iMac Issues

<p>My daughter has an Imac. After a few months the hard drive failed. In spite of that, my wife wanted one for herself so we bought an iMac at the Apple store in Norwell, Massachusetts. What a mistake. We paid $1399 plus a fee for support and were told it was warranteed for one year. After 2 months the hard drive became corrupted. We brought it back to the store, assuming it would be fixed under warranty. What we found out was the Apple warranty covers only hardware, not software. I said to the salesman "but it's a failure of the hard drive that caused the software to become corrupted". The reply I got was "Apple CHOOSES to regard that as a software problem" which isn't covered by the warranty. We had two choices- either pony up $200 to have them reboot the system or purchase a $140 external hard drive that comes with a free installation. And this is for a 2 month old $1399 computer! I have a 10 year old IBM Aptiva that has never given me a problem and still works fine. I also have a 7 year old Dell that I bought used for $70 that still works fine. I just bought a new HP at Best Buy for $575 with Windows 7. It does everything my wife's iMac does at a fraction of the price. What I would like to know is how many others out there have had a similar experience with their new iMac's?<br /><strong>Amount </strong></p>

<p>I've used Apples since 1986, and in all that time I've only had one problem (1988) with the power supply. I'm currently using an iMac which is more than a year old, and I've had no problems whatsoever. My wife has had an Apple laptop for the same length of time with no probems either.<br>

If you disagree with Apple's assessment, maybe take it to small claims court???</p>

<p>Buy used from a reputable dealer like I do. I've had my 2004 G5 iMac since 2007 bought from PowerMax for $1200. The power supply crapped out last month and I replaced it with a used PS for $100 and installed it myself.</p>

<p>Besides you really don't need all that horsepower anyway. Return it for an exchange or get your money back and buy used.</p>

<p>Just know there are those that like to go beyond the call of loyalty to Apple because they seem to love their iMacs more than I would:</p>

<p>

<p>I have that model and don't have bad capacitors.</p>

<p>Nobody's perfect, not even Apple.</p>

<p>I haven't had the same experience with iMac but I just switched to Mac after years with Windows and I must say I am not surprised by your report. Why did I switch? Simple; I was bored with Windows and wanted a change of pace. I like the look and feel of Mac and thought it would be better for what I do with it (photos and video). And I do like the interface better than Windows, so I'm not sorry. Yet. <br /><br />But I see that in my future. Apple, you see, markets to three kinds of people: morons who can't find their way around a computer; old people who can't find their way around a computer (nor should be expected to); and "progressive" reactionaries who just hate Microsoft. They perpetuate the fiction that Apple is better for "artists," but I think anyone on this board who knows their way around a computer will tell you there is no difference between what you can do on a Mac and what you can do on a PC. <br /><br />If Macs and PCs were political philosophies, PCs would be libertarians and Macs would be the Supreme Soviet, telling you constantly "you don't need to access that and you don't need to know how to do that because we'll do it for you." And like any paternalistic state regime, they view Mac users as a captured base and have little interest in customer service. Hence the high fees for basic service issues, and the unreasonable exclusions from warranty that you experienced. And forget trying to get the "bar" to think outside the box or truly help with an issue.<br /><br />In antitrust law this behavior is well known. Mac users have a sunk investment and face high costs to switch to another platform, particularly if they have invested in third-party programs made for Mac. So Apple can treat us however it wants, essentially. Like the "cool white look" and "mod" feel of the Apple Store and of Apple products? You should; it's what you're paying for, after all. <br /><br />In short, Apple doesn't sell computers. It sells a lifestyle and an image. So that's what you've paid for and things like customer service and making sure that the product actually works like it's supposed to, are given lower priority than they are at a struggling PC maker who is competing with dozens of other PC makers for customers. <br /><br />Like I said, I'm not sorry yet. But I immediately found that the slogan "It just works" is a load of crap. I've had to force-quit more applications on my brand-new Macbook Pro than I ever did on my old PC. Every time I open GarageBand it tries to download a guitar lesson and fails, giving me an error message and saying to "try again later." Apple's "geniuses" said that they couldn't help with it and also said that I had used up my one free "issue" and that further inquiries or inquiries on other issues would be fee-based. Check back with me in 6 months and I suspect I will by then be wistfully recalling the days when I could fix the problem myself.</p>

<p>"I've used Apples since 1986, and in all that time I've only had one problem (1988) with the power supply. I'm currently using an iMac which is more than a year old, and I've had no problems whatsoever. My wife has had an Apple laptop for the same length of time with no probems either."</p>

