Mountain Lion freezing

I had a similar problem on my iMac i7, and read several pages of posts to see if there was something easy I could try to fix. I couldn't find anything obvious (apps that were running during a freeze, etc.), so I started thinking I would have to resort to restoring everything from a back up. However, my TimeMachine backups seem like they haven't updated in a few weeks (I don't know if it correlates with the start of the freezing-- I was out of town). I decided to try a new external hard drive and then create a TimeMachine backup there.

After I selected the new external hard drive for my backups, the freezing stopped completely! It took a long time for the backup to be created (about 36+ hours), and I tried not to do anything on the iMac that would disrupt it. But for the past couple of weeks, the iMac seems to be working normally, with no freezing (occasional beachballs with Outlook, but that is another story).

Interestingly, I tried to delete the old backup on the old hard drive, but it seems to never finish deleting everything. I connected the old hard drive to my new MacBook Air so that I could delete those files, but then it started causing short (10-15 sec) non-responsive episodes on my MBA.

I haven't tried dealing with the old hard drive again. I don't know if it is a software (Finder? TimeMachine?) or hardware (internal hard drive or external case/components) issue. I think I will deem it "dead" and not mess around with it any longer.

Maybe some of you can try creating a new TimeMachine backup on a different drive, or at least disconnecting the drive with TimeMachine.

I hope this helps some of you.

My TimeMachine is running on my NAS, so that shouldn't be the problem, but it could definitely help other people! The perian / filp4mac hint makes sense. I will check that this evening and report back.

These are all the areas which I've suggested people look into: Something to do with external HDs and also removing old software - Flip4Mac was one of the apps I deleted.

For those of you who cannot grasp the possibility that a single 'bad app' can cause so much havoc with Mountain Lion, keep in mind that ML is a totally different animal (no pun intended) than previous versions. In fact, the ML OS is more tightly integrated with its apps than in any other OS version Apple has released, which is what makes it so powerful and innovative. Because it is a more integrated and holistic platform than anything Apple has ever created, every app needs to be running flawlessly for that well orchestrated dance to occur. So in terms of ML's ability to function efficiently, one bad app(le) can truly spoil the bunch, or in my case even a leftover fragment of a removed app can disrupt everything. Apple has basically created and engineered a new paradigm in user interface design here, which we obviously want or we wouldn't keep asking for more magic each year. We are the driving force behind all of this through the choices we keep making and the enthusiasm we show, so perhaps we should stop railing against Apple for they are only conforming to what the market desires, more magic more integration!

So if you want this kind of integration, you need to work really hard to find out where your particular bottleneck is, even if it means doing a tedious step by step reinstall until you find the offending app. Just as a dysfunctioning organ can throw off the entire balance of your physical body, the same is true for our computers that are trying to interface more effectively with these highly organized human systems each year. I am sure we can all agree that Apple is a pioneer in human interface technology and more so each year as their OS releases clearly demonstrate. So, perhaps it is time to spend less time complaining and convert all of that frustration into creative and investigative brain power to find those pesky snags in your system. And keep in mind that the problem may not be a single app but rather it could be something much smaller as I discovered when I found fragments of uninstalled two year old Apogee software still on my system, an application that was written way before this rich interactive ML environment was even conceived of. Obviously, if some of us can do it, then we all can do it!

... Clean install may be a tedious task but it's worth doing. If you opt to delete apps, better do it with AppCleaner. Some also have reported significant improvemenst in OS X 10.8.2 with regards to stability and battery life.

Hi May I ask hoew you know that the version of Mountain Lion you downloaded is not corrupt? Does it give any method of verifing proper download?

I really don't think the freezing was caused by apps. My iMac remained reachable with SSH, even as the display was frozen. With the newest 10.8.2 Mountain Lion, my Graphics card runs significantly cooler, even with the fans turned down now. Have had no freeze with 10.8.2.

I hope the issue is behind us. Time to update my mothers iMac to ML...

No freezes since the 10.8.2 update. Hope that keeps.

Same problem here since 10.8.2 😟

In 1 week I experienced 3 freezes: 1 while watching a video with Safari on The Verge, then 2 times while playing Guild Wars 2 (the new Mac Version).

Reading this thread I noticed that some of you have a MyBook external HDD attached to the Mac: I have 1 too for Time Machine purposes. Could this be related? Could this really be a Time Machine problem?

I'll try to disable Time Machine and use that HDD like a normal HDD to make backups, let's see if anything changes :\

Please Apple, do something about that, my Mac never failed me in 3 years (the Apple Care just expired, perfect timing ....).

I too am having these 'freezes' on an Early 2008 MacPro. I have had two since installing Mountain Lion, the last one was yesterday (I'm currently running 10.8.2).

I am able to move the mouse, and iTunes audio kept playing, but no other input was registered. I tried plugging in a USB mouse and graphics tablet to gain control, but to no avail.

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: ** Device in slot: SLOT-1 **

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: ** GPU Debug Info Start **

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: 0x00009588

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: 0x000000d8

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: 0x00000001

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: 0x00000018

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: 0x000090a2

Sep 28 15:04:23 Matthew-Buckleys-Mac-Pro-3 kernel[0]: 0x00000001

This list continues until the time I did a hard shutdown.

Welcome back Matt_Chrome,

if you go throu this thread you will see that the ** GPU Debug Info Start ** apperas to happen frequently on the people here. I also had this error, just search the thread.

My Logic Board eg. the GPU was damaged i had to let them switch it. All good again with a new Board. No need to uninstall software no need to wait for Updates.

