sherifhanna
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: 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

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sherifhanna

Q: System Freezes Randomly after 10.6.3 Update

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  • by Stuart Lawrence,

    Stuart Lawrence Stuart Lawrence Jul 3, 2010 3:15 PM in response to Thrasher91604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2010 3:15 PM in response to Thrasher91604
    I'm glad that I'm not alone with this. I'm glad I found this thread but I started noticing this issue after 10.6.3 as well.

    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. 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? No, after 10-20 seconds the mouse clicking works and the system is responsive again
    7. Mouse/Keyboard Model? Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, Mac Pro

  • by automaticit,

    automaticit automaticit Jul 4, 2010 10:54 AM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 4, 2010 10:54 AM in response to R C-R
    R C-R wrote:
    How did you "turn off" Rosetta?


    sudo sysctl –w kern.exec.archhandler.powerpc=/usr/libexec/oah/RosettaNonGrata

    This forces OS X to ask every time Rosetta needs to be invoked. To re-enable Rosetta:

    sudo sysctl -w kern.exec.archhandler.powerpc=/usr/libexec/oah/translate

    Thus, it isn't truly uninstalling or disabling Rosetta, but functionally it is disabling Rosetta by giving users manual control and discretion over when it is started.



    It seems as likely that somewhere in your Preference Panel add-ons, Safari plug-ins, and Mail.app plug-ins you may have one or more that isn't fully compatible with Snow Leopard or 10.6.3.


    No, we've screened for that possibility by upgrading those, stripping those out, or not even running them and just using Terminal with ssh sessions and Microsoft RDC. What I now think might be happening is a memory leak in Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection in my case. The symptoms I reported in the past are consistent with memory exhaustion, and I'm a little more certain now that I noticed shortly before each crash, I am unable to start any command in Terminal, though I can Control-C out of a command that is starting but not completely started yet. Watching Activity Monitor's Real Mem column confirmed the memory leak, so I'm going to keep an eye on real memory usage and if I don't crash by the end of next week I'll report back to recommend everyone experiencing the same symptoms as I reported look for programs that are likely leaking memory.

  • by kremik,

    kremik kremik Jul 8, 2010 10:31 AM in response to sherifhanna
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 10:31 AM in response to sherifhanna
    I still have freezing problems on my iMac. But two days before I switched from Ethernet connection from my TimeMachine to WiFi connection from the same TimeMachine and I had only one freeze so far. Today I tried to switch back to Ethernet and after few minutes I've got freeze every time.

    So my partial conclusion that it has something to do with TimeMachine and/or with Ethernet interface in my iMac. Does anybody use the same configuration withe TimeMachine?

  • by mert,

    mert mert Jul 8, 2010 12:25 PM in response to kremik
    Level 3 (880 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 12:25 PM in response to kremik
    kremik wrote:
    I still have freezing problems on my iMac. But two days before I switched from Ethernet connection from my TimeMachine to WiFi connection from the same TimeMachine and I had only one freeze so far. Today I tried to switch back to Ethernet and after few minutes I've got freeze every time.

    So my partial conclusion that it has something to do with TimeMachine and/or with Ethernet interface in my iMac. Does anybody use the same configuration withe TimeMachine?

    I've had my iMac's (20inch aluminum, Core2Duo) display to freeze or turn black without any TimeMachine connected or active. Also, when the display freezes, I can usually ssh into the machine, over Ethernet, and reboot it from the command line. So, from my experiences, I don't think it TimeMachine or Ethernet related.

  • by Stuart Lawrence,

    Stuart Lawrence Stuart Lawrence Jul 8, 2010 1:10 PM in response to mert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 1:10 PM in response to mert
    I'm still experiencing the freezing. My Mac freezes about 1-2 times a day. Maybe I'm lucky but the freezing usually lasts about 15 seconds, after that my computer will respond to my clicks again. I never have to force a shutdown of my Mac Pro. I have my Time Capsule hooked up to my Mac by ethernet. Just curious, anyone try rebuilding and repairing permissions on their drive with Disk Warrior?

  • by mert,

    mert mert Jul 8, 2010 2:47 PM in response to Stuart Lawrence
    Level 3 (880 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 2:47 PM in response to Stuart Lawrence
    Stuart Lawrence wrote:
    I'm still experiencing the freezing. My Mac freezes about 1-2 times a day. Maybe I'm lucky but the freezing usually lasts about 15 seconds, after that my computer will respond to my clicks again. I never have to force a shutdown of my Mac Pro. I have my Time Capsule hooked up to my Mac by ethernet. Just curious, anyone try rebuilding and repairing permissions on their drive with Disk Warrior?

    Your symptoms are different than mine. Mine never unfreezes and I've never been able to recover it without rebooting. When mine freezes, either the screen turns black (at least once with some lines on it), or everything (Dock, Windows, Menubar, etc.) just becomes frozen in place. I'm able to move the mouse pointer, but clicking and the keyboard do nothing. The computer continues to run other stuff in the background. As mentioned I can ssh into it from a different Mac and see other stuff still running (running "top" always shows the WindowServer process "stuck"). I can't however control or observer the frozen Mac's screen using Apple Remote Desktop (maybe a clue?).

