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zign · Jul 31, 2005, 05:23 PM

Before I bought my iMac I read quite a lot of reviews and complaints about burning iMacs and so on. Some people had theirs burnt during night time. When I used my PC, I left it on at all the times, but I am a little paranoid to do the same with the iMac. So my question is, how often should I let my iMac rest? It runs pretty cool, when I leave it on during the day to download stuff, but I am still concerned.

pat++ · Jul 31, 2005, 06:43 PM

No need to let it rest if you don't want to.

alimunnik · Aug 1, 2005, 02:38 PM

I can relate with your concerns. Last night i left my iMac G5 20 rev B on in order to download some large files, which takes forever with slow speed dial-up. When I awoke this morning the download had been completed and the screen had gone into Screensaver mode. I suspected that things had turned rotten in the State of Denmark when I heard small but strange static sounds coming from within. When I started issueing commands a lot of spinning beach balls appeared, although the commands were eventually executed. In an attempt to set things right, I shut the unit off and then rebooted it. And that was the end of my iMac, as all I've been able to get is a blank blue screen.
I have this Mac for less than 3 months. I always put it to sleep at night for concerns similar to yours. Only once was it on all night, about a month ago, and that's when the static noise first appeared, although the results were not as catastrophic as today.
At best, I suspect a failure in the power supply; at worst a shot logic board. I opened it up and the capacitators looked fine. Still, things like this shouldn't happen, but BE ADVISED!

mousehouse · Aug 1, 2005, 04:00 PM

under normal conditions your machine should have no problem in running apps for extended periods of time. otherwise it's a hardware problem and time to call Apple...

items such as IDE Hard Drives typically have a shorter lifespan if continiously hammered...

zign · Aug 1, 2005, 04:33 PM

It's just a little annoying having to switch it on just to check my e-mail

I know that if anything does happen apple will fix it, but I don't want to wait for weeks for them to fix it. If they had anp option where they would just replace the unit in the store, I wouldn't be that concerned

zign · Aug 1, 2005, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by alimunnik

I can relate with your concerns. Last night i left my iMac G5 20 rev B on in order to download some large files, which takes forever with slow speed dial-up. When I awoke this morning the download had been completed and the screen had gone into Screensaver mode. I suspected that things had turned rotten in the State of Denmark when I heard small but strange static sounds coming from within. When I started issueing commands a lot of spinning beach balls appeared, although the commands were eventually executed. In an attempt to set things right, I shut the unit off and then rebooted it. And that was the end of my iMac, as all I've been able to get is a blank blue screen.
I have this Mac for less than 3 months. I always put it to sleep at night for concerns similar to yours. Only once was it on all night, about a month ago, and that's when the static noise first appeared, although the results were not as catastrophic as today.
At best, I suspect a failure in the power supply; at worst a shot logic board. I opened it up and the capacitators looked fine. Still, things like this shouldn't happen, but BE ADVISED!

That is exactly what I don't want to experience. Good luck though!

mousehouse · Aug 2, 2005, 01:03 AM

it could be a faulty powersupply, i've heard of other "strangeness" related to that.

yongfook · Aug 2, 2005, 07:27 AM

Originally Posted by alimunnik

I can relate with your concerns. Last night i left my iMac G5 20 rev B on in order to download some large files, which takes forever with slow speed dial-up. When I awoke this morning the download had been completed and the screen had gone into Screensaver mode. I suspected that things had turned rotten in the State of Denmark when I heard small but strange static sounds coming from within. When I started issueing commands a lot of spinning beach balls appeared, although the commands were eventually executed. In an attempt to set things right, I shut the unit off and then rebooted it. And that was the end of my iMac, as all I've been able to get is a blank blue screen.

Almost the same thing happened to me. I left my iMac on all day downloading, got back, the screen had died. Not a blue screen, but a backlit, black screen with no graphics. Nothing could bring it back to life. It's currently in repair.

alimunnik · Aug 2, 2005, 01:16 PM

Sent my iMac out for repairs this morning. Over the telephone, the technician sounded bored and incommunicative, as though he were stressed out by a surfeit of faulty iMacs flooding his workhop. I hope all it is is a faulty power supply, even though the unit starts well enough; it just freezes to an icy blue when it reaches the "Reading OSX" stage.
A failed HD sounds bad, very bad. If that is the case, it is certainly not due to a regimen of over work, as I barely use the damn thing, and I have been subjecting it to TLC. Like my mom says, "Why, he wouldn't even hurt a fly!"

zign · Aug 2, 2005, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by alimunnik

Sent my iMac out for repairs this morning. Over the telephone, the technician sounded bored and incommunicative, as though he were stressed out by a surfeit of faulty iMacs flooding his workhop. I hope all it is is a faulty power supply, even though the unit starts well enough; it just freezes to an icy blue when it reaches the "Reading OSX" stage.
A failed HD sounds bad, very bad. If that is the case, it is certainly not due to a regimen of over work, as I barely use the damn thing, and I have been subjecting it to TLC. Like my mom says, "Why, he wouldn't even hurt a fly!"

You should get yourself an external HD for back up. I duplicate all imortant files on my iBook and iMac.

alimunnik · Aug 2, 2005, 04:46 PM

Yes, of course, in a perfect world we would all be backing up our files on external HD's, etc. But I am quite sure that the great majority of people don't go through the rigamarole of backing up new data every time they use their computers. I am quite fastiduous about backing up completed projects, but to make a copy of everything would require the patience of a Job. A much better state of affairs would be to have a RELIABLE computer whose HD is not prone to fail without rhyme or reason when practically brand new. After all, I wouldn't pressgang my brother into driving 100 meters behind me every time I fired up my vehicle, just in case that my engine would fail.

zign · Aug 3, 2005, 05:32 AM

I actually back up at the end of each day (if it's been productive ofcourse

). If I work on a project, I just back it up on a 512Mb usb thingy. Hard Drives do fail. You can shake or bump your computer at the wrong time and that's it. I lost 150GB of data just a couple of months ago. I was transfering files from System hd to the second one and accidently hit the computer under the table. The process froze so I restarted the pc and my hd was gone. I took the hd itself to some pc workshop and was told that I destroyed the blocks that contain the data about hd or something like that. I won't miss mp3's or software, just the work and this does not take up that much space.