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

I have a 2011 27" iMac and have been wanting to move to Lion from Snow Leopard. I currently have no problems with Snow Leopard (though I did have problems initially with installing 16GB of crucial memory which an earlier poster detailed and which was fixed by getting memory from Crucial all from one batch).

I have not moved to Lion because of this thread which I check in on periodically.  As some earlier poster noted, for those who have been having issues with Lion this is a 100% pain--period.  Still, to gauge my actual risk if I should roll the dice and move to Lion is a harder proposition since the posts cannot in and of themselve make clear how widespread the issue is in terms of overall percentages.

Obviously, if Apple acknowledged the issue they then could also provide some sense of its scope if they wanted to be upfront about it.  This seems not to be likely given the experiences documented by folks here with AppleCare and with in store support.

Does anyone--from any relatively reliable source--have evidence as to how widespread this issue is (percentages) given the entire population of iMac 2011 27" users? I think I would be willing to take the risk of upgrading/rollingback if there were some reasonable chance of success.

I'm running Lion on a 2008 iMac 20" and I've been having problems with random freezing since I was running Snow Leopard. I thought if I upgraded the problem would be resolved, but the problem is only getting worse. About every couple minutes or so everything will freeze and I will only be able to move the cursor.

My computer is from 2008 so I'm about due for an upgrade, but I'm not sure if I should if brand new computers are having the same exact problem as my 3 year old computer.

One more thing Tech Tool won't work anymore since I upgraded to Lion.

I have no idea how widespread the issue is, but I've finally managed to find someone within Apple that acknowledged the problem. After having several useless conversations at the Genius Bar I contacted AppleCare and was escalated to an Advisor - he's been working with an iMac engineer & a Safari engineer on the issue, he actually forwarded this thread to them. The other day he had me run a number of tests (run a DVD in it's entirety, run a number of videos from various locations) and send him the results through their CaptureData program, which he in turn passed on to the engineers. The iMac engineer told him he has encountered the problem (in the 21.5" iMac too) and it is "on their radar". I'll let you know if anything comes of it.

I too, was escalated to an advisor who had me run the data capture tool on my mid-2011 27" iMac. He then sent the report to the engineering department who came back and said I had a bad video card. Apple replaced my video card yesterday and while it's probably too early to tell, I haven't had a freeze yet. Will re-post if it's still freezing with the new video card.

Finally some good news.  I do see there was a Safari update this week, haven't installed it yet, but I don't think it'll help me, since I don't use Safari.

Mick W. wrote:

 

I too, was escalated to an advisor who had me run the data capture tool on my mid-2011 27" iMac. He then sent the report to the engineering department who came back and said I had a bad video card. Apple replaced my video card yesterday and while it's probably too early to tell, I haven't had a freeze yet. Will re-post if it's still freezing with the new video card.

Interesting, after looking at my report the engineers ruled out a hardware issue.

tsGood,

I don't know if anyone knows how many iMac users are affected by all this. 

You can go ahead with the LION installation if you really want to; however, I recommend rolling back to Snow Leopard at the first sign of trouble.  If your display freezes and the keyboard/mouse become unsresponisve, you will have no choice but to push the power button.  Doing this once will likely not cause harm, but doing this repeatedly (as many of us have had to do) could ruin your Hard drive.

It's not a big deal if you just want to test the waters, but going back to Snow Leopard will require you to erase your hard drive and do a clean installation (I believe).

And if you do go forward with LION, touch the top and back of the iMac to see if it gets hotter than normal.  Excessive heat has also been an issue.

Mr.Ma2ts,

I also have a 2008 20" iMac.  I'm glad to hear from someone else using the same hardware that I am.

In my case, as in yours, the freezing problem began in Snow Leopard.  I moved on to LION hoping for a fix, but the problem continued.

I've actually partitioned my HD and re-installed Leopard from the DVD.  It's the only safe way to use the computer.  I can't continue doing these hard resets.

Judging by this thread, I wouldn't even think about buying a new machine.  Why spend $2,000 for more of the same problems?  And you can't roll back to Leopard on a new one.

Mr.Ma2ts, just prior to freezing, do the open applications/windows shift to the left, then right slightly?  After freezing, do the applications/windows shift when you use the mouse to click on those applications/windows?

I am having the same issue with 2011 27" core i7 iMac running Lion (and Windows 7). Machine totally locks up and displays a small window in the center of the screen to hold power button down to restart. This happens when running either Lion or Windows 7, so I don't think it's a Lion specific issue.. firmware maybe? The only time I've seen this happen is when running World of Warcraft for extended periods, so only when machine is under a heavy load..

Maybe the machine is trying to tell you to stop playing WoW 

The Mac engineer asked me to disconnect my wireless router and hook the ethernet cable directly to the computer. I just ran over 2 hours of youtube videos without any issue. Has anyone else tried this?

milloy,

I have only ever operated with an ethernet cable plugged directly into my iMac......and have experienced nothing but trouble with LION.

I'm happy for you if switching to ethernet somehow solves the freezing problem for you.  But monitor your temperature because LION is running the hardware into the ground.

I have only operated with the ethernet plugged in as well. 

The other issue we are finding is that Lion seems to be incompatable with any added interference.  My internet based phone has had to be unplugged completely for the time being.  When it is also plugged in to the router, the computer has more issues.  Without it, it doesn't freeze while playing video.

I am in the process of ordering some new software for my embroidery machine.  I have been reading the forums for that and they are ALL reporting incompatiblity issues with Lion based machines.

Thankfully my laptop is still Snow Leopard so when the software comes I will only be putting it on the laptop until Lion can get these bugs fixed.

Just to add my name to the list. iMac 24" from 2009 (Dual Core, 4GByte RAM). since 'upgrading' to Lion in September regular and unpredictable freezes of the screen. Incrementally apps become unresponsive until eventually Finder is no longer with you, beachballing for everything and everything still on the screen (i.e. no kernel panic screen). Only option has seemed to be the power button - which I don't like doing, but now hapens 2 or 3 times a day. I put the blame squarely at Lion, tried many things to no avail. Next time I will try logging in via SSH as suggested elsewhere in this epic thread. The whole thing ***** and feels it will get expensive - shocking.