2.16 GHz 24″ iMac Still Crashes

January 21st, 2009 | by: James Hamilton

Ugh. The bane of my existence.

I’ve had my 24″ iMac for a little over two years now. I’ve grown to love OS X. I haven’t grown to love my iMac all that much. Where do I start? Well, in October of 2007 I upgraded to Leopard. After doing a straight upgrade I was left with one big problem: My machine wouldn’t turn off. No problem. I sucked it up and did a clean install, even wiping the hard drive to ensure that I’d be using a fresh, clean platform.

About a month into using Leopard I started noticing a weird problem when visiting certain websites. The site that I first able to document the problem on was (embarassingly) Goarmy.com (hey, the site is awesome!). While on the site after the main Flash movie had finished loading and the first content wipe was about animate on the site, my computer would instantly turn off. I’d be left with a black, blank screen with everything dead but the fans in the back which I would have to reset by holding on the power button for 10 seconds.

Anyway, as Leopard was updated and upgraded the black screen of death problem got worse. I’d go to a random site with embedded Flash content and my computer would crash. The same would happen in Photoshop when creating a huge gradient of performing tasks quickly. It was a really annoying quirk (especially if I hadn’t saved my work recently) and was something I couldn’t really explain other than being a problem with the version of Flash I had installed on the iMac, which I endlessly tinkered with.

In December of 2008 I finally hit rock bottom. I upgraded to 10.5.6 and upon restarting the iMac it couldn’t even make it to the login screen. My computer would crash and I’d have to manually reset it to boot it back up only to have to repeat the process at every login screen. During this ordeal I wasted hours and hours of time. I tried repairing permissions, running Disk Warrior and pretty much every trick under the sun. It was at this point I sucked it up yet again and decided to reinstall Leopard. The good thing is that I keep both a Time Machine back up and I regularly image my entire drive contents so losing valuable content really wasn’t a problem. The biggest problem was having reinstall every program and customise my Desktop with all my OCD custom folders and aliased folders. That’s a huge time waster.

So, finally, it dawned on me that it might be my video card (NVIDIA 7300) causing the problems. I validated this thought by booting Leopard from an external drive and trying to visit some of the sites that cause my computer to crash. Well, even booted from an external drive, my computer would crash when visiting Goarmy.com.

Again, I did a big reinstall and, again, encountered the same problems when visiting certain sites with embedded Flash content and performing certain tasks in Photoshop. So, I called Apple Care and went through their whole diagnosis scheme and was given an appointment at my local Apple Store.

Visit the Apple Store was a great experience because they were on time and the tech was on point and knew his stuff. We even booted OS X from one of their external drives and, lo and behold, when visiting Goarmy.com my computer screen went blank. Yikes. My computer ended up being at the Apple Store for about 10 days over the Christmas break, which was bad for working but good because I was taking the time off anyway.

At the beginning of January I got my iMac back after having the video card replaced (actually upgraded to an NVIDIA 7600 card) along with the Bluetooth module. On my first boot up I visited Goarmy.com and the computer didn’t crash and thought my troubles were over….

As I slowly but surely started working again I began to notice some of the recurring problems I had before. Photoshop didn’t like big gradients or fast movements. Websites like Engadget.com, The Palm Pre Promo Site, and The Windsor Star, just to name a few, cause the black screen of death.

So, as I sit here typing this post after another crash I think of what I have to do. I’ll need to call Apple Care again and explain my problem, tell them that it’s not fixed, go to the Apple Store and then leave my computer for repairs. This whole ordeal doesn’t sit too high on my list of things to do right now, mostly because of all the time resolving this issue will take and especially when I have a mountain high pile of work to do. I just hope that I can get this problem fixed once and for all and at the same time find any others with a similar problem and if they’ve had any resolution (so far, I really haven’t found too much evidence of my problem). Right now I’m almost certain there’s a flaw in the graphics card or Leopard’s video drivers because the black screen of death is constantly happening even with fresh, new installs and when booting from external drives.

