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

Gandalf - Ah, i have an early 2009 so maybe there is. We still share (amongst many others!) the same problem across a range of machines!

Just to add some more info. I installed a game which is graphically heavy and played it fine for hours... no issues. Exit the game, play with lion, open and the system has the graphics lockup freeze. I tried this many times -Sometimes it happens after 20 mins, sometimes a couple of hours after. This leads me to believe it's something lion related. Lion is fine if you load it up and do nothing. Play with safari and the ship goes down. It's strange that the game plays totally fine but lion doesn't. I'm quite sure apple could fix this. I've send them enough crash reports when the system reboots. My system doesn't want to send all of them but by god Apple know and if they don't sort it out in 10.7.3, then they've lost a lot of faith in a customer.

Another tidbit - using fullscreen mode for me causes the freeze quicker. At the moment, my workflow is making sure i don't tax the computer at all which seems to not trip it up as fast. I use fewer tabs, close apps, restart the computer…but this isn't any way to run a machine!

Apple need the fix in 10.7.3. They have massive labs with lots of different iMac generations they can test software on and they need to patch the older drivers or the bug that is causing this.

I have been reading and reading this thread, and yet nothing with a definite direction as to the culprit for these freezes EXCEPT that more and more it seems that perhaps a culprit is in the Software Updates. I am beginning to feel that maybe this is the issue. I have 10.6.8 SL and am experiencing the exact problems that many speak of here: freezes on coming out of sleep or very soon after, (very rarely) freezes on a cold boot, freezes  at random in Safari. Everything freezes solid except the cursor. Rarely the entire screen goes grey/black and freezes.  I had some freezes in SL 10.6.7, very few in SL 10.6.6 and none at all in 10.6.5 and before well into the entire Leopard 10.5 series. My machine is late 2007. I was going to go up to LION, but no way--this problem just seems to get worse with further upgrading. No LION for me until the root of this business is found.

As for being aware of the problem, I am sure the Apple folks indeed are. They certainly aren't going to come right out and say what the cause is, perhaps for liability reasons. Probably the best hopes are for some "fix" to come out soon, where for me "soon" can't be soon enough.

Gandalf: I actually found out that there was a graphics firmwire update for Mid-2011 iMacs, but when i attempted to update it, it claimed it wasn't compatible with myMid-2011 iMac. This is suppose to address the freezing issues, but as i stated, it is not able to be installed. http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1444.

I sent feedback multiple times now also, i only mentioned that becuase that is what the techs told me to do as it is the only way to get the attenion of the engineers.

I am furious becuase i use the iMac for my bussiness, i am a web developer and iOS developer. I have been losing money for two weeks now because i do not have the computer to work on. I tried to work with it, but i would lose everything because of the **** freezing. I just sent it back to Apple for a return and they gladly refuned me for the iMac and the AppleCare. But i am still stuck, I don't want to have to purchase another Mid-2011 and go through the same. One of the representatives mentioned that we should see a product refresh sometime in the near future ( around May)... But i don't think i can wait that long, this just *****. I have been a loyal Apple customer since 2000 and to be treated liked this just angers me. Did they offer any help or assurance, no, a credit for my loss in business, no...

MusioMan: I saw the release notes for the current 10.7.3 beta's being released to developers and there is nothing pertaining to this graphic issues, so it looks like we are beat for now. Like i said, i am in a really tough spot myself.

Maybe it's a silent update as Apple are the sort that don't like to draw attention.

Can anyone (if allowed?) with the issue running 10.7.3 latest beta confirm if it's fixed or not?

Somethign Vexing about this is that I HAVE OSX LEOPARD still due to utilizing audio softwares that had not been prepared for the upgrades. NO ISSUES WITH THOSE(Please Macheads do not respond with ad hominiems)

The other VEXING issue: Is that this problem is hapening in the NON-FLASH-BASED PROGRAM IMOVIE

Stop being like law enforcement and passing the responsibility off to FLash as like a County Deputee to a Local City Officer. BULLSH**UT YO MOUTH

Everything freezes. I have tried to avoid hard shutdowns by relaunching FINDER which eventually freezes as well locking up the entire computer. I have attempted to allow whatver cycle it seemed to be goign through to cycle itself out of for 2 to 3 days wiht AND w/o putting it to sleep(i.e. repectively turning of auto sleep mechaniism as well as tryign to allow the beach ball of death to disappear on its own while allowing the mac to sleep) NO BUENO Im sick of this shyt it holding up my life which I unfortunately am forced to based in computers. Someone go to Elvis and 2pac and ask them if they would kindly tell Mr. Jobs to come out of "celeb-death" and resolve this issue we promise not to hold it against him.

I would also like to know if the 10.7.3 update fixed the freezing after sleep issue as I have 2 iMacs a 27" and a 21.5" purchased in 2010 that have 10.6.8 but I am reluctant to install 10.7 due to the freezing and overheat issues.

The only difference with my machine is that before with (10.7.2) it was hanging and thats all, even crash report wasnt sent after when booted up. Power off, power on, and working again.

Now when it freezes, it writes how to act on the scrabbled screen.

something like that.

press you power button as long as the system shuts down. Then press it again to restart it etc etc.

and after a restart, it shows me that there was a crash, and report is sent to apple.

before 10.7.3 it wasnt like that.

But it still freeses, so it does not fix this issue.

a thing to trie is, download a smcfancontrol, install it and put yor vents into following speeds.

ODD: 2500

HDD: 2000

CPU: 2000

it seems like there is some problem with heating up you GPU.

