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

Hi all

I tried the text fix using 10.6.6 and it still was reported in Console as not loading them. As I was writing a note to you on this thread . . . bump! It froze again. So. I had reverted back to 10.6.8 and will unfortunately have to stay put until a solution is found. There are some nice facets to Mavericks that I was getting into before the problem raised its ugly head again. However, what is on offer (even as a free download) is nothing that I really need, do I? Can life go on without Mavericks?

I will still watch this very helpful thread for a solution, if found. Thanks to all on here who are still beavering away at the problem . . . pity Apple don't do the same on our behalf. After all, we did buy their product!

So, to recap, I am back on 10.6.8 with 10.6.2 kext fix running in 64-bit mode permanently. This seems to be stable for me. Early 2008 iMAC ATI2600 20in.

The post about the ATM controller conflicting with the ATI kexts is promising.

I too agree with aieronimo. Very well put. A continuing shame on an increasingly detached, unresponsive and short-termist Apple.

More in desperate hope than realistic expectation, I installed Mavericks yesterday morning on my mid-2007 iMac wih ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT. Seemed OK at first but had irretrievably frozen within a couple of hours, while doing nothing more complicated than trying to download a few emails.

Kext fix once again fixed it, so far at least. Only difference from last update is that, this time, the screen will actually go to sleep and windows don't wander about so much. Fingers crossed, but in trepidation...

As the console log is not so easy to read, you could try the System Report/Extensions? Mine currently reads the following (from the detail as I couldn't copy the list view) (and note the "Loaded"):

ATI2600Controller:

Version: 1.6.6

Last Modified: 24/10/2013 18:09

Loaded: No

Get Info String: ATI2600Controller 1.6.6.25 (7429)

Obtained from: Unknown

Kind: Intel

Architectures: i386, x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/ATI2600Controller.kext

Kext Version: 6.0.6

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Unknown

ATIFramebuffer:

Version: 1.6.6

Last Modified: 24/10/2013 18:09

Loaded: No

Get Info String: ATIFramebuffer 1.6.6.25 (7429)

Obtained from: Unknown

Kind: Intel

Architectures: i386, x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/ATIFramebuffer.kext

Kext Version: 6.0.6

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Unknown

ATIRadeonX2000:

Version: 8.18.27

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 07:06

Loaded: Yes

Get Info String: ATIRadeonX2000 8.18.27 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX2000.kext

Kext Version: 8.1.8

Load Address: 18446743521831400000

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

ATISupport:

Version: 1.6.6

Last Modified: 24/10/2013 18:09

Loaded: Yes

Get Info String: ATISupport 1.6.6.25 (7429)

Obtained from: Unknown

Kind: Intel

Architectures: i386, x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/ATISupport.kext

Kext Version: 6.0.6

Load Address: 18446743521843300000

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Unknown

and for the AMD Extensions:

AMD2400Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD2400Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD2400Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD2600Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: Yes

Get Info String: AMD2600Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD2600Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Load Address: 18446743521841300000

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD3800Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD3800Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD3800Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD4600Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD4600Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD4600Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD4800Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD4800Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD4800Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD5000Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD5000Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD5000Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD6000Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD6000Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD6000Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMD7000Controller:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMD7000Controller 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMD7000Controller.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMDFramebuffer:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: Yes

Get Info String: AMDFramebuffer 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMDFramebuffer.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Load Address: 18446743521841200000

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMDRadeonX3000:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMDRadeonX3000 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMDRadeonX4000:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: No

Get Info String: AMDRadeonX4000 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX4000.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

AMDSupport:

Version: 1.14.21

Last Modified: 20/09/2013 06:26

Loaded: Yes

Get Info String: AMDSupport 1.14.21 12975

Obtained from: Apple

Kind: Intel

Architectures: x86_64

64-Bit (Intel): Yes

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/AMDSupport.kext

Kext Version: 1.1.4

Load Address: 18446743521840700000

Valid: Yes

Authentic: Yes

Dependencies: Satisfied

Signed by: Software Signing, Apple Code Signing Certification Authority, Apple Root CA

But have also seen at least one other report that after a Mavericks freeze just the repair permissions appeared sufficient. Probably all too early to tell, but my ATI2600 froze within a day, so have done the kext + repair permissions - but it is has only been running for just under a day so far. (I thought it was a subtle hardware issue between batches of cards, but the fact that it spans multiple gpu cards but not every machine makes it a very bizarre issue - and I understand Apple do not formally monitor these posts, they just kindly host them. Do a bug report to Apple, I did, but after sending several crash logs they eventually asked me to take it to a store, but I could not be bothered. If everyone reported a bug they might look a little deeper ~ but these machines are well out of warranty now, unless other newer ones are also having issues)

That's great, Simon.

