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Freezing iMacs may be victims of hardware, not software

appleinsider.com — Evidence is mounting that the frequent video lockups experienced by some owners of Apple's all-aluminum iMacs may be the result of an ATI video chipset pushed to its breaking point rather than a software bug.

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  • MonsterChaOS, on 11/11/2007, -12/+79Apple sells you the hardware (after a nice markup no less)... They should still take the blame for this. Why wasn't this tested?
    • gtluke, on 11/09/2007, -33/+3oh yeah cause nobody blames microsoft for buggy 3rd party anything
      • MonsterChaOS, on 11/09/2007, -0/+28This might be hard for you to understand:

        1) This article has nothing to do with Microsoft
        2) Microsoft (wrongly) does get blamed for multiple third party bugs
        3) Apple has standardized hardware, that means that they knew exactly what video card/mobo/processor/etc combination you would have, and wrote their OS around that. Having hardware bugs is not Ati's fault in this situation, its Apple's.
        4) Apple should have tested the hardware better, end of story!
        • koweja, on 11/09/2007, -0/+4Not to mention this would be equivalent to blaming Dell if your Dell PC's videocard ***** up. Which, would be a very legitimate thing to do, as would holding Apple responsible for this. It may be ATI's fault, but it's Apple's responsibility.
    • Haohmaru, on 11/09/2007, -1/+23Yeah, so in the end it's still Apple's fault. They've got all this standardized hardware, an OS written specifically for it and this happens?
      They're all high-fiving in Redmond right now.
    • nedzalife, on 11/09/2007, -6/+11/2 agree with you there. Apple should have learnt by now that ATI chipsets have always been lousy in *NIX environments. Why they bother to keep putting them in some of their models is beyond me.
      • kamisama, on 11/09/2007, -0/+9Well don't they otherwise work well on apple systems if they don't hang up? I think you haven't even read the article.

        "may be the result of an ATI video chipset pushed to its breaking point"

        It's not ATI fault that apple didn't bother to check if the cooling was sufficient when they pushed one of ATI's chips over or too damn close to it's maximum potential.
    • FutureGuy, on 11/09/2007, -5/+15Lets not beat around the bush. Its Microsoft's fault, its so obvious, ohh is also ATI's fault, and the fault of the mysterious guy next door. Apple has nothing to do with it /sarcasm
      • potp, on 11/09/2007, -1/+3actually the sarcasm was so obvious the tag was not even needed.
        • fr34k5h0w, on 11/09/2007, -1/+3It might not be apparent to everyone as history will point out.
    • ManufactrsDfect, on 11/09/2007, -3/+1Nice markup? Have you ever done a price comparison? Probably not ... Compare a Mac Pro to any comparable dell tower w/ Zeon processors (business site), then tell me who has the nicer markup.
      It's because they're cutting their prices that the products are turning to *****. (You can buy a 24" iMac w/ a 2.8G Core2 Extreme for $2050 who else sells that cheap?)
  • neiltc13, on 11/11/2007, -33/+71Ahaha. You should get a free T-Shirt when you buy an iMac:

    "I spent $2000 on a computer and all I got was a lousy graphics card which can't run games OR an OS!"
    • macpro2006, on 11/09/2007, -30/+6That would be nice. Apple gives you a free shirt when you buy anything over $150
      • iticu, on 11/09/2007, -22/+3Did you think you were being smart when you wrote that?
    • jabberwolf, on 11/09/2007, -8/+18HAHA ! OMG that mac fans are gonna digg you down. Too bad though... would love the T-shirt
      • zongamin, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1so people would know to punch you in the face on sight?
    • scrappyvintage, on 11/09/2007, -5/+10Wow, my new 8800 GTX runs like a mother *****. No freezeup on the good ol' PC. Hell, my 5 year old HP still runs just fine.
      • schoate09, on 11/10/2007, -2/+4I've got PCs I've built myself over 10 years ago, still kicking, my newer ones run Windows with a little maintenance, and they fly with my pro software I use. The older ones, I have some W2K, but mostly tweaked out linux and BSD variants running. My oldest machine, a 133 MHz Pentium, is my BSD firewall.
    • schotty, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3The OS ... OS X isn't as warm in my heart as Linux is, but there is nothing stopping me or anyone else from buying the Apple hardware and wiping the disc for Microsoft, Red Hat, or anyone else for that matter the instant its yanked from the box.