Dont waste your time uninstalling Software, or waiting for OS upgrades, If you have this bug (Messages in your system log). Replace your Logic Board (Apple Care) and start over or throw the machine away if you don't have guarantee.

If they tell you they have to check the machine and want to get you MBP for 2/3 Weeks, keep in mind they replaced mine in 30 minutes, at the service point.

If you do nothing it only gets worse, your machine will die for sure.

good Luck

Just a small update to copy here the last messages on system.log before the freeze:

ep 29 10:24:24 *** kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 259 [pbs]

Sep 29 10:24:27 *** kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: ps_select_segment - send HI_WAT_ALERT

Sep 29 10:24:27 *** kernel[0]: macx_swapon SUCCESS

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: IOVendorGLContext::ReportGPURestart

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 0000006e

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 00100000 00008297 00000474 00000000

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 0000047e 00000f00 00760001 00000010

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 00000000

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 00000000 00000004

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 0000006e

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 00200000 00008297 00000474 00000010

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 0000047e 00001b0c 1000f010 00000010

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 01000411

Sep 29 10:25:38 *** kernel[0]: 00000010 00000000

Sep 29 10:25:58 *** kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel timeout!

You need to look just before the kernal panic (what you see in your screen shot, note the time stamps to give you a point of reference) occurs to find what's driving it. In my case it was power management issue with an external HDD, so keeping HDD from sleeping until I got a firmware fix from the manufacturer was my solution. HOWEVER, I have been seeing a lot of issues with non apple hardware. I have a lot of Logitech peripherials (keyboard, mouse, headset) and the logitech drivers aren't ready for prime time with regard to Mountain Lion. I find that they crash at least 3 to 4 times daily, but they aren't causing a big hang or a freeze. ML is usually able to resolve it. Using 10.8.2 on both iMac and MacBook and not having too many problems.

There is one thing that I think is funny. Mountain Lion has only been out for 2 months. In terms of an OS it's a new born. I think back to the havoc I went through at my old company when we upgraded to Win XP and then Vista. I left mid Windows 7 migration and it wasn't going any better.

With ML many of the reported issues are with 3rd party drivers or software.

The common offenders I've seen: Flip 4 Mac (in console as QTKitserver), Adobe (if you have Master Collection 5 or 5.5 there may be compontents that need to be removed or pref files that are obsolete and causing issues), Google Chrome, Drive, Earth, etc (updater may not be functioning properly, in console it refers to it as keystone...not google), JAVA (I went to Oracle to get the update), 1Password or LastPass. Appears ML gets confused because it isn't registering activity on the screen because 1P or LP obscures it as a security measure, after an update this is less of an issue), Virtual Machines (Fusion, Paralells, etc) and how they access resources (my case the network adapter ethernet, wireless needed to be removed and recreated for it to be properly registered in OSX)

My final headache is getting a Canon Imageclass printer (USB connection) to work on my iMac (works fine on the MBP and can print through shared printing when the printer is connected to the MBP, but try to connect directly to the iMac and it says the printer is "not supported or not connected". But overall with the changes to the OS, not catestrophic, but also not what were used to.....

Hi wizbang_fl,

thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately what happened before the kernel panic changes every time. One time it was doing a time machine backup (but this isn't the cause because i disabled time machine and unplugged the USB HDD, but the problem represented), the other time it was some authorization for iStat (but more than a minute before, no errors), then this morning some authorization for iStat again.

It shouldn't be iStat because those messages are present throught all the log; I don't have the other software you mentioned (except for Google Chrome and Earth, but no "keystone" on the log (at least till 10-20 minutes before the kernel panic).

The first crash (the one while I was watching the video on The Verge, an html5 / h264 video) is the only one that was different:

Sep 23 21:08:46 *mylocaladress* mdworker[7728]: Unable to talk to lsboxd

Sep 23 21:08:46 *mylocaladress* mdworker[7729]: Unable to talk to lsboxd

Sep 23 21:08:46 *mylocaladress* sandboxd[7730] ([7728]): mdworker(7728) deny mach-lookup com.apple.ls.boxd

Sep 23 21:08:46 *mylocaladress* sandboxd[7730] ([7729]): mdworker(7729) deny mach-lookup com.apple.ls.boxd

Sep 23 21:08:47 *** kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(7730) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd

Sep 23 21:10:37 *mylocaladress* com.apple.SecurityServer[15]: Succeeded authorizing right 'system.hdd.smart' by client '/Library/Application Support/iStat local/iStatLocalDaemon' [60] for authorization created by '/Library/Application Support/iStat local/iStatLocalDaemon' [60] (B,0)

Sep 23 21:11:07 --- last message repeated 1 time ---

Sep 23 21:11:24 *mylocaladress* WindowServer[96]: handle_will_sleep_auth_and_shield_windows: no lock state data

Sep 23 21:11:24 *mylocaladress* WindowServer[96]: handle_will_sleep_auth_and_shield_windows: no lock state data

Sep 23 21:11:37 *mylocaladress* Safari[7741]: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context 0x0

Sep 23 21:11:45 *mylocaladress* WebProcess[7744]: objc[7744]: Object 0x7fb66a41c910 of class NSUserDefaults autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking - break on objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug

Sep 23 21:16:24 localhost bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1348427784 0

This happened, however, just 1 time and rebooted itself. The other times, on the other hand, always happened while playing the Guild Wars 2 Beta.

I'll try to play some other Mac games in the coming days just to be sure if it's a GW2-only problem or if it's a OpenGL problem (in general).