Os X crash Statistics [Archive]

musicpyrite

Jun 25, 2004, 02:13 PM

I had 1 kernel panick about 2 months ago, and it was my fault I got it, I put the wrong kind of RAM in my SO-DIMM slot, and when I booted it up I got the kernel pankic, all I did was shut down the computer, remove the RAM, and turn the computer back on. Nothing wrong, nothing broken. I've had my computer since October.

By contrast, my xBox crashes about once every 2 weeks.

And on average, the two Windows XP computers I have crash about once every 2-3 days.

matthewr

Jun 25, 2004, 02:59 PM

I've had OSX on my Pismo for 2+ years. In that time, I I've had three major crashes (code appearing where the desktop used to be), and it has probably hung about 10 times, which seems to be linked to trying to plug something in (camera, swapping the 2nd battery for the DVD drive) when it was waking up from sleep. After any of those events, all I've had to do is restart (although some restarts do take upwards of 5 minutes (as opposed to about 1.5 or 2 minutes if it is properly shut down)). But when I was running OS 9, it would crash at least once a day.

wPod

Jun 25, 2004, 03:03 PM

my iBook used to crash with a kernal panic about once a month. but i got rid of that in september and since september my new pb has not crashed. in fact the only reason it has ever been restarted is b/c of updates. (my longest consecutive uptime was 47days). the wintel machine i use at works crashes about once a day. . . i never seem to make it more than 4 hours or so without a program messing up or some memory error requiring me to restart the computer. . . . now if i could get autocad for mac i could use a mac at work and be very very happy cause id never have to worry about it crashing :-)

Horrortaxi

Jun 25, 2004, 03:10 PM

Daily? On average it would be a number just over zero--I'm talking a decimal, and about 3 digits, the first two of which would be zero.

We have 4 Macs in the house. Well, actually we have more than that but we use 4. My wife's Sawtooth G4 hasn't crashed in over a year--and then it was crashing because I kept unplugging USB devices while it was sleeping. Our cube has never crashed in the 6 months we've had it. My G3 iBook last crashed when the logic board failed--I think that was in February. I don't recall a crash in the previous year I owned the computer. The crashiest Mac we have is my MDD G4. It just kernel paniced yesterday, as a matter of fact. Before that it was 2-3 months, before that it was also 2-3 months. That computer is on 24/7 and does a hell of a lot of work.

That's not to say that applications don't act up from time to time. I crash Safari every couple weeks and I used to crash MS Word a few times a week. Medal of Honor tends to be a little crashy too--apart from that it's not really an issue.

How long does a crash take to recover? Generally as long as it takes to reboot. 2 minutes?

I doubt you're going to see anything this close on an XP machine. I was a good, careful, and lucky Windows user back in the day. Compared to most other people my system was rock solid. I could never imagine this kind of reliability though.

3-22

Jun 25, 2004, 03:24 PM

Title says most of it... I would like to get a list of stuff like on average how many macs crash a day how long they take to recover. I would like to compare it to windows data to show a friend thanks...

I think your comparison will be invalid based on your metrics. OS X or Windows can stay up and crash free for years if you do nothing or install nothing. Bad applications for both operating systems can effect stability. Hardware problems can also cause a number of problems too, like I initially experienced with my G5.

Personally, and I know a lot of people on here will disagree mostly based on some emotional reason, but I find Windows XP about as stable as OS X. BUT, I prefer to use OS X and like a lot of its interface style. Also, XP while it may not crash as much as previous versions sometimes get's nutty and requires an occasional reboot.

Trying to convince someone that OS X never crashes is futile, in my opinion. Cause even if you do, first crash they will point at you and say Ah-Ha you lied. (This crash will probably happen after they install some junk ware from Microsoft)

gopher

Jun 25, 2004, 03:35 PM

Title says most of it... I would like to get a list of stuff like on average how many macs crash a day how long they take to recover. I would like to compare it to windows data to show a friend thanks...

