Late 2012 iMac Freezes every few days

Question

Late 2012 iMac Freezes every few days

My iMac has been in the Apple Store for a week with the Geniuses and they came back saying they couldn't find anything so putting this out to this community in the hope someone else can help. Here are the details.

Model: 21.5 inch Late-2012 iMac

RAM: 8Gb

Processor: 2.9Ghz Intel Core i5

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB

Hard Drive: 1.12 Tb Fusion (653Gb free)

OS: 10.8.4

Software: Fairly vanilla with no MS or Adobe Apps. No system extensions or hacks installed.

Symptom: Every few days or so the iMac locks up. Certain running applications will still work but many common ones such as Pages, Aperture, App Store & TextEdit will hang when trying to open. Force Quitting them doesn't affect them. When I try to shut down the computer it goes to the grey screen and stays there. Eventually the power needs to be turned off to reboot it. This has been doing this for the last several months.

Solutions Tried:

- Fixed permissions

- Reset PRAM

- Re-install OS X

I can't replicate the crash but today it happened again. At around 3:50pm I went to the iMac and noticed that Pages wouldn't load. Force quitting the App didn't do anything. Aperture was not responding so force quit that. Still wouldn't re-open. Mail was working fine and I was able to send a test message. Safari worked fine. Launched System Preferences ok but could not launch TextEdit or App Store. Calendar opened and closed fine. Attempted to restart the Mac but got the grey screen and after 5 minutes of waiting turned the computer off & relaunched it.

Here is a snapshot of some Console entries:

5/09/13 2:27:41.316 PM coreaudiod[122]: Enabled automatic stack shots because audio IO is inactive

5/09/13 2:28:16.449 PM coreaudiod[122]: Disabled automatic stack shots because audio IO is active

5/09/13 2:28:17.262 PM coreaudiod[122]: Enabled automatic stack shots because audio IO is inactive

5/09/13 2:28:50.579 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[68]: _heartbeat_failed heartbeat detected detach for device 0xdf3-10.0.1.10:0!

5/09/13 2:37:54.690 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[68]: _heartbeat_failed heartbeat detected detach for device 0xdfc-10.0.1.10:0!

5/09/13 2:42:04.656 PM lsboxd[209]: @AE relay 61657674:6f646f63

5/09/13 2:47:21.156 PM com.apple.usbmuxd[68]: _heartbeat_failed heartbeat detected detach for device 0xe05-10.0.1.11:0!

5/09/13 4:03:23.428 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***

5/09/13 4:03:23.428 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: *** Shutdown logging is enabled. ***

5/09/13 4:03:24.934 PM com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.automountd) Unknown key for boolean: NSSupportsSuddenTermination

5/09/13 4:03:26.157 PM airportd[30]: _processDLILEvent: en1 attached (down)

5/09/13 4:03:26.342 PM UserEventAgent[11]: Captive: [HandleNetworkInformationChanged:2435] nwi_state_copy returned NULL

5/09/13 4:03:26.609 PM fseventsd[39]: event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (419745 5 419906)

5/09/13 4:03:26.612 PM fseventsd[39]: log dir: /.fseventsd getting new uuid: A3689432-84D2-4FB0-8C25-0352BC004F8B

5/09/13 4:03:26.666 PM mDNSResponder[40]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-379.38.1 (Apr 25 2013 19:19:56) starting OSXVers 12

Notice that the last Console entry was at 2:47pm (in red) and then nothing. I went to use the computer at 3:50pm and did several actions on it. Plugged in iPad, opened iTunes. Copied a file from the iPad to the desktop. Prior to that it hadn't been used for several hours. The shutdown that I selected does not appear in the log (although it only managed to go to the grey screen rather than complete a full shut down).

Appreciate any clues at all here. This is very frustrating and has been going on for far too long.

TIA. Jordan

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Sep 4, 2013 11:37 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 5, 2013 12:03 AM in response to Jordan Millar

Plugged in iPad, opened iTunes. Copied a file from the iPad to the desktop.

That may be part of the problem right there. Mac OS X canoot read a file from an iOS device such as an iPad and most likley corrupted the Finder.

Your profile indicates your Mac is running v10.6.7

Minimum requirements for an iPad are v10.6.8 or later as noted here > Apple - iPad - View all the technical specifications.

