3 chimes

[janitor]

A mate has just had his refurb intel imac 2ghz with 1GB ram for about 3 weeks when he starts up it gives 3 chimes then works normally, although he says it has restarted twice on its own. Is this likely to be a memory problem or something else as after the chimes it seems to run normally.

[DeltaMac]

If you boot to the Apple Hardware test (it's on the system restore DVD, disk 1), you can test the system. It's likely you will get a failure with that test. 3 beeps means the memory passes the self-test, but is marginal for some other reason. So, yes, it's a symptom of bad memory.
hint: boot to the hardware test DVD by restarting with that disk 1 in the drive, holding the D key.

[janitor]

Thanks for that, he's tested it and says it comes up clean, will have a look myself over the weekend.

[JDV]

Memtest will do a much more thorough test of memory than the Apple Hardware test. You can get it at http://www.memtestosx.org/. Use the thorough test mode for most reliable results.

Joe VanZandt

[janitor]

Thank you for the help, got him to zap the pram and he's now reporting that it has gone back to normal just the one chime, will see if it stays that way.

[janitor]

seems like i spoke too soon and got it wrong it's back again and it chimes 4 times not 3, zapping the pram seemed to sort it but when it was turned on again a few hours later it was back.

[DeltaMac]

If the beeps are now 4, maybe you will get a different failure code if you try the Apple Hardware test. In other Mac models, 4 beeps means the ROM is not passing testing, but I don't find any info about that for Intel Macs. Failed ROM means the logic board is bad.
Here's a different idea - I have heard a failing hard drive make a variety of different sounds - some sound similar to the error beeps that the logic board can create. You can check the status of the hard drive in the System Profiler/Serial-ATA tab. Look at the S.M.A.R.T status there. If it says 'failing', then get the hard drive replaced.
Try different memory in the iMac.
You may want to take to an Apple authorized service, as you should have a good warranty repair issue.

[janitor]

Do the intel macs use the same memory as the imac g5s as if they do i can try it with the memory from my mac.Cheers for the continueing help

[DeltaMac]

No, the G5 iMac uses full-size DIMMs in various speeds. All the Intel iMacs use SO-DIMMs, which are the smaller size used in laptops. It's not physically possible to interchange those.

Find an Apple auth service to check the iMac out. Anything beyond memory, you don't want to get into, unless you have the service manuals that a service shop will have.