Kernel panics are rare, but if they are frequent on a Mac, it is sign of something wrong with the computer's hardware, directory, or drivers that are older than the operating system which need an update.

http://www.macmaps.com/kernelpanic.html covers them in more detail. Applications may unexpectedly quit, but that's due corrupted plist files or bad font files, and on occasion a bad cache file. .plist is the filename extension given to preference files. Sometimes networking issues can happen because the firmware of a router needs to get upgraded, and that might freeze the networking response time.

People confuse the spinning beachball for a crash because they have to force quit a program with command-option-escape (where command is the Apple logo key). Fortunately that does not affect other applications that are running. Mac OS X on the whole has been quite stable, and I've not seen a panic since when I tried to install a special software to make my Powerbook's trackpad side act like a scrollwheel. Removing it fixed the problem.

mkrishnan

Jun 25, 2004, 04:19 PM

Kernel panics, one in the six months I've had my dear iBook. Unexpected quits -- get a fair number from Safari (say once a week?) and AdiumX (but wouldn't expect much more from it). Force quits...relatively rarely. Usually only when I'm messing with something trying to make it work. I had to force quit Bochs a lot before I gave up on it. ;)

AppleMatt

Jun 25, 2004, 04:44 PM

I can't remember the last time my Mac crashed since installing Panther but the one kernel panic I can remember;

I copied a VIDEO_TS folder to my iPod and then tried to open it in DVD Player. Bam, kernel panic.

Admittedly not my best of ideas.

I've had a few applications crash every now and then. Safari used to go down 2 or 3 times a day last year, but I haven't had that problem for a long time. Usually if an apps gonna crash simply starting it up again restores it to how it was.

AppleMatt

King Cobra

Jun 25, 2004, 04:45 PM

My Cube has its ports underneath it...and sometimes the sound on it cuts out for whatever reason. In order to get it back, I need to unplug and then replug the USB cable for audio back into the Cube. That requires lifting up the damn thing to get underneath to the cable, risking having the thing shut itself off. (The problem is also averted by a restart.) But the problem is almost unavoidable if I need to plug in something like a Firewire cable into the damn thing, because even if the Cube is off, it starts up by itself, and then more than likely will shut down again in the first 4 seconds of starting up. (That problem is avoided by keeping the computer unplugged during the whole process.) I'm not sure if you want to consider all that as crashing, because this happens with any version of OS X (and OS 9).

bryanc

Jun 25, 2004, 06:16 PM

I had my first crash (kernel panic) under 10.3 yesterday. It was due to having run out of disk space (doh!).

As much as it is fair to say that no system is perfect, and crashes can and do occur under OS X, to say that OS X is more stable than windows is like saying Bill Gates is richer than I am. OS X is not just more stable it's *vastly* more stable. Not to mention more secure, more intuitive, better designed, better looking, cheaper, and not sold by a convicted monopolist. Why anyone who had a choice would choose to work with windows is beyond me.

Cheers

patrick0brien

Jun 25, 2004, 06:34 PM

Title says most of it... I would like to get a list of stuff like on average how many macs crash a day how long they take to recover. I would like to compare it to windows data to show a friend thanks...

-AoWolf

Try this rule of thumb: If your Mac Kernel Panics more than once a year, then either your are doing something funky on purpose like deleting system files in root, forcing programs to run files they weren't meant to, or there is an actual hardware-related issue like bad RAM, out of HD space, or God forbid, a cracked or fried Logic board.

aethier

Jun 25, 2004, 08:21 PM

I've had a few applications crash every now and then. Safari used to go down 2 or 3 times a day last year, but I haven't had that problem for a long time. Usually if an apps gonna crash simply starting it up again restores it to how it was.

AppleMatt

don't forget, this time last year, safari was still a public beta.

aethier

cheekyspanky

Jun 25, 2004, 08:37 PM

Am I the only XP user that hasn't had a crash in more than a month? Every now and again a program freezes, but I close it and give it a little while and re open it and all is fine!

I think some people must run some rubbish programs on their Windows PC's if they have crashes as many times as most of you make out! I'm usually running iTunes, Opera, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, sometimes a CAD program such as Rhino..basically loads of different programs in any given session - and the usual array of MSN messenger, Firewall, Virus Protection etc.

