Long winded rant, not expecting much sympathy (apart from shoulda bought a PC) but a rant feels good at this time.

Since 2008 I’ve been using my apple 2.4ghz MacBook (aluminium unibody) and for the previous few years I’ve realised its been getting on a bit, doesn’t really play well with 1080p hd videos (YouTube) but despite that its never let me down, never shut down, never had a single issue nor a sniff of a problem and a few years ago I updated it to the max memory of 8gb and a 1tb hard drive – ran perfect and reinforced my belief that apple stuff just works Ive owned Macs since early 2000’s+ and all the iPhones up to 6s then jumped up to XS, same with iPads, owned many and now using iPad Pro 11″ – never had an issue with anything failing.

Back in late August I sold my mk2 golf gti 16v as I admitted to myself I’d never drive it again due to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis so I decided to treat myself to a new Mac to see me through the coming years as I rarely manage to leave the house these days. I bought a 2019 27″ iMac 3ghz 6-core i5 with a 1tb hd from the Apple refurb store and a couple days later it turned up, I quickly set it up, copied my time machine back up over and sat down to revel in cozy Apple smugness, that didn’t last very long as on safari I kept getting the following message “this webpage was reloaded because a problem occurred” so I browsed the apple forums and noticed other folk were getting the same message and as it was very intermittent I didn’t think too much of it, the consensus was it was a problem with javascript on certain websites which would be sorted with the next Catalina update. So I ignored it.

Fast forward a few weeks later and a different message popped up “This website is using significant memory and closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac”, so I did what any sensible apple fanboy would do – I upgraded the measly 8gb of ram with two extra 8gb of memory so I now had 24gb, surely this will be enough for my non ram intensive tasks of YouTube, browsing online and commenting on shite on STW, nope – problem still persists except the messages are getting more frequent along with laggy response on website scrolling.

I eventually admitted I may have an issue so started a chat session with apple support and it was decided that I may have introduced an issue with the time machine back up and a fresh install would be the best course of action. So I erased the drive, fresh install of Catalina and reinstall of time machine back up but problem still persisted. Back onto Apple chat where other advice was followed, problem still persisted and eventually I was called by a senior engineer/manager in Ireland who decided a fresh install (but done his way) was for the best, but hold off on installing the time machine back up in case it was a corrupt file. I ran the Mac for a few hours and it seemed ok so installed my time machine back up again……problem reappeared so the engineer called yet again and a fresh install of Catalina was done but this time I selectively copied my music, photos and Apple TV stuff over (450gb) rather than the full 600gb+ time machine back up.

Is it sorted? – nah is it hell but this time my Mac keeps shutting down and restarting every so often making it unusable, not to mention I have lost all album art and my photos (still got them on time machine back up disc this is unplugged, and in a drawer in the next room…..just in case its computer covid) – not what I expected from a £1500+ Mac nor what I expected from apple support.

Back on the phone to the senior engineer/manager and I asked for a replacement machine as this one is fubard but there’s no chance as apparently I am out of the 30day window (Mac was bought on 20th August), despite my protestations regarding the issues I have been having from new. Apple will not even collect the machine for repair, it is now up to me to drive to Carlisle and hand the Mac in for repair at an authorised Mac repair store which I plan to do on Wednesday.

It was bought using my bank of Scotland/halifax visa debit card so I don’t think I’m covered under section 75 and I can only hope the repair is quick but I’m not holding out hope, its been a bloody nightmare so far and the stress/hassle has really set of an MS inflammatory response big style, I’ve been isolating (in my sleepy galloway town) due to my condition since February so a trip to Covid ridden Carlisle is not something I’m looking forward to.

So?…there you go….Apple stuff is bloody brilliant when it works but if anything goes wrong and you don’t fit into their rather small box of warranty/repair then you’re ****.

And first one to mention “shoulda bought a windows machine’ gets lamped…..

Jesus Christ….. that’s the longest post I’ve ever wrote on stw………..

As an aside I just posted the exact same message on the Apple forum and it was removed within 60seconds as apparently…..

Thanks for participating in the Apple Support Communities.