Stay tuned for the results…

Update 01/31/2009:
Visited the Apple Store. Booted computer and was able to visit a site that caused me problems previously on the iMac and was successful in loading the website. Pushed the CPU and GPU with some terminal scripts. Went to Goarmy.com, iMac crashed. Tech assured me that Apple would thoroughly test the iMac, install a new logic board and NVIDIA video card.

UPDATE 01/31/2009:
Took computer back to office and decided to do a fresh install of OS X just to investigate. Before reinstalling OS X I erased and reformatted the hard drive. Initial installation of OS X 10.5.0 was successful. Upgraded to 10.5.6 through combo update, iMac informed me that boot caches would be updated once 10.5.6 was complete. iMac restarted and crashed upon hitting the login screen. Did a hard, manual reboot and computer crashed again. 3rd time, which turned out to be a charm, the computer booted normally.

UPDATE 2/01/2009:
Decided to do a fresh install of OS X again. Erased and reformatted hard drive. Installed 10.5.0 again. Rebooted to ensure I could boot up the computer had success. Then tried to upgrade to 10.5.6 and upon rebooting after upgrade computer failed. Could not get past login screen after 5 tries.

Reformatted and installed 10.5.0 again. Decided to do a combo update to 10.5.5. Had success in installing the update. Have had no failures while booting up since. However, computer will still crash when visiting certain websites.

UPDATE: 3/02/2009:
Wow. I’ve had one whole week without crashes. After taking my iMac to Apple again and having the computer in my hands for a week I can report that I haven’t had a crash since I got the computer back. Apparently my logic board and video card were exchanged. However, I couldn’t get any kind of straight answer from Apple as to what was done to make my unit work again. I’ll say Voodoo is keeping my iMac running right now. This is the longest I’ve gone without a crash since I upgraded to Leopard back in October of 2007.

Digg it!

12 Responses to “2.16 GHz 24″ iMac Still Crashes”

astrida said:

January 25th, 2009 at 12:26 pm

I’m having similar problems with the same machine, and just got a new video card as well.

Have you installed SMC fan control? I would install that and keep a note of how hot your mac gets. I think the machine overheats because the fan is not working properly and then it crashes. The control tool fixes that. If fan control doesn’t fix it, then it could be the motherboard going bad, which is common in these machines.

For you and me both, I hope that’s not the case.

James Hamilton said:

January 28th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Hey Astrida,

Thanks for your comments. I have Istat Pro installed and the fans seem to be running within normal parametres. I’m thinking it could be a temperature issue too, perhaps even a design flaw in these machines. When I went to the Apple Store last time we booted the machine up after it not being on in a day or two. We went to Goarmy.com within 2 minutes of it booting up and it crashed. My iMac even crashed on Goarmy.com when booted from an external hard drive as soon as the machine had booted from there. So, while temperature could be an issue, I’m thinking there’s perhaps a fundamental flaw in the Leopard drivers and the iMac’s firmware and possibly the NVIDIA card as well. My problem is that the crashes are so touch and go I never know which site is going to kill my computer so I’m always saving. Sometimes when I visit a site and forget to save I get burned and have to redo what I was working on. Most of the time I’m saving my work pretty constantly. It just sucks having to waste a few minutes to reboot and open everythng I was working on every time I get the black screen of death.

At any rate, I’ve had multiple tests done on this machine and everything has indicated the motherboard is fine. Maybe when I get around to going to the Apple Store again I’ll press them to replace the motherboard on my iMac.

Andrew said:

March 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 am

Sounds like the 24-inch 2.16 intel core 2 duo iMacs are all the same. I have had the same issues, my gpu (7300) gets hot and crashes. I’ve noticed it does this at about 137*F. Im not sure why it crashes at such a low temp, my friends 2.16 c2duo Macbook pro with a different gpu runs to about 160-175*F with no problems at all other than excessive fan noise. I have installed SMC fan control to “fix” the problem and has worked so far. When i installed leopard on my computer, i noticed the gpu ran about 10 degrees hotter than tiger even with smc running at the same constant rpm(understandable). I have spoken with apple reps on numerous occasions and they still deny knowledge of any such issue. I have brought up apple forums in front of them proving this a issue of poor design, they deny any wrongdoing. Im getting ready to drill some holes (minimal) in my iMac case to help draw air into the machine (an act of frustration). Does anyone know if there are any other ways to keep a late 2006 core 2 duo iMac cool?

