Freezing Imacs: Firmware Update 1.0

Question

Could this be the cure?

Answer 1

I found out about the update from the MacUser RSS feed. In fact, I was the anonymous user the author referred to in his piece:
Yesterday, in my "Apple bombs the Mac" post, an anonymous commenter opined:
+Wonderful. Now how about them putting some of their resources towards coming up with an improved iMac video driver to stop all of the **** freezing/blue screen/black screen issues we're having?+
Apple apparently reads MacUser's anonymous comments because--brace yourselves--they today made good on their promise to remedy that issue (which apparently still plagued some users even after a initial attempt at a fix), and released a firmware update for some 20" and 24" aluminum iMacs. Apple says the patch "updates the graphics firmware on the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro to improve system stability."
Anyway, I ran Software Update and the ATI firmware update didn't show up. According to Apple, if your machine needs it, it will show up there. They also said that if you download it yourself and try to install it (and it doesn't need it), the install will come back with an error message.
Well, having nothing to lose (I've been dealing with this s--t since I bought the computer), I downloaded the firmware update anyway and installed it.
No error message. It installed fine.
I've been testing the computer, running every graphics-intensive program flat-out and it hasn't frozen yet. FrontRow. iTunes with visualizer at the same time as I made a movie in iPhoto. iTunes with visualizer at the same time as Medal of Honor on its highest settings. Basically I loaded up everything I could, including Activity Monitor, and so far it's going well.
The irony is that this morning the computer froze when I first turned it on, and that was the last straw. I spent all afternoon on the phone with AppleCare and finally got a Return Merchandise Authorization, and NOW they come out with a fix.
Even with this "fix", though, I'm probably going to return the machine. And those of you who are unsure about whether or not to do a return, let me tell you why I'm going to.
When I was on the phone with the Customer Service guy (the TOP of the AppleCare hierarchy; first, basic rep; then, Product Specialist; then, Sr. Product Specialist; THEN the Customer Service people who can actually authorize returns), he told me something interesting. I said that I wanted to make sure I didn't encounter the same problems with a new machine and asked him if people with new machines seemed to be satisfied.
He said, "Yeah, cause they're getting the ones with the new [graphics] cards in them."
"So there were a few bad cards," I said, playing dumb.
"Yeah," he said. "But you won't have any problems now. What I hear, they pulled them."
I'm not saying the above is gospel. All I'm telling you is what I heard from the Customer Service person setting up my return authorization.
The sense I'm getting from all of this is that they know there are a number of machines out there with bad cards, and the reason why the firmware update doesn't install on all machines is that it somehow tests the card first to see if it's faulty. If it is, it does the firmware update, maybe deactivating part of the card or creating a workaround. Otherwise, why wouldn't the update be mandatory for all computers with that graphics card? It's very fishy to me. I'm going to assume that the update merely put a patch on an otherwise bad card and press forward with the return.
Hope my rambling here helps somebody.