DazzaG

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

I don't know if this is just coincidence or not, but since updating my iMac to 10.6.3 it keeps on crashing. On 3 separate occasions today, whilst using my Mac the screen has gone completely black with thin white lines down it.....see pic below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6SYzhCgVYEU5TBKqRfOQ1Q?feat=directlink

The fans and hard disk are still running but it will not respond to any keyboard or mouse presses - I simply have to turn it off by holding the power button in.
It will then restart as usual.

Anyone got any ideas? Do you think that if I was to re-install Mac OS X from my original install disk it could solve the issue?

Thanks

Darren

24" intel imac 2.8Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 2:43 PM

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

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  • by swmaster,

    swmaster swmaster Jul 31, 2011 11:29 PM in response to Eclipsethegalaxy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 11:29 PM in response to Eclipsethegalaxy

    well, i'll try my best...

     

    first of all, you have to grab the 10.6.2 kext files. i have them in case you need them.

    depending on your hw, that would be

     

    ATISupport.kext

    ATI2400Controller.kext (AT2600Controller.kext)

    ATIFramebuffer.kext

    ATIRadeonX2000.kext (i did not replace this, however, but my imac is kinda ok, uptime is 3 days 6 hours)

     

    then comes the tricky terminal part. open up a terminal.

     

    first identify, what kexts do you need:

     

    crowley:~ swm$ kextstat | grep ATI

       92    2 0xffffff7f813a8000 0x45000    0x45000    com.apple.kext.ATISupport (6.0.6) <77 9 8 7 5 4 3 1>

       93    0 0xffffff7f816ef000 0xca000    0xca000    com.apple.kext.ATI2400Controller (6.0.6) <92 77 9 8 5 4 3 1>

       95    0 0xffffff7f813ed000 0x25f000   0x25f000   com.apple.ATIRadeonX2000 (7.0.2) <94 77 9 7 6 5 4 3 1>

      100    0 0xffffff7f816d8000 0x12000    0x12000    com.apple.kext.ATIFramebuffer (6.0.6) <92 77 9 8 7 5 4 3 1>

     

    mine is an imac7,1 with HD2400xt, so i need ATI2400Controller.kext

     

    $ sudo sh

    Password:

    sh-3.2#

     

    now you are the root user, total ruler of time and space on your imac :-)

     

    # cd /System/Library/Extensions

    # tar czvf /Users/your_username_goes_here/ATI.10.7.0.kexts.tgz ATI*kext

     

    you just made a copy of all your ATI kexts in an archive placed in your home folder.

     

    let's assume, the ATI kexts fot 10.6.2 are located in your home as well

    now we will remove the original lion kexts from /System/Library/Extensions

    depending on your imac model, you may need to remove ATI2600Controller.kext.

    make sure you do not restart your system until you finished this part or have to do

    a boot with one of your OSX DVDs as you will have no proper drivers installed.

    the best thing would be to close all applications and avoid using mission control, dashboard,

    anything that may give you a gpu crash.

     

    make sure you are in /S/L/E

     

    # cd /System/Library/Extensions

     

    remove old kexts

     

    # rm -r ATISupport.kext ATIFramebuffer.kext ATI2400Controller.kext

     

    copy over the files from your homedir to /S/L/E. note the trailing dot (means current working directory)

     

    # cp -R /Users/your_username_goes_here/ATI*\.kext .

     

    change owner to user root, group wheel

     

    # chown -R root:wheel ATISupport.kext ATIFramebuffer.kext ATI2400Controller.kext

     

    remove all extended attributes (safari and mail tends to add on this to note that those files were downloaded from the internet, this may disallow osx to boot those kexts)

     

    # xattr -dr ATISupport.kext ATIFramebuffer.kext ATI2400Controller.kext

     

    basically you're done. you should wait until kexthelper automatically rebuilds the kext caches in the background. that takes 1-3 minutes.

     

    hth.

  • by Tazthed,

    Tazthed Tazthed Aug 1, 2011 1:32 AM in response to cam.inc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2011 1:32 AM in response to cam.inc

    For those who have a 24" 8,1 Mac with ATI 2600 Pro, use this guide (thanks to CWGuide and KrzysiuTurek) from this thread.

     

    I installed the kext files on Lion and haven't got any freezes so far:

     

     

    1. *MAKE A BACKUP!* (super important) I used Time Machine and it saved my but as I did it wrong the first time and basically killed my iMac till I restored from my external backup drive.

     

    2. Download and open the .zip file of the old (10.6.2) graphics drivers.(provided by KrzysiuTurek)

    The downloaded drivers

     

     

    3. Download Kext Helper b7.

    Kext Helper b7

     

     

    4. Go to *+Apple Menu>About This Mac>More Info...>Graphics/Display+* and find your graphics card's model. (In my case the ATI,RadeonHD2400)

    About This Mac Find your cards model

     

     

    5. Take ONLY the files titled ATIFramebuffer.kext, ATISupport.kext, and ATI2400Controller.kext *(IF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT GENERATION OF CARD THEN SELECT THE FILE WITH YOUR CARD'S NUMBER)* and put them on your desktop.

