Safari freezing up computer

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Level 1

5 points

Safari freezing up computer

I just got a new MacBook Pro a couple of months ago. I was very happy to get a Mac because I heard they never freeze up but that's not true. My computer freezes up at least once a day and it usually happens while I'm using Safari. There's no warning everything just quits working and I have to turn it off and start it all back up. I would love to talk to someone in with Apple Care but I'm currently in Japan and will be here for the next three months. Please help. This is very frustrating. Thank you.

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 14, 2010 12:23 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Carolyn Samit

Level 10

165,615 points

May 14, 2010 2:56 AM in response to ondria cesar

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...

if Safari is actually crashing, not just freezing, open a Finder window. From the Menu Bar click Go/Go to Folder . Copy and paste this path in the Finder diaog: ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ Click the Go button. When the folder opens with the crash log look for a crash file with a date field that looks like the *most recent* and copy/paste here in your reply.

There are several things you can try in the meantime.

From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari / Empty Cache. When you are done with that...

From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari / Reset Safari. Select the top 5 buttons and click Reset. Relaunch Safari. If you still have problems, Go here for trouble shooting 3rd party plugins or input managers which might be causing the problem. Safari: Add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

Since you are running Snow Leopard, try opening Safari in 32-bit mode, not 64. Right or control click the Safari icon in the Applications folder, then click: Get Info In the Get Info window click the black disclosure triangle next to General so it faces down. Select 32 bit mode. Also, (in that same window) make sure Safari is NOT running in Rosetta.

Web pages now include a small icon or 'favicon' which is visible in the address bar and next to bookmarks. These icons take up disk space and slow Safari down. It is possible to erase the icons from your computer and start fresh. *To delete Safari's icon cache using the Finder, open your user folder, navigate to ~/Library/Safari/ and move this file "webpageIcons.db to the Trash.*

Try logging in to another user account (System Preferences/Accounts) and see if Safari's behavior is the same there. If it is, then it's a system wide issue, not just isolated to your user Home Folder.

If you still have problems, go to the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari/Preferences. Make note of all the preferences under each tab. Quit Safari. Now go to ~/Library/Preferences and move this file com.apple.safari.plist to the Desktop. Relaunch Safari. If it's a successful launch, then that .plist file needs to be moved to the Trash.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 2

ondria cesar Author

Level 1

5 points

May 15, 2010 6:20 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thank you! I emptied the chache and reset Safari but I guess it's not Safari that's the problem because the computer just froze up while using itunes. It's really frustrating. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks!

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Answer 3

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

May 15, 2010 7:45 AM in response to ondria cesar

ondria --
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
We're all other Mac users here, sharing solutions.

So, did you put any internet "enhancing" apps on there?
Anything to make it quicker, supposedly safer, or download faster?
What apps have you added that are non-Apple ones?
Do you repair permissions after major app additions?

(Go to your HD icon, upper right -- Click and go down to the Applications folder >
Utilities. Click on Utilities, go to Disk Utilities. Open that up and then select
Macintosh HD on the left, and then select "Repair Permissions. " Let it run.

Then restart your Mac, and try Safari again.
(By the way, if you have problems with Safari, you will have problems with iTunes, as well.)

If all that doesn't do the trick, we'll check your fonts.

Hang in there.

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Answer 4

May 15, 2010 7:48 AM in response to ondria cesar

HI,

Make sure there is enough free space on the startup disk. Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure you always have a minimum of 10% to 15% free disk space at all times.

Help to Free Up Disk Space on Mac OS X

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 5

ondria cesar Author

Level 1

5 points

May 22, 2010 3:41 AM in response to ondria cesar

We were cruising along pretty good, hadn't frozen up in a week. I repaired permissions and checked the hard drive capacity. I'm good on the hard drive. I've only used 25 GB of 250. Then I was using Safari and iTunes at the same time and it froze up again. 😟 When it freezes up while playing music on iTunes it sounds like the song is scratching on an old record player and nothing works, no mouse, no keyboard, only the off button. The only app I've downloaded is Skype, which is annoying because it starts up every time I turn on the computer. And the only apps I've installed are Adobe Photoshop and Word. Everything else is exactly like how it was when I took it out of the box less than 2 months ago.

Thank you so much for your help. While I'm not enjoying my Apple yet I am glad there are forums and people that are willing to help. Thank you!

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Answer 6

May 22, 2010 4:27 AM in response to ondria cesar

Hi,

Open System Preferences then select Accounts then select Login Items.

Delete Skype.

Restart your Mac and see if that makes a difference.

If you still have problems, this could be a font issue since you installed Word.

Go here for troubleshooting. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313535

🙂

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Answer 7

ondria cesar Author

Level 1

5 points

May 22, 2010 7:56 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

This was happening before I installed Word so I'm pretty sure that's not the cause. Could Skype be the problem? I need it to talk to my husband. He travels internationally a lot and it's one of the few ways we get to see each other. If it is the issue is there a way to fix it? Thanks.

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Answer 8

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

May 22, 2010 8:35 AM in response to ondria cesar

ondria --

Go to your Applications folder. Open up Font Book in there.
Select "All fonts" and see who many duplicates you have in there.
Select "Resolve duplicates" on the ones that show duplicates.
The same for corrupted fonts. It will show you how to fix them.

After this, remember to Restart your Mac.

Message was edited by: ~Bee

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Answer 9

ondria cesar Author

Level 1

5 points

May 22, 2010 11:31 PM in response to TildeBee

I was hoping this would be the answer but unfortunately there weren't any duplicate fonts so that option wasn't available. Any other ideas?

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Answer 10

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

May 23, 2010 5:18 AM in response to ondria cesar

When did you last boot from DVD or another hard drive and repair the directory and file system?

Apple Disk Utility: Repair disk drive for starters, and follow up with Alsoft Disk Warrior.

Something that should be done as much for perventative weekly maintenance check even if not experiencing problems.

Anytime your system freezes, stops working, stalls out, and definitely when there is a hard restart.

A SAFE BOOT may or may not help entirely, may let you more or less limp along until you get somewhere where you can repair your flat tire.

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