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

Well, when do you see some one at a work place fixing a Mac? I worked at a company where all of our marketing and Ad reps had macs and I had both on my desk my PC was constantly being fixed or updated by our tech support and my iMac the whole time I was there 3 years never once had any issues. Microsoft/PC = Money for tech support people. The problem I have now is Apple is becoming more popular and now there tech support is getting equally as bad.

fvd: My guess is the new Logic board does nothing for the problem. On my iMac it did nothing and that is when they finally gave me a instore credit. 2 SSD drives/memory modules later then the logic board...   Hopefully it will work..

I really feel that Apple no longer cares about Desktop or Laptop Macs anymore. They are concentrating on IOS. I bought a Toshiba Windows Computer for my girlfriend instead of a Macbook Air because of all the troubles with Lion that are unresolved (even on the Macbook Air) It has an i7 Processor and 8GB of Ram and although I have 5 Macs and am an Apple stockholder (I made $111,000 so far enough to buy a new house with the total value) I am losing faith with Apple. The cost of the Toshiba Laptop was $759. A far cry from the cost of a Macbook Air with 128GB HD and a measly 4GB of Ram and WITHOUT a built in CD/DVD Burner. The total cost of the MacBook Air would have been $1504 with Applecare and sales tax. I don't need or want the aggravation.

Ben: I am not going to get into a p i s s ing match on Apple verses Windblows, as I been a Windows user far longer. XP was a much more stable OS then Vista or Windows 7, but the PC market is loaded with choices which brings the price down quite a bit. My work Dell crashs all the time, so I quit using it and use my iPad when I am out in the field, my kids Dell freezes and crash at least a couple of times a month to the point, that I have to reinstall the software, now this has been going on for years with many different PCs.  I do like them because they are inexpensive, but they have caused me far more grief than any Apple machine. I was just in Best Buy and HP/Toshiba ASUS etc.. are all making all in one machines like the iMac, so I doubt Apple is going to abondon this platform. I currently own a Dell Studio One, which is more of a brick then what it is worth. No one needs aggravation on any side of the fence, lets just leave it at that.

I will try to stay on topic more, as we need to band together to make sure they flipping fix these issues and make a better OS that is worthy of a iMac as I for one have had much better luck with them in the past. Lion to me is a POS when it comes being married with the iMac.

You are correct in your analysis. I hope Apple corrects the problems with the iMac as you know I have 2 iMacs that are new (bought in 2010) and I would ike to try Lion on one of them but I am reluctant to do so based on the experiences of the users here. They are running Snow Leopard without problems. I am worried now about the Windows machine I bought for my girlfriend. I hope it runs OK.

If your iMac are running fine, I would not touch Lion. Keep SL on them and turn off your auto-updates if you haven't done it already. Apple was known to run, no matter what 3rd party software you through at them, no that isn't the case anymore. You girfriends Windows machine should be fine, all depends on what she does, I just introduced my wife to a Macbook Pro and she couldn't be happier, the HP slug kept on breaking and I got sick of fixing it, the best thing Apple ever created was the magnetic power chord as my wife went through 3 of them on her HP and I have seen a boat load of power chord issues with PC laptops as they take a beating. If you would have kept your stock a tad longer, you could have made even more as Apples shares shot up over $500...

I still have the stock. I haven't sold it yet but I may use it to buy a new home. I think it will go a lot higher. It closed at 509 but after hours it is 510!

They are sitting on a pile of cash and thinking about paying out dividends. Hopefully they allocate a good chunk to replace all of our bricked iMacs for new ones when this year's model is released.  I have another 2.5 years of maintenance and I will keep their techs busy until I have the machine I paid for.

I hope they take care of the iMac problems first before they do anything else. You guys should get a new iMac because of all the aggravation you have gone through.Apple should reestablish itself as a service company holding their customers interests above any other profit motive.

So Apple is previewing the next version - Mountain Lion.

What do you guys think?  Will they have this issue fixed in the new version?  Will you risk the upgrade to see if it fixes the problems we're having?  Can it hurt?

I now read that Mountain Lion will be even more graphically hungry therefore it can't be good news. Time to buy a new iMac in preparation.

For me I will wait to see if it fixes any of the major issues that has been problimatic with Lion.. Franky with this software coming out so quickly it leads me to belive that this cound be a fixed version of the software rebagged as Mountain Lion with new features. I hope so, it might even make me want another iMac again!

It is just a developer preview... it wouldn't be out from months if not till next year. Don't expect a software fix as i have stated, it is more likely hardware, but again, i am waiting to the 2012 iMacs are released.

Well another round of troubleshoot with the sr. tech last night.  The reinstall of OS X Lion was going well for a bit until I started to restore some folders from Time Machine and installed my Razer Naga (mouse).  After the reboot, it wouldn't even boot up again.  Just hangs.  I wonder if something is up with TM or my HDD is so effed up from all the start/stops.

I decided to go back to SL with the CD and that install completed and also failed at login (freeze, white screen).  Sr. Tech thinks it is the HDD that is a problem and apparently it's a "known" issue.  I finally broke through the troubleshoot software barrier with the tech after multitudes of tests, recovery, and reinstallation.  Now and finally, I've been ask to haul the iMac back to the Apple store and let them start over again with a battery of tests.  If they send me home without doing a single thing like they did to me last time after a week of having it, I am going to go off.

For the record I've been without my computer for over a month now with only a few stints of it working here and there.  I may just ask the store mgr for credit and go with a MBP+27" monitor.  It's goign to cost me more $$ but I haven't seen any issues with that combo yet.  Anybody know?

After 10.7.3 didn't solve my problem (same as original poster: 2011 iMac freezing screen, system still running in background) I went back to the Genius Bar and the guy agreed to replace my video card. He said he knew of this issue on "late" 2011 21.5" iMacs and since my mid 2011 had the same video card he thought it might be the same issue.

The iMac runs perfect now. It's frustrating that they don't ackowledge these issues sooner, but now that I have mine working I am happy. It only took 9 months.

I would JUMP for joy if I could just buy an off the shelf iMac that would run without freezing.. AND would not become obsolete in 3 years.

If Mountain Lion would be a fix..  I'm all in!!   Right now I'm happy that I was able to get back to Leopard as a clean install. Thanks to everyone here walking me thru that.

If this helps any one at all..

I bought BusyCal to replace iCal - since I need to sync.  (love that)

I was able to transfer my iPad music back to iTunes using a FREE program called Senuti.  It was a clean sync and organized. 

Still working on the contacts.  It might be possible thru google - not sure.  I have contacts on my MBP and my iPad and iPhone - just not on my iMac yet.