Before genuine stability is taken into account, I think most people experience few problems with OS X because Mac users are generally more knowledgeable about computer care than the average XP user!

flyfish29

Jun 25, 2004, 08:50 PM

I think your comparison will be invalid based on your metrics. OS X or Windows can stay up and crash free for years if you do nothing or install nothing. Bad applications for both operating systems can effect stability.

Great points. I agree, but I think also that this forum would have many more crashes then the average consumer would have. The type of people who frequent this forum are installing beta software, home grown software, tweaking their machines with Terminal stuff or whatever else it is everyone does which results in many more crashes than the average consumer would ever expereince. In 9 months of owning an iMac I have had no kernal panics or crashes requiring a reboot!

I have had to force quit a program...mostly safari...probably 10 times at the most and had safari quit itself probably 5 times in the last 9 months.

King Cobra

Jun 25, 2004, 09:02 PM

Surprisingly enough, Safari is treating me nicely for a change...it's Mozilla that acted up (mostly due to a screwy .mpg file). Mozilla 1.6 on Panther has gone through 600+ hours of usage on my machine (prob. more like 700+) before its first "official crash" today. That's a seriously tough browser, but unfortunately, today, I found out that just like any browser, it's not indestructible.

The last time OS X gave me a K.P. (kernel panic) had to be months ago.

Jigglelicious

Jun 25, 2004, 09:13 PM

Just to give you a comparison:

OS X - Been using my Mac for about 7 months now. In that time period, i've yet to have a kernal panic (unrecoverable OS crash). Apps however, are a different story. Safari seems to be the main suspect, crashing once every few days, which is more than i'd like it to. Also, iChat can act a bit funky at times. Although it doesn't crash, after a few days of being open, it suddenly decides to take up 100% of my CPU time. I have to restart iChat to bring it back to normal. Also, back when Panther was first released, I had horrible issues with Finder crashing, and icons getting corrupted.

Windows XP - been using it since it was released back in 2001. In that time, i've yet to have a hard OS crash (blue screen of death). However, apps do occasionally crash, although no where with the frequency that i've seen in OS X. I honestly can't remember the last time something crashed. Maybe it was Firefox, but then again, its beta software so its to be expected.

Now, I take care of my Windows system. I've been a windows user for a *long* time, and I know the inns and outs, and what not to do. This is probably why i've been trouble free with my computers. The same can't be said with my friends. They constantly come running to be with the strangest problems - although its usually in the form of Spyware/adware taking over their computer. This isn't a problem with Windows stability however, its a problem with windows security, and user idiocy. If you're running "screensaver.exe" files that you're getting from unknown emails, you deserve to get that virus, IMO.

Windows also tends to "slow down" after a while. But again, this isn't a problem with windows directly, its an issue with users installing a ton of garbage that forces itself to load on bootup and sit in the system tray.

MoparShaha

Jun 25, 2004, 09:34 PM

I have had zero crashes (kernal panics) with my PowerBook G4 12" in the 8 months I've owned it. My iMac G3 has probably had 4 crashes in the 3 years I've had OSX on it. Not bad, eh?

billyboy

Jun 27, 2004, 09:38 AM

Panther stalled on me yesterday for the first time since whenever it first came out. Using Expose I tried to drag text from one window to another one of 20 and the machine locked up. Otherwise, only a camera has induced a kernal panic. As some one pointed out abot people posting here, I am one of those who is installing beta software and all sorts of wierd utilities, and although wierdnesses occur, force quits and some background maintenance has kept this PB totally reliable and productive

wrldwzrd89

Jun 27, 2004, 09:45 AM

Title says most of it... I would like to get a list of stuff like on average how many macs crash a day how long they take to recover. I would like to compare it to windows data to show a friend thanks...
Check out this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=77185) I made on a similar subject - is it helpful to you at all?

DJ Forge

Jun 27, 2004, 10:52 AM

I've had my powerbook for 2 weeks and I had a kernel panic yesterday

I don't know what you guys did to your XP installs, but this install hasn't crashed once since I loaded it in October of last year. And the install I had on that (different machine) probably crashed a handful of times in the 2.5 years i was running it.