James Hamilton said:

March 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm

@Andrew:

I feel your pain. About the only other way I can think of to keep your comp cool is to take it back to Apple to get them to fix it. :) That is, providing you still have Apple Care on your computer.

I did keep an eye on my GPU temperatures and thought that the culprit was something to do with a critical temperature cut off. I distinctly remember being at the Apple store one morning with my computer and then visiting one of the sites which cause my iMac to crash. It didn’t. So, we ramped up the GPU to get it nice and hot and sure enough visiting the site again caused my computer to crash. So, after this ordeal I’d have to say that the problem can definitely be traced back to temperature.

Drilling the holes might work, however, with the existing ventilation format I’m not sure how much it would help with the issue directly. I personally think that there’s something that could be done with OS X to let the GPU run a little hotter. There was a patch released in early February for NVIDIA GPUs but it was quickly taken down. It was supposed to address the micro display port isssues some people where having with their Macbook Pros and also update the NVIDIA 7300 card. However, after about 2 days of availability the update mysteriously disappeared.

But, if SMC fan control is keeping your from crashing then I’ll say that you’re doing about all you can do on your own and doing a pretty good job at keeping your computer usable. Until Apple can give a straight story on this issue, it looks like anyone who bought a 24″ iMac in late 2006 and is having problems will continue to be on their own to get this problem resolved. I’m just happy I got Apple Care for this computer when I bought it.

Andrew said:

March 2nd, 2009 at 2:15 pm

James:

So nice, sort of, to discover my iMac is not the only one with issues. My apple care ran out in October of 2008. I think im going to try the drill idea and mount an external fan on the back as close the gpu as possible. I have seen post where people talk about pushing as opposed to pulling air into/out of the machine. Logically speaking, pulling hot air out of the machine makes the most amount sense to me. I have investigated and found fan controllers for $5-30 and high quality fans for $10-20. The only dilemma at this point is how im going to route power to the fan controller (external) and then to the fan. I’ll figure something out, I always do! Eventually when i do get around to I’ll email you pics and walk you through if it is effective. I only need the external fan when ambient temps are high or while gaming, hence the adjustable fan controller. Im sure your in the same situation as me…arghhh this is frustrating!!!!

Andrew said:

March 2nd, 2009 at 9:41 pm

James-

Check out frozencpu.com They have a ac to dc (just plug in to wall socket) adapter that does allow adjustability of fan speed…just what im looking for. I think this is going to be easier than i thought, im going to purchase a 100+ cfm fan with fan rpm as minimal as possible to reduce noise. Total for parts looks to be around $50 or so, not bad considered the computer cost $2000 and could potentially make this thing useful again. I’ll get back to you and let you know how it works!

James Hamilton said:

March 3rd, 2009 at 10:58 am

@Andrew:

I think you should still drill some holes in your iMac. You could call it Frankenmac. $50.00 ain’t a bad deal to get your computer to the point where you don’t have to worry about it randomly crashing anymore. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to be able to do work and not worry about a catastrophic crash. If anything, I’ve become super OCD about saving my work now. Thanks Apple!

Anyway, hit me up with some photos. Just send them to team AT offshootinc dot com. I’ll post them on the blog. Between us we can become the definitive resource for people who’ve shared our painful issue.

After thinking about your issue and reflecting on some of your comments I’d say that there’s something that has to be done at the software level to let the GPU run a little hotter (especially after you pointed out that your friend’s computer’s GPU runs hotter than yours and doesn’t crash). But, until there’s some sort of official word we’re only able to make guesses.

Kevin Moran said:

April 2nd, 2009 at 2:45 pm

Have had similar issues with my 24in 2.16Ghz iMac, finally got to the point where it wouldn’t boot but would boot into safe mode found the following post tried it and seems to be working at moment. ie Now booting into Leaopard and working ok, still have loads of stuck pixels but can live with them for now. See copied post below.