We’ve removed your post An Apple sob story (from an Apple fanboy) because it contained either feedback or a feature request that was not constructive.

Jesus Christ…..so you are not allowed to write an honest account of issues?,

If it IS a time machine issue, and the machine works OK with a fresh install, can you do that again and just copy the files you need off the TM backup? Re-download & re-install apps? Bit of a ballache but possibly less so than having a take it in for repair!

That’s crap soma, hope you get it sorted.

Unfortunately online editing is just a fact of modern business. We weren’t allowed a feedback of an utterly shocking holiday accommodation with Hoseasons as it portrayed them negatively – this on an ‘independent feedback’ site.

No, its not a time machine issue as I ran the Mac when I first received it without installing my back-up and the issue “this webpage was reloaded as a problem occurred” popped up on a few websites, the engineer on the phone said it appears to be a hardware issue and advised me to take it to an Apple service place.

so you are not allowed to write an honest account of issues?

Try a title that explains your issue, if seeking help on there… rather than “An Apple sob story”… it’s not STW, it’s a support community.

advised me to take it to an Apple service place.

That might be them offering the fastest and easiest why to get the issue resolved… it doesn’t remove your rights to send it back to them, as you ordered it at distance.

have you tried a different browser?

Hmm, ok…sensible advice….damn you stw….where’s the “wee in shoes”….”own with bombers” responses.

I’ll try “New iMac issues, what could be wrong with it” as a title and try again.

https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

Apple Limited Warranty : Included repair or replacement options : Carry-in or postal service

I presume that you should have the choice of either… I don’t see how they can force a “carry-in” situation, if you ordered online and had it delivered. I’d go with taking it to a store to be sorted out though, if it was me.

Jesus Christ….. that’s the longest post I’ve ever wrote on stw

I’ll wait for the film.

It’s a long shot, but have you tried removing the ram that was in it when you took delivery?

It’s the one constant you can easily remove.

The issue was there before I installed the extra ram, I removed it to check and the problem still persisted unfortunately, as for trying a different browser that’s something I’ve not tried, but I figure it should work with safari as is.

Drac, wanna throw your iPad at it to see if that helps?.

We’ll see what the service centre says on Wednesday.

As an aside it’s not had an issue for the last two hours….I did swear at it in Gaelic so perhaps that’s helped.

Edit : nope its playing up again now, just opened the photo app and its lost all my photos……..tried to open it again and get message “The photos app needs to quit, photos must quit because the photo library is being moved (first I’ve heard of it?, it was there 30 mins ago), is unavailable or its data is corrupt”.

Hmmm…..fubar indeed.

somafunk
Free Member
as for trying a different browser that’s something I’ve not tried, but I figure it should work with safari as is.

Defo try it, could well just be a safari issue, install chrome or something see how you go, at least update safari to latest version. and make sure you’ve got everything updated in general.

Do the easy things before you start making journey’s and up costing ye money. 😆

Everything software wise has been updated by the senior engineer who I was on the phone with for hours on Sunday and earlier today using remote access so I expect little computer illiterate me won’t be able to fix it…..still love my apple products btw so I’m not soured against them – everything I’ve owned since early 2000’s has always worked first time every time but its bloody annoying all the same.

I guess the 1tb fusion drive is knackered as its pretty noisy and whirs away whilst I’m doing nothing with the Mac – if it is that I wonder if the service centre would fit a 1tb ssd instead?.

Try running MS Edge 😉

Will someone please show TiRred the door…………..😉

I’ll try a restart and see if my photos reappear

Well that was a bloody mistake…..wouldn’t shut down so I pressed the off button on rear to shut down, waited…..then switched back on and all I see is the apple logo and process bar then it shuts down and restarts to apple logo and process bar then it shuts down and restarts to process bar, it’s looping round n’ round.

Right….time to admit defeat….walk away and have a whisky.

The issue was there before I installed the extra ram, I removed it to check and the problem still persisted unfortunately,

Try removing the original RAM that came already installed ?
That’s the constant and is easy enough to try, on the off chance that that’s the issue it could be an easy win.

