System Freezes Randomly after 10.6.3 Update

Hi,

I have seen other people post various other problems they have experienced after 10.6.3. But I want to dedicate this thread specifically to Macs freezing randomly during operation after applying the 10.6.3 update.

It has happened twice in the past 24 hours. While using my iMac, the system becomes unresponsive and exhibits the following symptoms:

1. Though the mouse pointer moves, I cannot click on icons, links, select text or interact with anything using the mouse.
2. The system is also unresponsive to key presses on the keyboard, whether they be individual key presses or pre-defined keyboard shortcuts.
3. The only way to make the system respond is by holding down the power button until the iMac shuts down.

I cannot tell if the problem is related to the specific activity I was performing on the Mac - the freezing may seem random to me but it could be caused by the same event (maybe Flash, Javascript, or some background program)

If you are having the same issue, please post here by copying and pasting the text below and entering your answers:

1. Problem started happening after 10.6.3 update? Yes/No
2. Did you get any errors during 10.6.3 update process? Yes/No
3. Mouse cursor moves? Yes/No
4. Mouse clicking does nothing? Yes/No
5. Keyboard key presses do nothing? Yes/No
6. Only way to re-animate system is by holding down power button? Yes/No
7. Mouse/Keyboard Model?

I'll fill in mine to start:
1. Problem started happening after 10.6.3 update? Yes
2. Did you get any errors during 10.6.3 update process? No
3. Mouse cursor moves? Yes
4. Can you click anything with the mouse? No
5. Does the system respond to keyboard key presses? No
6. Only way to re-animate system is by holding down power button? Yes
7. Mouse/Keyboard Model? Magic Mouse/Apple Aluminum KB w/number pad

iMac 24" (Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Mar 30, 2010 11:06 PM

Reply
682 replies

Aug 22, 2010 9:52 AM in response to R C-R

R C-R wrote:
Holding out for another 10.6.x update is probably not a good strategy. Despite appearances, most users of 10.6.3 & 10.6.4 are not reporting random freezes, so it is unlikely Apple will find anything to fix in a new update that will affect your issue, at least for the better.

I understand that you can't be without a working computer for long, but you might consider doing more than running OS updaters. It is relatively quick & painless to reinstall Snow Leopard & update to the current version. That might help, but if it doesn't, you can always reinstall & update only to the version you are confident about.

If you have not done so recently, it is also a good idea to run the Apple Hardware Test & Disk Utility's two First Aid procedures, especially the Verify Disk one, to eliminate the things they address as possible causes of the issue. Ideally, if you reinstall the OS, do these procedures first since they can eliminate problems that will interfere with the install or updates.


"+most users of 10.6.3 & 10.6.4 are not reporting random freezes"+
Most users don't know about these forums either. Other folks in this thread have claimed (yes - I realize it's the Internet) to have contacted Apple through official channels and that they should be looking into it. And, this particular issue (my exact symptoms) only seems to affect a small group of machines. I also have an original i7Mac, with a very similar software load, that does not experience any of these issues - the i7 is running the latest OS version.

+"...you might consider doing more than running OS updaters. It is relatively quick & painless to reinstall Snow Leopard & update to the current version."+
I've already done this (reinstall from the retail DVD), more than once (as mentioned before). I have also ran the hardware test (extended version, looping overnight), run all the disk utility first aid procedures, reset PRAM, reset SMC, verified versions of all 3rd party software (includes no haxies or input manages), ran with no peripherals connected, etc. (For reference and only to indicate I have some level experience, part of my job since 1996 includes managing 50-75 Macs (upgraded models several times) including Xserves, and my household has been Mac-only (7) since my first personal machine: a IIsi. I have dealt with AppleCare for both personal machine and enterprise-related issues.) I will contact AppleCare before it expires in Nov. if this issue is not solved by some future software update.

Message was edited by: mert

Aug 22, 2010 4:08 PM in response to sherifhanna

1. Problem started happening after 10.6.3 update? Not sure, as I didn't track it to that, but I am running 10.6.4
2. Did you get any errors during 10.6.3 update process? Don't remember
3. Mouse cursor moves? Yes, though sometimes that freezes too, but mostly it can move.
4. Mouse clicking does nothing? Sometimes, the mouse can move, and cause the dock icons to expand (which I have set "on"), but if I click an icon, then even the mouse often freezes.
5. Keyboard key presses do nothing? Correct
6. Only way to re-animate system is by holding down power button? No. I can wait it out. Something like 45-60 second, then I get (say) another 5 minutes of work time, before it does it again.
7. Mouse/Keyboard Model? Macbook pro running bluetooth alum kb and wireless mightmouse.