      The hardware, in my experience is not enough RAM or bad RAM. I ghot 1GB with my Aluminum iMac and had the lockups religiously. Ordered a 4GB Crucial memory upgrade, and now its old news. HTH someone out there. For the record, I have **not** run memtest86 at all on that memory, so I could be off here, but considering I upgraded to 10.5 then a few days later got to the RAM that was sitting on the table next to me for 2 or 3 weeks, and thats the exact moment the lockups disappeared speaks to me some loud words -- Apple's QA still has room for improvement :D
  • sconepanman, on 11/15/2007, -4/+50Its not so much the problem, which is very annoying, but Apple's outright denial and silence. Call up a tech and they say "Never heard of this before", "iMacs are not known for freezing". and other BS...
    • guzman, on 11/09/2007, -1/+27It is also incredibly frustrating to sit on hold for 2+ hours just to have someone tell you that they've "never heard of it", then proceed to direct you to the new software patches which make the freezing 10 times worse than the initial Tiger install.
    • bradleyland, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2It took over a year for Apple to acknowledge the PSU issue in the RevA PPC iMacs. I wouldn't expect much more for this issue. And I don't mean this as an excuse. My iMac has had the PSU replaced... which took 10 days. Ugh.
    • toetagger, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2Yesterday, a sales rep told me I was wrong about TM not supporting air disk... I took him to the computer and showed him online. He muttered, "Why didn't they tell us?" Many of them are clueless.
    • zacklur, on 11/11/2007, -0/+1Took my freezing AlumiMac in to Apple store yesterday & was told it *is* a documented issue, and they're replacing the graphics card.
  • Mindflux, on 11/10/2007, -7/+16Mine has yet to freeze, but I feel for the folks that have to deal with it.
  • agile01, on 11/09/2007, -5/+43My new 24: Aluminum iMac is the flakiest computer I've owned in 25 years. Has a mind of its own - freezes almost randomly, but does seem to be mostly after graphics intensive use. At this point it is totally undependable. Started with os x Tiger 10.4.10 + fixes, then Leopard 10.5 with subsequent 1.3 fix. No improvement, and I can see that the video chip being overdriven or overheating is the most logiocal explanation.

    Totally agree with previous posts of Apple denial and incompetence in dealing with this. Apple needs to step up, and do it soon before this creates even more ill will.
  • jollyholly, on 11/09/2007, -5/+30I just heard about the Macbook Seagate hard drive problem yesterday. Now today there is an iMac video chipset issue. WTF?

