Is there stress testing software for the Mac?

Question

Is there stress testing software for the Mac?

I am looking for a stress-testing program for OSX. Something that would press a computer to it's limits and make it crash faster, if it's supposed to crash intermittently. Can anyone suggest such a program for the Macintosh?

iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on May 2, 2006 2:52 PM

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Answer 1

ds store

Level 7

30,855 points

May 2, 2006 3:06 PM in response to Topher Macintosh

Mac OS X crash?

You must be kidding right?

I mean it happens, but it's very very rare and it most likely has to do with a third party software or some sort of hardware problem.

If your thinking about overloading the CPU's to make Mac OS X crash I don't think it can be done. I've run three hundred programs at once and each took their time waiting for their turn at the CPU's and the apps themselves crashed waiting so long. So that's not going to work.

Perhaps you better tell us a bit more detail what your looking for.

PowerMac G5 Dual 2 Ghz, 4.5 GB, 30", HK 5.1 800w SS via Toslink Mac OS X (10.4.5) Boot RAID O 2 74GB 10,000 RPM Raptors auto cloned to external drives

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Answer 2

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

May 2, 2006 6:59 PM in response to Topher Macintosh

Hi, T.M.

If you're looking to troubleshoot an intermittent problem that may be hardware-related, See my "Apple Hardware Test" FAQ for comprehensive advice on using the Apple Hardware Test in troubleshooting, including running the test in Loop Mode.

There is also Xbench, a performance benchmarking tool.

More details as to what prompts your question might help.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

---
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:

I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

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Answer 3

May 2, 2006 7:17 PM in response to Topher Macintosh

TechTool will also test hardware.

If you really want to stress memory, try memtest. This one found a intermittently bad stick that the other tools found to be ok.

If you just want to overload it, good luck. After you've opened several dozen apps, it'll get slow switching them in and out, but it'll slog through them. Once one gets in front, it'll run fine.

You have to learn to think different. Stuff that will cause Windows to fold up and die (like not booting for a week or so) don't seem to impact the Mac.

Try opening up 300 browser windows in any Windows browser. You probably won't be able to. Most any Mac browser will deal with it fine although it might get slow switching between them.

- gws

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Answer 4

May 3, 2006 3:14 PM in response to Topher Macintosh

Thanks for the suggestions all.

I am not trying to crash a healthy Mac. I am trying to crash Macintosh computers that come to me with reportedly intermittent problems, like freezing once every 8 hours or such. (I guess I should have specified that in my first post)

I want a stress testing program so intermittently working computers can be made to fail faster and don't have to sit on my bench 2 weeks strait.

The Apple Hardware Test that comes with Mac computers never seems to find a problem unless said problem is really really obvious. For instance, I can run the Apple Hardware Test and/or Memtest for the Mac for hours on end and not find a problem with bad memory. I usually remove the memory, install it into a PC, and run Memtest86 - which can detect bad memory neither of the other programs can.

Xbench seems like a nifty tool, if only it could be made to run in a loop. That seems to be the kind of program I am looking for to force the computer to run at 100% capacity.

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Answer 5

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

May 5, 2006 11:52 AM in response to Topher Macintosh

Some intermittent problems only show up after a large number of loops with the Apple Hardware Test, such as running the test in loop mode overnight. The AHT distributed with some newer Macs does not support loop mode.

If there's not an Xbench option to loop their test, perhaps you can suggest it to the developers.

I've heard, but can't confirm, that if one goes through the process to become an Apple Authorized Service Provider, there are additional testing utilities available. However, most of the Mac service manuals I've seen only refer to the Apple Hardware Test.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

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