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

I have similar problem too. Always having GPU Debug Info Start. Just used the Snow Leopard Install disk to revert to the 10.6 version. Hope it would not have so much hang issue...

(Actually I have waited very long until last month (I suppose the version now should be more stable) and install Snow Leopard. The experience was great originally, but suddenly it keeps hanging every day starting from late April. BTW, I do use a WD 1TB My Book external disk as well. )

I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help to anyone. But I'm having identical problems to everyone in this forum. I have tried many of the suggestions to no avail. My screen freezes without warning. Mouse cursor moves but clicking and keyboard actions have no effect. No choice but to reboot. My question is, am I doing harm to my computer by not closing programs and shutting down properly ? I have been rebooting two or three times a day. I am getting afraid to do anything on my computer. It looks nice just sitting there but I need more. I'll have to wait for a fix. I'm just too nervous going backward and doing a reinstall as the likelihood that I will screw something up is better than 50/50. It seems that a quick fix patch is in order before the next build version. No ? How about it Apple ?

Same problem here: 24" iMac8,1 with a ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

- freezes with black screen and white stripes; like Darren ones (first posting)
- GPU Debug Info hex messages in the console
- screen gets sometimes blurred when switching between spaces

Update on my previous post.

11 days later, I picked my iMac from the apple store with a supposedly working graphics card. Everything was working yay!

But day later ... The nightmare started again. Freezes and graphic errors came back full force. Took it back to apple and again they said it must be the graphics card and apologized for give me a crappy replacement.

Since this is the second time I have had it in for repairs, they said my computer is going to be on a priority list, instead of taking 11 days to get a graphics card. =(

Off topic kinda ~
Ever since the 10.6.3 update I have been noticing a powerPC process called "translate" in the Activity Monitor which has been taking around 90% of my CPU. It appears from boot up and so far the only solution is to force quit it from the Activity Monitor.

I have the EXACT same problem... i've read some forum and it seems to be working, if you go back to 10.6.2

My question is then.. how i do that, when most times i can't even past bootscreen?

Please help...

I solved my problem, made a backup via Time Machine, installed mac os x, restored backup and installed only 10.6.2 update.
week already no freeze!

imho 10.6.3 bad for iMac8,1... will wait 10.6.4 🙂

I have been following this post, and watching for a solution to the "screen freeze". I also have the same issues since the last update.
I have talked to Apple three times. I have eliminated usb problems, re-installed OS X 10.6, PRAM reset and updated back to 10.6.3. The last person suggested to create a new user account, and log in to see if I get the freeze. So far, working great with the 10.6.3. There maybe an issue with an already installed application that is not compatible with the latest updates. My new user account opens up with just the basic Snow Leopard applications. Will check back in and give update. If this does not work, then I will try and go back to 10.6.2

Hello,

Eclipsethegalaxy wrote:
I'm just too nervous going backward and doing a reinstall as the likelihood that I will screw something up is better than 50/50.

In relation to installing/reinstalling OS X;

It's easy.

All you need concern over is;

Backup all data you need/want. via Time Machine or your chosen method.
Ask yourself if you have everything you need backed up - Media, Documents, User Accounts, etc...
Ask yourself again...

Then it's usually as simple as popping the relevant disc in, clicking a few buttons and waiting a while.
Oh, I will add;

Pop OS X disc in.
Restart your Mac.
Hold 'C' on the keyboard as it boots.

or
Hold option key as it boots.
Select OS X disc from the boot menu that pops up.

When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, Choose your language.
Choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
Erase the system drive. (you could set it to write zero's over disc if you want a 'fresh' drive.)
Quit Disk Utility and carry on with fresh install.
Once Installed, restore your backups.

There are ways of making a .dmg image bootable from external drives and I suppose internal drives or partitions...
Yet I get no hints of you needing to go down this path.

Hello,

People may want to consider the possibility of this being hardware related.

Does anyone who's suffering problems in this thread happen to have an *iMac Serial* begining with;

W8xxx
W86xx
W87xx

If you do, please let me know.

GaBeech wrote:
There are ways of making a .dmg image bootable from external drives and I suppose internal drives or partitions…

This part is not true. A running OS is required to mount a .dmg file as if it was a volume; thus, you cannot start up from one.

R C-R wrote:

"GaBeech wrote:"
"There are ways of making a .dmg image bootable from external drives and I suppose internal drives or partitions…"

This part is not true. A running OS is required to mount a .dmg file as if it was a volume; thus, you cannot start up from one.

Sorry, I was not very clear there.

In the past I have made a bootable partition on an external USB drive 'from' a .dmg file, instead of burning it to a DVD/CD.

That's what I was aiming to convey by what I wrote.
Can't quite remember if I had to add a small file to the partition to make it visable to the EFI, if that's what you call the selection screen at option/boot.

I do know that when I first used it, it was displayed as the name of the disc. With DVD/CD logo.
Then after an OS reinstall, it was displayed as 'EFI Boot'. With a Hard Drive logo. (don't know why that happened, but it worked the same)

So to round up;
Instead of burning an image to DVD/CD, you can 'prepare' the contents of a bootable disc image to used from a hard disc/partition.
Save on media/optical drive wear and I suppose if using a fast drive/connection, it could be accessed faster than optical media. Also handy if you have no optical drive I reckon.

People may know how already. If not, I'm sure I could retrace my actions or you could have a quick 'Google'.

I may be wrong.
Yet I'm thinking that in a situation where a user was to be undergoing a heck of a lot of installing/reinstalling of different versions of OS X to find/solve/eliminate problems/compatibility issues, then a bootable partition for each version of 'OS X Install Disc' could be created on an external drive.

i.e.: 10.5/10.6/10.6.3 etc...

It would take some time to prepare and I've just thought as typing this, I don't know if there is a limit to the amount of volumes the boot selection screen can access/display...
I might try it sometime, I might find it's more trouble than it's worth...
No harm in having an idea though...

PS. I've used an external USB Hard Drive... What's to say a USB Flash Drive could not be used?

One thing to keep in mind about using clones of OS X install discs on HD partitions & similar mutable media is that they may become corrupted or otherwise changed in some way. Ideally, once created they should be mounted as read only, which is tricky to do at boot time.

R C-R wrote:
One thing to keep in mind about using clones of OS X install discs on HD partitions & similar mutable media is that they may become corrupted or otherwise changed in some way. Ideally, once created they should be mounted as read only, which is tricky to do at boot time.

I do not have much experience with these things, apart from using that USB drive a few times.

I don't know why I let my mind wonder into the possibilities either...
My iMac will not even power up at the moment...
Even if I could afford to buy another right now, I'd be in fear of having the best machine for 3 years and then having a large ornament.

I'd be happy to invest if Apple Care had a 4 or 5 year cover plan.
I've read too much on and had first hand experience of machines showing faults/dying just after the 3 year mark.