iTunes causing hardcore crashes on my Powerbook?

eudaimiceudaimic
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm at the end of my rope here. I've been having problems with daily crashes for a good while now. I've tried turning everything off and on and off and on, and the only thing I can put a finger on is iTunes.



This is my problem: I'll be doing whatever, while listening to music, and suddenly everything will freeze. The mouse will still work, but that's it. Then I have to Ctrl-Cmd-Power to reset the machine.



Now as long as I don't actively use iTunes in any way, everything is fine... But as soon as I start listening to music, or playing around with setting up my playlists, there's a good chance that a crash is around the corner somewhere. There's no telling if it'll be 5 minutes or 3 hours, but it's coming.



Has anyone had any problems like this? Is there any way I can narrow it down perhaps? I'm thinking that maybe my iTunes library file is fubar'ed, but I do not want to make a new one since I rely a lot on the meta data present in it (times played, last played and ratings).



Also. I have some 60Gigs of music, do any of you have this amount, and if so has it ever caused you any problems?



I hope you have some advice, because I really don't know what to do.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    You *are* trying Opt-Cmd-Power to bring up the Force Quit dialog to *just* cancel iTunes first, *right*?
  • Reply 2 of 18
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    first things first....

    have a gander at this thread and do some basic housekeeping... (caches, etc)



    if the problem persists I would suggest trashing the iTunes plist file located at ~/library/preferences/ (should look like com.apple.itunes.plist or something like that)



    if that doesn't work you can move the .xml file and iTunes library file out of the ~/Music/iTunes Music/ folder (those are the only 2 files you need in there, if there is anything else-except music itself-you can safely trash it and you will not lose any data) and see if that fixes the problem...





    you can also check out the iTunes support discussions on apple's site: http://discussions.info.apple.com/ (look for iTunes) they can be pretty helpful there...













    oh and can a mod please move this to the GB?
  • Reply 3 of 18
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    I've had this issue myself several times. I know what you mean by it. It's a complete freeze up. Nothing works. The only way to get out of it is to force reboot. I've tried ssh'ing into my machine and the sshd is still working but things are so tied up I can't log in.



    I don't think it's related to iTunes. I think it's more related to low hard drive space. I read an article about it some time ago... I'll see if I can track it down.
  • Reply 4 of 18
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    I don't think it's a low disk space problem. I'm on an iBook G3 @ 300 mhz with a 6 gig hd in it running OS X. I've only got 128mb of ram, and the HD is sub 200mb right now. I've got an uptime of 48 days right now. So I'm thinking it's not a low disk space problem, unless this thing is an exception to the rule.
  • Reply 5 of 18
    tomjtomj Posts: 120member
    edit: nevermind
  • Reply 6 of 18
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DMBand0026

    I don't think it's a low disk space problem. I'm on an iBook G3 @ 300 mhz with a 6 gig hd in it running OS X. I've only got 128mb of ram, and the HD is sub 200mb right now. I've got an uptime of 48 days right now. So I'm thinking it's not a low disk space problem, unless this thing is an exception to the rule.



    I'm not saying that having low drive space is SUFFICIENT to cause the problems, but that it may be NECESSARY to have the problems. I couldn't find the links I was searching for, but I know that I read something about this with others. As a matter of fact, I had this problem earlier tonight... It sucks.
  • Reply 7 of 18
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Low disk space, especially under 1GB, can easily lead to problems with the virtual memory system.
  • Reply 8 of 18
    eudaimiceudaimic Posts: 44member
    I have almost 10 Gigs free, so I doubt it's a disc space problem. I'm at work now, so I can't check out the suggestions you've given me, but I will as soon as I get home tonight!



    Thanks a lot. I'll let you know what happens.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    eudaimiceudaimic Posts: 44member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    You *are* trying Opt-Cmd-Power to bring up the Force Quit dialog to *just* cancel iTunes first, *right*?



    You did mean opt-cmd-ESC right?
  • Reply 10 of 18
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    I just found a long thread on MacNN that details the problems I think we've both been having: Stuff about stuff. It's quite long and I haven't read through it to see if there are any solutions, but it seems we're not alone....
  • Reply 11 of 18
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eudaimic

    You did mean opt-cmd-ESC right?



    *BLINK*







    Yeah, that.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    eudaimiceudaimic Posts: 44member
    Now I've reformatted my HDD, reset my PRAM, flushed my caches, repaired permissions and disk and I'm still having this problem



    Did anyone find out more about this?
  • Reply 13 of 18
    talksense101talksense101 Posts: 1,738member
    If you are using the iPod and iSight, try disconnecting iSight when you run iTunes.
  • Reply 14 of 18
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DMBand0026

    ...unless this thing is an exception to the rule.



    yeah so far...
  • Reply 15 of 18
    eudaimiceudaimic Posts: 44member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    yeah so far...



    Huh?
  • Reply 16 of 18
    gabyugabyu Posts: 2member
    hello.



    i found this post on google because i have EXACTLY the same problem.

    I can give you a tip about my last Itunes Major bahaviours. Maybe we could have something in Common, i don't know.



    first, i use a powerbook G4 15" with french localization, i use extensive types, i have a lot, and chinese types (they are troublesome, is it that?) ... and i also use a lot of adobe/macromedia software and graphic design stuff. i am sued to use proteus to chat. i am connected on wireless and i recently enjoy to share my playlist with people using itunes.



    I RECENTLY UPDATED ITUNES to version 4.6 (15) .. The one with airtunes and wireless music play capability. i must say the crashes started on that period. so, maybe we should not update this.



    second, on my way of using, itunes, i must say it is slow, maybe because i have 7900 songs on it, and i am using a Ipod i sync manually. i have around 18 playlists and all my database were clean. no reason to worry.







    THE CRASH

    i noticed, as u, as i have to shut down my itunes to avoid crash. The thing is, i am using photoshop while playing , then, the music cuts suddently, the mouse freeze, the mouse restart to move, and the music alternatively start and cut for a little seconds. Nothing is possible to click on. The volume, every thing is freezed. The music still play. I must force the shutdown by prssing the button on the computer. So bad.





    we must find a way ! let's soo what else we could have in common. bye
  • Reply 17 of 18
    proxyproxy Posts: 232member
    So it only happens with iTunes? It's Definitely not bad RAM then?
  • Reply 18 of 18
    gabyugabyu Posts: 2member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Proxy

    So it only happens with iTunes? It's Definitely not bad RAM then?







    the problem seems solved on my computer. the thing is :



    i deleted all prefs of my itunes

    i deleted the xml files

    the file named itunes music library



    and, in the mp3/aac root folder, a file who was not supposed to be there, an xml file, named library.



    after that, when i restarted, my itunes was like new, with wizard ask me many questions.then i imported the whole folder of my mp3 over the "library' icon, in itunes, to let him add the files to the library. without copying again the files.





    now it seems to work fine !



    but on the mean time it's true i had less than 6-5 GB of free diskspace. now i am 12, because i clean my hdd. and, in the prefs, I also choosed to reduce the file music cache to 'small', and remove the music croosfader and auto volume level. Well, all the things which could use more RAM or CPU.



    well, this is my advice. clean your hdd and after, clean your itunes files ! remove everything, just keep the music files. even deletes the 3MU or the JPG covers which sometimes drop in those mp3 folders.



    i also decided to reduce the numbers of 'columns' in the library view. Before, i put nearly all, which was creating some slow displays.





    have a great day !



    an happy 50gb itunes music lover. gabyu.
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