Also, I've had my xbox for a year, fully modded, and it's crashed one time.

7on

Jun 27, 2004, 11:28 AM

kb@MacRumors

Jun 27, 2004, 11:43 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but wasn't the original poster looking for some statistics; some hard core comparative evidence? I'm not sure AoWolf asked for the individual experiences of the users here.

kb
:p

Whigga Spitta

Jun 27, 2004, 11:45 AM

Not being a computer genius by any means, I do not know the formal definiton of a computer "crashing". If having it clogged up by Spy/Adware, to the point of un-usability, then my XP System crashes everytime it is started up (2-3 types per day). This is unfortunate because now my Mom likes to use my unfathomably stable Powerbook instead.

mms

Jun 27, 2004, 03:29 PM

wrldwzrd89

Jun 27, 2004, 03:36 PM

Haven't had a kernel panic on my iBook in the three months or so that I've had it. My Cube has had one or two in a couple years. The last time I had to force a restart was when the system hung the first time I opened up Word 2004. Go figure.
Word X is buggy. Seems like Word 2004 is also buggy. Typical Microsoft.
I haven't had any kernel panics since the first day I got my iMac - the cause was corrupt power manager settings, which the folks at my local Apple Store fixed for me.

Mav451

Jun 27, 2004, 03:48 PM

I tend not to get kernel panics often, rather I get a screen freeze. Sometimes happens in Halo (game just stops on a frame) and sometimes in FCE. Then there are sometimes I get it when I put it to sleep (screen goes off but the book doesn't sleep). I believe it's a memory issue, though not bad memory because then I'd get kernel panics. I probably just get a corrupted cache now and then.

That reminds me, OSX tends to get corrupted files moreso than WinXP. If Tiger fixes this at all I'll buy it.

See that is what really surprised me when I began using the G5's in the school labs! It just ended up like every other time I went to use a G5, I would HAVE to clear the .plist for Safari (otherwise it would lock up :( and I would have to force quit it). I mean, this is by no means an equivalent to a "jam-packed" Windows registry after 3 years of spyware/download.com utilities installations, but it remains an annoyance that I did NOT expect to find on the Mac platform. I would hope the corrupted .plist does not end up happening to Office.X or other applications, as it would then become a bigger hassle :(

*Is there a utility that would scan the Library .plists for corrupt ones?*
As a maintenance application I suppose?

Or are Mac users left to just doing a manual delete, re-open application?

wrldwzrd89

Jun 27, 2004, 03:54 PM

See that is what really surprised me when I began using the G5's in the school labs! It just ended up like every other time I went to use a G5, I would HAVE to clear the .plist for Safari (otherwise it would lock up :( and I would have to force quit it). I mean, this is by no means an equivalent to a "jam-packed" Windows registry after 3 years of spyware/download.com utilities installations, but it remains an annoyance that I did NOT expect to find on the Mac platform. I would hope the corrupted .plist does not end up happening to Office.X or other applications, as it would then become a bigger hassle :(

*Is there a utility that would scan the Library .plists for corrupt ones?*
As a maintenance application I suppose?

Or are Mac users left to just doing a manual delete, re-open application?
It's possible to scan plists for general corruption, since they all use a standard format. It's not possible to check for things like making sure preferences in plist files have valid values, since that is application-specific. I don't know of any utilities that do this, but I'm sure you could "fake" one by scripting the Property List Editor utility that comes with Xcode.

Toreador93

Jun 27, 2004, 04:12 PM

The only possible OS crashes I've had with WinXP is when I close my laptop, it goes on standby, then try to wake it up...sometimes it doesn't. I just set it to hibernate, and it works much better. But this might be Dell's fault. Also, I've had other various hardware faults, like the harddrive (cheap Dell)!

Otherwise, IE likes to quit, and other 3rd party software, but XP is fine.

So I would like to say "No crashes", but a decent amount of upkeep.

disconap

Feb 8, 2006, 01:26 PM

My G3s tend to crash semi-regularly (the imac about nce per session, the ibook about half as frequently). I'm hard pressed to even remember my G4s crashing under OSX, it may never have happened.

thestaton

Feb 9, 2006, 08:54 AM

iBook G4 for 8 months 0 crashes just really smooth operation.
iMac Core Duo going on a month super fast and not one problem other than the lack of Universal Binarys.
Everything just works and I'll never go back to windows.

