24" iMac Screen Freezes since 10.6.3 update - pls help!

For what it's worth, I downgraded to 10.6.2 last Saturday and haven't had any problems with screen freezes since then. Luckily I don't use iLife '11, Safari or any other apps that need a later version.

In fairness to Apple, reinstalling the OS was incredibly straightforward. I just booted from the DVD and ran the installer (I was worried because I didn't get an option to Archive and Install, but I found out that since 10.6, this is taken care of automatically).

30 mins later I booted into my system running 10.6.0, with all User accounts and files exactly as they were. (I had a Time Machine backup ready, just in case) I ran the combo update to 10.6.2 and it's been fine since. I'm not even running SMC fan control any more.

The only problem I've encountered was that iTunes wouldn't recognise my iPhone or iPad. A quick reinstall of iTunes 10.1 sorted that out - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1747
Oh and Flash had been uninstalled, but that may not be such a bad thing! 😉

I'll keep an eye on it over the next few weeks until 10.6.6. It'd be a real shame if this problem is still there with 10.6.6 because I'm sure there's going to be lots of interest around the Mac App Store.

Just out of interest, I'm running a Bluetooth Magic Mouse, but that's it. I haven't tried with a USB mouse, but may give it a go if I have any further problems when I upgrade to 10.6.6.

Good luck everyone!

I installed smcFanControl, and set the HDD and CPU fan to be at least 2000rpm. My iMac was pretty stable, until today. Seems like Finder/the UI froze. I can still move my mouse, and a Flash video is still playing (I can hear the audio), but all the UI are not usable. Had to do hard reset to reboot. The difference is that this time my screen didn't go blank. Still, very annoying. On the other hand, I transcoded an H.264 video, taxing the system pretty good, and it's still stable. Weird.

My Apple care warranty is almost running out in a couple of months. Not sure if taking my iMac to the Genius bar is worth my time since the problem seems to be random (although less often now).

I still using 10.6.5, I have been using my Computer with a wired mouse and i got a couple of crashes. It seems to me that I have to do with the GPU usage (as someone mentioned before) .. My computer gets really hot and it started to failed when the CPU temp goes above 54˚C ... I hope it gets fixed in 10.6.6 or if someone knows of any mod that can be use to keep the computer cool, besides SMCfancontrol
Best regards,
PS: English is not my first language, so my apologies for any mistake.

I have been using a Bluetooth mouse (magic mouse) and it has worked perfectly. Since I last reinstalled my OS and removed Safari 5.03, going back to 5.02 about three weeks ago, I have had no problems until a week ago. The computer had gone to sleep and when I woke it, the screen saver appeared but was frozen. I had to turn the power off and let the computer cool down. When I restarted it, it did restart (which it hadn't always done in the past since upgrading to SL) and I found that the menu app "Mail Unread Menu app" was using up 97% CPU. I force quitted it and removed it from my start-up items and all has been well since. I don't know if this will help others.

As I only installed SL a few weeks ago, I went straight from 10.5.8 to 10.6.5 so didn't experience the problems in between.

*Everyone who has a problem with the freezing on Mac should send a report to Apple:*

* http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html*

Well, I've been suffering this since 10.6.3 and tried everything…or so I thought. The imac was stable with SMCFanControl at 1600 rpm on the ODD and 1400 or so on the CPU. However, after seeing a similar thread on a macbook pro, 3 days ago I switched to a different account after placing the SMCFanControl back to default (1000/1200 rpm etc) on the previous account.

Its been 3 days 14 hours and 16 minutes now… Just left with a seemingly reliable, responsive, no-surprises iMac on 10.6.5. Makes no sense to me. Even my Wife can't crash/freeze it (always thought to sell her off as a software reliability checker).

Will let you know if this is just an illusion caused by a passing OSX fairy at this time of year, or the fact that it is -2˚C outside.

…but if you haven't tried this very simple "test" then you nothing to be lost? Anyone else tried it?

(if it makes 10 days, I may have to apologise to Apple…)

Hoping the fairy sprinkles something good on your machine

Simon

3 days is nothing. Mine sometimes runs for 5-7 days without a freeze then locks up (usually when most needed and I have the most unsaved data open).

I don't really think 10.6.6 would do anything, it's just to introduce the App Store.

Mine is still running fine after over a week, no freezes - only shutdown and restarted once when I needed the table for the Christmas guests!
Have you tried what I suggested? That is set up a new account and log into that for all uses? I cannot fathom why this should work, but MacBooks appear to have the same issue and fix. Its a very simple thing to do - the only challenge is transferring files over between accounts.
Maybe it is a corrupt file in the user library somewhere? (so don't copy those over, just the data files?) The SMCfancontrol fix I used for 6 months or so to get around the regular freezes makes this a quite bizarre issue.
I will let you all know if this thing ever freezes again, but I really (dare I say this…)am beginning to think I am out of the woods now.
Simon

Okay, thanks for info.

Yes, please let us know when it freezes again.

And if you haven't done it yet, then you can report your old "freezes" to Apple in hopes of they will fix the problem in an update in the future:

* http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html*

Followed your advice on this one - created a completely new user, set-up MobileMe for syncing, transferred only the iPhoto library and opened iPhoto. The iMac froze as soon as I started scrolling through photos and has continued to become more and more unstable. All in all, it took about 15 minutes of use in the new user before the machine froze

Was hoping this would work, but it didn't for me.

Hi all,
I have experienced the same problem, and read entire thread. I have a mid 2007 iMac Aluminum 2ghz with 3gb non-Apple Ram. The machine has been flawless for more than 3 years. I upgraded from 10.5.6 to 10.6.5 and it was ALL DOWNHILL from there. Almost immediately I started to get black screen in the middle of doing something. Almost like I hit "Sleep" but didn't. It would also freeze with the display looking normal, but mouse an keyboard were unresponsive. Other times the screen would be overcome with noise artifacts, and again the mouse and keyboard unresponsive.

I read some posts about a bluetooth mouse being culprit, in which I have. So I turned off bluetooth and ran with a USB mouse and that did not make the cure.

I went back to SL DVD and installed 10.6 again and did not do ANY SL updates and it has been running flawless again. Whether it be a hardware issue coming out in 10.6.5 or whether the OS itself, I recommend not going to 10.6.5

+1

High fan, then freeze.

This is a new 20" iMac "11,2" running 10.6.5, with bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

Reinstalled 10.6.5 from a combo updater, ran fine for about two weeks, now two freezes today, one about an hour after rebooting.

I'm going to try with a wired mouse . . .

I have a late 2008 24" imac which recently has started getting very hot at the top left of unit on back, once heat increases to a point the screen then either displays a blank blue ish or grey lined screen.
I then have to disconnect power lead from back let machine cool before switching on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. i am running 10.6.5

*If anyone has any freezes on their Mac with the NEW update OS X 10.6.6, please let us know!*

My MacBook Air has been spinning for 3 hours on the 10.6.6 upgrade