Serious stability issues on my intel imac

So my computer runs super-smooth in its "out of box" state.
Now before I go on I am not sure if the cause of this could be software related, although I will reinstall and load up software bit by bit to see if this is the case.
I purchased a game for OSX by EA, and the game installs successfully, plays great etc.
I rarely turn my machine off (the HD sleeps, of course) but lately what happens is when the machine "sleeps" It wont turn back on.
I have attempted to unplug, press power for 5-6-7- even 30 seconds, then plug in and when I hit the power button I hear the DVD drive spin and nothing else happens. So I repeat step one repeatedly 20-30 times and I finally hear the famous mac sound but no screen functionality. I repeat step one again 20-30 times and then when the sound occurs the screen appears for a split second then "poof" it goes black. I must repeat these steps until the screen finally loads up and gets into full load. these issues will NOT occur unless the drive goes to sleep or I turn the machine off and attempt to turn back on.
I have used the diagnosis and have found no issues. Again, if I reinstall from DVD none of these issues occur. I am 90% positive it may be from the Red alert game from EA but cannot substantiate this, I have found no online evidence of such an issue among other users.
Can anyone make sense of these occurrences and why they are happening? I am very frustrated and out of Apple care. the machine is barely 15 months old.
Thanks kindly,
Dino
dinopantelidis (at) gmail (dot) com

Hello dino:
Welcome to Apple discussions.
Try a couple of things:
Reset PRAM:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/26871.html
Reset the SMC:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Run repair disk from your software install DVD.
Barry

Similar Messages

Sleep Issues with 20" Intel iMac

I am having trouble with the iMac not "waking up" from sleep mode. In fact, it's not a full sleep. I have the machine set to "never" go to sleep. I do have the screen set to go dark after 30 minutes of inactivity. I also have the "turn hard drives off when possible" NOT checked. So the machine is supposed to never sleep, just the display. After 30 minutes the screen does go dark and I can wake it successfully. However, if the screen goes dark and is left off for several hours, like over night, then it will not wake up no matter what. Requires a hard re-boot. I have tried to reset whatever chip it is by unplugging the machine completely, etc, and that did not seem to help. I have no new software installed other than what came pre-installed on the mac. Any thoughts? It is frustrating that I can't leave the machine on.
20" Intel iMac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

hey!
have you applied the firmware update to your imac?
i like to do my own OS installs with new machines, this may be a bit drastic for your problem, but it would be something i would consider, just to have the operating system done by myself. are there applications you launched/have open when this happens?
you could also check in =>your drive=>library=>start up items and see what if anything is there...[move it out[but don't toss], reboot and check if your better off]
also go to system preferences=>accounts=>log in items and see what is enabled there. if anything is there, enabled, unclick it, re start and again verify if it 'was the culprit'... check back here, if those things are tried with/without success...
g5/2 gig/1.5 gig ram Mac OS X (10.4.6)

SERIOUS lag issues with Intel iMac

Hello everyone,
I'm pretty frustrated right now. I've been having this serious lag issue with my new iMac for the past few days. I think it may have started after I ran the last security update.
What happens:
When switching between apps, the system will hang for 1-3 seconds between doing anything. This includes typing, mouse requests, etc. It's VERY frustrating. I have activity monitor open currently, and I am seeing both Safari and SystemUIServer hogging up the CPU resources like CRAZY. I've even seen Safari recently give a CPU usage of 120%, right before I loaded this webpage. tis isn't just centralized to Safari too.... I have the following apps running:
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FoireFox 1.5.0.8
Safari
Activity Monitor
My Memory stats currently are:
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708MB Active
618MB Inactive
1.47GB Used
There should be no reason I'm getting these lags with just two web browsers and a chat client open.
Has anyone else expierenced the lags?? Any suggestions? I'm almost ready to reinstall OS X and not run the last security update. Thanks
iMac 1.83 GHz Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1.5GB RAM, Extermal LaCie 160GB FW Porsche Drive, Griffin iMate, iPod Min 4GB, JBL Creature Speakers