Typing from my iPad as I can’t get it to shut down, it seems to be stuck in a loop, I may just pull the power cord out the back or switch off at wall as what’s the worst that can happen?

No experience on Apple stuff mate but on a pc id probably let it continue over night and see if it’s sorted in the morning.

Feel for you, amazing tech these days but it makes it all the more infuriating when it isn’t working as expected.

That sounds like a broken machine.

I’ll not explore what you could have done at the start as you are where you are and it may have made no difference.

Based on what you’ve done and what’s been proposed why not just box it back up and get a courier pick up to send it in for repair? No travel, easier than going to Carlisle, and it gives the experts a chance to inspect and hopefully repair.

it seems to be stuck in a loop, I may just pull the power cord out the back or switch off at wall as what’s the worst that can happen?

well the fusion drive could become (further) corrupted.

by now I expect you have turned it off and on again. Have you tried opening it in recovery mode? Then try disk utility’s repair option. You could always try reinstalling MacOS again too. But you’ll likely be better off packing it up and sending it off.

the original ‘memory’ / website problem is one I’ve not seen on Macs, yet  [edit. I was mistaken, on re-reading I remembered I have seen that. And ignored it, it’s just a Safari moan rather than a problem]. But the answer to problems like that is rarely ‘add more memory’ as even 8GB should be enough for some much more demanding activities. Opening Activity Monitor could have provided some insight but I imagine the support folks used that or dissected the console logs.

all in all this is a shame. It does sound like the Apple folks tried long and hard with you to help but were unable to get things sorted remotely. That can happen. Sorry you had this bad luck and I hope your system is back up soon.

debit card? Always use a reputable credit card for expensive purchases.

By the way, Catalina broke more things than it fixed for me. Thankfully Big Sur looks and works like something good so far.

Haha, I was going to suggest pulling out the original memory stick, but nealglover beat me to it.

This latest realisation about the noisy hard drive, will the upgraded disk from the old one fit it as a test?

Sounds like it could be a hardware failure with the fusion drive. You could boot off an external SSD (if you have one) via usb-3. If that fixes the problem, you have an answer.

Back on the phone to the senior engineer/manager and I asked for a replacement machine as this one is fubard but there’s no chance as apparently I am out of the 30day window (Mac was bought on 20th August), despite my protestations regarding the issues I have been having from new. Apple will not even collect the machine for repair, it is now up to me to drive to Carlisle and hand the Mac in for repair at an authorised Mac repair store which I plan to do on Wednesday.

They’ve been shite like this for years. Just trading on the early days reputation of swapping stuff no questions asked.

Wife’s iPhone developed very annoying battery fault 6 weeks inside warranty. Tech support were infuriating to deal with, basically dragged it out until outside warranty washed hands of it. I think going to store is best bet but it sounds a bit like us you live miles away from a store.

Contrast with my Samsung phone. It had a fault. One call, they send UPS to collect and a week later a new one turns up. No fannying about.

Sounds like it could be a hardware failure with the fusion drive.

This, same issue with our in the first 8 months then it died completely.  Fusion drive replaced at the nearest Apple store and all has been well for two years.

3rd what they’ve said about the drive. I’ve had 2 iMacs with fusion drives and they’ve both run almost silently. Never heard any whirring up noises.

Agree. The fact that it now won’t boot, the fusion drive was whirring away whilst idle and your photos disappearing all indicate that the fusion drive is FUBAR. The latter two symptoms would specifically point to an issue with the drive/OS internally transferring data between the mechanical disk drive and the NAND memory. The first symptom would indicate that it’s had enough and given up.