I recently tried a safe boot, and it doesn't seem to be freezing anymore. Will have to try a regular boot again, and see what happens.

EDIT -- one thing I just remembered. My wireless started dropping constantly THEN this issue hit. Not sure if they are related or not.

Message was edited by: bk1000

Message was edited by: bk1000

Aug 22, 2010 8:07 PM in response to mert

So after working with Apple Support for the last four days, here is where I am with this problem.

The most useful thing we have done is: from System Profiler, to do a "send to Apple". From this report the advisor was able to identify multiple crashing from 3rd party software, in particular Macaroni (a Unix maintenance program that works in the background) and Flip-4-Mac (Microsoft implementation of Quick Time). I disabled (or uninstalled) these. But while the freezes seemed to be reduced, they persisted.

However, the last advisor was concerned that since my iMac 7,1 originally came with Tiger, there might be a lot of "baggage" (corrupted files or programs) that I have carried over that could be causing conflicts. While his recommendation was to save off everything to my external drive and start with a clean install (no 3rd party apps) from scratch to a new user account, I was not willing to do that. We compromised with a plan to do a fresh install of Snow Leopard, OS-X 10.6. And based on comments from this forum, I have only updated to 10.6.2 (Software update goes directly to 10.6.4 combo updater so search for the 10.6.2 COMBO on the Apple site) and all other available updates. I will live with this configuration for the remainder of this week to see if the finder freezes reoccur. If no freezes occur, then I will update to 10.6.4, and see what happens!

Aug 29, 2010 5:55 AM in response to sherifhanna

I would like to add one tidbit here.

In some instances freezes and/or slowdowns of the system, mail and other related applications could be traced to damaged Spotlight indexes.

If that is the case it helps to stop spotlight, delete the indexes and then restart spotlight.
Doing this creates a new spotlight index.

This has occasionally helped on OS 10.4.x, 10.5.x as well as on 10.6.x

Hans

Aug 29, 2010 7:29 PM in response to Hans Gunnarsson

Quick background. Had these freezes with various application, itunes, word documents, WoW. Noticed them after 10.6.3. Screen freezes, beach ball and not responsive to any clicks. If music or sound is on, it may continue. Power button restart required.

Used Snow Leopard Disk then only did combo update to 10.6.2.

System was completely stable. No shutdowns at all for few months. This weekend, did Software update to 10.6.4 and all other updates available under Software Update. The logs from tonight are below. Same exact symptoms. Total freeze, then beach ball. Mouse will move, music was on an played in background. Had to use power button to restart. Could not force quit.

8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel ** Device in slot: SLOT--1 **
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel ** GPU Debug Info Start **
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x000094c8
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x000000d6
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000001
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000018
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00009062
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000001
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000001
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x000094c8
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000001
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000015
8/29/10 7:26:49 PM kernel 0x00000000
8/29/10 7:26:50 PM kernel 0x00000001