Hello Matthew
Are you running any maintenance scripts on a regular basis?
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html
I would manually run this script from The X Lab, and my load times would improve greatly. The problem was, I would forget to run them untill I noticed web pages loading slow or iTunes and iPhoto taking for ever. It wasn't untill someone here in discussions suggested Anacron that I saw the light. WOW what a difference Anacron has been making in my overall system speed. My iMac has not been shutdown for 11days 5hrs 34mins (sleep or use only) and opening new App's, switching App's and web pages load as fast or faster than after a fresh start up. If your system is operating properly and you are having only what seems to be a slow or sluggish issue Anacron will make a difference.
http://members.cox.net/18james/anacron-tiger.html
Dennis
17" iMac Intel Core Duo 1.5GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.8) Maxtor 300GB FireWire 2G Nano

Intel iMac stuck at desktop screen, no menu bar, no finder, spinning ball

Hi, I've just run into a serious problem with my 24" Intel iMac not starting up properly. At first it was getting stuck on the gray screen, then I got it to the blue screen, and now finally I can get it as far as loading the desktop picture, the cursor comes up and is responsive to the mouse, but has now become the spinning beachball. There is no menu bar, and the finder will not load. It's been in this state for about ten minutes. What I did to get it to this state is:
1. Disconnect all peripherals. I'm using an Apple wireless keyboard and mighty mouse, too.
2. Reset the PRAM.
3. Reset the PMU.
4. Used the installation disc to run Apple Hardware Test (the short version) successfully...no problems.
5. Used the installation disc to run Disk First Aid. Corrected a minor problem with the file structure.
6. Used the installation disc to run Disk First Aid. Repaired permissions.
7. Performed a Safe Boot, and got to the log-in screen, did not log in, but restarted normally as suggested in one of the Apple support articles.
8. Am now staring at my desktop picture without the menu bar or the Finder, but the spinning beachball is chugging along and is responsive to my mouse.
If it is of any help, I've noticed for several months that the computer would occasionally fail to wake from sleep, and I'd need to force a shut down by holding the power button for several seconds. Could this have been a precursor to the current problem?
At this point, I'm not certain which version of 10.5 I have, because I can't check. But I've installed all the Apple updates that have come through, so I must be at the current version of 10.5. I can't remember exactly how much RAM I have installed, either, but it might be 3 GB. I installed a second memory module at the time of purchase, which I bought from Crucial.com.
I'm having to write this on my ancient PowerBook G4, which is still performing admirably under OS X 10.4.11. Thanks for any help or suggestions anyone can provide! : )

It appears to have been a short of some sort on my power supply...it blew a capacitor somehow, though I don't know how/when that happened. Computer is on a surge protector, and generally sleeps during day while I'm away, but no power outages or other electrical issues occurred while I was out that I'm aware of.
Anyway, I had a new power supply installed by an Apple certified technician...opted not to do it myself...and discovered that the HD is perfectly fine. No data loss. Phew! Just two weeks w/o my computer, and no way to recover backup files on Time Capsule in the meantime.
Thanks for all the help and advice!

Tiger on iNtel iMac "Printing" over Airport to HP 2100M

Nice new iNtel iMac 2GHz running Airport Extreme can't print via Airport to a networked HP 2100M. The HP has an EIO card and it's connected to the LAN by that cable.
I have an old iMac that's hardwired to an ethernet hub that's being driven by the AEB and the HP 2100M is also connected to that hub.
The old iMac sees the printer and prints just fine.
The new Intel iMac doesn't see the HP over Appletalk and I'm not able to figure out how to setup the new iMac to print via Airport using the IP address of the HP printer.
Any help would be appreciated.
Here's a 30,000 ft level view of my LAN:
Internet Cloud =>Comcast Cable ISP =>Cable Router
AEB =>Linksys Ethernet Hub
•iMac 350MHz (don't laugh. She's still a beauty) OSX 10.2.8
•HP 2100M with Network EIO card
iNtel iMac (sees the Internet just fine via AEB, but can't see the printer for patootie!)
iNtel iMac 2GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5) HP 2100M with EIO network card, AEB LAN,

