Mountain Lion freezing

Has anybody started experiencing sudden freezing and the spinning medicine ball since upgrading ? I have to do a hard reset every time this happens which is severl times a day now since upgrading .

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 3:24 PM

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472 replies

Sep 3, 2012 3:14 PM in response to keith181

Double click on your HD icon. I have: Applications, Incompatible Software, Library, System, Users. (All files.)


Then click on your Home icon (your username/log in name). I have: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Dropbox, Incompatible Software, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, Sites.


I deleted the contents of both those files and emptied the Trash.


The Read Me file in the Incompatible Software folders says:


"

Incompatible software


Some of the software on your computer is incompatible with this version of Mac OS X. Because this software may cause problems with your computer, it has been moved. You can delete incompatible software that was moved.


Incompatible software in your home folder was moved to a folder named "Incompatible Software" in your home folder: [List of software."

Sep 3, 2012 10:48 PM in response to hersey10

I have fixed my problem...


It turns out that my SSD firmware was out of date. I had checked my RAM, etc. but everything checked out fine. My last check was the SSD. I updated the Crucial M4 SSD firmware to 000F and it has been working well for the past 6 hours, whereas on the old firmware I would crash every 30 minutes or so.


My crash symptom: Apps would throw a beachball after every second action taken within it. For instance, Safari would throw a beachball, but hovering over the dock would react normally with the magnification effect, but clicking on a dock icon twice would lock it up with a beach ball. Same for other app windows -- I could move the app window once, but the second time I try I get a beachball.

Sep 3, 2012 11:46 PM in response to renkue

@renkue, 'Mountain Lion Freezing' of the subject of the thread indicated just that: the interface suddenly locked up, total freeze. Without warning, without apparent reason. At least, that is (was) my problem and of several others. But it could well be that two or three different problems run together through this thread, with the same theme of the system becoming unusable.


The ambient temperatures have gone down where I live and it is now much easier to keep my iMac cool enough and I a haven't had a problem in quite a while (touching wood...). The same battery time improvements that would help many macbook owners would also reduce problems with desktop Macs with (too) narrow temperature tolerances.

Sep 4, 2012 12:34 AM in response to hersey10

Mountain Lion crashing / hanging / freezing on wake or after sleep mode...


Spinning wheel of Death / BeachBall on wake screen or all apps if it does wake... Happens 8/10 times now.


Not sure if it's been discussed already in this forum but just pointing out I'm another Mac user getting frustrated with having to restart my nearly new iMac 3-4 times a day... Even if there are work arounds, or methods to fix etc... this is not why we buy Apple products. Might as well own a PC!! Not happy.


Please fix Apple!

Sep 4, 2012 2:14 AM in response to bmeerdink

That is exactly what my System does. It freezes without reason and no sign. At first the Screen is okay, but you can't select or activate anything. Total GUI freeze, and after a few Seconds the Screen becomes "scambled" like in the Screenshot. I'm will try to download Lion again tonight and install it onto my MacBook. I need a stable System. Already tried a lot of things. checked RAM, checked SSD, swaped in my original HDD etc. Everything results into this Madness (or was it Sparta??? ^^). I even got my Hands on the latest DP of 10.8.2 (which was my last Hope), but the Problem still exists. And I don't think it will be resolved in 10.8.2... Apple seems to be behind M$ in Terms of stability atm or they are to egerly trying to make even more Money as they want me to get new Hardware 😀

Sep 4, 2012 5:14 AM in response to keith181

I also get stalling that keith181 reported. I've already tried fixing permissions and the disk and they didn't help. I don't have a lot of apps installed as it is only my on the go computer and I did a clean install from the get go. I really don't have time nor interest in spending a whole day just searching a bug that propably is os related anyhow. Not even windows computers go to a complete halt when an app misbehaves. Apple just needs to get a grip and fix this ASAP.

Sep 4, 2012 1:51 PM in response to Cmmts

Some one posted a web link that has a very big list of applications that work, don't work, or not tested yet with Lion and Mountain Lion. I went through the entire list looking for applications that I had and most of them were compatible. One of them that was not compatible was my WD Smartware for my back-up disk and I had that updated, and after the update I am still having problems.


I deleted a few 3rd party apps including Microsoft Silverlight which is used for Netflix streaming video, and I am still having problems.


It is sad that Mountain Lion FLUNKS out over 3rd party apps, it should be the other way around, 3rd party apps should be flunking out not the OS.


Whatever the TRUE problem is, Apple owes us all an update ASAP!

Sep 4, 2012 2:54 PM in response to hersey10

I was having intermittant issues (Crashes, Kernel Panic, etc.) with my MBP (Mid 2009).


I verified my HDD.

I verified my Permitions.

I installed Onyx & ran all the maintenance actions and clean-up options.


I haven't had any issues in the past few days. I highly recommend Onyx.


I doubt it made any difference, but I did install XQuartz.


I don't think anti-virus programs like Norton, McAfee, AVG, etc. are really necessary on a Mac. I think they are likely to cause unnecessary problems. I also tend to avoid MacKeeper and the like as well. I've heard mixed reviews of CC Cleaner. I have it, but never really used it.


I do like Onyx and I've been running it since day one on my Mac.


Bottom Line - I don't think any 3rd party programs should be necessary in order to get things running smoothly after a clean installation of a new OS. While my initial issues with Mountain Lion were a bit disconcerting, I am enjoying it now.

Sep 5, 2012 3:11 AM in response to Jozie

Thanks Jozie but I don't have that folder either.


But!!!....


I've had no trouble (24hrs) since setting - System preferences / Energy saver / Computer sleep / Never


24 hrs and no issues, however this is still just a work around 😟


15,000 views on this thread alone, there are many more similar threads out there too!!


Apple where are you?

Sep 5, 2012 3:17 AM in response to Matt390

Well, my computer never went to sleep anyway - I always had it set never to sleep, even when this problem was happening.


It's not that file (only) which I deleted. These are the steps I took:


1) Downloaded AppCleaner 2 (free), and using AppCleaner, I went through my Applications folder and Utilities folder, deleting everything I no longer used, deleting every app with a 'no entry' sign as an icon (can't be run on ML anyway) and deleting everything I hadn't opened/modified for more than 2 years.


2) I found the files called 'Incompatible Software' and deleted the contents of those too.


3) I emptied the Trash.


4) I deleted all cookies in Safari.


5) I restarted my machine.


6) I Repaired Permissions.


Since then I've had no crashes...

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Mountain Lion freezing

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