Level 2

454 points

Stange behaviors; unable to diagnose

For the last few weeks, I have been getting these behaviors with increasing frequency:
1. unable to shut down-have to shut down by holding power switch for 5 sec
2. having to force-quit a number of non-responsive apps: System Prefs, Firefox 3, Word 2004, PowerPoint 2004
3. Dock icons bounce interminably but dont open.
4. Restarting in single user mode and running fsck -fy ends with "the volume appears to be OK AND FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED. After running fsck -fy again, no problems. Typing exit starts login sequence that sometimes ends with just a black screen. Have to hold down start again to shut down and restart.
5. Disk repair today from install disk: no problems
6. Apple Hardware Test today" no problems
7. Disk Warrior 4.1.1 today: no problems
8. Cocktail run today without apparent problems.
9. Also, sometimes ForceQuit wont work: report to Apple is a "hang"

I was planning on updating to OSX.5.7 but am leery of doing so while this weird behavior is going on. I can't find anything wrong...what am I missing???

Thanks in advance.

ph

Message was edited by: pomme-homme

PowerMac G5 2.0 GHz Dual Processor, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 6 GB RAM

Posted on May 27, 2009 4:47 PM

34 replies

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

May 28, 2009 2:42 PM in response to pomme-homme

Weirdness continues:

I have a replacement WD 640 HD coming. I installed Leopard on my 160 GB secondary HD and it seems to be working. In trying to apply the X.5.7 combo updater I get to the "select a destination" screen on the installer and no volumes appear?

Is this just Apple trying to talk me into buying a new computer.

I have never had this much trouble without being able to diagnose the problem!

May 28, 2009 3:17 PM in response to pomme-homme

I'm just downloading the 10.5.7 combo update now. What method did you use to install the update?

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

May 28, 2009 3:31 PM in response to pomme-homme

pomme homme and Sone of Mr. E., have you tried logging in to a different user account to see if the problems occur there? That's usually the first thing I try when my Mac starts acting weird. Crashing applications and hanging logouts are almost always a user account problem and not a system or disk problem.

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

May 28, 2009 4:29 PM in response to Király

that is a good thought, however, I am having the same behavior after an erase and install of OSX.5.2 on a different HD with a new user account. I just tried to update to 10.5.5 with the combo updater (because 10.5.7 wouldn't work) and upon restart I have nothing but a black screen.

this is getting ridiculous

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

May 28, 2009 9:54 PM in response to pomme-homme

So, I am looking at buying a new computer. But, for my information, if a problem exists on two independent hard drives after erase/installs on each AND apple hardware test was OK AND disk warrior was OK AND disk repair was OK...

what can the problem be???

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

May 28, 2009 10:11 PM in response to pomme-homme

Well, it sounds like bad hardware to me. Apple Hardware Test won't catch everything. I had a serious problem with my eMac's logic board (multiple capacitors were failing causing the Mac to freeze all the time) and Apple Hardware Test gave it a pass. The repair shop looked at the brown goo leaking out of the capacitors and knew right away what the problem was.

Have you tested your RAM? Forget Apple Hardware Test for that. Download and install memtest, and let it run in single user mode overnight.

May 28, 2009 11:38 PM in response to A son of Mr.E

I did a fresh reinstall and have left the machine over night. This morning after getting past the login screen, the dock didn't pop up, the background desktop image had altered colours and the cursor was moving in the opposite direction to the mouse movementsfinder's menu bar wouldn't work, so I had to power off, immediately tried to log back in and, no problems at all.... what is going on?

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

May 29, 2009 3:31 AM in response to A son of Mr.E

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. But rather than just going out and buying a new computer, you could get this one serviced. How old is it? Might it still be under the Apple warranty? Did you buy an AppleCare extended warranty plan with it?

May 29, 2009 4:09 AM in response to Mabel O'Farrell

Yes that is my next port of call. I didn't ** extra applecare, the Mac pro I bought in November 2007. I've not had a mac before, am a little unsure about servicing for a mac, how expensive do you think a thorough diagnositic test would be, I obviously want it fixed, but doon't want to throw good money after bad.

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

May 29, 2009 9:02 PM in response to A son of Mr.E

Just to update: I have spent the last two days trying to get the G5 working again and it is limping along. I think the problem is the WD hard disk and have a replacement on the way. It is still plagued with random hangs and black screen startups. The strange thing is that I reinstalled on my old 160 GB hard disk as well. Though this is less unstable, it is less than perfect.

This is the machine I do virtually all of my work on, so I ordered a quad-core MacPro replacement today. Will continue to tinker with the G5; it will be interesting to see if the problems resolve with the new WD hard disk.

Thanks for everyone's help...I was feeling a little like the astronaut dealing with HAL in "2001."

ph

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

May 30, 2009 3:26 PM in response to pomme-homme

Another update: if I had to devise a computer issue to drive someone crazy, I couldn't do better than this: the machine now works once I get it started, taking multiple restarts with the start button after getting blue or black screens...then it will startup normally. It works well for a while and then an application will freeze (not the same one every time.) Spinning beachball, Force Quit either doesn't work or says that it did, but the app is still open but can't be used. The only way to shutdown is with the startup button, and away we go again.

As noted above, I have a new computer on the way, but am intrigued with this problem and my inability to find anything wrong. This machine went from working well to unusable in 3 days.

I did run Leopard Cache Cleaner on both hard disks today, and for a while things were better. But not for long.

What would cause this?

Király

Level 6

10,025 points

May 30, 2009 3:34 PM in response to pomme-homme

This thread has become too confusing now that it has your problem and Son of Mr. E's problem all mixed together. It might be time to close this thread and start a new one, summarizing everything in one post.

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

May 30, 2009 3:36 PM in response to Király

Agreed...will do.

pomme-homme Author

Level 2

454 points

Jun 1, 2009 1:13 PM in response to pomme-homme

I think I may have fixed this problem after spending days of diagnosis, re-installing, pulling my hair out, etc. by doing something that I believe nobody suggested:

I CHANGED THE BATTERY.

I did this 3 hours ago. The machine seems to be working normally.

Shouldn't this be on a flow chart somewhere???

TildeBee

Level 7

31,923 points

Jun 1, 2009 6:06 PM in response to pomme-homme

pomme --

WOW!
Points for tenacity!
I don't think any of us thought of it either. . .
But several were sure it was hardware.

Congrats of not giving up!

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Stange behaviors; unable to diagnose