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

Hm. The tests do not seem to run at all on my machine (HD 2600 pro with 10.6.2 kexts on OS X 10.6.8). Nothing happens if I click on “Test”.

On the summary page I see “OpenGL version 2.1 ATI-1.6.36”.

I've been running Mountain Lion on a completely clean install for about 3 days now and not had a single crash.

I haven't used anything particularly GPU intensive yet, but will be doing some video stuff later so will have a see if that has any impact.

mine says:

Renderer: ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT OpenGL Engine
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Memory: 128 MB
Version: 2.1 ATI-8.0.51
Shading language version: 1.20

when checking out the reports, it says for 85 extensions, that they were not found but be available in a later version of the driver.

like this one here

"GL_ARB_blend_func_extended was not found, but is available in driver version 3.3.10061 Core Profile Forward "

please try the opengl test app, needs some tweaking to get around the "stronghold" in ML as it is not from appstore. „OpenGL Extensions Viewer“

please post the test results into the forum.

@swmaster I agree with you on this,

if you do some sort of gpu intensive stuff, your gpu will bite the dust.

I noticed it was something related to GPU when I started getting these very odd pixel artifacts on Firefox and they stopped when turning off hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration is basically using the GPU when it’s possible (instead of the CPU). And WebGL experiments like the ones from Chrome also cause it to crash and freeze.

I have a 7,1 as well.

He is correct. The problem is not Flash, Firefox or <insert app here>. If an app makes your system freeze, it is a driver problem. An app itself cannot cause a system freeze, but if it is using some system feature that is broken, a freeze can happen.

I dont think Apple will ever fix this. They are content to lie about the problem being "faulty hardware" when it is not the case. My ATI 2400 mac is in use daily under Windows 7 with no problems whatsoever, using the latest drivers from ATI.

Apple simply cannot be bothered to fix the problem.

Yes, I agree, the freezes and etc happen in spite of the app or browser you’re using. It is a driver problem. And Apple is not going to fix this, it has been 2 years...

KrzysiuTurek, I remember you did also a clean install when you came from Snow Leopard to Lion. Am I right, assuming that doing so did not ultimately fix the issue for you?

Many have tried clean installs with Lion with no effect. I think most have concluded it is a driver issue, so unless the driver has been fixed with ML you will still have a problem.

All is not lost though. I made it 4 days without a freeze!

Additionally, ML is running significantly faster and smoother with the 10.6.2 drivers installed. With Lion it was a choppy mess. Now my computer is running more or less "normally." ML really put a new lease on life for my office iMac.

@aieronimo - now I have installed ML (from day that it shows in app store) with no single freeze.

@Tardigrada - Yes, I also made Lion clean install. I just do it because I don't have any data to lose, and someone must check it 🙂

Believe me or not but 80% of my freeze has happened when I used a site with flash elements. I'm don't say that flash is the main reason, but may have an impact.

I try to read between the lines, because you did not answer my question: So a clean install of Lion did not fix your issue, but you did it again with Mountain Lion, because you felt that it helped somewhat nevertheless.

Why did you not just uninstall flash if you think that's the main problem? Flash comes with an uninstaller.

One week since kext-fixed ML. No freezes/crashes on my mid-2007 iMac since then. Applestore geniuses express bafflement.

Quote from Sir Jonathan Ive, the designer of the iMac, in The Independent yesterday:

"The hallmark of Apple products is real care..."

"Our goal is not to make money – that may sound a little flippant but it happens to be true. Our goal, and what makes us exist, is to make great products."

PS Another ML Catch-22. New Airport Utility can't manage ageing Airport Express. Apple's offered solution? Roll back to AU 5.6. Problem: ML won't allow that.

Day 5 post ML...Still no freezes.

Did the Open GL tests using the one available on Mac Store.

No failed tests.

Folks -- please indicate when noting your experience with freezes whether you are running Mountain Lion with or without the kext fixes. And -- if without kext fixes -- whether you did an upgrade to Mountain Lion or a clean install. Thanks.

See jaycee1980's comment above: Flash is a trigger, because it is GPU intensive, but it is not the cause. Even if you uninstalled Flash, you will still get the freezing. At least, that is my experience.