Random hard freezes with 10.9.1

Question

I am experiencing random "Hard" (spinning ball, inability to force quit) freezes with my new 27" iMac.  I bought the new machine in December and migrated the hard disk contents from my 3 year old 27" iMac.  Over the last month the freeezes have occured at least once every week, but twice yesterday.  In one instance the only application in use was Apple Mail.  So far today it&#x27;s been behaving.  Both Thunderbolt and USB hard drives were both mounted in every instance.Any suggestions?

brenden dv · Answer

Hi J Evans Jennings,If you are having intermittent issues with "hard" freezes on your iMac, you may find the troubleshooting steps in the following article helpful:OS X: When your computer spontaneously restarts or displays "Your computer restarted because of a problem."http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4636Regards,- Brenden

J Evans Jennings · Answer

Thanks for the hint, Brenden.  Only one time did I see a kernal panic message.  The problem is so random it&#x27;s hard to figure out what may be the cause.  After freezing two times on Febrjuary 5th, it&#x27;s been on its best behavior and NO changes have been made in connecgted periferals, softwarre, etc.  I&#x27;ll keep watching.

MCS2010 · Answer

I am also experiencing hard freezes except without the spinning ball. This started 2 months AFTER I had some bad RAM removed which was deemed the cause of the hard freezes before. The difference this time is that I can move the cursor, but still am unable to force quit + the keyboard is inactive. I&#x27;m also noticing, similar to before, the majority of freezing occures when I&#x27;m browsing Facebook.  In all cases, there is no kernel panic message and I have to cold reboot. I also tried to do a software update and it said the updates are not available. So, none of the abobe suggestions seem to apply in my case.I am surprised no one mentioned bad RAM!Please advise! I m ready to rid myself of this computer to prevent paying for repeated tech service!

Lexiepex · Answer

How did you "migrated the hard disk" to your new mac?What OSX version was on the old mac?It may be an incompatible software that came along to the new mac.If possible you can download Etrecheck from www.etresoft.com, and run it. It produces a list which you can "copy to clipboard" and then post it here.Lex

J Evans Jennings · Answer

MCS2010 - It looks like we have identical problems.  During freeze mouse moves cursor but can&#x27;t activate anything (although sometimes I can switch among open windows).  Ironically it froze tonight when I  tried to open the email announcing this messag thread. I have Techtool installed and will use it to chneck my memory. I ordered my iMac fromn Apple with 16 GB of memory installed. To answer Lex&#x27;s queations, I migrated my disk load from my old 27" iMac running OS 10.6.9.  Yes a lot of incompatible software came with the migration since I was still using several "Classic" applications that can&#x27;t be used under Maverick.  I have slowly getting rid of these on my new iMac since I still have my old iMac to use them.  I&#x27;ll check out Etrecheck.