<p>And I've used Windows PCs over that same time period without any major issues. At this point, I can't see any reason to switch to Apple. They did pique my interest with the ZFS file system, but that's been scrapped. So I'll buy a new Windows 7 PC this year. Apples run, after all, on Intel hardware now, so there isn't any reason to expect superior performance from an Apple.</p>

<p>I have had only positive experiences with the many Macs I have had - both desktops and laptops. Your problem is not a Mac problem. If you purchased Apple Care when you bought the computer, it extends the warranty to three years. Software problems are not caused by hardware; there are many things that can corrupt files, but on Mac you'll have few if any. Perhaps you moved corrupted PC files over to your Mac; perhaps some with viruses. Macs don't get viruses either. Also, beware downloading third party applications; they can cause problems. You can fix the problem you describe yourself by doing a clean install. Just be sure to save the files you may want somewhere off of the computer's hard drive. This could be a CD or an external hard drive, which is most handy for storing photos. Apple Care will help you through the process. You can also check your manual or Google the process online. Get your Mac clean, and forget about those PCs.</p>

<p>Here we bought in 2007 a used imac 20" intel core duo built in 2006. Recently it would not turn on. sometimes it would boot into a light blue screen. Iused the original mac install discs 1 and 2 and now all is well; the reinstall even left all data; CS2; and illustrator all intact. Failures sometimes are not all total failures; have a mac guru look at your unit</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"Macs don't get viruses either"</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Funny, I made quite a living cleaning virus from macs. But that was when they were popular.</p>

<p>The only reason there is no abundance of virus on a mac, is because it is not convenient to do so <em><strong>yet</strong> </em> . Think about it, how many users have installed AV software? The moment one comes along it will spread faster than swine flu.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>"Apple, you see, markets to three kinds of people: morons who can't find their way around a computer; old people who can't find their way around a computer (nor should be expected to); and "progressive" reactionaries who just hate Microsoft"</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>You missed one. Me. I use what's in front of me. I look for something to run what ever software I need, that's it. I've had one since a Mac+, but I am old enough to go back to CP/M and know that Steve was not the first to use a mouse.</p>

<p>But the real answer to this thread is hardware fails and software breaks - period. That is life with computers.</p>

<p>I've had and heavily used my iMac since summer of 2007 - never a problem. I like it so much better than the PCs at work.</p>

<p>Bernard,<br>

While I understand your frustration, Apple did not corrupt your hard drive, you did by downloading a corrupted file(obviously not on purpose but still it was you or someone in your family). If you bought a car and put the wrong kind of gas in it, thus ruining the engine, would that be the manufacturers fault, would you expect that to be covered under warranty, after all it is the engine that failed. Regardless a clean install should do the trick and not cost you anything, just move your important stuff to your external hard drive. I have been using macs for 15+ years and really have never had a problem(my first was a g3 35O if that tells you anything) it still works just fine but has been replaced by a faster imac. We also have a ibook. I use PC's at work and while I am sure they are fully capable of doing anything a Mac will do, it just seems like it always takes a little longer or there are more hoops to jump through. My PC locks up all the time, my Macs very rarely(usually because I have tried to run something I don't have the software for.) Anyway good luck with your clean install and I hope things clear up for you.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Software problems are not caused by hardware.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's not necessarily true. This troubleshooting thread:</p>

<p>http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2303262&tstart=30</p>

<p>I conducted on my own G5 iMac suggests hardware devices and components can affect the OS in this instance by voltage/current fluctuation which can corrupt or flip on switches within the system firmware, NVRAM or PRAM or on external devices that affect energy saving routines and other functions controlled by the system's software.</p>

<p>I imagine this also happens on Window's except you'ld probably need an advanced IT tech guy with a voltage meter to do some serious investigating.</p>

<p>As for the Mac being better for graphics this thread:</p>

<p>http://lists.apple.com/archives/colorsync-users/2005/Feb/msg00062.html</p>

<p>gives the reason why. It's nice that you can load two calibration curves and two profiles to run two displays on one video card chip. I can do it on my G5 iMac. I even hacked the opened firmware with "Spanner Doctor" so my iMac will run in "Extended Desktop" on my external Dell 2209WA.</p>

<p>Macs have a wonderful support community as they've always had since the first Macs were produced in 1984.</p>