Interesting that the ATI2600Support loaded but the others did not despite the existence of an AMDSupport.kext. Please lt us know if this holds up. If not, on the next go round, I'm going to try removing the AMD2600Controller.kext and AMD2600Framebuffer.kext files and see if that will eliminate the conflict and once again allow the old drivers to load.

Just done a clean install of Mavericks and already had three freezes in the last hour 😟

I'd been running fine back on 10.8.3 with the kext from 10.6.2 really fed up with this continual messing around at every update, and dreading the day when I have to make a decision on my next computer because I don't want to buy anything from Apple again after this fiasco.

I'm about to do the kext update again but this time I've spotted there aren't any ATI2400Controller.kext, ATIFramebuffer.kext or ATISupport.kext in the /System/Library/Extensions folder. So not sure what the score is anymore.

I'm running Mavericks on a clean install on a new partition, so I still have my 10.8.3 install to boot from as well if it doesn't work.

{edit}

Well my screen froze again as I completed my post above. The lockups I've had have been mainly when using Safari, or initially on boot up. I did get one of them was when I started mail. My system is now so unstable I can't keep it up long enough to do the patch. 😟 I'm back in 10.8.3 to post this edit.

I'm really very sorry to hear this. Can you please let us know your iMac version (e.g., 8,1) and graphics card? Thanks very much.

Yeah, this is the stuff that makes it so frustrating to use a Mac.

I had always heard they were supposed to be the worlds stablest, but haven't seen that for myself yet.

My Windows PC never crashed in several years (hard to believe but true) so I was at least hoping the same performance.

- Further tests I've done, is to remove all non essential USB devices, only to keep the keyboard and mouse in the ports.

- Adjusting fan speeds to max.

I've noticed that the system "usually" crashes when the Temp is above 40 degrees C, more proof that the GFX card is the culprit here.

Mine is a Mid 2007 IMac 7.1 with an ATI RadeonHD2400 graphics card.

My problems started as soon as 10.6.3 came out. I assumed at the time it was a bug in the update and just rolled back to 10.6.2 using a backup. When 10.6.4 and 10.6.5 also gave the same problems I contacted Apple Support who denied all knowledge of the problem and blamed my iMac. Back to 10.6.2 and the problems went away. I've been posting and reading this thread and also the [url=https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2383288?start=0&tstart=0]

System Freezes Randomly after 10.6.3 Update[/url] thread for about 3 years now. Every update my problems return and only the kext fix patch which Krzysiu Turek posted has kept me up to date patching in my old 10.6.2 ATI files at every update. I patched this Mavericks install last night using Kext Wizard but have already had two freezes this morning both on the login screen where I wasn't able to type in my password. Each time I had to do a hard reset. 😟

I'm not prepared to put up with the freezes and hard reset as last time I put up with it I knackered my hard drive up. So it looks like I'll be going back to ML and syaing goodbye to Mavericks and Apple.

The annoying thing is this computer has been a star, its 6 years old and still performs well today and I don't need to update or upgrade it just yet. My problem is I don't trust Apple after this and refuse to pay out another £1700 to buy the latest iMac which might have hardare issue they will again refuse to admit. We were lucky with this fault that the kext updates fixed the problem and kept our systems running. If all it took was a software patch to fixed it then why couldn't Apple release an offical fix in the various updates. This started at 10.6.3 Snow Leopard, and has progressed through 19 offical updates. Right through Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion and now Mavericks and still Apple won't release a fix.

Hedegaard8 wrote:

I've noticed that the system "usually" crashes when the Temp is above 40 degrees C, more proof that the GFX card is the culprit here.

