PaulAns

Q: iMac El Capitan v10.11.3 frequently crashes to log-in screen

My iMac has been humming along without any issues and superbly fast, recently it started to run slowly, frequently it crashes to the log-in screen, sometimes it is a full crash with a full re-start! Can someone advise how to diagnose and resolve this issue? Only when there is a full crash, does the Apple report system kick in and report the crash to Apple.

 

Regards, Paul

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 16gb,SSD+2TB

Posted on Feb 28, 2016 6:08 PM

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Q: iMac El Capitan v10.11.3 frequently crashes to log-in screen

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  • by jason269,Helpful

    jason269 jason269 Mar 1, 2016 5:20 PM in response to PaulAns
    Community Specialists
    Mar 1, 2016 5:20 PM in response to PaulAns

    Hi, Paul.  

     

    Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.  

     

    It sounds like your iMac will unexpectedly restart or fails to start.  If this is the case, here are some troubleshooting steps that I would like you to start with.  

     

    Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac

     

    Try safe mode if your Mac doesn‘t finish starting up

     

    OS X: When your computer spontaneously restarts or displays "Your computer restarted because of a problem."

     

    Cheers

  • by PaulAns,

    PaulAns PaulAns Mar 1, 2016 6:09 PM in response to jason269
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2016 6:09 PM in response to jason269

    Each time it crashes, i.e. hangs and then drops to the log-in screen (note I have automatic log-in set, so normally don't need see this screen) these three programs produce a crash report 1) Windowserver 2) Kernel  3) AdobeCRDaemon, sometimes also cloudphotosd, DesktopServicesHelper and Disk Utility. Have been unable to figure out which one instigates the crash though? Spent over an hour going through it all with Apple support. As I had not installed any new software, the suggestion is that an update came through and there was a incompatibility? So set up a Test log-in with no Apps running i.e. ensured everything was turned off in Users and Groups/Log-in items - but still got crashes! Booted to safe mode, didn't get any crashes! So, making a guess that is was Adobe? I re-booted to normal mode and checked Creative Cloud. Found that the Menu Bar App needed updating as did PhotoshopCC, LightroomCC and BridgeCC. Since then no crashes and the iMac seems to be running without bogging down. Was it simply the booting into Safe Mode that sorted it out or was it the updating Adobe, perhaps the Menu Bar App? Have set the Diagnostics and Usage to send reports to Apple. I see that the reports were submitted to Apple this morning which triggered a diagnostics messages cleanup. I hope that Apple will be able to look at them in detail and define the reasons for the crashes. I am not sure we are totally out of the woods though as the iMac is still down on performance? Will monitor Console closely over the next couple of days.

     

    Regards, Paul

  • by PaulAns,

    PaulAns PaulAns Mar 1, 2016 8:38 PM in response to PaulAns
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2016 8:38 PM in response to PaulAns

    After a few hours work, now crashing again! In Console, I see that WindowServer is crashing just before AdobeCRDaemon e.g. WindowServer at 2016-03-02 15:21:28.709 +1100 and AdobeCRDaemon at 2016-03-02 15:21:29.721 +1100, so, is it reasonable to assume that WindowServer is where the issue lies? I have seen quite a number of posts that crashes in WindowServer induces a crash to the log-in screen. But is this software or hardware? I note the crash remark in WindowServer is Application Specific Signatures: Graphics hardware encountered an error and was reset: 0x00000000

    Now running in SafeMode, which does not load the Adobe menu Bar App. So far, no crashes?

  • by PaulAns,

    PaulAns PaulAns Mar 4, 2016 5:39 PM in response to PaulAns
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 4, 2016 5:39 PM in response to PaulAns

    iMac has been running for a few days in Safe Mode, no crashes! So can I assume it is not a hardware problem? Re-booted to normal mode and crashes re-started. WindowServer @ 2016-03-05 12:21:05.006 +1100, AdobeCRDaemon @ 2016-03-05 12:21:06.077 +1100, so WindowServer went down 1st! Re-booted to TEST mode (i.e. all login times turned off in Users and Groups), it does seem more stable, just a few 'stalls'. However, in  'All Messages' there are a lot of errors messages coming though! CloudPhotosd, sandbox, mdworker just to name a few! Does anyone have any ideas?

  • by PaulAns,

    PaulAns PaulAns Mar 4, 2016 6:02 PM in response to PaulAns
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 4, 2016 6:02 PM in response to PaulAns

    Crashed in Test log-in so now back to SafeMode