DazzaG

Q: 24" iMac Screen Freezes since 10.6.3 update - pls help!

I don't know if this is just coincidence or not, but since updating my iMac to 10.6.3 it keeps on crashing. On 3 separate occasions today, whilst using my Mac the screen has gone completely black with thin white lines down it.....see pic below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6SYzhCgVYEU5TBKqRfOQ1Q?feat=directlink

The fans and hard disk are still running but it will not respond to any keyboard or mouse presses - I simply have to turn it off by holding the power button in.
It will then restart as usual.

Anyone got any ideas? Do you think that if I was to re-install Mac OS X from my original install disk it could solve the issue?

Thanks

Darren

24" intel imac 2.8Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 2:43 PM

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Q: 24" iMac Screen Freezes since 10.6.3 update - pls help!

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  • by Pacopeluca,

    Pacopeluca Pacopeluca Jan 3, 2012 6:06 AM in response to ricardofromfunchal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2012 6:06 AM in response to ricardofromfunchal

    Thank you so much for fixing what Apple didn't. I managed to fix my iMac 7,1 running Lion by using the 10.6.3 kext files before, my iMac was a piece of s*, it froze everytime I wanted to use it.

     

    thanks again!!!

  • by ricardofromfunchal,

    ricardofromfunchal ricardofromfunchal Jan 4, 2012 4:20 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 4, 2012 4:20 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal

    ricardofromfunchal wrote:

     

    Hi people,

     

    I have this freezes some time ago before Christmas, sometimes when i log in the  Question Mark symbol appears, i read that my HD was dying, so i change and my Imac was faster, i really enjoy and was happy my problem was gone. It last only a week and the freezes starts again, and know my computer don't even starts?

    I've run the hardware text several times and a bunch of keys combinations but with no sucess

    I've been reading this threat for some time, could i get some help here.

     

     

    Aluminium Imac, August 2008

    Imac 8.1

    Intel Core Duo

    3.06 GHz

    CPU Cache: 6 Mb

     

    NVIDIA 8800 GT

    VRAM: 512 Mb

     

    Memory: 4 Gb  -  2x2Gb  800Mhz

     

    By the way i am running the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8.

    Anyone got an idea how i boot my Imac?

  • by todor,

    todor todor Jan 5, 2012 7:39 AM in response to imacsocolditsfreezing
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2012 7:39 AM in response to imacsocolditsfreezing

    Hello. I'v got the same mac and freezing problem. The question is if this occurred before upgrading to Lion? In my case I don't remenber.

  • by ricardofromfunchal,

    ricardofromfunchal ricardofromfunchal Jan 5, 2012 1:12 PM in response to todor
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2012 1:12 PM in response to todor

    Hi, i don't think it's about Lion, because e never upgrade to Lion or even Snow Leopard.

     

    Today i get a new HD and install the Leopard from the shipped dvd in an external disk shell, and put into my imac, and the imac don't even start, i don't know what is mu real problem here, i've run the hardware text and all seems to be fine, i've tried to enter in Safe mode, making a fsck, pram... whatever, my imac don't start

     

    The sinptoms are always the same, the Apple logo appears and the "spinning circle" and after that just freezes!

    My guess is that the computer somehow don't recognize the system or maybe or there are some conflit with the graphic board.

     

    Cheers.

  • by ricardofromfunchal,

    ricardofromfunchal ricardofromfunchal Jan 5, 2012 1:17 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2012 1:17 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal

    Hi,

     

    I've seen people talk about changing "kext" files, how can i do that if may imac don't even start?, can i take my HD and put it in a external shell and do that? Like to get some help

     

    Cheers.

  • by swmaster,

    swmaster swmaster Jan 5, 2012 1:40 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2012 1:40 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal

    if you have the same freezy problem with your imac - e.g. the gpu crashes, not kernel panic - the box can be repaired if you have "remote login" (a.k.a ssh) enabled. in this case you can use any other mac/pc/ios device to start an ssh session to your cripled imac, copy the kexts over, and install them just like you would with terminal.

     

    or you can take your old SL 10.6 dvd, make your imac boot from it, and instead of installing open up a terminal from the menu, and use an usb thumb to transfer the needed kexts.

     

    from the top of my head i'd tell that you probably have some broken ATI kexts in your kextcache and as you try to boot normally, osx can't load them, that's why you don't have "visual contact".

     

    you can force a kext cache rebuild by issuing this simple command in Terminal:

     

    sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

     

    and then wait 4-5 minutes so the caches are rebuilt for sure.

    then you can restart your mac.

  • by ricardofromfunchal,

    ricardofromfunchal ricardofromfunchal Jan 9, 2012 2:01 PM in response to swmaster
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 9, 2012 2:01 PM in response to swmaster

    Hi swmaster, thanks very much for your reply, you just give me hope in this.