    I love OS X, but Apple's hardware is riddled with defects.
    • calgone, on 11/09/2007, -5/+4Unfortunately, Apple pushes it's hardware to the limits. They pack powerful computers in to small enclosures that are designed for looks first and cooling second. I have a MacBook so I'm a total Apple fanboi but sometimes I wonder what Apple's thinking...
      • potp, on 11/12/2007, -3/+2I bet that the Apple Vs the Dell XPS doesnt look so cute anymore.
  • i3x171um, on 11/15/2007, -2/+52My friend just bought a mac to use as her college computer at my suggestion. It's the first mac she's ever used, and of course it's one of the affected iMacs. I've had it completely freeze on me personally at least three times during my few short visits to her college. Needless to say, it's ruined her opinion of macs and I feel like a jackass.
    • gwill11, on 11/09/2007, -3/+17And I'm on my third iPhone in under 30 days. I think Apple needs to up the quality control checks and/or find a more reliable hardware manufacture.
    • FoxOrian, on 11/09/2007, -1/+3It's just tricky with this whole REV-A hardware thing in apple products. Many people figure buying a new release of something like the iMac is just fine because by all definition, it's the fifth generation of the same type of computer -- you'd think bugs and mass defects would have been ironed out long before hand. It just sucks that even after five generations, you still have to be wary about your purchase because its a first revision of the fifth generation. If anything, computer companies like Apple should be more like highly experienced video game developers and call delays on products to make them safer and higher quality. I love apple, but there's no denying that they tend to shove products out the door just for the sake of surprising consumers "LOOK WHAT WE DID!" Revealing a product and then revealing that the product won't be shipping for a few months is just fine, instead of saying "and... it's shipping TODAY." They need to take the time to do more extensive testing so these kinds of complaints, bad press, and money lost to repairs and recalls.
      • FoxOrian, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2after-edit:
        ... and money lost to repairs and recalls don't happen.
    • sidian, on 11/09/2007, -1/+5dont feel bad. this happens to me almost every time i open my mouth and suggest something.
    • toetagger, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1No soup for you!
  • colincornaby, on 11/10/2007, -16/+21We have 30 here at work and none of them freeze.
    • joebaloney, on 11/09/2007, -6/+3Myth busted.
    • heinous, on 11/09/2007, -0/+11We have 20 24-inchers where I work and 3 of them freeze.
    • potp, on 11/09/2007, -3/+4i have over 9000 and all of them help me get laid.
      • MacParrot, on 11/09/2007, -3/+3I'll believe the 9000 iMacs but I can't imagine you being able to get laid.

        All kidding aside, Apple has no excuse for this mess and needs to fix it immediately. Begin by finding the common element (sounds like the graphics card is most likely the problem) and issuing a recall. Just get it fixed.
  • Heavy, on 11/09/2007, -16/+7But but but but was not the "Normal Pc Price" * 3 for Appels super duper mega good hardware?
    • GMorgan, on 11/09/2007, -16/+3No don't be silly. Apple are a software company, all the parts they buy are commodity parts and they can't be held accountable for them ;).
      • mburk, on 11/09/2007, -0/+10Negative. Apple chooses very carefully the parts they use in their systems, and there's a big fat Apple logo on the box. Not only that, but I'm forced to use Apple hardward to run OSX, so I'd say they're very responsible for hardware defects. Yes, they didn't manufacture the parts, but no they can't pass the buck on this one.
        • MicrosoftBob, on 11/09/2007, -0/+4Exactly. Can't have your cake and eat it too, Cupertino.
  • zioxide, on 11/10/2007, -7/+12They should have used nvidia chips like they are using in the Macbook Pros. Mine has been running perfectly.
    • darkNiGHTS, on 11/09/2007, -1/+3It's not ATI's fault you idiot... it's Apple's fault. If a machine is built correctly, then why would it be pushing it's graphics chip to a breaking point?
  • maskedm564, on 11/10/2007, -2/+25"Evidence is mounting that the frequent video lockups experienced by some owners of Apple's all-aluminum iMacs may be the result of an ATI video chipset pushed to its breaking point"

    Pushed to its breaking point? Doing what!?!?
    • TheUngod, on 11/09/2007, -3/+26Playing all them crazy Mac games of course
      • ShrimpCrackers, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Photoshop is intense! Haha I'm kidding, I consider myself a pro with Adobe Fireworks and Illustrator as well.
    • mburk, on 11/09/2007, -6/+22You tell me. I was always under the impression that macs "just worked." Apparently that means "just barely works."
    • skyshock1, on 11/09/2007, -5/+12Handling all those stupid 3-D animations on the dock, window behavior,Time machine, and other such complete non-sense.

      Leopard = annoying.
    • jhaks, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1Pushed to its breaking point by asphyxiation.
  • mutagenesis, on 11/10/2007, -11/+21OMG, what is with people defending Apple no matter what? It is a software bug because the software isn't operating within the limits of the hardware. I don't hear about hardware giving out when operating software DESIGNED for it. This is clearly a fault of the operating system, not the hardware.