    The three files

     

     

    6. Open Kext Helper and drag the three files into the top drop spot.

    Files ready

     

     

    7. Enter your password in the text entry field.

    Pasword entered

     

     

    9. Click *EASY INSTALL*.

    CLICK THE BUTTON

     

     

    The app will do it's thing then ask you to restart the mac. After that it should be smooth sailing (no more freezing )

     

    Hope this guide helps! (Also pretty much the same thing has already been posted by KrzysiuTurek. All credit for this fix goes to him (or her) as I only followed his directions)

  • by cam.inc,

    cam.inc cam.inc Aug 1, 2011 3:58 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2011 3:58 AM in response to DazzaG

    Thank you very much, both of you and KrzysiuTurek and all the others.

    The replacement seemed to have brought no new problems. I will report back soon whether it helped with the crashes.

  • by NSBanyard,

    NSBanyard NSBanyard Aug 1, 2011 7:02 AM in response to Tazthed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2011 7:02 AM in response to Tazthed

    This fix was working fine for me, then I upgraded to 10.6.8. Computer started crashing - as it had done every time the kext files 'updated' - so I ran this procedure, and my iMac wouldn't boot properly. Got to the apple screen, then a lovely long string of text saying it didn't recognise the replaced .kext files (Sorry, I didn't write down the text).

     

    One reinstall and update of Snow Leopard later, I'm back to where I was. iMac works fine, except when it crashes (sometimes just after startup, sometimes after a few hours of use, it almost always happens if I've woken it up from sleep). Mouse pointer moves, otherwise completely unresponsive.

  • by swmaster,

    swmaster swmaster Aug 3, 2011 2:02 AM in response to Chris J.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 2:02 AM in response to Chris J.

    10.6.2 ATI kexts working for quite a time now in lion.

     

    crowley:ATI swm$ w

    11:00  up 5 days,  9:25, 5 users,

  • by Chris J.,

    Chris J. Chris J. Aug 3, 2011 4:28 AM in response to swmaster
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 4:28 AM in response to swmaster

    Mine has been working a week with no problems at all.  I have put this iMac through the ringer and have not gotten one freeze, hang up or glitch.  Glad we have reached point of happiness with Lion, even though it was something we all did on our own and without the help of Apple.  I will say, I love Lion!

  • by Dekamundo,

    Dekamundo Dekamundo Aug 3, 2011 8:00 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 8:00 AM in response to DazzaG

    Newcomer to this thread, but I have followed most of the dialogue from around page 26 or so, where the kext solution was first introduced.


    My wife's iMac is experiencing the same issues (ie graphics intensive apps like iphoto, imovie and aperture, as well as the ubiquitous game (WoW in our case) suddenly freezing, beachball, and graphics break-up, requiring a hard reset). 


    Recently upgraded to 10.7 (before discovering this thread) and problem seems to have been exacerbated.


    Running a iMac 24" 9.1 with Nvidia GT 130 graphics. Whilst I appreciate the bulk of the discussion has revolved around the ATI 2600 and 7.1 / 8.1 iMacs, there have been the odd postings regarding the GT 130. Does anyone who has been actively monitoring this know is there is a kext file solution for Nvidia, and if so which files are involved ?


    Thanks !

  • by photomatt,

    photomatt photomatt Aug 3, 2011 4:24 PM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 4:24 PM in response to DazzaG

    I have a 9,1 and have all the same freeze/crash issues with Lion. Not lovin' my mac at the moment..

  • by Eclipsethegalaxy,

    Eclipsethegalaxy Eclipsethegalaxy Aug 3, 2011 6:07 PM in response to Dekamundo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 6:07 PM in response to Dekamundo

    This is like a nightmare. Apple gives me the run around when I try to get them to fix this problem. I also have  the NVIDIA GT 130 and cannot find the graphics drivers needed for the kext fix which I am very nervous about trying anyway. I am so ******.

  • by crinfante,

    crinfante crinfante Aug 3, 2011 6:38 PM in response to Tazthed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 3, 2011 6:38 PM in response to Tazthed

    After 6 months of random screen freezes that rendered my 24" iMac useless as a work computer, multiple calls to Apple, and 2 trips to the Apple Store, I decided to give the discussion forums one more shot. The original problem described in this post (50 pages ago) is exactly the same as mine. Up until now I was convinced that it was a graphics card problem, but since the Apple techs couldn't duplicate it after a week of stress tests -- no help from them and I have been stuck. I would love to sell my iMac and upgrade as I typicaly do after 3-4 years, but how can I sell a broken machine?