Unfortunately, that didn't work. I power cycled the cable modem, AEB, router hub, and the printer and the iMac still can't "see" the printer.
I've looked at the Airport discussions and this problem is a larger issue than the iNtel iMacs. It sounds like it's probably an AEB issue.
I'm running the latest firmware to no avail. It almost sounds to me in the Apple literature that they only support USB printing through Airport. This would be a serious blunder as the business world relies more on networked server based laserwriters than USB dot matrix printers.

Illustrator CS6 Stability Issues- crashing every 5 minutes

Hi All,
I've been having serious stability issues with Illustrator ever since I upgraded from CS5.5 to CS6. It crashes like every 5 minutes, mostly when I use the "nevigator" tool to pan to another area of the artboard. The windows messsage was something like "the program has stopped working".
I am really sick and tired of that and this is seriously affecting my productivity. Furthermore, does Illustrator has any auto recovery function?
Does anybody know what might be wrong? I am using Windows 7.
Grateful for your help.
Best,
James

I keep having the same problem. It would be half as bad if there was at least an auto recovery function.
Also on CS6 / Windows 7.

Periodic iChat audio dropouts over Airport on Intel iMac

When chatting with iChat, an audio dropout occurs exactly every 5 minutes on my new Intel iMac. iChat's Connection Doctor shows total loss of receive audio signal quality (and a halving of the receive bit rate) for about 5-10 seconds. Then normal operation resumes for 5 minutes and the problem repeats. This only occurs while using iChat over Airport. I can also force this audio dropout behavior at any time by clicking on the Airport status icon on the menubar. I wonder if others are having this problem or is this an isolated problem with my computer?
It took me a while to recognize that this wasn't a network problem causing occasional audio dropouts. My wireless D-Link router isn't the culprit as my G4 iMac and G3 laptop don't exhibit the problem through the router. Also, when connecting from the Intel iMac to any of the other nearby Macs using a computer to computer Bonjour wireless connection (thus eliminating the router) the dropouts do occur. After connecting, the dropout always occurs at a random time between 0 and 5 minutes but thereafter it occurs at exactly 5 minute intervals. If I click on the Airport status icon to force the audio dropout, the next dropout will occur 5 minutes later.
I also have a new Intel Mac Mini which doesn't exhibit the periodic audio dropout problem but does have a similar audio dropout whenever I click on the Airport status icon. The dropout lasts longer on the Mini - about 15 seconds average before the audio signal quality fully recovers. Because the periodic dropout doesn't happen on the Mini, it isn't really an operational problem, but it is instructive to note that only the Intel Macs exhibit this particular behavior.
In troubleshooting the iMac, I have turned off all timing related items that I can think of including, Mail (check manually), Set Date and Time Automatically (OFF), all sleep, hard drive and screen timers OFF, all iCal reminders OFF, etc. I have also turned all Dashboard Widgets OFF, corrected permissions, tried a different user ID, reset the NVRAM and SMC. I have even tried setting the iChat app to open as a Rosetta app . Nothing has solved this problem yet.
The iMac is a dual core 20" with 1.5 GB of RAM and the Mini is a dual core with 512 MB of RAM. Both are running Tiger 10.4.5 Wireless signal level in all tests is 100 percent.
Thanks for any help.
Bill

OK, I have my Intel iMac connected to the Internet via an Ethernet converter. What this means is that the iMac is connected via Ethernet cable to the Ethernet converter, which, in turn, communicates wirelessly with a wireless router.
This seems to clearly solve the wireless connection audio issue as the Intel iMac thinks it has only an Ethernet connection. There is no audio dropout after five minutes or so, but there may be other Mac to Mac connection issues related to Intel Macs.
I'm going to run with this connection for awhile to see if there are other problems, but this seems to be a good workaround for the moment. I'm using a Buffalo Technology WLI-TX4-G54HP Ethernet converter, which costs about $60 USD at most online vendors in the US.
Although $60 may seem like a lot of money to spend on an Apple-created problem, using the Buffalo high power device is almost surely going to provide significantly better wireless range. This increased range advantage may be enough to offset a large part or all of the $60 cost.

