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

Dec 6, 2010 12:01 PM in response to sherifhanna

Okay, here's my two pennies worth. iMac C2D 2.66 20", 4GB RAM. Problems started after 10.6.3 update (and persisted through 10.6.4 and 10.6.5). iMac would lock up completely, sometimes with the display going to an interesting vertically-striped blankness, every time needing a hard restart. Revert to 10.6.2, problems gone away.

A couple of days ago I found a link (elsewhere on these forums? I honestly can't remember) to the following:

<http://classictutorials.com/2010/08/snow-leopard-freezes-or-application-hangs-i n-snow-leopard/>

I have now set the iMac to start up in 64 bit mode, and so far, I cannot make it lock up (previously, a few games of Klondike Forever were guaranteed to produce the lock up). YMMV of course, but so far, it's all looking good. I will post back in a few days (or if the Mac crashes again), whichever happens first.

Dec 6, 2010 12:16 PM in response to paulmacsmurf

This suggests that for you the problem may be in a 32 bit extension to the OS installed on your Mac (because they are not loaded when the Mac starts up in 64 bit mode). If this is true, the most likely culprit would be something installed by a third party installer (something not developed by Apple), especially an extension that supports special features of some hardware device like a scanner, printer, or multi-function mouse. The device does not necessarily have to be connected to your Mac; it is sometimes enough that its extension loads during startup.

Dec 23, 2010 1:19 AM in response to sherifhanna

I just started having this problem on 12/21. I turned on my computer and noticed I had no internet. Then my menu bar with the bluetooth, airport, volume, etc status did not appear. When i clicked several applications I got the spinning timer and everything froze. Did a hard reboot with the power button, then my computer booted to a blue screen where could see a mouse. But the comptuer had the gray spinning cursor and would not launch to the desktop. Another hard reboot and the desktop finally appeared. however, i had severe lag for various applications, that i started to receive the spinning timer. I eventually gave up and shut down.

Now this is happening again. Any ideas? Or is it just that my imac is now "old" and needs to be replaced?

1. Problem started happening after 10.6.3 update? No, currently running 10.5.8
2. Did you get any errors during 10.6.3 update process? NA
3. Mouse cursor moves? Yes
4. Mouse clicking does nothing? Yes
5. Keyboard key presses do nothing? Yes
6. Only way to re-animate system is by holding down power button? Yes

Jan 4, 2011 8:53 AM in response to paulmacsmurf

I had this issue for a while with my MacBook Pro running 10.6.5. It would freeze up for about 3 or 4 seconds every couple minutes or so. I tried the 64 bit mode in the link mentioned by paulmacsmurf and so far it appears to have fixed this!

paulmacsmurf wrote:
A couple of days ago I found a link (elsewhere on these forums? I honestly can't remember) to the following:

< http://classictutorials.com/2010/08/snow-leopard-freezes-or-application-hangs-in -snow-leopard/ >

I have now set the iMac to start up in 64 bit mode, and so far, I cannot make it lock up (previously, a few games of Klondike Forever were guaranteed to produce the lock up). YMMV of course, but so far, it's all looking good. I will post back in a few days (or if the Mac crashes again), whichever happens first.

Jan 7, 2011 11:59 AM in response to im1kissfan

If you have unresolved preexisting problems with the system, the chances that applying an update over it will fix them are unfortunately not very good. The most common causes of freezes are hardware issues, damaged files, & incompatibilities in installed third party OS domain software. It is generally a good idea to try to eliminate them as possibilities before looking for other things to try.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

System Freezes Randomly after 10.6.3 Update

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.