  • by Thrasher91604,

    Thrasher91604 Thrasher91604 Jul 8, 2010 2:53 PM in response to sherifhanna
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 2:53 PM in response to sherifhanna
    I'm still getting mouse freezes. It becomes unresponsive to clicks (but not movement) for 30 seconds or so.

  • by Stuart Lawrence,

    Stuart Lawrence Stuart Lawrence Jul 8, 2010 4:27 PM in response to Thrasher91604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 4:27 PM in response to Thrasher91604
    Thrasher91604: Does your computer become responsive again after 30 seconds or do you have to force a shutdown?

    As for me when my computer freezes I can move my mouse but nothing is clickable for atleast 15 seconds. After 15 seconds I can continue to use my computer.

  • by Thrasher91604,

    Thrasher91604 Thrasher91604 Jul 8, 2010 7:30 PM in response to sherifhanna
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 8, 2010 7:30 PM in response to sherifhanna
    Yes, it becomes responsive again after about 30 seconds.

    It's annoying but not catastrophic.

  • by kremik,

    kremik kremik Jul 9, 2010 5:22 AM in response to mert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 9, 2010 5:22 AM in response to mert
    mert wrote:
    I've had my iMac's (20inch aluminum, Core2Duo) display to freeze or turn black without any TimeMachine connected or active. Also, when the display freezes, I can usually ssh into the machine, over Ethernet, and reboot it from the command line. So, from my experiences, I don't think it TimeMachine or Ethernet related.


    My screen does not turn black, but everything stops moving or animating ... only the mouse cursor is moving. Background tasks are running and I can connect via SSH. But it happens to me only while connected via Ethernet line (I've already run the Apple HW Test -> OK and I've checked my Ethernet line -> OK). That's why I think it's causing something related to Ethernet interface.

  • by napabill,

    napabill napabill Jul 12, 2010 6:28 PM in response to napabill
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 12, 2010 6:28 PM in response to napabill
    Hi all, back again. After several weeks on 10.6.4 the system became more and more unstable. Besides the mouse and keyboard becoming non-responsive (except for the cursor moving around) I started to see interminably spinning beach balls, black screen crashes, unintended restarts, etc. I spent the day reverting to 10.5.8 and have decided that 10.6.X will henceforth be referred to as "Snow Vista." Pray for us all.

  • by mert,

    mert mert Jul 13, 2010 5:58 AM in response to napabill
    Level 3 (880 points)
    Jul 13, 2010 5:58 AM in response to napabill
    napabill wrote:
    Hi all, back again. After several weeks on 10.6.4 the system became more and more unstable. Besides the mouse and keyboard becoming non-responsive (except for the cursor moving around) I started to see interminably spinning beach balls, black screen crashes, unintended restarts, etc. I spent the day reverting to 10.5.8 and have decided that 10.6.X will henceforth be referred to as "Snow Vista." Pray for us all.


    Can you summarize how you went back to 10.5.8? I'm guessing installing the old OS from a retail DVD is the easy part, but I'm worried about what happens to user accounts with regards to Mail, iCal, Address Book, etc. I recall that their (or at least Mail's) database got upgraded the first time using it after going to 10.6.x. I can't imagine 10.5.8 would be able to downgrade the database. I'm guessing you needed to use some Time Machine or other backups to really get back to 10.5.8. I really don't want to derail this thread because I want the focus to stay on fixing Snow Leopard, but could you just do a quick summary of how you personally went back to 10.5.8. Thanks.

  • by napabill,

    napabill napabill Jul 13, 2010 7:48 AM in response to mert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 13, 2010 7:48 AM in response to mert
    mert, yes I used Time Machine to revert to 10.5.8. Unhappily, Time Machine does not "see" the backups performed since the date of the original upgrade to 10.6, so I had to manually copy the files from the TM backups in order to get all my data (client files, personal files, mail, etc.) back. One other type of crash I didn't mention was a green-screen crash but only on the external monitor; the internal monitor remained normal.

  • by tommie_c,

    tommie_c tommie_c Jul 13, 2010 9:19 AM in response to sherifhanna
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 13, 2010 9:19 AM in response to sherifhanna
    1. Problem started happening after 10.6.3 update? Yes, but might be happening since 10.5.
    2. Did you get any errors during 10.6.3 update process? Not to the best of my knowledge.
    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.
    7. Mouse/Keyboard Model? Currently a Magic Mouse, before a regular Apple Mouse. Apple Aluminum KB w/number pad

    Message was edited by: tommie_c

  • by Stan Fisher,

    Stan Fisher Stan Fisher Jul 15, 2010 8:34 AM in response to Brent Carroll
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 15, 2010 8:34 AM in response to Brent Carroll
    Noticing that most of the contributors on this page are running 10.6.4, I just red Apple's description of the .4 update, which was to fix the very issue we all have encountered. I guess you're saying it doesn't work? I've just reverted to 6.1, unaware of the 6.4 update, from 10.6.3. It took my iMac two tries to recognize the install DVD. As with at least one other, my machine would freeze, in that no folders etc could be accessed, but the mouse moved freely; after 5 minutes or so, it "fixed" itself.
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