J Evans Jennings · Answer

Lex,  Here are the results of my Etrecheck run today.  I note that the producer says it prouces the best results if the computer has been running for some time and I&#x27;ve just rebooted from a hard freeze.  I don&#x27;t know what this means.  I also don&#x27;t know how to dig any actionabable information out of what follows.  Can you help?Hardware Information:          iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)          iMac - model: iMac14,2          1 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4 cores          16 GB RAMVideo Information:          NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M - VRAM: 4096 MBSystem Software:          OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 0:30:5Disk Information:          ST3000DM001-9YN166 disk0 : (3 TB)                    EFI (disk0s1) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 209.7 MB                     JEJ_iMac_2_EHD_Backup (disk0s2) /Volumes/JEJ_iMac_2_EHD_Backup: 3 TB (1.89 TB free)                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 650 MB           APPLE HDD ST3000DM001 disk1 : (3 TB)                    EFI (disk1s1) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 209.7 MB                     disk1s2 (disk1s2) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 2.99 TB                     Recovery HD (disk1s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 650 MB                     eDrive (disk1s4) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 12 GB USB Information:          VIA Labs, Inc.          USB3.0 Hub                                  VIA Labs, Inc.          USB3.0 Hub                                            HGST Touro Desk 3.0 4 TB                                        disk3s1 (disk3s1) &lt;not mounted&gt;: 209.7 MB                                         JEJ Time Machine BU 01 (disk3s2) /Volumes/JEJ Time Machine BU 01: 4 TB (3.06 TB free)          Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)           Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub                     Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller           Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub                     Mitsumi Electric Apple Optical USB Mouse                     Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard           VIA Labs, Inc.          USB2.0 Hub                                  VIA Labs, Inc.          USB2.0 Hub                        Apple Inc. MacBook Air SuperDrive FireWire Information:Thunderbolt Information:          Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus                    Seagate GoFlex Desk Adapter Thunderbolt                              Apple Inc. Thunderbolt to FireWire AdapterKernel Extensions:          com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore          (5.2.4 - SDK 10.4)          com.symantec.kext.internetSecurity          (1.3.2f5)          com.symantec.kext.pf          (4.2.1f7)          com.symantec.kext.ips          (3.2f8)          com.eltima.ElmediaPlayer.kext          (1.0)          com.symantec.kext.fw          (1.0.3f5)          com.sophos.kext.sav          (8.0.14)          com.symantec.kext.SymAPComm          (11.2.2f3)Startup Items:          HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IOProblem System Launch Daemons:          [System] com.seagate.TBDecorator.plist 3rd-Party support linkProblem System Launch Agents:Launch Daemons:          [System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.bombich.ccc.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.bombich.ccc.scheduledtask.A6292958-88D1-4EC1-B75B-6FFB4BDF39A3.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.eltima.ElmediaPlayer.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.intego.BackupManagerPro.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.micromat.TechToolProDaemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.sophos.autoupdate.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.sophos.intercheck.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.sophos.notification.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.avscandaemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.deepsight-extractor.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.diskMountNotify.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.MissedTasks.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.navapd.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.navapdaemonsl.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.Sched501-1.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.sharedsettings.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.symdaemon.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.symSchedDaemon.plist 3rd-Party support linkLaunch Agents:          [System] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.intego.backupmanagerpro.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.micromat.TechToolProAgent.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.sophos.uiserver.plist 3rd-Party support link          [System] com.symantec.uiagent.application.plist 3rd-Party support linkUser Launch Agents:          [not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.akamai.client.plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.akamai.single-user-client.plist 3rd-Party support link          [not loaded] com.bombich.ccc-user-agent.plist 3rd-Party support linkUser Login Items:          Garmin Express Service          FontExplorerXAutoload          Rogue Amoeba Schedule Helper          Dropbox          Garmin Lifetime Map Updater          Radioshift Helper (1419127606)          AdobeResourceSynchronizer          VersionCueCS2Status          HP Scheduler          Director Docker          HP Product Research          SymSecondaryLaunchInternet Plug-ins:          Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          PrintDialogExt: Version: 6.1 3rd-Party support link          googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.1.4.17398 3rd-Party support link          Scorch: Version: 6.2.0 3rd-Party support link          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0          RealPlayer Plugin: Version: (null) 3rd-Party support link          DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.5.2r602 3rd-Party support link          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          GarminGpsControl: Version: 2.9.2.0 Release 3rd-Party support link          VLC Plugin: Version: 1.0.3 3rd-Party support link          MacCouponPrinter3: Version: (null)          Mozillaplug: Version: 1.0          npgtpo3dautoplugin: Version: 0.1.44.29 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link          DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 1.4 3rd-Party support link          CouponPrinter-FireFox: Version: Version 1.0.11          NPExView: Version: (null) 3rd-Party support link          Silverlight: Version: 4.0.51204.0 3rd-Party support link          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9          Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.3.8.1 3rd-Party support link          o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.1.4.17398 3rd-Party support link          NPDjVu: Version: (null) 3rd-Party support link          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update          OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.6 3rd-Party support linkAudio Plug-ins:          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9          AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9          InstantOn: Version: 7.1.2 - SDK 10.8 3rd-Party support link          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9User Internet Plug-ins:          Move-Media-Player: Version: npmnqmp 071706000001 3rd-Party support link3rd Party Preference Panes:          Akamai NetSession Preferences  3rd-Party support link          DivX  3rd-Party support link          Flash Player  3rd-Party support link          Flip4Mac WMV  3rd-Party support link          Norton
QuickMenu  3rd-Party support link          TechTool Protection  3rd-Party support linkBad Fonts:          NoneOld Applications:          NoneTime Machine:          Auto backup: YES          Volumes being backed up:          Destinations:                    JEJ Time Machine backup 01 [Local] (Last used)                    Total size: 4                      Total number of backups: 42                     Oldest backup: 2013-12-10 20:03:56 +0000                     Last backup: 2014-02-12 22:40:01 +0000                     Size of backup disk: Excellent                              Backup size 4  &gt; (Disk size 0 B X 3)          Time Machine details may not be accurate.          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.          /sbin excluded from backup!          /usr excluded from backup!          /System excluded from backup!          /bin excluded from backup!          /private excluded from backup!          /Library excluded from backup!          /Applications excluded from backup!Top Processes by CPU:              13%          InterCheck               2%          mds               2%          WindowServer               1%          Mail               0%          EtreCheckTop Processes by Memory:          623 MB          NortonAutoProtect          213 MB          WindowServer          180 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent          164 MB          Microsoft Word          98 MB          MailVirtual Memory Information:          4.81 GB          Free RAM          2.62 GB          Active RAM          7.39 GB          Inactive RAM          1.17 GB          Wired RAM          355 MB          Page-ins          0 B          Page-outs

