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Arno · Nov 25, 2007, 03:06 PM

Dear All,

First of all, I am a true Apple fan. However, everything started when I switched from my black Macbook operated by Tiger to the IMac, 2.44 operated by Leopard a few weeks back.

Fresh out of the box I started on my new "baby" to upgrade the RAM to 4. Everything fine. The next thing I did was to install Parallels, Vista, and MS office 2007 professional. Everything fine, man was I proud.

Well, I had to go on a business trip and after I returned a few days later I wanted to continue with my new "hobby". Now, it started right there - Parallels started to play up and a few days later it completeley refused to start up until today.

The next thing was that I wanted to run Rise of Nations which came out with graphic issues (well, I was told that this game does have these issues with this system).

The next thing was that I ran Roller Coaster 3. It worked fine on the beginning but after a few days it started to refuse to work after a few minutes into the play.........

Today the Leopard system started to ask me to restart the system as it will need to shut down............every 3 minutes or so.

So I am sitting on a brand new Apple which does look nice as decoration.

Please, please from all of you out there who are much smarter and more experienced than me when it comes to Apple..........please let me know what I can do. I look forward to your recommentations.

Thank you very much.

Cold Warrior · Nov 25, 2007, 03:14 PM

make sure you're running all the latest software updates, including an iMac firmware update.

angelmb · Nov 26, 2007, 03:31 AM

Firstly, I have to say that your posture towards your issue makes it really easy to read… other people would be yelling and blaming everyone at Apple, from the guy that operates the AppleSeed's DVDs duplicator to Steve Jobs… just kidding…

My iMac, a mid 2007 aluminum 2.4 GHz 24 inches display with also 4 GB RAM has had freezing issues from day one… I have wait refusing to send it back to repair (it's not like you are going to get the same tech. service living in Europe as you are going to get there in the USA), and as Cold Warrior says there are at least two updates you would have to apply to your iMac, follow the links to more info:

Apple - Support - Downloads - iMac Software Update 1.3 (Leopard)

Apple - Support - Downloads - iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0

there is detailed info about the graphics firmware update here…
About iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0

My iMac hasn't freeze again -fingers crossed-, so maybe this would help yours.

As for running PC apps… I also had issues with Parallels and ended moving to VMware Fusion, there are several topics about those apps at the 'Alternative Operating Systems' here @ macnn
http://forums.macnn.com/alternative-operating-systems/

Are those games you are talking about Mac o PC games?, needless to say I am not a computer gamer, but I guess than in order to play Windows games, Boot Camp would be so far the best option… please forgive me if those games your are talking about are indeed native Mac games.

Good luck with your issues.

HazMacFan · Nov 26, 2007, 08:26 AM

No sure if you checked it out yet. But, have you tried your iMac with just the standard Apple RAM? Just to rule out any faulty RAM?

rmiller · Nov 26, 2007, 11:03 AM

Sure sounds like bad ram to me.

obelix112za · Nov 26, 2007, 04:07 PM

I have new Alu 20'', 2.44 + 4GB RAM.
In my opinion, it might also be bad RAM. I bought my RAM from crucial.com

I'm also running Leopard, parallels & XP Home, but only for one or two small apps. Not gaming with Parallels. My gamimg will be done via XP Pro & Boot Camp, which is running very well.

Another thought. I wouldn'd be surprised if it's Vista that's the problem. I've worked on once for 5 mins, seems OK, but just Google & you'll find Vista has too many problems. Rather try XP Home / Pro. Vista is also very power hungry. You're expexting Parallels to run Vista & games, very CPU intensive. I'm sure if it's not bad RAM, you'd have better luck with XP.

Good Luck

mduell · Nov 26, 2007, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by obelix112za

Another thought. I wouldn'd be surprised if it's Vista that's the problem. I've worked on once for 5 mins, seems OK, but just Google & you'll find Vista has too many problems. Rather try XP Home / Pro. Vista is also very power hungry. You're expexting Parallels to run Vista & games, very CPU intensive. I'm sure if it's not bad RAM, you'd have better luck with XP.

I know it's fun to bag on Vista and all, but is Vista inside (or outside) Parallels going to affect other apps or cause kernel panics? No.

Arno · Nov 27, 2007, 10:23 AM

Hello All,

Thank you very much for all your feedback!! I will get busy and try all your suggestions. As soon as I have some results I will let you know. Just FYI, the games I am talking about are all for McIntosh.

Arno · Dec 7, 2007, 09:49 AM

Hello All,

Did check the ram (purchased it from Other World Computing) and it works fine. Did install the updates suggested by angelmb(thank you), reinstalled Parallels and Vista.

From a first glance it did the trick. It works just fine and fast. Well, lets see of how it goes in the near future and after I installed MS Office Prof. 2007.

The Mac based games Roller Coaster 3 and Rise of Nations Gold I did not try yet (was checking on their home page if there would be some updates but as far as I can see there are none. The latest update option I saw was from 2006).