Intel iMac will not turn on. Won't boot up from install disc either.

The last couple of weeks I have been noticing lag, freeze and graphical issues with my Intel iMac -- ever since I installed a video game called Warcraft 3. My computer's specs are way beyond the recommended specs of the game (it was released in 2002) but even when playing the game I would have graphic and freeze issues. It would get to the point where I would have to power off my computer and power it back on to get out of the freeze.
Tonight when it froze my computer, my whole screen was given a "digital green" tint. I can't figure out any other way to describe it. I powered the computer off, turned it back on and the usual Apple that pops up when the computer starts up had the same "digital green" lines through it. After that it goes to a grey screen and sits there.
I put in the install discs that came with the computer and powered it back on -- same scenario would play out. It was like it wasn't reading the discs. I turned it off again and held down "Option" when powering it on and it asked me what I wanted to boot from: the hard drive or the install disc (the green tint was gone). I chose hard drive and my computer booted up like normal finally, but once the desktop screen finished loading, the whole screen turned green and froze again. I powered down, turned it on with "option" again and chose to boot from the install disc (now the hard drive and install disc labels had the green tint too). Nothing happened. The computer went right back to a grey screen and stayed there.
Any ideas what the problem could be and how I might fix this?

Hello fallingisfunny
As described in the link below, run the Apple Hardware Test a and see if it detects a hardware issue! If a hardware problem is found then you will need to take the iMac in for service!
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
Apple support will probably have you do an *Archive and Install* or *Erase and Install* from the OS X Install Disk. If you have everything backed-up, you might give that a run as per the article in the next link!
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1544?viewlocale=en_US
Message was edited by: den.thed
Man the forum is acting funky tonight, I've bee trying to get in and post a reply for 20 min's.
Dennis

Intel iMac wireless issues

I've had a 20" Intel iMac for over a year now and have never had very good success maintaining a connection to my network wirelessly. I have tried everything, but nothing fixes it permanently. It would just drop the network sporadically, especially if it hadn't been accessed in a day.
My DHCP is set up to lease IP's forever so that's not the problem.
I also have an Intel MacBook that I bought last summer. I've never had problems staying connected to the network with that (though it takes 30-40 seconds to reconnect from hibernation).
The odd thing is that even when the iMac was connected to the network the MacBook could never see it. Couldn't share itunes, couldn't connect to the shared drive, etc. It was almost as though the iMac was invisible to the network. Trust me, I've got no firewall, everything that can be shared is shared, it's as open as it can get (behind my secured router of course). Nothing.
Now, I've added an Apple TV to the mix. I had no problems getting it onto the network and the first time it found iTunes on the iMac and connected, synched, etc. I could stream video from it. All was good. For 1 day.
Then, day 2, nothing, can't find the iMac at all. Just says to make sure iTunes is open. It is, doesn't show the Apple TV in the devices either. I tried switching channels on the router, moving the apple tv around, stopping and restarting everything. Nothing. Wouldn't find it.
I finally got so frustrated (I had gotten the box out to send the apple tv back) that I grabbed a long network cable, plugged it into my router and ran it out the room, down the hall and plugged it into the iMac and disabled the airport card.
I brought up Safari, no problem. Tried iTunes and voila, there was the apple tv. Turned on the apple tv and bingo, there's my library.
I even went to my MacBook and there's the iMac on the network. Brought up iTunes and there's the shared library.
So, suffice it to say, there is a serious problem (and I've seen this posted over and over again) with the Airport cards in combination with the new Intel iMacs that does not seem to impact the Macbooks for some reason, at least not mine.
I guess I will leave it plugged into ethernet and try to hide the cable under the trim or something. I'm frustrated by this whole experience but I'm glad I found a way to get apple tv working.
Both my iMac and Macbook have all the latest software updates.

