Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

4 yr IMAC updated OSX to 7 and now get static screen/freezes

Nov 1, 2011 12:56PM PDT

I was on the 10.5.8 OSX and finally thought I need to update my OSX. I tried to upgrade to 6 using disc and the process would not complete in 1 try. Would stop 25 minutes into it and then 19 and finally the third attempt it worked. Thought it was odd but thought it worked. I have a mac store that I called and mentioned this problem. I thought maybe they know what to do so I decided to just upgrade my HD on my computer and have them update my OSX to 7 so it would be set. He did and then dragged my apps to the computer and have had problems. My screen has turned static or when I try to log in, it won't do anything, it freezes when I am working on it. I thought maybe I should just load my apps myself so I had the guy initialize my HD and reload and he would just drag my address book and mailbox. It gave him a full screen static pattern. He had never seen that before. The HD is good but what seems to be problem. I work on QUARK 7 and when I try to open a file it crashes. It should work because the appt is UNIVERSAL. Is there anyone who can help me and figure it out? The tech guy does not know what is wrong. He had said that the computer was running fine and restarting without problem but when he tried to import my contacts it locked up. I want my computer to operate like it did before I tried being a good mac owner and get a better OSX system.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Is this "mac store" that you called,
Nov 1, 2011 10:18PM PDT

a real Mac store, an Apple Authorized Service Provider or just a computer store that messes with Macs too?

- Collapse -
Answer
I second the other comments
Nov 1, 2011 11:25PM PDT

I second the other comments, and my reading of things is that this is just some guy you know who maybe works on Macs. If it is an AASP or Apple Store, you should call Apple and tell them about this. If it's an AASP, then it sounds like they're a bit on the less than reputable side, and should maybe have their contract torn up. Granted I only have this one example to go off of, but if your description is accurate, it just raises a number of potential concerns.

The fact that the install of 10.6 seemed to stall is an indicator of some kind of hardware issue. Probably my first bet would have been on the HDD, but I've seen plenty of other things cause those symptoms.

At this point, since you paid for a service which hasn't really been delivered upon, I'd keep taking it back to the first person until they do fix it, unless they're not actually an AASP or Apple Store, in which case who knows what damage they might have done. At first blush though, I'd think it sounds like maybe the LVDS cable isn't connected properly, or the video card is bad. You can test both of these by first seeing if there's any external video when the snow pattern is on the internal display, and also safe booting to disable hardware accelerated graphics. If you get the snow pattern on an external display, it's almost certainly an issue with the video card. If not, probably a loose cable or bad display panel. The display panel would definitely be on the repair tech since that has to be removed to upgrade the HDD on any iMac since the late iMac G5 days. The video card... That one's a bit more iffy.