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

Has anyone tried SSHing into the machine? From what I've read the mouse works during these problems, so I assume background daemons like SSH are running fine. If you could SSH in and see what app might be using all the RAM or CPU, and start killing processes, you might be able to narrow it down even more-so, even if the issue is indeed on the GPU, you could maybe save your work before restarting.

I have several times. I can SSH in, but I can't reboot, I type "sudo reboot" and it accepts the command, but the machine never reboots. Next time I'll run "top" to see what is running, but it won't do any good, because it's the GPU that is locked up, unless there is a way to restart the xserver or display manager like on linux "/etc/init.d/gdm restart"

Great news guys, in my case the problem has been solved completely, just uninstall iStat menus, it seems that this software installed modules in the kernel of OS X, these modules are giving problems after sleep mode.

UNINSTALL ALL I HAVE THIS SOFTWARE AND MODULES AND NO LONGER HAVE MORE FREEZING.

TRY AND SEE.

Dude, I tried 2 clean installs with no 3rd party apps.  It's not iStat.

Same problem here. It has happened most often when starting to play video but my screen image has also just become garbled and distorted or freezing while using Chrome. It doesn't happen often mind you, once every 3-4 days but it's annoying every time.

Seems like a video card or driver issue. Glad to see others are having this issue so hopefully Apple can/will fix this via a software update instead of me having to lug this thing to an Apple Store.

2011 27" iMac with 16GB RAM.

@moebis,

I agree with you on the totally unacceptable. The absence of explitives and threats should not be interpreted as aquiecence or excessive fan-boy-ism. I just do not think that my expressing and feeding my anger helps me in my moment to moment dealing with the issue and my work.  And as I look over the past, it has never resulted in my getting anything fixed faster.  But, your experience may be different.  If it is yours to do, go for it!

@Steve Self .....I have to remind myself to be more Zen like. You're right about not getting too upset. I'm truely frustrated, I've tried every avenue to get Apple's attention. The first 2 blogs written about this problem were from TUAW and 9to5Mac because I was begging them to report on this issue. They wanted proof, so I sent a video showing how it locks up and then they published the articles. Still no word from Apple. I'm not sure if they are actually working on the problem, ignoring it, or blissfully unaware. Remember, this was reported in the developer previews of Lion. So they have had more then 3 weeks to work on it.

I also wrote about it for TidBITS:

http://tidbits.com/article/12394

I have to admit, while I don't need to watch videos on my iMac, I'm starting to lose my patience. It has been three weeks since I reported this and had contact with Apple engineers, and I haven't heard anything in almost a week now as to whether they've made progress.

Yes, it is very hard to know that they are working quite hard on this when they simply say nothing. In some ways it is like living with an alcoholic parent, you're never sure what is going on as they never communicate... But I always try to remember that Apple is not there to meet my emotional needs, in any manner. These are my business, not theirs. I do know that they care VERY much that there is this much trouble. I know they know that this is losing them customers... I have a friend who was just about to buy a new iMac, but I said wait for them to sort it out, unless it comes with SL OS.

So, I take a breath and remember that Apple is a for profit enterprise committed to making the BEST PRODUCTS EVER. Do they slip up? Yes. And it is painful to be one of the users swept into the issue.  I also think that the reason it is SO painful is that we have come to expect near prefection from our Apple devices. And mostly this works out for us, until it does not. And there comes a point, inevitably, when it does not perform perfectly.  Then we get to deal with our thwarted expectation. Most push this out on Apple.  I prefer to experience the outrage and my over-attachment personally, rather than project it on others.

Anyway, this is not the Zendo, this is Apple's discussion board... So I hope they finish testing the fix soon and we can all go back to creating content.

S

Actually this problem is not specific to the new iMacs only, I have an early 2009 24" iMac and I'm encountering this exact problem every day at least 3 times. I am a big fan of watching podcasts through iTunes, and the more I play them the more freezing will happen, and the less I play them the less freezing will happen. So this isn't related to flash either.

I do not trust my iMac now for doing my work, because I may lose any unsaved data at any moment. I hope the fix will come soon because this freezing thing is driving me craaaazy.

Hello, this is a response to add to the increasing number of people who have this problem. I am a film editor and writer and can't get my work done because my new Imac continues to freeze while using Lion. It happens most of the time out of sleep mode and then trying to play videos. I have encountered one time, just a minute ago, where I was writing a new article and the computer froze without sleeping and video watching. Please if you are experiencing this problem keep letting apple know. They need to fix this problem as fast as possible.

Thanks.

Just thought I'd check in....

Brand new 27" iMac

Crashed on various different sites including YouTube

Just hope Apple send a fix some time soon

Recieved my Mid 2011 iMac from the shop.  Apple genius had not solution for the issue and blamed a recent kerlnal panic on 3rd party software.  Not allowing my drive to sleep is the fix that has worked for me. 

Side note this is a direct result of Apple sourcing driver support.  As they continue to grow I am sure you can expect this type of issue to arise.  Progress can be good but can also hinder.  I hope for a fix soon but doubt this will be resolved anytime soon. 

The problem persists even uninstall istat menus. Sorry guys.

I can't stick much more of this. I just had graphical corruption AGAIN while watching a youtube video. Second time today and after a fresh install. I paid over 2000 Euro for this mac, I was saving for over a year for this mac and for apple to just there and not acknowledge the problem even exists. I'm getting mighty sick of their apparently indifference. I think I might use my Win 7 partition as my primary OS until this is fixed. You know, Windows, the OS that by default shows you what applications you have open, doesn't hide important system folders from you without asking and scrolling down actually scrolls down!