I've had a 20" Intel iMac for over a year now and have never had very good success maintaining a connection to my network wirelessly. I have tried everything, but nothing fixes it permanently. It would just drop the network sporadically, especially if it hadn't been accessed in a day.
My DHCP is set up to lease IP's forever so that's not the problem.
I also have an Intel MacBook that I bought last summer. I've never had problems staying connected to the network with that (though it takes 30-40 seconds to reconnect from hibernation).
The odd thing is that even when the iMac was connected to the network the MacBook could never see it. Couldn't share itunes, couldn't connect to the shared drive, etc. It was almost as though the iMac was invisible to the network. Trust me, I've got no firewall, everything that can be shared is shared, it's as open as it can get (behind my secured router of course). Nothing.
Now, I've added an Apple TV to the mix. I had no problems getting it onto the network and the first time it found iTunes on the iMac and connected, synched, etc. I could stream video from it. All was good. For 1 day.
Then, day 2, nothing, can't find the iMac at all. Just says to make sure iTunes is open. It is, doesn't show the Apple TV in the devices either. I tried switching channels on the router, moving the apple tv around, stopping and restarting everything. Nothing. Wouldn't find it.
I finally got so frustrated (I had gotten the box out to send the apple tv back) that I grabbed a long network cable, plugged it into my router and ran it out the room, down the hall and plugged it into the iMac and disabled the airport card.
I brought up Safari, no problem. Tried iTunes and voila, there was the apple tv. Turned on the apple tv and bingo, there's my library.
I even went to my MacBook and there's the iMac on the network. Brought up iTunes and there's the shared library.
So, suffice it to say, there is a serious problem (and I've seen this posted over and over again) with the Airport cards in combination with the new Intel iMacs that does not seem to impact the Macbooks for some reason, at least not mine.
I guess I will leave it plugged into ethernet and try to hide the cable under the trim or something. I'm frustrated by this whole experience but I'm glad I found a way to get apple tv working.
Both my iMac and Macbook have all the latest software updates.

Intel iMac freezes, reboots and other issues

Intel iMac 17" 1.83 Ghz model (Had for a while now)
1 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM installed (Mac detects this fine)
Mac OS X 10.4.8
Beginning yesterday, the Mac froze when shutting World of Warcraft (which had been installed and working for at least two months). Computer completely hung. Restarted machine.
A few minutes later, the machine just switched itself off (or appeared to) - screen goes black. I held in power button for five seconds until I heard a click in the machine. This has happened repeatedly.
One time, the machine froze and the monitor refreshed at a visible rate (I could see the scan line) - each time the screen got darker.
Often, it will turn on, but the OS won't load unless I hold Alt down, or if I use OptionAlt+PR.
Ran disk utility from the install disk, only minor issues, all fixed. The problem of turning off still occurred.
Nothing in the kernel panic log. Diagnostics in System Profiler is saying it passes on the power on self test.
The confusing thing is, that after last night, I pulled the plug out, went to bed, praying to the computer fairy to fix it. This morning, it ran fine continuously for about 8 hours, running WoW, IRC app, iTunes etc. all fine.
Could it be a power supply issue? Is the thing overheating (the Mac is up to date with EFI Firmware update and SFC Firmware update).
I'm utterly stumped as to what's causing it. I don't want to send the thing off as then I'm without a computer.
Any ideas or advice?

Has it done it since?

Intel iMac Power / Overheat issue?

