Forums | MacLife

I purchased a brand new Intel iMac 2.4ghz, 4GB ram Model #A1224, running Leopard, here in Sydney Australia mid-July 2008 for $1700.00 AUD

I was using this iMac every single day for almost a year, and had absolutely no complaints, no concerns.

Then, the first week of July this year I went overseas.  My iMac obviously stayed home and when I returned 6 weeks later, I plugged it all back in, and again it was fine.  Totally fine.  Then 10 days later I went overseas again for 5 weeks, when I came back and plugged in & turned on my iMac I was faced with a BLACK SCREEN (10 days ago).  I can hear the HD working in a normal sounding way.  I do not hear a start up chime.  The caps lock button on my keyboard does not light up and my keyboard seems to be unresponsive.  I did try resetting the PRAM.   I followed the instructions here too:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543

The only known result was a much louder fan until I force restarted.

I have gone thru the troubleshooting guides on the Apple.com support web site with no results at all.

My iMac is now about 75 days out of it's one year warranty.  From speaking to a few Apple Tech people off the record, they have suggested it almost certainly is a hardware issue and the best case scenario woud now be if it is simply a loose wire or connection estimated repair at under $100 AUD.  The worst case scenario now and seemingly more likely is a logic board failure estimated repair at $1000.00 AUD. 

I have called 3 different authorized Apple Repair Center's here in the Sydney area which included reporting the issue to the Apple Support phone number.  The cost to simply diagnose the issue is either $65., $75. or $99. depending on where I take my iMac.  So far I have not taken it in for a formal diagnosis, I am still in total shock that my iMac has failed like this. 

I have posted this issue on the Apple Support Discussion Forum and one other guy in the UK replied and says his same model iMac is 20 months old and when he tried to wake it from standby mode last week, he encountered the identical symptoms as mine. 

am not trying to say that everyone who has a problem outside of warranty should have a complimentary repair, but to have logic board failure on such a new computer is unreasonable, in my opinion. $1000.00 AUD?  No way!

I understand hi-tech products and electronics have a life of their own. After owning more than half a dozen Apple computers over the past 20 years, I have come to know first hand, experience, and expect a quality product, definitely with a lifespan of more than 14 months. Part of the reason I came to this forum is to see if anyone else has experienced similar issues with an Intel iMac 2.4ghz Model #A1224.

If you have any supportive and or constructive words or suggested courses of action, I would love to hear from you.

Susan from Seattle
now residing in
Sydney, NSW