Kevin

some sort of temporary solution
As I got the same problem with my Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra DLL Card and fiddled around for about 4 hours. I can now work again with some restrictions.

I wondered, why I got graphics using Hardware Check which gave me a VRAM error code of 2NVD/1/4:2119 (where 2119 is the ROM Revision number of the video card).

You might try this procedure:

Start your Mac in Safe Mode (Safe Boot) by holding the shift key down right after you hear the startup sound – then let it go when you see the gray screen with the apple logo and the gray wheel turning.

If you CAN boot into safe mode with the login screen and everything and have working graphics, then login and go to this folder:

/System/Library/Extensions/

move all files that start with “GeForce” (I got 6 of them) out of this folder to a save place (Admin password required) – if you can’t, copy them somewhere else and then delete them from the Extensions folder.

After that, reboot normally.

I did this and have a “working” display now, being able to do my work, but because of the missing drivers, some stuff will not work (playing 3D games, doing videochat or other stuff that needs Quartz Extreme or Core Image functions). At least, I have some time to consider which new graphics card to buy.

Hope that helps some dropping by here :)
__________________

the CreaTurE

Bradley Hall said:

July 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm

I had the same sort of problems with my mac. I received my 24″ 2.16ghz 7300gt on sep 24th 2006. I

n the first year i had problems with the screen (way too many dead pixels), keyboard and mouse turned pink and bootcamp never worked for my imac. By the end of the year and just before leopard was released i kicked up a fuss and got a new logic board fitted and this solved my bootcamp beta woes. Then i noticed my ethernet card was broken (crappy used board) so i had to send it back and get another logic board fitted.

The second year i had no warranty and all went downhill from here. My optical drive packed in and my graphics card was showing glitches in all 3d games unless i turned fan right up. Not wanting to open it i accepted my fate and got really annoyed at how it failed a month after warranty expiration. I also got annoyed with apple never telling me reasons for failure after repairing my machine (secretive and smug $£%£$).

On the third year i finally got the courage to spend £50 on an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7633A and replace this myself. It was a retrofit and required some cutting and gluing but it works perfectly. While opening my case I noticed the amount of wrong screws that had been used and mixed up and rips in my metal shielding thing :( .

The last thing left to do was the gpu card. I decided to order in the 7600gt to replace my 7300 from an authorized apple service center. 12 days later i recieved my “new” card that was actually refurb that cost me the full new price of £250 apprently apple can do this. The card had finger prints on the copper piping, really worn spongy stuff and not much thermal paste (similar to my worn out 7300). I installed it and it worked fine and i left my computer to sleep overnight. Next morning i got nothing but kernel panics :( . So i send the card back and wait for a replacement. When i did finally receive my replacement 7600gt, it was a new one with decently applied thermal paste. Now my mac is working the way it should have when i bought it. Shame its all turned pinkish now.

(late night and not proof read) :D

Bradley Hall said:

July 23rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm

omg that last post was awful. sorry.

Michele said:

August 15th, 2009 at 8:50 pm

Kevin:

I had the same problem as you and your suggestion to move all the GeForce out into a folder did the trick. I can use my iMac intel duo now. Does this mean I need a new graphics card? I have a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT. THANK SO MUCH, Michele

Darrell Woodley said:

September 11th, 2009 at 6:31 am

Hi everyone, mine failed in the same way 1 month after warranty. But mines a 20″ 2.16 Ghz. So the failures cover both 2006 imac models.

SMC FanControl still keep’s the thing barley alive, with only a few crashes a day LOL!

Its disgusting how apple have ignored and denied the issue! Big Time! As I bet we have all spent thousands on their products.

Would removing the optical drive and installing an SSD lower the temperatures enough to halt the overheating? Holes in the case? Most of the time my crashes are at boot up so unless a temperature gage is activated in the summer heat?

Dose a new motherboard solve the issue, because I was going to save for the £400/$800 repair. Would appreciate the feedback!

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