Lexiepex · Answer

More than enough Ram, and more than enough diskspace.Yes you have cleaning to do, crapware installed:1. starting with the worst: Symantec, uninstall completely, best with the uninstaller. Don&#x27;t forget the NortonQuickmenu!2. the next worst: Akamai, same.3. also uninstall the Seagate tools that came with your hardware, counterproductive.4. uninstall TechTool, same, don&#x27;t forget TechToolProtect!5. uninstall Intego apps, same.6. Uninstall AdobeResourceSynchronizer, same.Then restart, and empty the TrashBin.There is more to do but this is the most necessary.Have fun.Lex

cbs20 · Answer

Your biggest problem is you have 2 antivirus software installed. Uninstall symantec as Lex stated. You can keep Sophos, but maybe just for cleaning up purposes you should install and then reinstall Sophos once you have resolved these issues.

Lexiepex · Answer

Correct about Sophos, luckily it is not running from the LoginItems, so when only used for manual scans it is ok.

Purd · Answer

Will try to follow uninstall of Intego software and see how it work out

Lexiepex · Answer

I assume you mean by that that you already did point 1 to 4 ??

MCS2010 · Answer

4 times now hard-freezing on Facebook page.  What is it about Facebook that seems to cause more freezing than other sites?

Lexiepex · Answer

You have a different issue. Can you give more information? Perhaps you can start a new thread with running an etrecheck list, post the new thread here.

MCS2010 · Answer

I had a similar hard freeze only 3 mos. back due ti bad after-market RAM. The RAM was removed and I was left with the OEM RAM. No reason why I should be hard freezing again. And weird it freezes mainly on FB. Any more info you&#x27;d like to know?

Lexiepex · Answer

"4 times now hard-freezing on Facebook page.  What is it about Facebook that seems to cause more freezing than other sites?"    This is not the same issue as the OP has.Your posts:Bad ram can be cause of kernel panics, the freezing with the spinning ball has more often another cause.Explain a bit more on exactly what you experienced whith the Ram if you like, but it is not the cause for freezing Safari or another browser on the Facebook page.If you want to discuss your issues, i still propose you have your own thread started.