Sorry to hear of your woe’s OP. If it makes you feel any better I got my daughter a windows laptop a couple of years ago when she started secondary school as I wasn’t going to shell out on a Mac and it has been one of the worse consumer experiences I’ve had in recent times. It was as on ‘on paper’ half decent laptop – HP, decent amount of RAM, decent processor, £500 worth etc. Has been awful since day 1. Multiple fresh instals, tried everything in my amateur arsenal to improve its performance and maintain some level of acceptable performance but failed miserably. Should have taken it back to the shop early on but like you thought I’d persevere and fix it. Such a terrible experience it now sits gathering dust in my Daughters bedroom and she pinches my Mac to do her work on. Now my younger daughter has just started secondary school i’m looking to get a laptop for her and I’d rather by both a MacBook Air (can’t buy one kid one and not the other) than waste another £500 on a POC. At least I know it’ll last their whole school careers and beyond based on my Mac experience. Not sure how I’m going to fund it…will probably have to raid their bank accounts to partially fund.

No computer is perfect and the hardware is largely the same quality on equivalent machines across platforms. So anything can fail and cause weird issues.

But Macs can have software issues too. I’ve got two in this house from work and they both have started waiting for 2 mins before letting me log in after being asleep.

it now sits gathering dust in my Daughters bedroom

That’s just silly. Either take it to someone who can fix it or pass it on. Windows does actually work despite what Mac fans would have you believe.

Jesus Christ…..so you are not allowed to write an honest account of issues?

You basically sent up a flare for the moderation system with ‘Apple Fanboy’.

Morning all, update : now stuck at apple logo startup process bar screen,

Pretty green parrot: Based on what you’ve done and what’s been proposed why not just box it back up and get a courier pick up to send it in for repair?, debit card? Always use a reputable credit card for expensive purchases.

Why should I be the one who pays a courier and insurance to get a working mac, never owned a credit card, couldn’t get one if I tried due to years on benefits.

This latest realisation about the noisy hard drive, will the upgraded disk from the old one fit it as a test?

it’s an iMac, you can’t open them and I don’t have an ssd. All the usual diagnostic stuff has previously been tried, all immaterial as it won’t turn on anymore, still…..it does look good as a £1500 paperweight on my desk.

Back on the phone to the senior engineer/manager and I asked for a replacement machine as this one is fubard but there’s no chance as apparently I am out of the 30day window (Mac was bought on 20th August), despite my protestations regarding the issues I have been having from new.

This is covered in the Consumer Rights Act. You are still entitled to a refund as the issues started within the 30 days. Talk to your bank about a charge back (still applies to debit cards)

Contrast with my Samsung phone. It had a fault. One call, they send UPS to collect and a week later a new one turns up. No fannying about.

That sounds like atrocious service to me – they seriously left you without a phone for a week?

Whenever I’ve had to deal with Apple exchanges, it either been a) instant swap in store, b) they send the new item out straight away and I’ve returned the faulty at my leisure (taking my credit card details obviously!) or c) the courier that brings the replacement and takes the faulty one away.

Torsoinalake : You basically sent up a flare for the moderation system with ‘Apple Fanboy

but I am a fanboy, still am a fanboy despite this issue, I fully expect complicated electronic gadgets to fail for no accord, what should then happen is the support and after sales service should kick in and deal with the issue at no further personal inconvenience.

“This website is using significant memory and closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac”

My 2009 iMac started doing this with FaceBook.
Then Singletrack wouldn’t open (and some other sites).

I figured seeing as nothing had changed on the computer other than updates from Apple, it had to be Safari and some scripts or the way they were handled.

I installed Brave which gives more control over what’s coming in, and it is what I use for FaceBook and Singletrack now. I’m gradually shifting all my regular sites over to it.

epicyclo – a brand new iMac should handle it with ease though.

Epicyclo: I had that issue earlier on in the year with Stw being the only website in my bookmarks folder not opening in safari on my 2008 MacBook running El Capitan (but no similar memory issues as you mention) , I also downloaded brave browser onto the MacBook and that worked.

Try Computeractive magazine. They have a consumer rights section. It’s amazing how often them getting involved makes large companies see the error of their ways.

I agree with above post that this looks like a Consumer Rights Act case. The fact that they fobbed you off so you are now out of the 30 day period should help.

Back in late August I sold my mk2 golf gti 16v

I know zero about computers but I do like a MK2. Do you have photos of the car? Or is that worse than asking for pictures of an ex-girlfriend?

never owned a credit card

The protections also apply to stuff bought with a debit card, don’t they?