Mac OS X 10.6.3 system "freezing" problems: my experiences and conclusions
My last post was lost in the pile and so here it is in a new "topic" for consideration:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2403126&tstart=0&messageID=114 57265#11457265
The bottom line is that my iMac has been working without a problem since I replaced the ATIRadeonX2000 drivers from 10.6.3 with those from 10.6.2 as explained in my last post. This iMac has been running since Thursday night without problems, it has been rebooted manually once or twice to insure that it restarted without problems, and it has been running with both an external video monitor and has been accessed via VNC without incident. The temperature monitor indicates nothing out of the ordinary and it is operating with a single external USB drive and a UPS monitor via USB...
Just to be clear, I have not added any third party software yet other than the temperature monitor. I have not yet begun using the system for email or work other than via webmail interfaces, but I have used it for at least ten hours for video streaming... again, without incident.
Yesterday, I submitted a detailed report via the Apple support feedback mechanism that I will not copy verbatim here, but the gist of my conclusions are here for your consideration:
1) There clearly is an issue with accelerated graphics on this machine that seem resolved with a simple downgrade of the device drivers for this machine (and don't forget that it worked just fine, if slowly and with restricted functionality, when started with Safe Boot).
2) Other users seem to see different if similar "system freezing" issues on hardware that contain different graphics devices, and these issues sometimes involve "frozen" mice, etc... but that they almost always seem to be connected with display issues.
3) While some users report problems during installation and/or boot procedures, I am wondering whether the 10.6.3 boot doesn't evoke the latest generation graphics drivers and systems libraries during that process... because I also saw sporadic cases where the system would not even boot normally with the 10.6.3 drivers (though I should add that I had no difficulty whatsoever with the erase/install...).
My conclusion, if I may be so bold, is that there is a problem with either code common to some or all of the 10.6.3 graphics drivers, whether at the device level, in Core Graphics, or in the OpenGL libraries (or something related to any of these).
I decided to submit this post even though I offered it to Apple via feedback precisely because someone else might be able to benefit from it. I do not want to enter into an argument about how "unique" each of these problems might be and hope other contributors will respect this by not speculating about motives or imagining other scenarios. I am not able to check for responses very frequently but will attempt to respond to queries about my experience and how it apparently has been resolved (esp. those that pertain to similar hardware), but I obviously cannot be responsible for any similar attempts to temporarily correct this situation...
... and frankly, I hope that someone at Apple support does monitor these forums and that the problem will be explicitly correct sometime soon.
Good luck to all...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2403126&tstart=0&messageID=114 57265#11457265
The bottom line is that my iMac has been working without a problem since I replaced the ATIRadeonX2000 drivers from 10.6.3 with those from 10.6.2 as explained in my last post. This iMac has been running since Thursday night without problems, it has been rebooted manually once or twice to insure that it restarted without problems, and it has been running with both an external video monitor and has been accessed via VNC without incident. The temperature monitor indicates nothing out of the ordinary and it is operating with a single external USB drive and a UPS monitor via USB...
Just to be clear, I have not added any third party software yet other than the temperature monitor. I have not yet begun using the system for email or work other than via webmail interfaces, but I have used it for at least ten hours for video streaming... again, without incident.
Yesterday, I submitted a detailed report via the Apple support feedback mechanism that I will not copy verbatim here, but the gist of my conclusions are here for your consideration:
1) There clearly is an issue with accelerated graphics on this machine that seem resolved with a simple downgrade of the device drivers for this machine (and don't forget that it worked just fine, if slowly and with restricted functionality, when started with Safe Boot).
2) Other users seem to see different if similar "system freezing" issues on hardware that contain different graphics devices, and these issues sometimes involve "frozen" mice, etc... but that they almost always seem to be connected with display issues.
3) While some users report problems during installation and/or boot procedures, I am wondering whether the 10.6.3 boot doesn't evoke the latest generation graphics drivers and systems libraries during that process... because I also saw sporadic cases where the system would not even boot normally with the 10.6.3 drivers (though I should add that I had no difficulty whatsoever with the erase/install...).
My conclusion, if I may be so bold, is that there is a problem with either code common to some or all of the 10.6.3 graphics drivers, whether at the device level, in Core Graphics, or in the OpenGL libraries (or something related to any of these).
I decided to submit this post even though I offered it to Apple via feedback precisely because someone else might be able to benefit from it. I do not want to enter into an argument about how "unique" each of these problems might be and hope other contributors will respect this by not speculating about motives or imagining other scenarios. I am not able to check for responses very frequently but will attempt to respond to queries about my experience and how it apparently has been resolved (esp. those that pertain to similar hardware), but I obviously cannot be responsible for any similar attempts to temporarily correct this situation...
... and frankly, I hope that someone at Apple support does monitor these forums and that the problem will be explicitly correct sometime soon.
Good luck to all...
iMac/Intel 20 inch 2.0 Ghz (version 7,1), Mac OS X (10.6.3), 2 gb RAM and ATI Radeon HD2400