    Buried as inaccurate.
    • graphicoutput, on 11/09/2007, -2/+3It's actually fairly reasonable to blame the hardware, as people have reported (myself included) that lock-ups and crashes occur in Windows on the iMacs as well.

      I hope Apple gets to the bottom of this, I'm getting pretty sick of shying away from 3D applications just so my computer won't break.
  • Rileyper, on 11/10/2007, -6/+15but apple is in charge of the drivers to make the hardware work (check and mate)
  • mulling, on 11/09/2007, -2/+23Buying first-gen Apple hardware = FAIL

    I say this as the owner of a horribly defective (dead fan, power supply, three batteries, inverter) gen 1 macbook pro.
    • Carlsen, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2Bought a revision 1 Macbook Pro aswell. Grainy display, defective superdrive, battery, charger, I/O DC module (whatever that was), skewed keys, keyboard LEDs being on all the time, pulsing. Lastly, it shocked me constantly. The unit it never grounded, and for some reason current travelled through the aluminium case.
      Finally sold it after six months and bought a Thinkpad.
      • NovaPrime9, on 11/09/2007, -0/+6Jesus. Who the hell did you sell it to? An enemy, I hope.
        • potp, on 11/09/2007, -1/+3not an enemy. just a regular mactard. they by anything that has a white apple logo and comes in a pretty box.
      • awhiteflame, on 11/09/2007, -1/+2Okay, I have a 1st gen MBP, and I haven't had anything go wrong.
        • jakem1, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2That's the problem. Poor Quality Control.
    • koweja, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1How the hell can you claim that the iMac is a version 1? Just because they made a few changes to it, does not make it a new product. It makes it version 2, or version 1.1, or whatever. These revisions are supposed to be what fixes the bugs.
  • Slungsolow, on 11/10/2007, -2/+151st generation Mac hardware is always crap. I had a first Gen G5 iMac, and it suffered very similar issues (overheating gfx card, hard drive, and power supply). After about 18 months of getting it fixed again and again (yay apple care), Apple was kind enough to provide me with a free (as in no additional cost beyond what I already paid for the G5) second generation intel iMac. Luckly I didn't voice my complaint a few weeks later than I did, or else I would have gotten an aluminum piece of *****.
  • Devil45, on 11/10/2007, -2/+6Is this for the 2400 or 2600 series cards? Or both?
    I've got the 2600 and have had no issues with freezing.
    • manitoba98xp, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2I'm not sure about the 2400 series, but since it's been happening on 24-inch iMacs, the 2600 series is definitely affected.
  • lsweet, on 11/10/2007, -10/+44 Hrs and not a single 'should have got a PC' flame... New record?
    • mburk, on 11/09/2007, -0/+6I think it might be. Although notice that we've already had about 3 "it's not Apple's fault" posts :)
    • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1An Imac is a PC, unless you're telling me that IMacs are not Personal Computers (aka PCs) in which case I would ask why the ***** did anyone buy them then.
      Besides, Telling a fanboy they should've got a PC is like telling Bill O'Reilly he should stop lying to people. Both end with the same result of insults and child-like behavior.

