Mac freezes after screensaver

I'm having the same EXACT problem and I can't seem to find any other threads that discuss it. I'm pretty sure it has to do with Leopard since I didn't experience any freeze issues until I installed it about a month or so ago. Have you found any help on this issue?

I have exactly the same problem. If I walk away from the computer for more than 15 minutes, when I return the screen is dark and I can't get it to respond. I have to manually hold down the power switch and re-boot. This problem is only since installing Leopard.
I guess I can just adjust the settings in the energy pref, but Apple should fix this.

ME TOO! No applications are on, or running, just Finder is on... screen saver comes on, you come back to it later, it's frozen. I've had this mac pro since December, it was a Christmas present, the first time it froze was a few months ago, but now it's happening more often.

So what's the immediate answer, to just not use screen saver? Or should I also not put it to sleep? I'm a recent PC convert so don't know a lot about macs -

Thanks

Yep, same exact problem - I have tried all sorts of different screensavers too. Only happens with screensavers and then sleep, If I sleep the Mac manually there is no problem to wake it. Irritating... It only started happening yesterday!

Hi there,
Not a proper solution but a temporary fix. I have been having the same problem but found if I use the expose part of system preferences you can set the corners to disable screen saver which brings you out of the screensaver without having to restart the computer. Not sure why it is happening in the first place.

I am seeing the same problem on my Mac Mini - the screensaver kicks in, and then randomly freezes. I don't have a fix for the problem, but I have found a way to get control back - and maybe it's a clue to what's going on.

I have found that if I connect to the Mini with the frozen screen saver from another Mac via Screen Sharing, I almost always immediately get control back. I have sometimes had to try quitting Screen Sharing and reconnecting again, but I have ALWAYS (so far) gotten control back. It's almost as if the frozen machine is ignoring the local mouse and keyboard but responding to the "virtual" ones across the VNC connection.

same problem with mine.

neat, ain't it?

have you had any video card related issues as well? I have and i am replacing my beloved 1900 soon with the new 3870.

i guess i will cross my fingers and twinkle my toes while i hope it all goes well. not much else one can do.

Yesterday my Mac Mini hung during the "Flurry" screensaver and I couldn't wake it using keyboard or screen sharing, so I called AppleCare. During the call, when I was trying to shut it off, I didn't hold down the power button long enough to shut it down, but enough to put it to sleep. When I hit the keyboard, it woke up, unfrozen. So that was interesting, but what was more interesting is that resetting the SMU (aka the PMU on other models) and zapping the PRAM seems to have fixed the problem at least for now. I will post again if it recurs.

Hello,
I have the same problem even on my PPC g5, running os 10.4.11, so it's not just a 10.5 problem. This problem has only started after i have installed the RSS feeds screen saver. And since then all my other screensavers are doing the same thing.
Has anyone also had the fan in there computer go REALY loud for 20 seconds while it freezes?
Also I don't know if you have had this problem too, but if you get your computer out of the freeze as soon as you scroll through the dock it freezes again.

as a basic trouble shooting technique, sign in as another user (create one if you don't have any) and see if that solves it. At least then you know if the problem is most likely due to something in your user prefs or not. If it solves the problem, delete the system prefs related to the issue and see if that helps.

I'm glad I'm not the only one suffering this annoying problem. In the last few months it seems that if the screen saver kicks in for any period the system freezes sometimes with a black screen and the fans running at high speed. Nothing wakes the system up and sometimes it takes 2-3 attempts to switch the system off (holding down button of front) and restart it., I suppose its all the more annoying because this is the kind of behaviour I expect of a PC not Mac OS X which has been rock solid for years until now.

I've seen threads on line that discuss the same problem and it has been suggested that it's the capacitors and that a new logic board might be needed. Mine was freezing even without the screen saver. However, when I spoke to a Mac Engineer [about an eMac this was happening to] he suggested it could be caused by either blown capacitors, third party software, or that it might just need to have OSX reloaded.

After checking the capacitors were okay I reloaded my machine from scratch [after erasing disk, and backing up music & photographs etc] and the machine worked fine - except it still froze when screensaver kicks in. So I've turned screensaver off. I will have another go at tackling this problem but I've come a long way from the computer going into slepp/coma! Incidentally this isn't a Leopard problem. The mac it is happening on is running Panther.

One more thing the machine didn't do this if run in 'Safe' mode.

Message was edited by: Eulipion

Message was edited by: Eulipion

same here... 10.4.11... everything working great for 15 months or so. Ran RSS screen saver today, then it froze. Changing to other screen saver didn't solve it.

It isn't Leopard specific. The eMac it is happening on for me is Panther.