One week old, no power to my imac 2.93GHz with Radeon 4850

Question

I got my $2100 iMac a week ago (late April), spent days loading all my iTunes songs and photos onto it, tagging faces in iphoto, setting everything just how I wanted it... and this morning I come down to a non-functioning computer. I have the 2.93GHz with the optional ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb graphics card. I was using it last night to play Age of Empires, and everything seemed fine. When I left it to go to bed I clicked the power button, and it went to sleep/ standby as usual. Today I clicked the power button, the space bar, the mouse, and no response. I checked my other equipment for signs of a power problem, but everything else appears to be normal. Tried different outlets, different power strips, no luck. It had been plugged into a nice Belkin power strip the whole time. Called tech support, who advised me to hold the power button down for 20 seconds, no luck. Their next advice was to get it swapped out at the apple store, which of course does not deal with the upgraded graphics cards. The guy at the store told me he recommends sending it back to apple for a replacement, but I'm not crazy about sending my documents, $55 game disc stuck inside, and itunes songs that have been authorized on this computer (number 4 of 5 allowed) to someone I dont know and have no communication with. Does anyone think this could possibly be fixed at the apple store? Any ideas on what could have caused it? I'm a little concerned about the graphics card being the issue, especially if this happens again sometime down the road when it's on me to pay for repairs. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

HI Dave,
*"clicked the power button, and it went to sleep/ standby as usual. Today I clicked the power button, the space bar, the mouse, and no response."*
First, try resetting the SMC, instructions here. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
If the game disk is still in the optical drive, *try booting while holding down the mouse*.
Next, try booting from your install disk.
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
According to this article there might be a fix in the making. http://techblips.dailyradar.com/story/newimac_owners_see_radeon_hd_4850_related_lockup/
I did a quick search in this iMac forum for ATI Radeon HD 4850 and you are not alone.
http://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?objID=f1110&search=Go&q=ATIRadeo+hd4850
"Does anyone think this could possibly be fixed at the apple store? A" It wouldn't hurt to have them look at it. You can make an appointment at the Genius Bar in advance. http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/
Carolyn