sapphirescales
Well-Known Member
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I have a 27" iMac 2017 model. It's actually my personal Mac (I got it from a client when it only had 3 hours on it - he couldn't afford to fix his gaming computer so gave me his brand new iMac instead). I run Windows 10 Professional (Mac OS is NOT installed or dual-booted with Windows). It has a 250GB SSD.
A few months ago I started experiencing graphical artifacts that would move or change when I moved the window or moved the mouse over it. I just figured it had to do with crappy driver support or something and I ignored it. I only use the thing to list items on my website and other places on the internet. I have 2x 27" Apple Thunderbolt displays attached to it (so it's basically a triple monitor Mac setup).
Now it tends to freeze up and turn off and then restart itself at least a couple times a day. Quite annoying if you're in the middle of listing something and the thing just dies. The thing won't stay on for longer than 20 minutes or so now and the problem is rapidly getting worse. Running Furmark (GPU stress testing software) on it doesn't seem to affect how long it will stay on, and temps of the CPU are normal. GPU temps get into the 95C range when running the stress testing software. However even running the GPU at 100% only increases its power draw by a few watts. It draws approximately 80 watts at idle and 88 to 89 watts under full load. But it's definitely NOT an overheating issue. The GPU is about 45 to 50C at idle and the thing still dies and restarts.
I'm leaning towards a power supply issue. The thing passes Apple Hardware testing (no surprise there). I'm going to wipe it out and reinstall Mac OS next to see if the behavior goes away. It didn't originally ship with Mojave so maybe there's a firmware update available (although theoretically I should get those through Windows as well). What do you guys think?
EDIT: I wanted to make sure and say that the thing does NOT turn off and stay off, but restarts. I know it depends on the settings on the firmware how a computer handles a power failure, but I'm not sure how Mac's are set up by default. I know in some PC's you can change the settings in the BIOS to stay off in the event of a power failure or restart. I don't think you can change that option on a Mac, but do Mac's usually stay off after a power failure or restart? I don't get a lot of Mac's in with power issues.
A few months ago I started experiencing graphical artifacts that would move or change when I moved the window or moved the mouse over it. I just figured it had to do with crappy driver support or something and I ignored it. I only use the thing to list items on my website and other places on the internet. I have 2x 27" Apple Thunderbolt displays attached to it (so it's basically a triple monitor Mac setup).
Now it tends to freeze up and turn off and then restart itself at least a couple times a day. Quite annoying if you're in the middle of listing something and the thing just dies. The thing won't stay on for longer than 20 minutes or so now and the problem is rapidly getting worse. Running Furmark (GPU stress testing software) on it doesn't seem to affect how long it will stay on, and temps of the CPU are normal. GPU temps get into the 95C range when running the stress testing software. However even running the GPU at 100% only increases its power draw by a few watts. It draws approximately 80 watts at idle and 88 to 89 watts under full load. But it's definitely NOT an overheating issue. The GPU is about 45 to 50C at idle and the thing still dies and restarts.
I'm leaning towards a power supply issue. The thing passes Apple Hardware testing (no surprise there). I'm going to wipe it out and reinstall Mac OS next to see if the behavior goes away. It didn't originally ship with Mojave so maybe there's a firmware update available (although theoretically I should get those through Windows as well). What do you guys think?
EDIT: I wanted to make sure and say that the thing does NOT turn off and stay off, but restarts. I know it depends on the settings on the firmware how a computer handles a power failure, but I'm not sure how Mac's are set up by default. I know in some PC's you can change the settings in the BIOS to stay off in the event of a power failure or restart. I don't think you can change that option on a Mac, but do Mac's usually stay off after a power failure or restart? I don't get a lot of Mac's in with power issues.