      But, just for you, I'll say it: You should have got a PC.
  • SmokeMeAKipper, on 11/09/2007, -9/+6Must have an xbox 360 heat sink. Do they get RROD?
  • chrysrobyn, on 11/09/2007, -4/+14I'm an Apple fan. I like the software, and the hardware is pretty good (but not for hardcore gamers). With that said, if you experience freezes, take it back. Make sure you pay with a credit card that includes extended warranties (I think every AmEx does, as does any Visa or MC that's Gold / Platinum, plus a few others). Freezes shouldn't be tolerated. Unfortunately, when you make hundreds of thousands of anything, a few are going to escape quality control. Acknowledge that nobody's perfect, and that every company has returns, and accept that any new product, whether it's a Lenovo, Dell or Sony, has a chance of needing a return or two before you're a satisfied customer.
    My main computer is a 1GHz PowerBook G4 from 2003. It's not without some abuse marks, but it runs 10.4.9 (or whatever the latest 10.4 is) for months between reboots. I've got several third party apps installed, as well as some third party hardware (latest purchase was a PCMCIA USB2.0 card for better USB transfer speed to my memory stick).
    Don't tolerate hangs. Take the hardware back. You spent a lot of dough on it.
    • platypibri, on 11/08/2007, -1/+4Hey, get that mess out of here, with the logic and reasoning and stuff. This is digg! You're either a hater or a fan boi. Actually you're both, depending on the post. /sarcasm
      yeah, I love Apple. But sure, I have called and yelled at applecare a few times. I even told off a "Genius" once, because He told me my iPod was dead, and some guy in the store overheard the problem, showed me how to boot into the diagnostic mode, and fixed it. Still, love what they make.
  • Holocaust, on 11/10/2007, -6/+12Karma is a bitch.
  • mrsteve007, on 11/10/2007, -3/+17If the cards are 'being pushed past their limit' and overheating, maybe, just maybe the case design is faulty since it isn't letting enough of the heat out and cold air in - therefore being Apple's mistake in their industrial design of the sleek case.
    • CraigJ, on 11/09/2007, -2/+5If they can make the Macbook Pro operate then this should not be a problem. it's either the chipset, the drivers or a combination of both
      • IndigoMoss, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Well the Macbook Pro is a laptop with a laptop video chipset. It's designed for condensed, tight spaces with little cooling. A regular video card needs a decent amount of case cooling to run efficiently, with both good intake of cold air and exhaust of hot air. I know from experience when trying to build mirco-atx, small form factor HTCPs with nice video cards.
        • CraigJ, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1Well, Microsoft did just fine with the Xbox
        • toetagger, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1My MBP has an ADD-ON ATI-Radion X1600 128MB RAM. Compared to the iMac, it's a tiny enclosure... no problems.
    • jhaks, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1PSU problems maybe?
  • J2002uk, on 11/10/2007, -9/+27Anyone else find it amusing how when something goes wrong with an apple product it is never Apples fault? They must have really bad luck though...
    • Greer70, on 11/09/2007, -1/+4How could it be apple's fault? the Chinese laborers who do all the manufacturing and the offshored software engineers are to blame!
    • SeBBBe, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3I do think the poster means to blame Apple, he says the ATI chip is pushed too far. By whom? Apple, of course. They push the chipsets too far compared to the cooling given. The error is the case design and/or the clock speed Apple has specified.
    • RoamShell, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1It's that goddamned turtleneck, we're all so envious :(
  • jabberwolf, on 11/09/2007, -6/+14Mobility Radeon HD 2600 issues?
    Wow I havent heard from any other forum (PC or otherwise) that there have been any issue with that card. But Apple is now blaming that card for its problems? Um doesnt sound like hardware at all or else it would be with other PCs using that exact same card. And yes it IS the exact same care apple users have as those in PCs just different drivers.

    Thus sorry Apple macfans trying to shift blame once again.
    • fuzzynyanko, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2Yeah, graphics chipsets are at the CPU level of heat and processing power. I'm not surprised that something like this could happen in a laptop.
    • monkeyrun, on 11/09/2007, -2/+4"Apple is now blaming that card for its problems?"

