Trouble sum Power Mac, can you help?

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Level 1

75 points

Trouble sum Power Mac, can you help?

Im really not sure what the issue is on this Mac

If your using something like Firefox its seems OK, stable

If you start using Photoshop and other apps that require a lot of moving around in folders for finding and saving files it will lock up

Its not instant, so with a large PS file you might get 10-20mins then it will hang the OS as your saving and requires a 'button press' restart

The mac will not close down manaully at this point, I need to force background applications to quit and then it will go to light grey blank screen but doesn't shut down

I've replaced the hard disc and reinstalled the OS and get the same result

Any clues?

Its a 2 x 2.66Ghz Dual-core Intel Xeon

11Gb memory

1 TB hard disc running OS 10.6.8

Posted on Nov 29, 2012 12:17 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 29, 2012 5:42 PM in response to john owen2

Have you run Apple Hardware test? It should be on the original set of discs that came with your Mac.

Mac Pro 65lb towers use Error Correcting Code Memory, so simple memory errors are corrected on the fly, and uncorrectable memory errors cause a kernel panic to stop the computer before it poisons your data. Have you seen kernel panics?

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Answer 2

john owen2 Author

Level 1

75 points

Nov 29, 2012 11:34 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Does that hardware test still live on the OS install DVD's

I've swapped out the Ram for a set I had just in case

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Answer 3

Nov 30, 2012 6:41 AM in response to john owen2

Does that hardware test still live on the OS install DVD's

Only on the original-issue DVDs that shipped in the box with your new Mac Pro. The label will say something like, "to run Apple Hardware Test, Insert this disc and hold down the D key as you restart." If not labelled that way, it does not contain the diagnostic.

I've swapped out the Ram for a set I had just in case

The indicator of memory failure for MacPro is that memory will not be shown at its correct size (or not be shown at all) in System Profiler. Or you will get a kernel Panic.

Kernel Panics leave a log entry that can be read out later to determine the cause.

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