie, mouse is the only thing that works and music from iTunes. Maybe if there's 100 pages of comments Apple will fix the problem or I may just return the unit.

Thanks.

I am going to take the computer in to the Genius bar Wed.  I highly doubt it will help, but at least the problem will be on some sort of log.

How long does one have to return a computer? 

The problem is, I don't WANT to return it.  I need a desktop as my PC died this summer.  I just want it to work properly!

I too hope that Apple is paying attention and will get a fix out there!

Dawn

Since I turned off sleep, set the screen to go off after 15 mins of inactivity and spin the hard disks down my 27" iMac has had no issues (in 8 weeks) so I've just purchased a UPS to protect it against spikes and power loss while I'm out. I'm not going to worry about sleep mode, just leave it on. Power consumption while not being used is minimal. If you are able to leave it on and have no further problems I'd consider tbe same course of action.

Ok, my stupid question.

How do you turn off sleep?

Spongebad,

This makes me think that the system isn't genuinely "frozen" so much as the OS is not responding to input, and has "stalled".

No, the symptoms described are that of a full operating system crash. I confirmed this with Apple.

----

DawnM415,

How do you turn off sleep?

Open up System Preferences > Energy Saver. Turn the slider for computer sleep to never.

It sounds like there is commonality with the OS crash occurring after sleep. It makes sense to turn computer sleep off as the easiest solution. It will be interesting to see if that turns out to be a reliable fix.

I would also stress to anyone using mismatched RAM (in terms of brand or even batch number within a brand) to revert to factory or buy a true matched set. This appeared to be the issue for me. Then again, I'm not sure I really fall into this thread as I don't use Lion. My symptoms were the same, however.

Been having the same freezing issues as everyone else on my 27" iMac, but I have not crashed or frozen now for three days. The only thing I've done different was plug in my headphones to the headphone jack on the back and leave them plugged in. I know, I know, sounds ridiculous but hey, you never know.

Is anyone with a freezing iMac running Lion 10.7.2 willing to do the same and reply to this post with their results?

Just plug in a pair of headphones (mine are the battery-powered Bose sort), leave them plugged in for a couple of days and let me/us know if your system stops freezing or crashing?

Thanks!

I really think this is an OSX LION issue - there are so many different causes, but mine started freezing again after it was cleared up fine for a week or so. This is Intermittent problem that needs to be fixed.

They appear to be more concerned with the IPHONE 4S lately though, so I'm sure our problem is taking a back seat until they clear up those issues.

Mine froze up again after I let it sleep for over 1 hour. Try this everyone.

Just let yuor computer go to sleep for over 1 hour and see if you can get it to wake up! I bet you can't, especially if it's asleep for at least 1hour to 1.5 hours...

Robdrums Let me know what yours does...

Well, I got my case # elevated to the Apple Engineering department and after viewing my system reports they claim that the cause is a faulty video card.

I've been scheduled to have my video card replaced and will report back on whether or not it fixes the freezing.

Anyone else replaced their video card? Did it solve the issues?

hi

this thing happens to me all the time.

video+safari=total freese, have to manually re-boot. im affraid it will damage the hard drive.

i cant read 89 pages..

if a real disapointment from apple.

does anyone know about a solution to this problem?

thanks