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Level 1

42 points

OS X Lion 10.7.2 - Just me or is this pretty crappy?

I bought a 27" iMac on Jan 2 of this year. Things started out fine - loved it. As the days progressed, more and more issues arose. First, there was the problem of the WiFi cutting out. Spent some time on the boards working that one out. Still not completely satisfied. Then the application freezing started. I'm not able to bulk copy files from or to external drives without the process failing. The Finder freezes on a regular basis and other applications stop responding, including CS5.5, PathFinder and Mail. I have used Onyx to run clean up scripts, etc. and have zapped the PRAM several times. I even have the issue of RESTART failing - either it takes 5 minutes or so for the machine to shut down or I have to hard boot it to get the system to come back up.

This is the tip of the iceburg. I really don't want to return the machine, which I think is fine. It's the OS that seems (at least from what I can tell) that is the problem.

What do others think? Is there an update coming soon? Any suggestions?

Stuart Dummit

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 22, 2012 1:25 PM

23 replies

vea1083

Level 3

714 points

Jan 22, 2012 6:47 PM in response to Tom Dignam

Tom Dignam wrote:

Yes I meant Snow Leopard. You said: "I doubt that your iMac can boot into Snow Leopard as it came bundled with Lion. Usually, Apple restricts Macs to boot operating system versions that are earlier than the version that the computer originally shipped with. Meaning that a Mac that came with Lion cannot boot Snow Leopard".

I said: Not True, which is the case.

That's why I said "I doubt" because I was reffering to the OP's iMac. I did not know that the 2011 iMac could boot Snow Leopard even if they came with Lion preinstalled.

Jan 22, 2012 6:53 PM in response to vea1083

Just trying to get my ducks in a row. Thanks for the help 😉

StuartDMT Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 22, 2012 7:21 PM in response to vea1083

Well, I've been following this thread from the Snow Leopard install loaded on my firewire external drive. I bought my iMac early this year and had no problem booting from the drive.

Interestingly enough, I didn't have any of the problems while working in that environment that I've been experiencing while in Lion. No problems with the WiFi (but, as I've said, that issue seems to be resolved by using AirPort Extreme,) and no problems with Finder or anything locking up. That tells me that either there is a problem with the hard drive on the iMac or that it's the OS.

Since the closest Apple Store is about 130 miles from here, I've opened a ticket with Express Lane - I'll give 'em a call during regular business hours and see what they have to say. I understand that the 10.7.3 update is in beta, so it shouldn't be long before its released into the wild. Reports state that most of the elements addressed are things like iCloud... still, it will be interesting to see if this might help.

More on this adventure as long as I still have a machine that doesn't crash.

pd613

Level 1

8 points

Jan 22, 2012 7:56 PM in response to StuartDMT

If I were you, I would have taken the iMac back already. Stop wasting your time trying to figure out what the issues may be, let Apple figure that out. You paid a pretty penny for the iMac and should not have to do any extra troubleshooting.

Jan 24, 2012 9:28 PM in response to StuartDMT

Wow, Stuart, it's quite uncanny how similar our problems are, including the timeline. I purchased a refurbished iMac 2.8GHz i7 on Jan 3 this year, and things seemed to be just fine for the first couple weeks. Granted, I didn't have any bus connected devices yet, but I installed some pretty memory intensive software (Native Instruments 12 CD Komplete, which took several hours), and not one problem. About 2 days ago I started experiencing all kinds of freezing issues, which somehow seems to be seen when iTunes is started, for some reason. Unless it's just a coincidence. Anyways, the dreaded beach ball shows up when I try to copy stuff from my external HD to iTunes and the system comes to a complete standstill. The mouse pointer is the only thing that moves.

Given that my machine is refurbished, it's possible that it's a hardware issue. But it seems a bit too much of a coincidence that our problems and timelines seem to match, so I'm wondering if I should sit tight until a new OS Lion update is released. Anyways, I have a Genius Bar appointment in a couple days, and it's thankfully just 5 miles away.

Let me know if you discovered anything here that can help.

StuartDMT Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 24, 2012 10:02 PM in response to xxporcupinextreexx

Well, I finally took the beast back to the Best Buy where I purchased it. Initially they said that they'd exchange it, then upon me arriving with the machine in tow they decided not to because it was past their return date policy. After some words they relented and agreed that they'd take it back, only to say they couldn't because I hadn't returned the disks with the computer.

Best Buy - learn something about the products you sell.

Anyway, after explaining that there were no disks to return I got my new machine. Slowly but surely I'm reving up to do the big transfers: about 15 gigs of music files and then another 200 or so of music projects to import. I will then be loading Logic Pro - not as many disks as the Native Instruments pack (I'm a bit jealous there, btw... and Porcupine Tree - awesome.)

It's my understanding that 10.7.3 should be out shortly, so I may keep my head down until it's available. I don't want to tempt fate.

I don't really feel as though the issue has been solved or laid to rest - but for now I'm working okay - just not taking advantage of the beefy system that I supposedly purchased. In time. If this doesn't work, I hope that Apple will update the Mac Pro at least once more before retiring it - I'd gladly spend several thousand on a tower with 8 cores and the kind of expandability that I imagine I could use.

I'll report back when I have news.

Jan 24, 2012 10:39 PM in response to StuartDMT

And that you are a Porcupine Tree fan only makes this similarity crazier! 🙂 Drop me a note if you want to talk music.

So update from my side - I tried doing a "repair disk" from the Disk Utility, and another SMC/PRAM reset. Following that I connected my external HDD, but this time completely avoided touching iTunes. I copied some 40GB worth of data from the external HDD to a temp folder on the desktop. Zero issues. I've opened up Logic Express and I'm playing with some of the Native Instruments synths (you can get Komplete for a pretty good deal, BTW) - so far no issues. At some point I'll brave up and open iTunes and see if the system goes to pot again. But before that I'll try exercising it a bit to make sure it doesn't freeze on me.

Will keep you posted. All signs so far point to some sort of software issue.

Jan 25, 2012 9:34 AM in response to StuartDMT

Update: After copying over 40GB of data from the external HDD to the iMac HDD, and running Logic Express with some NI synths last night, there were no performance issues or freeze ups. All the while I did not touch iTunes.

A few questions:

1. So far signs seem to point to some sort of software glitch. OS Lion has an option to reinstall Lion using the CMD+R option on start-up. Does anyone think this is a good idea?

2. This is a refurbished machine.While I completely trust Apple's quality control, there's always the possibility that it's a machine-specific glitch and not a general one. Think I should pursue getting it replaced right away, or giving it a few more days? I have another 68 days of phone support and a year of warranty on it. The pain of having to install everything again on a new system sounds daunting, if it turns out to be just a software patch issue and I have to go through it again, hence the question.

3. Is Apple Care worth it? Sounds like it is a good 3 year insurance on an expensive system like this one, but I was wondering what you guys think of going in for it.

OS X Lion 10.7.2 - Just me or is this pretty crappy?