<p>You said on the 2nd iMac you bought that "..the hard drive became corrupted." If it had failed, Apple should have and would have fixed it, but "corrupted" means you installed something/software (either on purpose or by accident) that "corrupted" the hard drive, and no, Apple won't cover that--nor will any computer company that I know of.</p>

<p>I've been using Macs since 1987, with a recent and brief foray into the PC world. During that time, I have had very, very few problems with my Macs; a power supply for my Macbook (that was 4 years old) and another Macbook that was blasted by a power surge (lightening) and Apple fixed it for us for free under warranty.</p>

<p>Compare that to our supposedly "business class" Toshiba Tecra that worked great for a year and then spent 9 months trying to get fixed.....never again Toshiba! We also had a custom built PC desktop from CyberPower that was one of the best computers we've ever had--we had it for three years and never had a single problem.</p>

<p>We recently returned to the Mac world with a 24" iMac and 13" Macbook Pro, and we couldn't be happier!</p>

<p>If it's truly a software problem, have tried booting from your install disk that should have come with your computer, open Disk Utility and try a disk repair. If it is too corrupted, then you can re-format and re-install. Have you tried that? </p>

<blockquote>

<p>"corrupted" means you installed something/software (either on purpose or by accident) that "corrupted" the hard drive</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Sorry, but that's not true. Hardware malfunctions can cause corrupted hard drives, especially in the disk controller. Bad sectors and bad controller RAM can also cause corrupted hard drives. A disk head crash can cause corruption. This isn't a big secret, you can find a lot of documentation about it on the web. Bad software can also cause data corruption, as you said, but so can all sorts of other things.</p>

<p>Being that the computer in question was brought back to the apple store, and it was deemed to be a software issue, doesn't that rule out hardware malfunctions. Now if the OP can prove that is was a hardware malfunction that caused this, then I think he has a legit gripe.</p>

<p>When I brought it back to the store, assuming it was a hardware problem since I have never heard of a 2 month old computer failing due to data corruption, I was told by the sales manager, "Apple CHOOSES too regard this as a software problem which is not covered by the warranty. " They wanted $200 to reinstall the system software or else I could buy a $140 backup drive. Now what kind of a reputable company would do such a thing. Why not just reload the software. It only take a minute or two of "Genius Bar" labor.</p>

I think the store has given you crummy service and you should push

them to do better. If they refuse, buy the external drive - you need

backups anyhow.

 

Some stuff does Indeed run faster on a Mac. OS X has superior Unix

virtual memory management, it thrashes less I find. win7 is catching

up, but I still prefer the feel of the Mac. mac was also first to offload

graphics compute to the GPU allowing faster Photoshop effects like

previewing a filter full screen. Windows has this now too, but it was a

Mac exclusive for quite a while.

 

Much as I love to hate Windows, Win7 seems pretty decent and Mac

not quite worth the price premium.

<p>I have read of new imacs that the screen turns yellow, some will not boot, and some are broken on opening a new box.</p>

<p>I have been using my iMac since 1832. It's been running almost 180 years without a single crash. I decided recently to switch to a PC, but it crashed at the store, before I even got there. The PC could sense that I was going to buy it, and it preemptively crashed just to spite me.</p>

<p>Does anybody seriously believe these stories? They're just computers. They're a little different, but mostly quality is quality. I've had Apple computers that were slow and buggy, and Apple computers that are fast and reliable. Similarly, I've had PC's that were slow and buggy, and PC's that were fast and reliable. My current PC is somewhere in the realm of "fast and super stable", except that I've had trouble with my LAN connection since last summer, when my house was struck by lightning. My modem and router were both fried, and now my on-board LAN adapter needs resetting every once in a while. It may or may not be a related issue. Other than that, it's 100% rock-solid.</p>

<p>What matters here is quality. There are high quality motherboards, and cheap crappy ones. The same goes for hard drives, RAM, video cards, sound cards, etc. Even a top quality computer component can fail after just a few years of use. The cheap ones tend to fail more frequently, but even that is a statistical phenomenon.</p>

<p>Don't be so blinded as to think that your brand is better than the other brand because of your isolated experience. The collective experience proves that performance and reliability issues on both platforms are comparable. However, the premium for one of these systems is inarguably higher than the other (if you don't already understand that, you're never going to learn).</p>