<500 or so lines of similar codes>


8/29/10 7:27:18 PM kernel ** GPU Debug Info End **
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel npvhash=4095
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel PAE enabled
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel 64 bit mode enabled
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Darwin Kernel Version 10.4.0: Fri Apr 23 18:28:53 PDT 2010; root:xnu-1504.7.4~1/RELEASE_I386
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel vm pagebootstrap: 508330 free pages and 15958 wired pages
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel standard timeslicing quantum is 10000 us
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel mig table_maxdispl = 73
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=0 LocalApicId=0 Enabled
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel AppleACPICPU: ProcessorId=1 LocalApicId=1 Enabled
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel calling mpo policyinit for TMSafetyNet
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Security policy loaded: Safety net for Time Machine (TMSafetyNet)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel calling mpo policyinit for Quarantine
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Security policy loaded: Quarantine policy (Quarantine)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel calling mpo policyinit for Sandbox
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Security policy loaded: Seatbelt sandbox policy (Sandbox)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel MAC Framework successfully initialized
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel using 10485 buffer headers and 4096 cluster IO buffer headers
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel IOAPIC: Version 0x20 Vectors 64:87
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel ACPI: System State S0 S3 S4 S5 (S3)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement: initialization complete
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Sleep failure code 0x00000000 0x12000000
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel mbinit: done (64 MB memory set for mbuf pool)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel rooting via boot-uuid from /chosen: 8E2C9E95-6BD9-385D-9956-48B96B6D769F
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib kmod start
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel com.apple.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib load succeeded
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient: ready
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5901 built-in now active, GUID 001e52fffe3247bc; max speed s800.
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel BTCOEXIST on
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel wl0: Broadcom BCM4328 802.11 Wireless Controller
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel 5.10.91.27
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Got boot device = IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0/AppleACPIPCI/SATA@1F,2/AppleICH8AHCI/PR T0@0/IOAHCIDevice@0/AppleAHCIDiskDriver/IOAHCIBlockStorageDevice/IOBlockStorageD river/ST3250820AS Q Media/IOGUIDPartitionScheme/Customer@2
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel BSD root: disk0s2, major 14, minor 1
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel jnl: unknown-dev: replay_journal: from: 16325120 to: 20367360 (joffset 0xf502000)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Bluetooth::CSRHIDTransition switchToHCIMode (legacy)
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel Bluetooth::CSRHIDTransition transition complete.
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel CSRUSBBluetoothHCIController::setupHardware super returned 0
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel jnl: unknown-dev: journal replay done.
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel AppleYukon2: Marvell Yukon Gigabit Adapter 88E8055 Singleport Copper SA
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel AppleYukon2: RxRingSize <= 1024, TxRingSize 256, RX MAXLE 1024, TX MAXLE 768, ST MAXLE 3328
8/29/10 7:29:48 PM kernel hfs: Removed 4 orphaned / unlinked files and 0 directories
8/29/10 7:29:47 PM DirectoryService11 Improper shutdown detected
8/29/10 7:29:40 PM com.apple.launchd[1] * launchd[1] has started up. *
8/29/10 7:29:49 PM kernel yukon: Ethernet address 00:1b:63:ae:82:98
8/29/10 7:29:49 PM kernel AirPort_Brcm43xx: Ethernet address 00:1d:4f:fd:15:4b
8/29/10 7:29:49 PM kernel IO80211Controller::dataLinkLayerAttachComplete(): adding AppleEFINVRAM notification
8/29/10 7:29:49 PM kernel systemShutdown false
8/29/10 7:29:49 PM blued17 Apple Bluetooth daemon started
8/29/10 7:29:59 PM mDNSResponder18 mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-214.3.2 (May 14 2010 15:29:49) starting
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM com.apple.SecurityServer23 Session 0x5fbff962 created
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM com.apple.SecurityServer23 Entering service
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM configd14 bootp sessiontransmit: bpf_write(en1) failed: Network is down (50)
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM configd14 DHCP en1: INIT transmit failed
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM configd14 network configuration changed.
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM configd14 setting hostname to "Macintosh-2.local"
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM blued17 writeExtendedInquiryResponse returned 110
8/29/10 7:30:00 PM blued17 writeExtendedInquiryResponse returned 182
8/29/10 7:30:01 PM kernel Previous Shutdown Cause: 3
8/29/10 7:30:01 PM kernel DSMOS has arrived
8/29/10 7:30:02 PM kernel ** Device in slot: SLOT--1 **
8/29/10 7:30:02 PM kernel Ethernet AppleYukon2: Link up on en0, 100-Megabit, Full-duplex, No flow-control, Debug 796d,6c08,0de1,0200,41e1,4000
8/29/10 7:30:05 PM fseventsd42 event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (126003 29 126081)
8/29/10 7:30:05 PM bootlog49 BOOT_TIME: 1283128176 0
8/29/10 7:30:05 PM com.apple.usbmuxd31 usbmuxd-196 built for iTunesNineTwo on May 17 2010 at 13:53:51, running 32 bit
8/29/10 7:30:06 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow38 Login Window Application Started
8/29/10 7:30:06 PM fseventsd42 log dir: /.fseventsd getting new uuid: 1A9F74BC-4FAA-4BA1-9381-5C83A2382428
8/29/10 7:30:07 PM Firewall55 krb5kdc is listening from :::88 proto=6
8/29/10 7:30:07 PM Firewall55 krb5kdc is listening from 0.0.0.0:88 proto=6
8/29/10 7:30:11 PM kernel BootCache: hit rate below threshold (2633 hits on 5267 lookups)
8/29/10 7:30:14 PM configd14 network configuration changed.
8/29/10 7:30:15 PM com.apple.SecurityServer23 Session 0x23ee5e created
8/29/10 7:30:15 PM com.apple.SecurityServer23 Session 0x23ee5e attributes 0x30
8/29/10 7:30:16 PM configd14 setting hostname to "macintosh-2"
8/29/10 7:30:18 PM loginwindow38 Login Window Started Security Agent
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM SecurityAgent82 User info context values set for mcline530
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM SecurityAgent82 Login Window login proceeding
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM SecurityAgent82 Login Window done
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM loginwindow38 Login Window - Returned from Security Agent
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM loginwindow38 USER_PROCESS: 38 console
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM Firewall55 krb5kdc is listening from :::88 proto=6
8/29/10 7:30:19 PM Firewall55 krb5kdc is listening from 0.0.0.0:88 proto=6
8/29/10 7:30:20 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.50183 (com.apple.ReportCrash) Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
8/29/10 7:30:28 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.50183 (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist99) Exited with exit code: 1
8/29/10 7:32:18 PM com.apple.WindowServer61 Sun Aug 29 19:32:18 macintosh-2 WindowServer61 <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
8/29/10 7:32:18 PM WindowServer61 kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
8/29/10 7:32:25 PM Firewall55 iTunes is listening from 0.0.0.0:3689 proto=6
8/29/10 7:32:25 PM Firewall55 iTunes is listening from :::3689 proto=6
8/29/10 7:38:37 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:37 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:37 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:37 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:37 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:37 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:38 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:38 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:38 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:38 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:38 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:38 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:40 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:40 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:40 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:48 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:48 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:48 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:48 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:48 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:50 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:50 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:50 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:53 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:38:53 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:38:53 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:39:18 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:39:18 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:39:18 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM iTunes123 Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:39:18 PM 0x0-0xf00f.com.apple.iTunes123 Sun Aug 29 19:39:18 macintosh-2 iTunes123 <Error>: Corrupt JPEG data: premature end of data segment
8/29/10 7:40:28 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/CCacheServer.app/Contents/MacOS/CCacheServer105 No valid tickets, timing out
8/29/10 7:41:09 PM Finder90 NSOpenGLAutoscaleBounds=NO

