eMac freezes randomly, open window turns into broken up jibber

I've been experiencing the same problems on my eMac which is less then 1 1/2 yrs old. I've run a variety of tests including AHT, disk first aid, MacJanitor etc and there are no reported problems. The Apple Care warranty was not available to me since I live in Florida, so I'd be anxious to know what the solution is before bringing it in for repair. Thanks

eMac 1.25GHz Mac OS X (10.4.4)

I've been experiencing the same problems on my eMac
which is less then 1 1/2 yrs old. I've run a variety
of tests including AHT, disk first aid, MacJanitor
etc and there are no reported problems. The Apple
Care warranty was not available to me since I live in
Florida,

AppleCare is now available in Florida. This changed in early December 2005.

so I'd be anxious to know what the solution
is before bringing it in for repair.

Random freezes are almost certainly due to RAM. Do you have 3rd-party RAM installed? If so, take it out and see what happens. OS X is notoriously finicky about RAM. If it's not RAM, then it's probably the motherboard. Sorry, but that's how it is.

Video artifacts might be due to RAM, too, but more likely to be a problem with the video subsystem. As the video subsystem on an eMac is built into the motherboard, your video problem may also be causing the freeze problem and the only cure is a motherboard swap.

However, note that diagnosing hardware long distance is chancy. It might just be that something's loose or there's a bad solder joint or you're getting EMI from something; those are easy fixes. The only real way to tell for sure what's going on is to have someone take the eMac apart and have a look. If it's the motherboard, well, sorry, but the cure is a swap. No-one does component-level repair anymore, and this has been so for a long time.

I'd check the RAM first, but if this has no result, take it into the nearest repair facility.

Thanks


eMac 1.25GHz Mac
OS X (10.4.4)

Thanks for your feeback, Charles.

I do have a 3rd party RAM installed, it's a 256MB that I purchased from Crucial back in June 2005. I did as you suggested and removed it and tried again. Going into Mail and clicking on "attachment" is a guaranteed freeze ... and it did so with the RAM removed.

So, I guess I will have to bring it in to be checked out.

BTW, glad to know Apple Care is available once again in Florida. I will be sure to buy it with my next Mac.

My emac is now 1.5 years old and i am having the same repeated screen freeze-up problems mentioned in the thread, and, I have to power off to get out of the frozen screens. It can happen in any application. I then have to try repeated times to get it to start up again. Sometimes i can run the computer for hours without a problem, and other times, it won't stay up for 5 minutes. I also note there is a high probability of causing a freeze by plugging in head phones. I have only original equipment installed.
Have run AHT (extended), macjanitor, onyx, system optimizer, and smartreporter without any problems indicated.
It appears from the concensus that it may be time to see the repairman before i ruin things even further by extensive use of the on/off switch.
Any other suggestions? Newbie.

My emac is now 1.5 years old and i am having the same
repeated screen freeze-up problems mentioned in the
thread, and, I have to power off to get out of the
frozen screens. It can happen in any application. I
then have to try repeated times to get it to start up
again. Sometimes i can run the computer for hours
without a problem, and other times, it won't stay up
for 5 minutes. I also note there is a high
probability of causing a freeze by plugging in head
phones.

Possible motherboard problem. In fact, I'd say probable motherboard problem, almost certainly a cold solder joint somewhere near the the headphone socket. Depending on the exact nature of the problem, it might be fixable... maybe. Probably you need a motherboard swap.

I have only original equipment installed.
Have run AHT (extended), macjanitor, onyx, system
optimizer, and smartreporter without any problems
indicated.

If it's a cold joint, there won't be any problems until the system heats up and then the system will crash almost immediately.

It appears from the concensus that it may be time to
see the repairman before i ruin things even further
by extensive use of the on/off switch.
Any other suggestions? Newbie.

Get it to someone who knows what they're doing a soon as possible.

I appreciate your advice Charles, and speedy too! Thank you.
Off to the apple reseller/repairer depot i'll go.
Should have purchased the extended warranty, but the other hit will be the loss of the recharger capability for my Nano.

I guess I'm gonna throw my hat into this issue (Random freezing and video distortion)as well. I have nine eMacs (USB 2.0) that just started having this problem at what seemed like over the course of a week or two. . There seems to be nothing to fix this issue. Zapping the PRAM, Reseting the PMU, Fscking it, running disk utility, apple hardware tests, tech tool deluxe, restoring the machine to its original operating system that it was shipped with and replacing the RAM (The RAM in them is the original RAM that came with them). I work in a school system and there are 38 of these machines alone in one school, more across the rest of the district (13 schools). Apple is saying there is no know issues, but **** they gotta start somethwhere. Of course the nine machines are out of warranty....

