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Problems with 10.6.5

post #1 of 13
11/15/10 at 11:57am
Thread Starter 
Installed 10.6.5 a few days after it came out.
I have an IMAC white version 4 years old

It now crashes several times a day.
Symptoms are screen is locked and mouse and keyboard have no effect.
Dont have any obscure software. In fact the problem has occurred when all I have open are a couple of Safari windows.
It requires a restart which is pretty annoying as it tends to happen in the middle of doing something important like online bookings.

Earlier versions of this OS had many similar USB problems that were fixed in 10.6.4 (tho Apple never
mentioned them). Seems like the same problems have crept back in.

Is anyone else seeing this ? Any ideas on what to get to do to fix the problems ?

Thx Graham
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post #2 of 13
11/15/10 at 12:10pm
Thread Starter 
Seems to only happen when I have used the Mac for an hour or more.
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post #3 of 13
11/15/10 at 5:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Reeves View Post

Seems to only happen when I have used the Mac for an hour or more.

Memtest is your friend.
X7DWA-N Supermicro mobo,Dual QC 3.0 Xeons, 12Gb RAM, 6 Raptor drives + 500 Gb TM drive, 2x DVR-218L burners, M-Audio 7.1 sound card, Titan 650 case running Leopard 10.6.6,Win7 x64, Linux Fluxbox...
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X7DWA-N Supermicro mobo,Dual QC 3.0 Xeons, 12Gb RAM, 6 Raptor drives + 500 Gb TM drive, 2x DVR-218L burners, M-Audio 7.1 sound card, Titan 650 case running Leopard 10.6.6,Win7 x64, Linux Fluxbox...
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post #4 of 13
11/15/10 at 7:20pm
Thread Starter 
Sorry what does that mean
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post #5 of 13
11/15/10 at 7:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Reeves View Post

Seems to only happen when I have used the Mac for an hour or more.

Sounds like a problem with either the RAM or the power supply. One or the other is giving out when it heats up. (It's just a guess, mind you, but an educated one.)
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #6 of 13
11/16/10 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Reeves View Post

Sorry what does that mean

Mmemtest is a tool that tests your RAM, which is most likely failing.
http://www.memtestosx.org/joomla/index.php
X7DWA-N Supermicro mobo,Dual QC 3.0 Xeons, 12Gb RAM, 6 Raptor drives + 500 Gb TM drive, 2x DVR-218L burners, M-Audio 7.1 sound card, Titan 650 case running Leopard 10.6.6,Win7 x64, Linux Fluxbox...
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X7DWA-N Supermicro mobo,Dual QC 3.0 Xeons, 12Gb RAM, 6 Raptor drives + 500 Gb TM drive, 2x DVR-218L burners, M-Audio 7.1 sound card, Titan 650 case running Leopard 10.6.6,Win7 x64, Linux Fluxbox...
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post #7 of 13
11/16/10 at 8:58am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for thought.

Some support forums suggest something similar.
Theory is that with OS 10.6 Apple changed the fan control so the fans ran slower and the
system ran hotter. This is to improve battery life on MacBook pros by minimizing use of fans.
if you have a MacBook you would know how hot they can get.
This caused an adverse impact on some IMacs.

Solution is to use a fan control application to increase minimum fan speed.
I did the above with10.6.2 (or 3) and it appeared to solve the problem.

As mentioned exact same problems recurred when I installed 10.6.5.
Using IStatPro I can see that the fan speed utility still works or at least appears to..
Maybe the temperature is a little higher.?
Am going to increase the fan speed further and ad see if that helps.
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post #8 of 13
11/19/10 at 8:10am
Thread Starter 
am down to one crash per day. I think the fix to safari ay have helped.
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post #9 of 13
11/19/10 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Reeves View Post

am down to one crash per day. I think the fix to safari ay have helped.

One crash a day is still WAY too many. My machines haven't been shutdown at all since they were updated to x.6.5 ... That's NO crashes per week!
SOMETHING is amiss if your machine is crashing regularly.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #10 of 13
11/19/10 at 8:07pm
What apps are being used at the time of the crash/es you see?

Have you tried checking the hard disk for errors vioa disk utility? These can cause strange issues with the system and are one thing to rule out as a cause.

How much ram does your mac have installed?

Do you have any third party add-ons? eg: application enhancer, unsaity haxies, these are a source of issues at times also.

Is there any other things that seem strange when the crashes occur lets know as more info about what happens around the time of the crashes can help lead to a cause a little easier.
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post #11 of 13
11/22/10 at 9:34am
Thread Starter 
Problem is that since install of 10.6.5 I have crashes almost daily.
Symptom is that screen freezes and machine has to be re-booted.
During the problem sound continues and the mouse moves over the screen but to no effect.
This problem also occurred in earlier 10.6.1 releases and was widely discussed in problem forums
and was restricted to certain IMacs only.

Recommendations for fixing were.
-Reset PRAM
-Use fan control utility to ensure minimum speed. Theory was that 10.6 reduced fan speed
-Run disk utility to correct any errors.
-Reseat and clean up memory slots in case they were overheating.
Not sure if any or all of these helped (I think the fan control was the real issue )but combined with newer releases of 10.6 the problem went away but came back as soon as I installed 10.6.5
Since then I have repeated all the above possible fixes..

Machine is an IMAC (white 5 years old ) with 2gb memory.
I dont have any non Mac software running except the fan speed control utility.
But having checked I do have the "Application Enhancer". Dont recall implementing that and cant see
how to get rid of it. Any thoughts on that ?
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post #12 of 13
11/22/10 at 9:47am
Your Mac has a problem and it's NOT the OS.
I'm about 98% certain that it's a hardware problem.

This is the kind of behavior that is seen with problems on the logic board. Most likely capacitors that have gone bad... they work fine until they get warm/hot, then behave erratically causing this type (or other) of problem.

Unfortunately (since it's out of warranty) ... you really need to demonstrate the problem to a qualified service tech. If I'm right, they're gonna tell you you need to replace the logic board... several hundred dollars.

Different versions of the OS might have made the problem worse or better, but the problem is still hardware, not software.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #13 of 13
11/23/10 at 8:12am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the thoughts. Maybe its hardware. Maybe i need a new Mac.

However:

its not unique to me based on other references to same symptoms in forums.
So maybe a fundamental weakness with the cards in this model.

Also its totally linked to 10.6. Was never there before 10.6.1
Went away with 10.6.3 and 10.6.4. and is only back the very day I implemented 10.6.5.

But hold on I have increased minimum fan speed using a fan control utility and have now gone almost three days without a problem. Fingers crossed.
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