Console Messages:

8/29/10 7:29:40 PM com.apple.launchd[1] * launchd[1] has started up. *
8/29/10 7:30:20 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.50183 (com.apple.ReportCrash) Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
8/29/10 7:30:28 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.50183 (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist99) Exited with exit code: 1
8/29/10 7:32:18 PM com.apple.WindowServer61 Sun Aug 29 19:32:18 macintosh-2 WindowServer61 <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

Sep 1, 2010 11:56 AM in response to sherifhanna

Hi, I'm having this problem and it seems a little more frequent. Let me fill out the questions too:

1. Problem started happening after 10.6.3 update? I'm at 10.6.4. I didn't notice a correlation, except that it started happening recently.
2. Did you get any errors during 10.6.3 update process? No
3. Mouse cursor moves? Yes
4. Can you click anything with the mouse? No
5. Does the system respond to keyboard key presses? No
6. Only way to re-animate system is by holding down power button?
NO: I can SSH into my computer and type "sudo reboot" and that works. I tried ending some processes while SSH'd in but that didn't help.
7. Mouse/Keyboard Model? Mighty mouse wired; flat aluminum wired keyboard with number pad.

Sep 1, 2010 12:11 PM in response to gilliss

Let me add that this problem happens completely randomly and unexpectedly and seens to have no correlation with what program I'm running. It seems indiscriminate about how much I have in memory: I might go for a long time running a bunch of programs before a crash happens, or I might be fresh off of a restart with only my startup programs running.

Also, I want to be clear that there's no activity on the screen other than the cursor. However when I leave the computer for a long time the display will go to sleep, lighting back up when I move the mouse. Still the menubar clock stays fixed on the time of the crash. The crash is indefinite: I've left the computer like this for 4 and 10 hours on two separate occasions with no recovery.

Scanning through this discussion it looks like everyone's still scratching their heads about this issue.