     

    After reading through all these posts, it is apparent that people with similar early 2008 24" iMacs (8,1 & ATI2600) are downgrading to old drivers from 10.6.2 (my problem started around 10.6.6) and finding a solution. My jaw dropped as I remembered the good old days of Window updates, crashes, and missing .dll's, which drove me back to Apple with the introduction of OS X. Now maybe we've come full circle? Are Macs older than 2 years not supported anymore?

     

    Anyway, I've downgraded from 10.6.8 to 10.6.7 using the ComboUpdater after reinstalling from my Snow Leopard disc and followed the excellent procedure demonstrated by KrzysiuTurek and others to replace the 10.6.7 ATI kexts with those from 10.6.2. Fingers crossed that it works for my machine and I'll be able to get back to work. Hopefully, the same procedure will work for Lion, or perhaps 10.7.1 will have a permanent fix and I'll be able to sell my computer with a clear conscience. Unless that happens, no new Apple computer for me.

  • by jkyriazidis,

    jkyriazidis jkyriazidis Aug 5, 2011 5:14 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 5:14 AM in response to DazzaG

    First of all let me tell you a "hi" and that i am glad being here...

     

    moreover.............................i am shocked!

     

    I am shocked because i believed that it was me only that i had this problem and now...i see so many. The good fact is that i start to understand what really the problem is...

     

    You can read my story here

     

    http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/59912/iMac+presents+symptomatology+of+HDD+fai lure+%26+Graphics+Card+failure%21

     

     

    As you have faced the problem by yourselves my history would look familiar to you...

     

    I will try the solution of page 21. Do we know if we can apply this solution if we run Lion?

  • by jkyriazidis,

    jkyriazidis jkyriazidis Aug 5, 2011 6:42 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 6:42 AM in response to DazzaG

    well a little bit of explanation...

     

    read my post on ifixit. I have an NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS. Seems the problem appeared with the installation of Lion.

     

    Since it is 64bit kernel and i have NVIDIA (no ATI) i dont know what the "hack" is in my case...

  • by k3bs,

    k3bs k3bs Aug 5, 2011 9:13 AM in response to jkyriazidis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 9:13 AM in response to jkyriazidis

    yes, it was reported that the 10.6.2 KEXT fix works with Lion in 64bit mode. So go ahead and try.

     

    But, there is another freezing issue going around which appeared around Lion release. People with Lion reported the fix works, but they now suffer freezes where they are still able to move the mouse cursor. I don't believe it's a pure Lion issue tho, since i am still on 10.6.7 and after i updated everything -but 10.6.8- a couple days ago (java, airport, itunes) i now suffer the same symptoms. Haven't checked the logs yet cause i have work to do..

     

    I am also shocked about the lack of response from Apple. I am not a frequent poster on this board. In fact i only signed up to join this discussion, yet viewing at the forum index this thread seems to be one of the largest (50 pages, 700+ replies, 160.000+ views). I wonder what it takes to get noticed by Apple... Are they even reading the forums? I am so disappointed.

     

    m2c, back to work. good luck with patching lion!

  • by jkyriazidis,

    jkyriazidis jkyriazidis Aug 5, 2011 9:23 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 9:23 AM in response to DazzaG

    the problem is that i have the 8800GS card.

     

    there are no reports of many errors like ATI et en plus there are not any indications that the "hack" works in the case of NVIDIA.

  • by Phil Bridges,

    Phil Bridges Phil Bridges Aug 5, 2011 9:50 AM in response to DazzaG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2011 9:50 AM in response to DazzaG

    So, I have a 20” iMac 7.1, circa 2007, ATI Radeon 2400, same problems as most when I moved on 10.6.3.  curser freezing after a couple of hours on demand.  I  managed to get the patched drivers working up to 10.6.6. and never had the guts to go  up 10.6.7 .  I recently bought Lion thinking this would be resolved by now, to my horror  it wasn’t.  As I want the sell the iMac I couldn’t sell it with an older OS and patched kernel, that would be unfair.

     

    I wrote to the local apple store manager and he was helpful and said £112 worst case for a new graphics card if it was that.

     

    So, I took it in, they ran it for a week under stress and could find no fault.  The Genius jokingly said maybe the car journey shook something back in to place.  He also said he’d never heard of the problem so I gave him a sample  page  rintout of this forum.   Oh, and there is no charge if they don't find a fault BTW.. I'd advise others to bite the bullet and drop your machine in your local apple store, I'd rather pay £112 to repair a machine that wil lprobably raise about £300+ on eBay rather than using it as a boat anchor.

     

    I put it on soak test myself when i got in  expecting the mouse to freeze within 2 hours… and I waited.. and waited, an 24 hours on the cursor has not frozen.

     

    This is weird, I’ve had this problem just after my AppleCare expired, yet Apple say they did not replace anything and could find no fault.  Read into this what you will ….

     

    confused but relieved of Southampton (UK)

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