Check to see if the startup disk needs repairing.

Launch Disk Utility located in HD > Applications > Utillities

Select the startup disk on the left then select the First Aid tab.

Click: Verify Disk (not Verify Disk Permissions)

If DU reports errors, start up your Mac install disc to make repairs.

messaged edited by: cs

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Answer 2

Sep 5, 2013 12:07 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks for the reply Carolyn. I need to update my profile however I did say in the message that I'm running OS 10.8.4 which is the very latest public version.

You can indeed copy files from an iPad and I regularly do it. You have to do it through iTunes and only certain apps support sharing of their files. In this case it was the Paprika recipe app which allows you to create an export of the files on it and copy it off for sharing with others. (Too big to email).

I forgot to mention that I have tried repairing the disk with DU. Booted into recovery mode and checked the disk. Came back fine.

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Answer 3

Sep 5, 2013 12:28 AM in response to Jordan Millar

through iTunes ...

You said you copied a file to the Desktop from the iPad so that got my attention. No mention of iTunes.

Try a Safe Mode boot. That deletes some system caches that may help.

Startup your Mac in Safe Mode

A Safe Mode boot takes longer than a normal boot so be patient.

Once you are in Safe Mode, click Restart from the Apple () menu.

BTW, it's not necesasry to boot in recovery mode to check the starutp disk. As i mentioned previously, you can check the disk using the Disk Utility app located in Applications > Utlities.

Click your Apple menu  top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click About This Mac > More Info > Storage

Make sure there's at least 15% free disk space.

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2013 1:14 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Yes - I had checked the disk in DU first. I only went in to recovery mode when I had tried everything else that you normally do to troubleshoot troublesome Macs. (Been using them since 1986 & currently own 5)

I checked the HD again (using DU) in Recovery Mode just before (and after) I reinstalled the OS (which is normally a last resort thing).

I've rebooted in Safe Mode a number of times. To try and fix things but to no avail.

As mentioned in the original post there is 653Gb free on a 1.12 TB (50%).

The problem is that the Mac is hanging with no direct interaction from me. The symptoms I described above and the freezing of console log messages (often for many hours) are the only common symptoms. When I come back to it, it has already partially hung but certain apps are available. I've done memory tests, CPU tests & drive tests and they are all coming back clean.

The Mac spent a week with the Geniuses and they ran a battery of tests & found nothing.

The message in red (which was the last one posted before the hang) makes me guess that it could have something to do with a USB device. com.apple.usbmuxd

I have an Apple wired keyboard, an Apple iPad cable, a Fujitsu ScanSnap, and a Seagate 2Tb HD attached via USB. The only thing I can think of is to disconnect the HD for a while and see if that makes a difference. It's brand new but potentially could be causing this. Was hoping for some direction from others before I start guessing too much though.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Sep 5, 2013 8:52 AM in response to Jordan Millar

Back up all data immediately as your boot drive may be failing.

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).

The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.

A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.

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Answer 6

Sep 5, 2013 5:17 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, everything is backed up with Time Machine on an attached Seagate drive. Here is the output of that command:

Aug 31 19:25:00 localhost kernel[0] <Debug>: Previous Shutdown Cause: -40

Sep 5 16:03:26 localhost kernel[0] <Debug>: Previous Shutdown Cause: 3

Give you any clues?

Jordan

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Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Sep 5, 2013 5:29 PM in response to Jordan Millar

There was an abnormal shutdown on August 31. Was it at the Apple Store then?

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Answer 8

Sep 5, 2013 5:32 PM in response to Linc Davis

No it was back home then. The Apple Store were unable to replicate any of the issues. Apparently they ran it through a number of tests including a 24hr stress test.

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Answer 9

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Sep 5, 2013 7:53 PM in response to Jordan Millar

Shutdown codes are not publicly documented and some may differ from one model to another, but a negative code is always abnormal and indicates a hardware failure. Your description of the problem indicates the same. That's about all I can tell you. I suggest you go back to the "Geniuses" with the above information and see whether they make anything of it. If you can find a way to reproduce the lockup, that will help your cause a lot.

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Answer 10

Sep 6, 2013 11:04 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for your help Linc. I will take this info back to Apple and see what they say. I would have thought they would have done the same tests though.

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