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 13, 2011 8:09 AM in response to MacLoyal

My situation has become a dire and distressing problem. Now I can't even find stability in safe mode. With only safari open in safe boot I cannot even scroll a web page. I have the spinning beach ball of death but force quit doesn't show safari is hanging.


In a regular start up I can't do ANYTHING! It literally freezes on opening. If it's not frozen and I move the cursor to the dock to open something, that causes it to freeze. I have not been able to accomplish a single task. The flashing artifacts and lines have gotten worse. My Mac Pro is essentially useless.


I'm sick about this. I am disinclined to try to fix it given that it's not upgradable to Lion. I'm not in a position to buy a new computer right now. Being reduced to using my iPad is a big step backwards.

Aug 13, 2011 5:40 PM in response to MacLoyal

Hi MacLoyal

It does appear to be a graphics management problem. You don't say what version of OS X you are using, but my suggestion is that you reinstall Snow Leopard and don't update later than 10.6.2.

The NVIDIA graphics adapter, which I presume your Mac Pro uses, does add a new dimension to the issue. I had previously assumed that it was confined to the ATI Radeon adapters, since my other Macs with the Intel graphics are OK.

One thing that I find particularly galling with this problem is that we lose the means to immediately send error reports back to Apple. If we could I think that they would be inundated.

Aug 14, 2011 8:54 AM in response to Pardalote

I have 10.6.8 installed. I'll have to look back through this thread for instructions of uninstalling an update. I've never done that before and I have been exclusively Mac since I bought my first computer in 1989.


I use EVERY opportunity I can to file error reports. When I have times when I can't even file an error report, it is one of the things I mention in the next successful report. I'm doing my best to personally inundate them with complaints providing descriptions of both my problems and my despair.


Today is somewhat better in Safe Boot mode. Safari is exceedingly slow on rendering these forum pages. It's ironic that the Apple pages are slow on Safari! But I was able to get into my bank website to pay some bills and it was quick. The only pain was the money flying out of my account. :-)

Aug 15, 2011 12:32 AM in response to MacLoyal

Unfortunately updates can't be uninstalled (unlike Windows Restore - maybe this is a feature that OS X should have). You will have to do a reinstall of Snow Leopard from your system disc. This will leave your applications, library, documents etc. intact. Then a combo update to 10.6.2 is available from the Apple website.

Don't know about the differences in rendering speeds. With my iMac all operations appear to be normal until the system freezes.

Sep 7, 2011 7:24 AM in response to bobtibb

Been having the same issue, and it seemed to show up only in the last couple of weeks when one of our IT guys installed growl as part of an application suite. Hated it! Don't get why I need growl littering my screen with notifications I am perfectly ok with delaying or ignoring with a nice little bouncing icon in my dock. Anyway, I removed growl and now everything seems to be fine. No more freezes, hangs or weird pixelations on my screen.


OS 10.6.8.

Sep 7, 2011 9:57 AM in response to Nigel Spier

Here's a new one; I have had the same cursor freezing and screen display issues as everyone else on this thread. But I discovered that my Mac was running hotter than it used to with every update since 10.6.3. With Lion 10.7.1 it is almost too hot . Could this be because Lion taxes the system more? So I downloaded for free an app called Fan Control by Lobotomo from the MacUpdate website. It is designed for laptops, but I was able to increase the fan speed marginally to disipate some of the heat. My computer runs cooler and I have not had any freezes since. Any thoughts ?


2008 iMac 24" 3.06 Ghz. 4 g Ram

NVIDIA GtForce GT 130

Sep 7, 2011 7:20 PM in response to Eclipsethegalaxy

My experience has been that the freezing occurs quite randomly. I used to happen at times when no applications were running, no 3rd party utilities loaded, and it was unrelated to temperature since it could occur soon after bootup or after the computer had been asleep. The one characteristic that is definite is that it has never occured in my other two Macs, both of which have Intel graphics and are running 10.6.7.

Sep 27, 2011 12:53 PM in response to Pardalote

I did a clean install of 10.7.1 on Sunday after erasing my 10.6.6 working system (with 10.6.2 Kext overwrites). The random freezing returned straight away.


This was a clean install with hardly any apps or drivers added and it still froze. Flash hasn't been installed


Tonight it even froze straight after a reboot. 😟



Do Apple read these forums ?

Dec 4, 2011 6:32 AM in response to sherifhanna

I'm using an iMac Mid 2007. Was running Tiger until 2 weeks ago and I thought I'd upgrade to Snow Leopard since Apple dropped the price to $29 (down from $129 package...) Well, immediately after the upgrade and unsuing updates, our iMac that NEVER (really, never) froze, froze, and freezes randomly throughout the day. We mostly browse, so it's happened mostly in Safari, FireFox, but has happened elsewhere in Finder & iPhoto. I upgraded my Ram from the 1gb it came with to 4gb thinking that would help - it didn't.


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? Trackpad / Apple Aluminum KB w/number pad USB


I plan on continuing a ticket with Apple & I'll reference this post, since I did just upgrade the software, they'll talk to me, even though my iMac is way outside warranty. If you have Tiger, hold on to it I guess. The sad thing is, we also just bought a Macbook Pro, decided we didn't "need" it, but couldn't return it because we sabotouged our desktop with the Snow Leopard upgrade.

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System Freezes Randomly after 10.6.3 Update

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