Apple confirms iMac freeze problem


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Late last week Apple acknowledged the growing problem with new iMacs freezing. As of yet, I still haven’t recieved a report from a single Apple Gazette reader that this is problem…but I have recieved almost two dozen responses from users who aren’t having problems.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t an issue of course, I thought you just might like to know that fellow AG readers apparently aren’t having a problem. Apple has confirmed it, though, and are planning to issue an update later this month.

“A small number of iMac users have made us aware that a recent software update issued by Apple can sometimes cause their iMacs to freeze, requiring them to restart their iMac,” an Apple spokesperson told Macworld.

“We are tracking down the root cause of this bug, and will issue a software update which corrects it as soon as we can — most likely later this month,” he continued. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

We’ll let you know when the update is released.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

13 Comments

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  1. I bought an iMac about 4 days ago. I’ve had it freeze on me twice already. I have a 2.4 20″ version. The first time it froze was about 15 minutes after I first started it up. And the second time It froze was yesterday. I opened up Dashboard, and went to add a widget to it, (dictionary) After the widget poped up, I clicked the close button, to close the widget tool bar, and the mac froze up. I thought it was just a couple second thing, but I waited for 10 minutes, no response, so I was forced to restart it.

  2. My 20″ iMac was freezing quite regularly until I swapped the keyboard with a MS ergo keyboard run through a KVM (I still have to use my PC at times). I don’t recall having the problem since I swapped the keyboard.

  3. Spent, or should I say wasted, another 1 1/2 hours w/ Apple’s yellow short-bus crew this morning. Ghost fragments, random freezing, non-working firewire ports, and overheating continue to plague my machine. Was bounced between seven different employees, which I personally felt was done to test only my patience. “Aaron”, a female tech specialist, was incredibly rude, yet didn’t realize one of Apple’s sales staff was on the line with me until he spoke up and demanded her name. I was then transfered to India (I think – or it could’ve been the local Kwik-E Mart) in which “Apu” justified my machine’s failure because it is a “new model”.

    To top it off, after my latest crash, I get a pop-up box on my screen from Apple asking what I was doing prior to my machine crashing. I responded – “wondering why I spent $1700 on a piece of sh*t that doesn’t work”

    I’m taking it to my local Mac repair shop tomorrow, which after a short conversation, seems to be a common problem.

  4. I can confirm that a brand new 2.4 Ghz 24″ iMac freezes requiring hard boot. This is with the OSX software straight from the box, so exactly which “update” does Apple think causes this? I think it’s a load. I’ve had it do this at least 10 times in two weeks… it certainly makes you “save” often.

    So where’s this damn fix Apple have promised anyway?

  5. Phoned my local dealer that sold me the iMac 24″ Extreme and he said I was the first person to report the problem? I said it was all over the internet and he said that it was probably blown out of proportion.

    He said re-seat the RAM, In all my years in IT. This seems to be a fob off to me. In my experience RAM either works or it don’t.

    I have been a PC user man and boy and felt it was worth the move as mine main workflow is to do with my photography. The last straw for me was a freeze when I was transfering a batch of wedding pictures with it corrupting 15 images.

    I have done all the updates and will upgrade to leopard. If this still doesn’t cure the issue. They will be getting it back!

  6. My Imac 24′ is 6 months old and is freezing now up to five times a day.. I’m fed up and if the latest update of OS X 10.5.4 doesn’t resolve this I too will be returning my mac. This was my first Mac, I’ve been a PC user my whole life. Not off to a great start..

  7. I have a 24″ imac 2.4. i have no problems except with WoW online, My computer will freeze up now and again and i hard boot. Any one know if this is the same problem Im hearing about. I already spent 100.00 dollars getting a diagnostic to find the prob.

    any suggestions ?

  8. I charged my iPhone , as soon as it got Full I turned the music on , it fell from my hands , However did not freeze . I turned my iPod Off and went for a sec , as soon as I got back it froze !! it’s been 24 hours and don’t know what to do !!

  9. My 17″ imac g5 intell is less than 2 yrs old and it’s already toast. It started freezing up (little ball swirling) after each update and getting slower and slower to respond and finally would not boot up at all. After trying everything under the sun, my tech guy got the drive out (it was ridiculous how difficult this was, too) and he’s testing it to see if it was a problem with the drive or if the logic board is shot. At any rate, if this comupter will work at all with a new drive, I will never ever again load a tiger, leopard, or any other mac OS. I will load ubunto instead. I am totally disappointed with Apple at this point. I bought it, after all, for the stability and reliability.

    Apple – boooooo hisssss

  10. Mu iMac “24 is freezing on me and I’ve rebooted five times now still it’s frozen. Anyone know what to do? I’ve had this iMac for about a month. I’m a first mac user. I’m on my iPhone typing this