     

    I'm a simple user of apple computers and some stuff i'm quite away to understand as this problems i'm having, i don't think i have that "remote login" (ssh) enable, could i get in just connecting a firewire to another imac?

    One question, how can i know wich kext files are broken and wich kexts i put in place?

     

    Thanks a lot,

    Cheers

     

    PS. sorry for my english, it's not my mother language

  • by mumpedo,

    mumpedo mumpedo Jan 11, 2012 10:09 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 11, 2012 10:09 PM in response to ricardofromfunchal

    My 8,1 iMac (10.6.8) also started having black screens a few days ago and then would suddenly wake up. It was like this for a couple of days and I found this thread so I had hope! I did the PR and SMC suggestions but no joy. Sadly, now I have a permanent black screen.

     

    I looked for kext files but didn't have any. This machine has an NVIDIA 8800 GS card.

     

    I can access the iMac from a laptop and so know that the HDD is all okay. I just tried starting it up from a SL DVD and it is still black. This sounds more like a hardware problem now.

     

    Any suggestions?

  • by ricardofromfunchal,

    ricardofromfunchal ricardofromfunchal Jan 12, 2012 5:21 AM in response to mumpedo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 12, 2012 5:21 AM in response to mumpedo

    Turn on your Imac with the "D" key pressed and run a hardware text to see if that is your problem.

     

    Cheers.

  • by mumpedo,

    mumpedo mumpedo Jan 13, 2012 3:08 AM in response to ricardofromfunchal
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 13, 2012 3:08 AM in response to ricardofromfunchal

    Thanks for the suggestion. At first I thought, my screen is totally black all the time, what will I see. But I did it in hope that something might happen.

     

    At first nothing did happen. Still black screen. After I let go of the D key the computer started up normally and with the screen back! However it was flickering across a band about 1/3 the way down the screen. As the screen warmed up the flickering stopped.

     

    I tried to start back up again with the D and same thing, nothing until I let go of the D and then a screen. So I figured I didn't have the hardware test installed. Found a DMG, installed it and tried again. Still no joy and this time no screen.

     

    Have turned off the computer to cool it down and will see if the screen comes back. I am now pretty convinced it is a hardware problem, since the screen is flickering and faded in and out to black the second time, then was fine after warming up.

     

    Thanks for the suggestion though. I can't get the hardware test to run as yet but will keep trying.

  • by mumpedo,

    mumpedo mumpedo Jan 15, 2012 1:10 AM in response to mumpedo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 15, 2012 1:10 AM in response to mumpedo

    Update on what info I have found.

     

    For all owners of any Mac that has a NVIDIA 8x00 graphics card (many of the 2007 and 2008 models), your problem is likely to be a GPU failure.

     

    I have the iMac 8,1 2008 with the NVIDIA 8800 GS card, which seems to be a GPU with recurrent faults.

    Go here for more info:

    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1085213

     

    It would seem that Apple should know about this problem as they were part of a successful lawsuit against NVIDIA regarding their 8600 cards in MBPs.

     

    Many iMac owners seem to be getting their GPU (and in some cases logic board) replaced for free.

     

    Hope this info will help those with NVIDIA cards sort out their problems and not waste as much time as I did!

  • by eBomber,

    eBomber eBomber Jan 23, 2012 11:15 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 23, 2012 11:15 AM in response to DazzaG

    After more than 15 days without a freeze on my iMac, I can only say:

    Thank you to everyone who made it possible to fix it !!

     

    iMac 7.1 , 2Ghz, 2GB, ATI HD2400

    SL 10.6.7 and kext from 10.6.2 (Harkaitz method)

  • by iLove Mac,

    iLove Mac iLove Mac Jan 26, 2012 2:05 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 26, 2012 2:05 AM in response to DazzaG

    Just thought you should now. I just got my Mac back from repair. They found that one of the RAM was defect.

    Maybe it´s just as simple as that... for everyone...

  • by richard.s.hall,

    richard.s.hall richard.s.hall Jan 26, 2012 4:00 AM in response to iLove Mac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 26, 2012 4:00 AM in response to iLove Mac

    Unfortunately, I don't think it's that simple. For my system, I bought new memory to test that possibility and it froze just as regularly as with my old memory. The only fix I've found is from using the 10.6.2 kexts.

  • by jaycee1980,

    jaycee1980 jaycee1980 Jan 26, 2012 7:44 AM in response to iLove Mac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 26, 2012 7:44 AM in response to iLove Mac

    Unfortunately its not that simple. My ATI 2400 based mac is fine hardware wise, having been tested extensively. It is 100% stable under Windows 7. I could try swapping out the kext's but I have since got a newer Mac from my company, and the old Mac is now a Windows machine for my girlfriend!

     

    I am still not convinced there is any hardware fault as apple claim, it would have showed up under the Windows ATI drivers which push the card a lot harder than OS X does

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