Back in December, I blogged about a series of problems I was having with my iMac. (You can read about it here.)  I’ve been getting a lot of hits lately from people googling about the same problem so I thought I’d give you an update.

LONG VERSION: We made an appointment and took my iMac in to the Apple store where an Apple “Genius” proceeded to test it, reformat, and test it again. He even took a photograph in store to demonstrate that it was now working. See? Now chop chop, go. Next.

I was in and out in half an hour.

When I got home, I noticed some of my programs were missing. Attempts to install the missing programs from the factory discs failed. Not a good sign (but will do some research to resolve).

Then I started surfing, testing first Safari, then after installing, the Firefox browser. After 15 mins, all went well. Then I got my first browser crash on Safari (the browser unexpectedly quitting). And after that initial crash, more followed from both. Not a good sign.

Any attempts to reinstall and reformat (I tried 6 times) came up with the same errors I was getting before I brought it into the Apple store.  Not a good sign.  

Called Apple customer support and spoke to a rep (who was obviously reading form answers from a manual) who only told me to do what I’ve already done. Multiple times.  Not a good sign.  

After 45 mins of that, I hung up and ran an Apple Hardware test.

SHORT VERSION: I performed two Apple Hardware tests. The first one (the shorter one which the Apple store “genius” also performed) passed. The extended one failed. Ran an extended one again to make sure it wasn’t some weird glitch or by this time, in case I was seeing things with my eyes. Failed again. Documented error and proceeded to the most convenient Apple authorized dealer for repair (there was no way I was going to let another Apple “genius” waste my time again), which in my case, ended up being MicroCenter.

They ordered the part and replaced the memory module (RAM) and I got my iMac back within a week.  The entire cost was covered by my warranty which would have been $242.77 just for the part. 

I’m happy to say that today, my iMac is working perfectly. I don’t surf as much as I used to due to time constraints and I’ve elected to bypass installing unnecessary third party software to be on the safe side.  But I do rely on my iMac as my main computer now and rarely ever use my Windows Vista laptop anymore.  I’ve been spoiled. The graphics just do not compare.

As a side note, both times I had problems with my iMac, they turned out to be major hardware problems with the first time my entire computer being replaced.  I didn’t mind that really because I ended up getting a newer version all covered by my Apple Care Protection Plan. The extra that it cost to get the plan paid for itself 10 times over.  I highly recommend it especially since Apple computers ain’t exactly cheap, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, both times, I fastidiously documented all the problems I experienced including what I was doing with what program, the time and date, and any error messages I received.

Every time I brought the computer in for repairs and handed over my 2 to 3 page documentation, not one tech even looked at it. Instead, their eyes went up and over to the other side.  

They all want you to tell them the problem in 10 words or less. Sure, I find it humorous now, but it was certainly disconcerting that they wouldn’t care to find out exactly what the problem was and fix it correctly the first time instead of me having to go back and forth over and over again.

So I guess the lesson is – keep good records, but keep em’ to yourself.  Keep a concise list of problems that you can rattle off to a tech in a few seconds.  Delete any unnecessary words like “uhmmm” or descriptions.  Instead of:  ”Everytime I surf, my browser crashes after 15 mins.”  ”Browser crash” is enough.  Think caveman talk.  Or better yet, robot talk.  Wait for additional questions before saying anything more.  Not even a beep.  

Yuck. I’d forgotten how bad graphics can look on Windows. Just check out the side by side comparison above of the same graphic I’ve been working on. Of course, if you’re viewing this on a windows computer, you’re probably going, “What difference?! They both look like crap!” Haha! Believe me, there’s a significant difference.

Now that I’ve checked it out on my windows laptop, I sure feel deflated. Ah well, guess it’s back to the drawing board.

Warning: The following is a rant. Read at your own discretion. I had the foresight to document this the second day this started happening. It’s the Apple gray screen of death, aka a “Kernel Panic”. These have been happening since Nov 22 and occuring more frequently lately. I know from previous problems with my first iMac, that it’s only going to get worse. No, it’s not some little glitch or a minor hiccup.

Sometimes, I will get these within seconds of turning on the computer. Sometimes, it will let me surf and work for 2 hours before the dreaded SOD comes to mess me up. And it doesn’t matter what I’m doing – checking email, surfing, even posting this message.

This has been happening several times a day and it’s really frustrating. Restarting isn’t as simple as pressing a button – because I will get a blank screen with 3 beeps and a flashing light. For the restart to work, I have to disconnect the power cord and leave it off for several minutes.

I guess I should consider myself lucky that I was able to post my last 90/90 features without losing any information. It sure was touch n’ go. No, strike that. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I was able upload these pictures from my camera, crop them in Photoshop, upload them to my WP file and start a few sentences before I was yet again taunted by the evil GSOD.

All attempts to look up my problem in Apple support and apple forums have been futile. I guess Apple took their customer support chat away? I could no longer find it. I will try an archive reinstall tomorrow and see if that works.

On the upside, my iMac is under a 3 year warranty. The other positive – I do have a pretty cute desktop, don’t you think? Clicky click the thumbnails for a closer look. Yep, I know – cute is as cute does. Now if only my iMac would work!

End of rant.

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Edit 07.21.08:  Click here to read an update about this original post.

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