Hi there,
I have an Intel iMac from 2006. About 2 years ago it started to just turn itself off randomly as if there was a power failure. When it does, the only way to power it back up is to switch it off at the plug, switch it back on and press the power button (strangely) twice. I have noticed it seems to be temperature related - when my iMac reaches around 78C (which I'm pretty sure it should be able to handle fine?) it tends to be in the danger zone and at any minute can switch itself off.
I've got around this by using smcFan Control - which thankfully displays the temperature in the menu bar meaning when I hit around 72C I can whack the fans up to full blast to keep the temperature down. Being a sound studio computer - the hum of the fans really isn't ideal, but it at least makes my computer usable. However, I'm currently in the middle of a big project on Logic and I've had to turn my room into a fridge (window open-more clothes on) to be able to work on it as all the processing involved heats it up to 75C+ in no time.
I was hoping someone could shed some light on this or at least tell me if I am right in thinking that 78C is nothing really and the iMac should deal with it easily.
I have seen tons of posts regarding the G5 iMac power problems and similar problems with the intel iMacs - I've done all the hardware resets (PRAM, SMC, PMU) as suggested in these forums but nothing has helped.
I have had the power supply changed in the past (before this problem arose) as one day it just went kaput. Don't know if that makes any difference but I'm pretty sure that the problem started a little while after the replacement was installed.
Thanks in advance!
Message was edited by: Lee_Head

LR is a Universal Binary app. YOu're good to go. I did a migration from iBook to MacBook recently with no issues.
Don
Don Ricklin, MacBook 1.83Ghz Duo 2 Core running 10.4.9 & Win XP, Pentax *ist D
http://donricklin.blogspot.com/

Performance issue with brand new intel iMac extreme

I am at a loss to explain a problem I've been having and I thought I might put it out to you guys.
In September I purchased a macbook Pro (2.4 ghz, 4 GB RAM) to use in video editing with Final Cut Pro, and for the most part I've been thrilled. I use 1TB LaCie external drives connected via FW800, and perform Multiclip editing with 4-5 video streams at a time and only on occasion have dropped frames during the editing process.
In December I determined that I needed to have an additional system, and thought a 2.8Ghz Intel iMac extreme would be an excellent choice, since for the same price I could get a little more power in the processor, more hard drive space and a bigger screen to work on. When we picked up the new system in the store (The Grove Apple Store in LA), we had them upgrade the memory to 4GB.
Since day one we have had performance issues, including problems playing streaming and DVD video, severe delays mounting and unmounting drives (firewire and USB) and application images, and freezing while doing even simple tasks like printing or checking email. These problems occur even while there are no external drives are connected. I have none of these issues with the Macbook Pro, which has virtually an identical set of programs installed, and both running the same version of Leopard.
I already took the original iMac back to the store, and they exchanged it, but did not have 4GB sets of RAM in stock so they took the RAM from the original machine and put it in the new one. They said if I continued to have problems then it was most likely the RAM and I should come back when they got more in stock. I DID have the same problems with the new machine, and took it back to the Apple Store and they swapped the memory. It seemed to improve the issue, but now I'm seeing the same severe performance issues again.
All tech support can do is tell me to do a PRAM reset, which seems to improve things very temporarily (but that may be my imagination) or have me restart, which at least has the ability to make the printing of documents capable.
What I'm wondering is if it is likely that the RAM is the issue and I just got another bad batch, or if the iMac has some weird glitch that isn't present in the macbook Pro...?? Or could I have possibly gotten 2 bad systems in a row? It's extremely frustrating, and I KNOW it shouldn't be this way! It's so bad I get better performance out of my single-core G5 tower! How do I get a good working system that operates like it should? Am I better off getting another Macbook Pro? I'd rather not for several reasons...
I have xbench on both the MBP and the iMac and can provide test numbers if they'll help, as well as any other info.
Thank you so much for reading my novella of a post and also for any insight you have!
Best,
Travis

Hi!
I got the same problem with my MacBook when it still was new in may 2006. It was supposed to be one of the faster Laptops around but it was soooo slow it drove me nuts. I can only advise to have a look if there is something hugging up your RAM and run some tests using these programs on your machine:
Xbench:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10081
MenuMeters:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10451
If they show any unusual results you might have your problem...
As to my problem with the MacBook: I did a complete re-install (writing the harddisk over with zeroes) and suddenly everything was just fine. (But be sure to back all your files before that, I learned this one the hard way.) I know it is just a standard answer, but it worked out for me this time...
Hope this helps in some ways.
Cheers,
Rene