      RTFA
  • Atomike, on 11/10/2007, -9/+24Most the time if you get a crash in Windows, the problem ACTUALLY IS the 3rd party software or hardware drivers, and not Windows. Funny how Apple folks never point that out, but are ready to excuse their Mac at any expense. If you want a machine that can actually DO things, buy a PC.
    • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -5/+1And remember that the company who made the acronym PC popular, ironically, was Apple. Gotta love how that turned out.
      • sudowrestler, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3Actually it was IBM. Before the first IBM PC, the term "personal computer" wasn't in the language. "Microcomputers" was the term. Hence Microsoft. When the IBM PC caught on, for years companies making all kinds of products would label them "personal" this or that, it was a major advertising buzzword. And for years after other companies like Dell and Gateway began making PCs, their machines were often referred to as "PC clones." Collectively they were called the "clone market."
        • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Thanks for the correction on my history. Dugg.
  • over90000, on 11/10/2007, -10/+28Apple apologists ahoy! When there is a problem with Apple hardware, Apple is all off a sudden a software manufacturer. When asked why they don't sell OSX seperately, Apple is all of a sudden a hardware manufacturer.
    • jackyyll, on 11/09/2007, -10/+2Since when do they not sell OSX separately? Sine when do they manufacture hardware? Sometimes i think all people are just fscking stupid...
  • Gee1004, on 11/09/2007, -17/+7My PC running Vista freezes more than my iMac
    • thesoze, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2yea...like 2 to 1....it STILL ***** FREEZES!!!
  • TherealObadiah, on 11/10/2007, -2/+4The ongoing issue of Apple's outright refusal to put a fully capable graphics card into their computers. Apple builds nice computers - at a premium price - but they force you, by not offering an upgrade option, to put up with a graphics card that is at least two years old by PC standards. Ridiculous.
    • RoamShell, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1If the imac was instead a tower form factor(aka generic PC, Mac pro, etc.) this entire heat problem (because that's all it is) would be solved. But that would make all the imac fans lose their love of the simplicity of their current cases, and would have to plugin the video card, separate monitor, speakers(if the monitor doesn't have built-in ones), and a seperate plug for the monitor's power.

      In essence buying an Imac is buying limitation on hardware. Harsh limitation. This is okay if you never want to upgrade anything other than your RAM, and never want to get a bigger hard drive without replacing your old one (And thus having even more space), changing CPU, etc. If it fits your lower-profile needs, then by all means, buy one. Just keep in mind that if you will want to change it, you can't.
  • FoxOrian, on 11/09/2007, -3/+3I have a 24" Aluminum iMac, I can't say I've ever experienced any graphics lockups, but this makes me want to try pushing it to see if it will. Even though I doubt my particular iMac has any issues, I would sure be pissed to have to lug that thing to a repair center.
  • PRlME, on 11/09/2007, -1/+2I'm having problems with G5 Desktops running Leopard, i keep getting dropped connection on the LAN.
    Any ideas?
    • Commodus, on 11/09/2007, -3/+1If it's more than one desktop, you've got your answer: it's a bug in Leopard. Send feedback to Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback and/or post in their support discussions.
      • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2Well, yeah, you'd think a LAN would have more than one computer on it.
        Sorry, couldn't help it.
    • ubergeek09, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2Get a real computer?
  • MaXPL, on 11/10/2007, -5/+22well of course its ATIs fault. theres just no way, no way Apple could ever do something wrong. right AppleInsider?
  • rowlodge, on 11/09/2007, -5/+3make graphics for a living, better get a macbook pro with the nvidia inside.
    • noloveIII, on 11/09/2007, -4/+0or a mac pro, which is designed to make graphics
      • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1If by "graphics" you mean "raster images with photoshop" then a macbook pro or imac will more than suffice. For 3d stuff (Maya springs to mind) on a macintosh, the Mac Pro is your only option.
  • jayevans, on 11/09/2007, -3/+4I first got my aluminum iMac in September. For the first few weeks when I would play games in full screen mode (either in osx or windows) they would lock up. I found if I played games in windowed mode I would no longer experience these problems. I have the 24 inch, so I can still make the window pretty large and play games without any inconvenience.

    I have gone since like mid September without having it lock up on me, so those still experiencing the problems might want to try that. Also, I have never ran into the problem while using any other types of programs (adobe applications, final cut pro, etc).

