iMac iMac error & restarts

[rickyc]

I have had my 21" IMac since Sept. During that time it has come up with an error message and restarted itself maybe 15 times. The other day it did it twice in one day. I have sent in the report to Apple each time and put a question in remarks asking what is causing this - did I get a lemon?

I talked to Applecare and got an incident number but they didn't know why it would be doing that. They said those reports go to the engineering section to be used for summaries and aren't tied to individual machines.

I am worried that there is an internal fault that will show up after my 3 years. Anyone know what to look for in the reports or what could cause this? Everything seems to work fine and I love it, but am a little uneasy. TIA

 

[iphonewarrior]

I have had my 21" IMac since Sept. During that time it has come up with an error message and restarted itself maybe 15 times. The other day it did it twice in one day. I have sent in the report to Apple each time and put a question in remarks asking what is causing this - did I get a lemon?

I talked to Applecare and got an incident number but they didn't know why it would be doing that. They said those reports go to the engineering section to be used for summaries and aren't tied to individual machines.

I am worried that there is an internal fault that will show up after my 3 years. Anyone know what to look for in the reports or what could cause this? Everything seems to work fine and I love it, but am a little uneasy. TIA

Sounds silly, but have you physically tried rebooting your machine since this has happened? Hold down the Power button and release when the Mac shuts down and boots back up again.

 

[rickyc]

Sounds silly, but have you physically tried rebooting your machine since this has happened? Hold down the Power button and release when the Mac shuts down and boots back up again.

Ah, no. Since it reboots itself each time I hadn't thought of doing it myself. I'll try it. One guy suggested it might be internal temps., so I got an app. that monitors all the temps - none ever over 55 deg. C. It started when I had a factory clean machine and I've added very little extras that could cause it

 

[Europa]

It's still under warranty, so you can have it replaced or repaired for free if troubleshooting steps fail to fix the problem. First of all, you'll want to update to the latest firmware version by clicking the Apple in the upper left corner and selecting software update.

If that doesn't fix it, try an SMC reset:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Wait fifteen seconds.
4. Attach the computer's power cord.
5. Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

If the problem persists, go to Spotlight, open Disk Utility, select your hard drive and verify and repair your disk permissions.

 

[rickyc]

It's still under warranty, so you can have it replaced or repaired for free if troubleshooting steps fail to fix the problem. First of all, you'll want to update to the latest firmware version by clicking the Apple in the upper left corner and selecting software update.

If that doesn't fix it, try an SMC reset:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Wait fifteen seconds.
4. Attach the computer's power cord.
5. Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

If the problem persists, go to Spotlight, open Disk Utility, select your hard drive and verify and repair your disk permissions.

I did the disk permissions thing several times - something came up needing repair each time. Finally got a clean report. Thanks for the tip. Maybe that will fix it - time will tell.