27" iMac stability issues, also stuck on 10.6.3, won't upgrade to 10.6.4

Hi, we have a 27" iMac that is running 10.6.3 and is having stability issues. It's the Core i7 model, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD - real nice machine. It was purchased this summer - but it's *not the absolute latest* model.
The issues revolve mostly around iPhoto '11 giving the spinning wait circle when trying to perform random operations including photo import, merging Events...simple things like that. It causes iPhoto to freeze and then Finder freezes, and so on. Have to turn the machine off with the power button. Yes, we ran Software Update and the latest iPhoto '11 update is installed.
In addition, I also tried to install the FaceTime Beta and it won't let me because it said it doesn't have Security Update 2010-005 installed. Downloaded that and it said it won't install because 10.6.4 isn't installed. Downloaded 10.6.4 and it refuses to install. Machine is stuck on 10.6.3. Software Update application says we all up to date and there are no "ignored" updates - the option to "Reset Ignored Updates" is even greyed out.
Tried repairing Disk permissions, rebooting...nothing.
I'm very disappointed because I recommended my Dad buy this machine to get him off PC's after touting how great, stable, and easy to use my Mac is and after dropping $2500 or whatever this thing cost, he is not impressed.
Please help, thanks.

First I would recommend doing SMC and PRAM resets. Here are the instructions:
_SMC RESET_
• Shut down the computer.
• Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
• Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• Release the power button.
• Attach the computers power cable.
• Press the power button to turn on the computer.
_PRAM RESET_
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
• Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
• Release the keys.
Next you should upgrade to 10.6.4. Here is the link to the 10.6.4 combo update. Navigate there and update the computer immediately. To me it appears you have a corrupt file if Software Update isn't finding any updates while you're on 10.6.3. You should be in touch with AppleCare and they can help you fix that.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048
After doing the upgrade re-do the SMC and PRAM resets using the same instructions from above.
Finally repair disk permissions using Disk Utility (Applications-Utilities-Disk Utility)
If all that doesn't take care of it contact AppleCare while the machine is still covered by warranty. You get 90 days for free phone support, if you haven't already I would recommend purchasing AppleCare which will extend the warranty to 3 full years and includes 3 years of phone support. AppleCare must be purchased while the machine is still covered by it's original warranty. You can purchase AppleCare at a discount from resellers like Amazon and LA Computer Company. Just ensure you buy AppleCare for iMac.
If you don't want to get AppleCare then book an appointment at your local Apple Store and bring it in. I'm sure the problem is pretty minor.
Also a final thought, some people are in the habit of turning their computer off when their done. Apple recommends you leave it on 24/7 and let it sleep when not being used. If you are going to be away for more than a few days then turn it off. This is stated in the owner's manual.

Intel iMac Noise Issues?

I am considering the new iMac Intel Core Duo. My brother has the original iMac G5 and has always complained about how loud it is with fan noise (and it is loud!). I was curious if the Intel iMac has removed this issue? I've seen them at the Apple Store here in San Francisco, but in the retail environment of that large space there is no way for me to know what it would sound like sitting in my home.
Thanks for the feedback ...

From all reports it would seem that Apple has corrected whatever caused all the noise in the first gen and ALS model G5 iMacs.

My intel iMAC keeps freezing up. How can I correct this issue?

Why is my Intel iMAC freezing up and how can I fix this issue?

Try:
- Reset the iOS device. Nothing will be lost
Reset iOS device: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- Reset all settings
Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.
All your preferences and settings are reset. Information (such as contacts and calendars) and media (such as songs and videos) aren’t affected.
- Restore from backup. See:
iOS: How to back up
- Restore to factory settings/new iOS device.
- Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store.
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar
CAUTION
Before you restore the iPod make sure that your iTunes library has the version of apps that are presently installed on your iPod. Many apps have been update and the update apps are not compatible with the 2G iPod. I would do that by deleting the apps from your iTunes library and then transfer them to iTunes. See:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer

Serious stability issues on my intel imac

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