    Anyway, to those experiencing the freeze, good luck.
    • RoamShell, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1This is because your games probably use the video card more than other programs you have. Could you please clarify what games you play? Doom 3?
      • jayevans, on 11/09/2007, -0/+0In OSX the only game I play is World of Warcraft. When using Windows XP I play counter strike, nothing else really besides those games. I bet you are right, I run the games with the graphic settings as high as I can put them.
  • MikeFallopian, on 11/10/2007, -6/+15That is inexcusably bad design. There's also no way Apple didn't know about the problem; it would have been fairly obvious during testing. Luckily Apple users can just buy a better card off the shelf... oh wait...
    • ShrimpCrackers, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1A girl said this to me last week while I was holding my Ubuntu loaded MacBook:
      "Apple's are better, unlike you PC users we don't need stupid drivers for everything". Obviously she had been taking Apple commercials at face value over the years.
  • OMGLINUXWOAH, on 11/10/2007, -2/+2All of you will fall to the wrath of my Machad.
  • thesoze, on 11/09/2007, -9/+4buy VISTA!!!!
    • MicrosoftBob, on 11/09/2007, -2/+6buy LINUX!!!! ...oh wait...
      • potp, on 11/09/2007, -1/+2Linspire, Xandros? Which one? Open Source doesn't necessarily mean free.
        • CCmachined, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2but the #1 in popularity distribution, Ubuntu, is. Whats your point?
          given the totally open Linux kernel and etc, did you really think some greedy capitolists arent gonna ***** it up? :P
        • ubergeek09, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1How about Ubuntu, openSuse, backtrack, gOS, you know the countless number of FREE LINUX DISTROS?
  • strupatn, on 11/08/2007, -2/+1How is this a hardware problem if their software update has fixed it? Pushing a chip set past its design limits is the fault of the software.
    • RoamShell, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1No, putting hardware that gives off heat and having little place for it to go is. They should have just stuck with an onboard chip for the imacs, because it's not like you're going to be using Maya(or, really, anything graphics intensive) on it.
      • ShrimpCrackers, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Fan controls may turn on the fans within the system to maximum rotations per minute, shortening the life of the fans but helping cool the components barely within specifications.
    • strupatn, on 02/07/2008, -0/+1I think stuffing a hot video card in a small space constitutes as pushing a chip past its design limits.
  • JasonCox, on 11/10/2007, -4/+4Oh yes, because it could never be Apple's fault.
    *eye roll*
  • benitojuarez, on 11/10/2007, -2/+3Thats pretty sad that apples iron fisted control over the graphics card they decree you get cant even handle the os. Its not like mac users are playing cod 4 on os x.
  • Jeez, on 11/09/2007, -4/+0Problem is mainly due to Apple cuting back on QA of its iMac and software division most resources these days are diverted to phone and iPod divisions this reported in forums by people from consulting firms who work with Apple. Hopefully this changes in the coming months.
  • Greer70, on 11/09/2007, -2/+5Somebody call Walt Mossberg ASAP! He'll have an explanation that will paper all of this over!
  • scrappyvintage, on 11/11/2007, -6/+6God I love moments like this. . .If it ain't hardware, it's software. If it ain't software, it's hardware. All I'm going to say is, I'm glad I'll never have to worry about it (Like a real man, I build my own computers).
    • platypibri, on 11/09/2007, -4/+2You think that makes you a real man? You have a LOT to learn about being a man.
    • ubergeek09, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3Apple doesn't let their fanboys build computers, because they know about 99.9% of them can hardly turn on their Mac even.
  • searchbuffet, on 11/10/2007, -6/+5real nice to have paid a very high price for the top of the line MAC PRO with the expensive ATI Radeon x1900 and have leopard kill it!!!!!
    of my friends with mac pros and x1900 7/7 are not working with leopard including mine
    apples turning into a JOKE company that makes crappy software that isnt tested worth @#$*
    if 7/7 of just the people i know with mac pros and x1900 cards that paid so much to apple have this problem that means that they DEFINITELY knew about it before shipping it and charging for it and rushed it so quick to make a buck that they didnt care less about testing or fixing ENORMOUS bugs before selling
    apple isnt the company i remember for so many years that made quality product
    theyve gotten worse than MS for gods sake
    fyi on mac pros & x1900s and probably others there are hundreds of pleas for help on apple forums with people having same problem as me.like these pictures
    http://www.artificialhorizonpost.com/GFX_corruptio ...
    http://www.artificialhorizonpost.com/GFX_corruptio ...
    and it gets much worse and the lines appear all over the screen all the time
    • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2I don't know why, but this comment just sounds....fake. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to bury you solely on emotion :(
  • pyrates, on 11/10/2007, -3/+7This is what happens when you put form over function. You can't have blazing performance if you want a pretty sleek small form factor.
  • vondur, on 11/09/2007, -7/+1This is lame, a small percentage of people complaining about an issue does not make it an epidemic. These machines are not yet a year old, take it back to where you purchased it and get a refund/replacement. The same thing happens to any mass manufactured product. I see it happen with Dell and Gateway too, but I don't go on web sites saying Dell sux!1111!!!
  • theOster, on 11/09/2007, -1/+8as a pc user, complete lock ups (as well as shutdowns) are always hardware-suspect first, then software. (and overheating is almost always the cause)
    • ShrimpCrackers, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Don't forget bad memory is also a recent culprit lately.
  • provibe, on 11/08/2007, -1/+2I called Applecare today and got a case number for my 24" aluminum iMac. Checked with a local Apple repair place and the ATI graphics module is on backorder. Good luck in getting your iMac's fixed.
  • pidge, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1Glad I didn't upgrade. My first iMac was a 20" iMac and then I bought a 24" previous generation. The new iMacs have terrible LCD screens so I decided to pass this round. Instead, I purchased a Macbook Pro.
  • gsadamb, on 11/10/2007, -5/+7Kick in blind Apple fanboyism.