Sep 2, 2010 4:55 AM in response to gilliss

gilliss wrote:
Let me add that this problem happens completely randomly and unexpectedly and seens to have no correlation with what program I'm running. It seems indiscriminate about how much I have in memory: I might go for a long time running a bunch of programs before a crash happens, or I might be fresh off of a restart with only my startup programs running.

Also, I want to be clear that there's no activity on the screen other than the cursor. However when I leave the computer for a long time the display will go to sleep, lighting back up when I move the mouse. Still the menubar clock stays fixed on the time of the crash. The crash is indefinite: I've left the computer like this for 4 and 10 hours on two separate occasions with no recovery.

Scanning through this discussion it looks like everyone's still scratching their heads about this issue.


Hi Gilliss,

This post and your previous one describe my symptoms exactly, except that I know mine began with 10.6.3 and continued with 10.6.4. I've since gone back to 10.6.2 (see my earlier posts) and have not seen the problem since (not once). I believe this is still a head scratcher for some (me included). I will try 10.6.5 Combo when it's released (making a full TIme Machine & SuperDuper backup of my 10.6.2 first).

Sep 3, 2010 9:54 PM in response to mert

Just an update.

I've had similar issue as the rest of you and have posted previously. Since 10.6.3, the freezes began. I reverted back to 10.6.2 with no problems. When 10.6.4 came out, I went with it. Issues returned. Two weeks ago with the graphics update I was again hopeful. Saturday the 21st I woke the puter from a night of sleeping and the screen was completely pixelated. First time I've seen the pixelation although others have reported it. I was able to restart that time. I did an archive/install Sunday to 10.6.4. One more time see what happens. Monday Safari went into beach ball and I had to force shut down. Decided to take it to Apple store that day thinking, "maybe it is a hardware problem?" I was also seriously irritated!

They had the computer for nearly two weeks and never could reproduce the freeze. All hardware checked out OK. Unfortunately, the techs ran the computer differently than I do. They use Firefox I use Safari. I have a glitchy mighty mouse and they used their own. (Bought a new magic mouse on a maybe. I've wondered in the past if the mouse could be a problem. Seems like my finger is usually on scroll wheel when freezes happen. Tech guy said mouse causing that kind of behavior is unlikely.) I use a certain screen resolution they used another. Etc, etc, etc.

I was certainly hoping they could crash it to validate my claims but they were unsuccessful. Various kernel logs (crashes) were sent to Apple. Tech guy knows something is going on. Their only explanation were bad web sites. Hmmm.

Seems lately that freezes that used to be vertical or horizontal bars or black screens have now become Safari freezes with the usual spinning beach ball. Mouse in all instances moves but can not do anything to get out of the freeze.

So, I'm back to thinking it is a software problem. Hopefully 10.5 will be the answer.

RM

Sep 5, 2010 4:40 AM in response to T-squared

I recently upgraded to 10.6.4 on my Mac Mini Server because I was the victim of an exploit for which the fix required 10.6.4. All other updates (including graphic update) where also installed.

That was about a week ago. Today this issue returned. Was was logged into my server with ssh and desktop sharing, when music streaming suddenly stopped, and all network connections dropped. Pinging the IP gave no reply (icmp timeout).

Connected monitor, mouse, and keyboard and managed to reboot. Im now up and running, but for how long?

Last time I called apple support regarding this (i have apple care) all they told me was to reinstall. If I wanted to be told to reinstall the OS I would have called myself anno 1998. Not paid for proffesional support from Apple 😟

Im getting kind of desperate here... Apple wont acknowledge the problem, its nigh impossible to reproduce, and two OS updates have passed without a fix.

Maybe it IS indeed a hw-issue? But it certainly does NOT happen with 10.6.2. Been running since April on that one with no problems at all. It does not seem to be related to temprature or load either.

Eidt: typo

Message was edited by: Filius

Sep 7, 2010 6:43 PM in response to Radiogod53

Radiogod53 wrote:
Ok. I've had the exact same problem s most people here. I have an iMac 7,1 with random freezes since 10.6.3. I've tried everything suggested in this thread, but nothing worked. I finally bit the bullet and did a clean install with no contamination from my previous system...so far 2 days and no freeze. Worth a try if you have some time to kill.

Let us know how it goes after a couple weeks (or sooner if it starts acting up again).
Thanks!

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System Freezes Randomly after 10.6.3 Update

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