<p>In the past ten years I've owned a G4 Gooseneck iMac, G3 iBook, Intel MacPro, and an HP PC (middle of the line in terms of performance.) Far and away all of the Macs left the PC in the dust. The PC was supposed to have much better stats than my iMac (2.9 gig processor and 4 gb ram with an upgraded 1gb video card vs. 800mhz processor and 768mb of ram with on board graphics) yet the PC didn't hold a candle to the iMac in terms of Photoshop performance and RELIABILITY. I cannot say enough about the reliability of every Mac that I've ever owned. My iMac especially has been rock solid. I keep it on all the time and I can count on one hand how many times it's crashed (twice). The PC however was a constant hassle and crashed routinely. I agree however, that Mac support is VERY lacking. Something that is very disheartening given the high price tags on their machines. Overall though, I will only buy Mac as long as Macs are still being made. PC's are dead to me.</p>

<p>I bought a Macbook about a year and a half ago. After less than a year, the hard drive died. It started making noises and failed to boot. I took it to Apple and they told me they would replace the hard drive, but that they had to keep my old hard drive. Since I needed the computer, and would have to take it to somewhere else to try and do the data recovery, and, I had no interest in handing over an old hard drive with recoverable financial data on it. I went to another generic computer mega store and purchased a new hard drive and replaced it myself at my expense. I have a friend who also had the same experience with his hard drive on a similar vintage computer. He also had to replace the disc drive after a little over a year.</p>

<p>I will second Brian M's post. I couldn't agree more and I've had similar experiences. My Mac Pro crashed repeatedly and finally required a total reinstall from Time Machine, coincidentally at the same time the video card failed and had to be replaced.</p>

<p>My experience at the Apple Store (240 mile round trip) was one of dealing with customer service people holding PhDs in Arrogance. I wound up fixing my Mac Pro myself, in spite of having purchased three years of Apple Care.</p>

<p>As for people who suggest that third party software is the problem, you've drank too much Apple Coolaid. In the photographic/graphics business it is impossible NOT to install third party software if you're going to use a serious imaging editing program or printer. It is ridiculous to even suggest that only Apple software be used on a Mac.</p>

<p>And to this day neither I, nor Apple service has been able to solve printer driver problems on the Mac side of things. Fortunately, I am using VM Fusion to use Windows XP on the Mac and transfering my files to Windows XP, printing from XP.</p>

<p>The introduction of the iPad, or imaxiPad as some have already called it, highlights Apple....a product that can't multitask, has no significant storage capacity, no significant horsepower, nothing more than an iPod Touch with a 10" XGA display, won't fit in a pocket or purse....but it will look great at Starbucks.</p>

<p>Bernard,<br>

Given your last response, I am in agreement with Mike Mason, I think the store has given you crummy service. I would contact Apple directly and give them the store location and a description of all that has occurred. If they come back with the same response the store gave you I would be very disappointed in them indeed.</p>

<p>First, Bernard, I am sorry for all the trouble..... and service seemed to have below par.<br>

Second: Jeez, a lot of Apple hater and Window haters. Too much Koolaid on both sides. The only problem I ever had with Apple since the LCII was my MacBookPro overheating. Fixed, within a week, by sending in my computer, free of charge. Maybe I am lucky.</p>

<p>My advice: back up your data on an external hard drive regardless what you use. Time Machine makes that easy, but you can do it anyway you want. If its broken drive, it obliviously needs ot be replaced, but maybe just a reinstall would have done it? Data of course would be harder to retrieve if you did not back it up.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>But I see that in my future. Apple, you see, markets to three kinds of people: morons who can't find their way around a computer; old people who can't find their way around a computer (nor should be expected to); and "progressive" reactionaries who just hate Microsoft.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Brian, so which category are you ? :) Personally, I like Mac but use both Mac and Windows and from some time had Windows XP installed on my iMac but never used it.</p>

 

<p>All computers are prone to hardware/software problems, whether they're a Apple, or IBM compatibles. Macs CAN get viruses http://antivirus.about.com/od/macintoshresource/Macintosh_Viruses_and_Mac_Virus_Resources.htm Apple's don't get many viruses now, but as their market share increases, so does incentive for malware writers to make viruses for them.</p>

<p>As for the support issues you're having, I'd encourage you to write to a higher-up in the company. If this provides no satisfactory result, you'll either have to dance to their tune, or fix it yourself. I strongly encourage performing simple repairs yourself, so you <em>never</em> have to rely on others to fix your computers. It's a lot easier than it may seem at first, and the web is loaded with forums full of troubleshooting information for every conceivable computer issue.</p>

<p>For starters, i'd try to reinstall the OS yourself, if that doesn't work, then you may begin to suspect hardware failure.</p>