With those speeds, the temp is lower, and my compters hasnt crashed.

trie, and give your feedback.....

Good Morning Everyone

  So please dont shoot me but I am a brand new MAC user, actually just set the thing up last night. But I have been going through these communities and I am noticing alot of folks are having trouble with the 10.7.3 Lion update. It it safe to say that I should hold off on updating my Mac until I see some type of fix for the current issues plaguing 10.7.3?? I have no current issues with my iMAC that I can tell.

Well, 10.7.3 didn't solve it.

Here's waiting for 10.7.4.

I have had some MODERATE success by running Firefox in 32-bit mode.  Control-Click on Firefox in Finder, then click Get Info, then check the box that says "Open in 32-bit mode".

I still get issues but I haven't experienced them as roughly as I was before.

I also find that running videos in VLC is somewhat more stable than running them in Quicktime.

I seriously do think that this could develop into a class-action lawsuit problem for Apple.  They pushed Lion on us with no mention that it could cause these problems and it made firmware changes that make it impossible to go back.  It has rendered our systems unusable, especially for people who use them for work, and there is no help from Apple.  Of course those of us without Applecare would be expected to pay for any Genius help even though Apple caused these problems. 

At what point are we supposed to get sick of waiting and say enough is enough?

joeygillis,

I totally agree with you, I am forced to use a Mac Mini newer model for now, as for some reason it seems less affected by any of this BS, it is the newest model in the line up and I am using it with a Apple Display, but I miss the speed of my Apple i7 Quad Core. I was going to go with the server that has the i7 Quad Core but it didn't have as good of a video card. Just ****** that I am forced to do this, just so I can use a computer that works correctly. I did get help from Apple as far as getting credit back to buy other equipment, but frankly I think they wanted my iMac for testing to see what is causing this whole BS. I use VLC as well, which seems pretty stable.

jmarchalonis:

I am with you, and I feel your pain, I miss my machine that at one time was one of the fastest preforming iMac on the market, but the updates did the d a m n thing in!

@Anke by the time 10.7.4 comes out, there will be a Mid-2012 iMac model released! I am trying to hold off on getting a new iMac till the 2012 model is released; there is no guarantee the new model won't suffer the same issue, but i am hoping they make a change in internal components, specfically the GPU. i have a MacBook Pro to hold me over, which also has issues, but its better than investing another $3000 into a unusable machine.

@Gandalf The Grey i hear you. i was in love with the i7 iMac, it really blazed... but its life was sadly cut short in its prime. Like i said to Anke, i am going to try and hold out til May and get a Mid-2012 iMac... This whole thing is s c r e w i n g over my business, but i just don't want to deal with the heache. I will use my also semi crippled MacBook Pro for now.

@Ben Friedman 1 stick with 10.6.8 for  the forseeable future. Lion is just to unstable and there are no real benfits to upgrade at this time.

@joeygillis you could probally could get a class-action lawsuit on this for multiple reasons not limited to: internal hardware damage to abrupt and constant hard-shut down (hard drive failures will surely result in due time), forced software lock on logics board (not being able to downgrade), etc... I am not one to be sue-happy because the only thing that becomes of class-action lawsuits is that they take forever, are often dismissed and just hinder innovation. But, i might reconsider that in this case, because as i perviously mentioned, this is costing me every day i don't have the d a m n computer.

I am still waiting on a response from APPLE after numerous attempts to find a solution to the Lion fiasco.  There are literally thousands of complaints online about this, and I have read most of them in hopes of finding a small CLUE of resolve.  It's been 2 solid months of DOWNTIME as far as production goes. 

I was able to wipe my hard drive clean on my iMac and reinstall Leopard...  So it is a naked machine.  I am afraid to sync it to MOBILE ME that had already been migrated to iCloud.   If MM trumps iMac, I'm ok..  BUT, if I sync from iMac to MM, it will wipe out MM which in turn will wipe out my laptop, iPhone and iPad.

I have already lost a significant amount of data and over 5000 photos due to the Apple ID issue, when I used to be "xxxxxxxxx"  then had to go to "xxxxxxx@mac.com" then "xxxxxxx@me.com"   So I'm terrified of losing even more.  I haven't found a way to back up the iPad except to MM.

For now I bought Busy Cal to sync all my Calendars..  So at least that helps a little.

So.. we wait.  And Apple's stock price climbs.

I scrolled back through several pages of these complaints and find that everyone has a 2011, 27" iMac. 

I have a mid-2010 21.5" i3 iMac.  Initially when I installed Lion, open windows would shift slightly and then freeze.  I was able to force close windows because I still had use of the curser.  I corrected the problem by unchecking all mouse preferences.  No problems since, and I am now using 10.7.2. 

Would it help to chart specific computers, specific problems, etc. to determine where the problem is?  Ya, I know, sounds pretty simplistic.

Marjean, your suggestion would seem to be sensible but, unfortunately, this particular set of problems does not seem to follow any logical rules. I have a mid-2011 27" iMac that worked fine until I first upgraded to Lion. After that I consistently experienced the freeze when viewing video files. Nothing I tried cleared the problem until I upgraded to 10.7.1. I don't understand why or how that cleared the problem in my case, but it did. Since then I have upgraded to 10.7.2 and 10.7.3 and (knock on wood) the problem is just a memory. I remember the frustration I felt during the days when I had the problem and empathsize with the folks who continue to have problems. The action that cleared the problem for me obviously did not work for some others.