2011 27" i7 iMac crash/freeze

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2011 27" i7 iMac crash/freeze

I'm curious what log should I post to figure out what might have caused my iMac 2011 27" to crash/freeze up.

At that time I was using iTunes for playing back music and I just connected my iPhone to it as a Remote (using the remote app). No Kernel Panic notice or anything on the screen, my music started skipping and the screen saver was on and nothing was responding. the caps lock key on the keyboard wasnt even displaying green or light so I manually shut down the iMac with the power button and did a restart.

Also open were iChat, Safari with a few tabs (4 or 5), FireFox with about 7 tabs, Mail and Steam (but no game was playing).

iMac specs:

27" 3.4Ghz i7

256GB SSD

2TB HDD

AMD 6970M 2GB

16GB Memory (Corsair modules) -- passed all the ram tests I ran.

10.6.7 (i reinstalled the OS after a mix up when using Migration Assistant) not sure if that could attribute to the crash/freeze, doubt it.

Thanks in advanced, let me know where to get the correct log so perhaps anyone can help diagnose this.

Much appreciated.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 3.4Ghz; SSD+2TB' 6970M 2GB; 16GB

Posted on Jun 22, 2011 1:47 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Jun 22, 2011 2:07 PM in response to Max Stanley

Check your hard drive with disk utility, also repair your permissions.

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Answer 2

Max Stanley Author

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10 points

Jun 22, 2011 2:24 PM in response to Eric Ross

What would that show or help? And what exactly do you mean by check with disk utility?

I just got the iMac the other day I don't think there'd be anything to repair in the permissions?

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Answer 3

Max Stanley Author

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Jun 26, 2011 8:50 PM in response to Max Stanley

happened again today watching a video in itunes.

seems to happen when itunes is running?

im wondering if it has something to do with the graphics card?

I tried the original stock memory and 4 new pairs of 16gb of memory but nothing seems to resolve it. and its a very random occurrence.

waiting a month and a half for these issues wasnt what was in the plans to say the least 😮

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Answer 4

Max Stanley Author

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10 points

Jun 26, 2011 9:13 PM in response to Max Stanley

happened again and this time only itunes launched.

could it be because I dragged over my iTunes library from my 2011 MBP to the 2TB secondary drive of my iMac?

it was fine until these past couple days.

no Kernel panic, just complete system freeze no keyboard caps lock comes on, no mouse movement. doesnt show up as a shared computer on my other Macs. but i can hear the 2TB hdd still working and the fans at their normal pace.

kind of PIA for a new machine? and this all back to stock. noo apple stores close enough to warrant a huge drive. kind of getting fed up with these issues 😠

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Answer 5

Eric Ross

Level 6

11,807 points

Jun 26, 2011 9:24 PM in response to Max Stanley

I know that this is a new iMac and I agree that it should not be any bad files, but I am thinking that it is the problem with some corrupt files, that's why your should run disk utility on your hard drive also repair your permissions. If you want to test your hard ware run Apple Hardware Test on your computer to test your hard ware. If these both check your system and everything is okay, and you still have the problem (only in iTunes) we can focus on that program.

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Answer 6

Max Stanley Author

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10 points

Jun 26, 2011 9:27 PM in response to Eric Ross

I ran the AHT, the extended hardware test and the looped hardware test. no errors, no prompts nothing.

I ran the verify disk from the Restore Disc and from Disk Utility on the iMac itself.

Repaired permissions on the SSD with Disk Utility on the iMac and with the Restore Disk.

Nadda.

it happens randomly when using iTunes, and it is the latest update.

the only other time it froze and become unresponsive was when it went into screen saver mode with only Safari and mail open.

*shrugs*

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Answer 7

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jun 26, 2011 10:53 PM in response to Max Stanley

Since it's a relatively new machine, I suggest contacting AppleCare's Express Lane and let them deal with it.

Running 10.6.8

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Answer 8

Max Stanley Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 29, 2011 2:22 AM in response to Max Stanley

not much apple could help with.

I have been running the iMac 24/7 with videos on repeat tv shows,movies, etc, all randomized.

Even with home sharing on another machine streaming from the iMac at the same time.

nothing has came up yet, so i'm not entirely sure what to make of it at this point.

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Answer 9

Jul 13, 2011 10:02 AM in response to Max Stanley

I have this exact problem on my brand new 2011 27" iMac. The problem does not exist in OSX 10.6.6. It happens in both 10.6.7 and 10.6.8 updates. I've been workign with Apple support for the last week to find out what's going on. In our recent experiment, I created a 2nd partition, and did a clean install from the 10.6.6 install disks. From there, ran the update to 10.6.8 and did not add any files into my iTunes library. The problem is still exhibiting, and it completely locks up the iMac. The only work around is to either go back to 10.6.6 (which means no Lion upgrade in the future) or not using iTunes.

I'm waiting a response from my service adivser today as to what is the next course of action. I have a feeling that we will be scheduling me a time to take it back to a retail store and get anew one.

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Answer 10

Max Stanley Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 13, 2011 12:38 PM in response to KidStallyn

Mine came straight out with 10.6.7 installed.

Its not just in iTunes or using iTunes, its just random lock-ups. it could be sitting idle with no apps open and would randomly lock up.

The reason i ran the movies were to see if the SSD was in fact going offline or trim was botching up something while in use.

I have the 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD model, so unless thats the case with you I think yours is primarily a glitch in software.

I ran ASD 3S145 over night and it didnt detect ANY errors on the hardware side. so I was lead to beleive it may be software related but no clean install or archive & installs have solved the problem. everything is up to date and up to speed. But I'm doubting software issues as it doesnt beach ball at all. it just completely locks up.

I'm going to assume it may be a trim issue with the SSD as there is a known issue with SSDs locking-up and freezing certain systems.

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Answer 11

cmiuc

Level 1

100 points

Jul 20, 2011 5:15 PM in response to Max Stanley

I have a similar problem in my new iMac. Have tried playing videos in itunes, and it seems like gpu trying to decode the video fails (my guess). screen freezes, but the audio works while frozen.

my new iMac spec : 1tb hdd+ssd, Radeon Hd 6770

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Answer 12

Jul 20, 2011 7:25 PM in response to cmiuc

cmiuc, are you on lion?

i have the freezing you are discussing in lion but not in snow leopard.

playing a video, the computer freezes, but the mouse cursor is still movable.

2011 27" iMac (base model)

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Answer 13

Jul 20, 2011 7:59 PM in response to Max Stanley

Well, I went through about two weeks of back and forth with apple tech support, gathering data for them so their engineers could figure out what was going on, and finally they said I should just take the iMac back to aretail store. I boxed it up and took it back last Friday, and after two hours of doing many of the same things the tech support guy had me doing, and running a hardware diagnostics (which everything came out passing), they finally just issued me a return and gave me a brand new one. This one doesn't exhibit the problem at all, and I even got the Free upgrade to Lion (which doesn't have any issues either).

Hopefully they can send my other box back and solve whatever was happening.

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Answer 14

cmiuc

Level 1

100 points

Jul 20, 2011 11:26 PM in response to franmanster

Yes, I am on the new OS. I didn't know that 10.6 didn't have the problem... hopefully an update is coming soon...

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Answer 15

Jul 29, 2011 2:18 PM in response to franmanster

I am having the same problem today with my computer, and my mouse cursor is the only thing that is moving.. Is there no fix for this yet? I really do not want to have to lug this thing back to the Apple Store.. 😟

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