I don't think temp is the issue. I've posted before several years ago about this but have had it again a couple of times this morning. My system often fails imeadiately on startup, where the temps haven't even had chance to build up. The freezes have been completely random and I can go days without one and then other times its freezing every few minutes. This morning it took me three attempts to start up. The login screen came up and the mouse was moving on the screen, but I couldn't click in the password box to type in my password. I also tried to use the restart and shutdown buttons but they didn't work either. The only way out was a hard reset. I've now managed to login and been using Mavericks ok for the last hour.

Phil_O, yeah its not the temperature that is the cause/source, but that it happens when temps rise up - at least on mine. Sure I get the odd 30degrees freezes, but not so much. Usually facebook messaging it will cause a 100% freeze. Then I was wondering if it was flash that was causing it, or something else that was triggering the gfx card in a certain way.

However, its very unfair to blame Apple, we're talking about really ancient machines here. Apple should focus on current products and future innovations, not playing doctor&nurse and patching hundreds of iterations of products-past. We buy the products for what they can do right now, not what we expect them to do some 5 years later.

The fact that Mavericks can even run on our machines is a real blessing 🙂

One could always go back to 10.6.2 but hmmm, thats also not a "solution" either.

It may not be an issue but I can guarantee keeping the temp under 40 degrees C has helped me for more than a year.

Before discovering the kext fix, I had been using SMC fan control to manage this problem as I noticed that freezes were almost non existing during winter. Then came summer and BOOM, freezes all over the place, modern art on my screen, etc.

It's just because it had turned impossible to keep the temp under 40 during one particularly hot summer that I set up my mind to try the kext fix as a matter of fact. Furthermore, the SMC fix has sort of screwed up my fans (I think one has become quite loose and that is why is is making weird sounds today when running to fast).

I told that months ago and it was immediately dismissed as non significant. I swear I can't see why it can't be considered a significant factor while the "temp fix" has had good results for a lot of people, including for example people I know but who won't dive in this thread... How would you for example explain that several iMacs, in one region of one country where winters are quite severe, were running smoothly without any kext replaced, running almost perfectly during spring and autumn with SMC fan control and, all of a sudden, were going into "freeze in your face" mode during summer until you managed to keep temp under 40-45 degrees C?

I've monitored mine and that is why I didn't install the kext fix in the first place, I can say freezes happened while the temp went up to 43 degrees C for 4 seconds...

Hedegaard8 wrote:

Then I was wondering if it was flash that was causing it

However, its very unfair to blame Apple, we're talking about really ancient machines here.

I disagree, if a simple kext file update can fix the problem then why should Apple NOT provide an update. My system was still under Applecare when this fault started and its been going on for over three years since.

Flash isn't installed on my machine and it still freezes.

JayPan wrote:

I've monitored mine and that is why I didn't install the kext fix in the first place, I can say freezes happened while the temp went up to 43 degrees C for 4 seconds...

Thats interesting, perhaps there is more than one problem here with our various versions of iMac. I always run iStats Menu on mine so often keep an eye on the temps. Temp has never been an issue for me and I can't remember ever hearing the fans kick up on mine.

Hedegaard8, let me say again that these iMac's started crashing 23 months after their release. It would be different if they started crashing with Mavericks, or Mountain Lion, or maybe even Lion. Then you could say we had a long, happy life with them, and it was time to let go. But they started crashing well within their AppleCare prime, while they were still toddlers. There is no excuse for that.

And for any iMac 8,1 with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics card, the kext fix works 100% of the time through Mountain Lion, no exceptions. Heat may be a factor in other models and cards, but not with this particular configuation. Which is what I think you have.

I was going to post something similar a couple of weeks ago, so let me just agree with aieronimo:

Less than 2 years after release is an unnacceptably short time frame for letting an issue fall by the wayside. I'm a fan of Apple hardware and software, but when they leave something in the dust, it's gone for good. With each new "big cat" version of OS X that comes out, it became exponentially less likely they'd address this. And now with 10.9 it's truly ancient history.

My iMac 7,1 is a trooper (echoing user Phil_O_). It's been humming along happily on 10.8.5 with the kext fix, and there it shall stay...