I believe as it was said in this topic to be the logic board because I've had a few of these machines sent out for repair while under warranty and they all had the board replaced.

PowerBook G4 (DVI) Mac OS X (10.4.2)

PowerBook G4 (DVI) Mac OS X (10.4.2)

PowerBook G4 (DVI) Mac OS X (10.4.4)

PowerBook G4 (DVI) Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Thank you for your post. I also believe that this is an issue that Mac will have to address eventually, of course I need my computer functioning now. I have also tried everything- Norton, Disk repair, retsore, erase and zeroing. Its obvious that these things aren't working for any of us. I have gone to my credit card company for an extended warrenty and will post the results of any repairs- My DVD burner also stopped working properly 4 months back, only working about 20% of the time- Did anyone else have this problem? Catherine

I have the same problem.
Currently it is being looked at under apple care warranty.
They have tried everything...even replacing the motherboard and the problem still exists. The last I heard the repair man was going to try a different harddrive cable and if that didn't work...try yet a another board. I will post another update when they get back to me.

Cheers

hello,

i've been following this correspondance and would like the results of anyone's testing or repairs. I've also tried all the above and have had no success. I feel like it would have to be the motherboard as the problem takes place during high graphic quality executions. someone mentioned cleaning the inside with air-spray that had success. is it too far-fetched to believe this will work or just plain luck?

thanks

Well, I just got my eMac back from the service center, and I'm testing it out now. They replaced the logic board. It appears to have solved the problem...

nice

Hello folks,
Well, my eMac has been doing the freeze and "jibber" thing for the past 2 weeks also. This is getting really fishy! Is there a possibility that the reason for no more new eMacs from Apple and this problem are connected? Could it be a virus (rare thing though they are on Macs)? I've reset, run the hardware checks and all. Could the logic boards they put in these tend to go bad at about a year and a half? Could a virus screw up the logic board? Help!!

Hello folks,
Well, my eMac has been doing the freeze and "jibber"
thing for the past 2 weeks also. This is getting
really fishy!

Not really. It looks more as if there were a few bad motherboards.

Is there a possibility that the reason
for no more new eMacs from Apple and this problem are
connected?

Nope. For one thing, education buyers can still get eMacs. For another, only a few eMacs, mostly 1.25GHz machines, seem to have the problem. The 1.42s and the older 1GHzs, 800s and 700s don't seem to do this. This seems to point at a bad batch of motherboards. And it's not a common problem; my 1.25GHz eMac doesn't have it, for instance, and neither do any of the other eMacs I come into daily contact with.

Could it be a virus (rare thing though
they are on Macs)

No. It's almost certainly hardware. Something with the motherboard.

I've reset, run the hardware
checks and all.

If it's a cold solder joint, and it almost certainly is, you will never detect the problem, because there won't be a problem until the system hits exactly the right combination of temperature and vibration and other environmentals and the cold joint opens up and the system crashes.

Could the logic boards they put in
these tend to go bad at about a year and a half?

The problem would always have been there, but simply got worse over time.

Could a virus screw up the logic board?

No.

1 there are no OS X viruses. None. Zero. Not a one. There are a few (as in under a half dozen) trojans and other malware, but none of those are common except the one which pretends to be the MS Office 2004 installer, and you have to be a thief and an idiot to get that one.

2 there are very, very, VERY few viruses which can kill hardware. None has ever run on a Mac.

3 none of the very, very, VERY few viruses which could affect hardware ever did anything to the motherboard.

Help!!

Take your machine into someone who knows Mac hardware and have them check it. It's probably either RAM or the motherboard, probably the motherboard. If the machine's in warranty, have Apple fix it. If it's not in warranty, then decide how you're going to replace it: Mac mini, iMac G5, iMac Intel, eMac from one of the retail places which still has a few (the local CompUSA here in West Palm Beach has at least two, or did up to the last time I checked...) or what.

Hi All
We all have the same problems. I considered this to be my beautiful new mac- unlike the other 3 that I have, yet here it is, 1 1/2 years later and that mac is dead. I am interested in figuring out if we all bought them around the same time, or added the same ram... I bought mine on July 15, 2004, straight from apple. I added 256 of Ram and 80G harddrive. Anyone else -when and where did you get yours and what modifications were made.

emac Mac OS X (10.3.4)