    "Must be a user problems. Macs just work!"
    • platypibri, on 11/09/2007, -5/+2Cue the bitter, Anti-Apple hater with nothing better to do..... oh, he's already here.
      Go play solitaire.
      • RoamShell, on 11/09/2007, -0/+5"Cue the bitter, Anti-Apple hater with nothing better to do..... oh, he's already here.
        Go play solitaire."
        Or Team Fortress 2, or Battlefield, or Crysis, or F.E.A.R., or...
        • ShrimpCrackers, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Yeah but you don't have iLife! And everyone knows iLife is worth all your games put together. That's where real fun comes from. *whimper*
      • platypibri, on 11/10/2007, -0/+1It's cute that you say that like I have even the slightest interest in your peecee games. Yes windows has all the games. I don't play games, so i don't really care. if i did, I guess I'd get a pc. But i don't, so I'm gonna keep buying Macs. Have fun with your little games.
  • RoamShell, on 11/13/2007, -6/+1Buried for:
    1. Lol, why do they even have a Radeon HD anyways, it's not like the machines have a blu-ray drive.
    2. As funny as Apple apologists/fanboys are, this is getting a little old, but is nonetheless surprising to see the content still being posted (insert fanboy comment that it's all by windows users)
    3. If you think you can put a 1 TB drive, an Intel Core 2 Extreme, and a Radeon HD 2600 PRO(yeah, because clearly this is a "pro" machine) into that small a space and not have heating issues, you're the one at fault instead of Apple.
    3 pt. 2: And yes, I know most people don't have the highest end Imac, but even then the idea that someone would buy this? christ.
  • shootdashit, on 11/09/2007, -1/+3i've been waiting to buy a new imac and all this ***** is making me re-think it. it feels like apple is growing too big too fast. this problem is being noticed after two weeks of use by most people, it seems. how did they miss this?
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