I had my windows tower for 3 years and it built it from the ground up using the besthardware - I did alot of matience - kept the inside dust free, made sure heat was never an issue and it treated me just fine.

I would crash probably once a month - but compared to windows 98 / ME / 2000 where I had to format every 6 months, I was able to run XP for a full year without formatting.

Last night though we tried to hook my simple lexmark printer up to my roommates dell laptop so he could print something and it crashed the computer everytime the USB was plugged in.

So I was like fine I'll just do a printer share from my iMac - when ever windows would try to connect to the printer - yup it would crash!

This is not acceptable and I'll never go back.

I've resorted to buying 8 shares of apple stock a paycheck hehe :)

Benjamin

Feb 9, 2006, 08:57 AM

4 year... 2 KPS, but both from dev version of 10.2 Jaguar I think... 6C6X builds.

wordmunger

Feb 9, 2006, 08:57 AM

My iBook G4 crashes all the time (won't wake from sleep). I'd say about 20 percent of the time when I sleep it won't wake up and I have to reboot. It's incredibly annoying.

mkrishnan

Feb 9, 2006, 07:10 PM

My iBook G4 crashes all the time (won't wake from sleep). I'd say about 20 percent of the time when I sleep it won't wake up and I have to reboot. It's incredibly annoying.

Wow...you shouldn't have to put up with that from a Mac. :( This should be a fixable problem.

Moria

Feb 9, 2006, 07:16 PM

What do you mean by crash? The computer totally stall and require a restart or just a program need to be forced to quit?

Agathon

Feb 12, 2006, 02:04 AM

Used OS X since 10.0 on my iMac G3.

1 kernel panic under 10.0 just before 10.1 was released (August 2001?).

1 kernel panic on this Powerbook a couple of months ago.

2 kernel panics in 5 years or so ain't bad.

thejadedmonkey

Feb 12, 2006, 07:50 AM

It's started crashing more recently on me...
once about two months ago, and I don't know why.
then again a week ago when I downloaded a program my mini didn't like.

should I be concerned that my mac's crashed twice in it's lifetime?:D

P.S. It took a reboot to recover from it too...and I find that TOTALLY UNACEPTABLE!! I DEMAND that apple make OS X require a full reinstall after a kernal crash, to bring it up to par with XP's BSOD!

BakedBeans

Feb 12, 2006, 08:05 AM

1 crash in 3 years.

When Im on mac if something goes wrong its like ''whoa, what the hell just happened'' because its really out of the norm.

Whe i was using XP regularly a year or so back - app crashes 5 times a day - system crashes... 3/4 a week - but i spent AGES cleaning the os and trying to keep everything stble - on mac you can abuse it a little and it runs seamlessly - although i dont abuse mine :)

When you add up -

Restarting to fix something
defragging
crashes
app crashes
freezing
system cleaning
fixing things that unexplainably go wrong
finding which port the us cable came out of (because you need to have them all in the same usb everytime for it to work)
running norton

tiime taken for your system doesnt really let you get that much done

someguy

Feb 12, 2006, 08:23 AM

1 Kernel Panic in the 9 months or so I've had my PowerBook.

Let's put it this way, the other day my brother was on our Dell, which had been running fine for a few days without any problems, and he upgraded to WMP10 and got a blue screen error, followed by an auto restart. Both of which took place while he was speaking to me and neither were uncommon enough for him to even pause during his speech.

I had to laugh because such poor behavior from my Mac would send me into such a fit of rage I'd be lucky to remember what I was even talking about to begin with.

*** Just for the record, I do not maintain the Dell in any way, whereas I take good care of my own PC (custom-built AMD) and have never had any crashes (BSOD or otherwise) in the 3 years I've had it. :)

Mr Skills

Feb 12, 2006, 02:42 PM

For me, the fundamental difference between X and XP for application crashes is not the amount it happens (which depends more on the individual app) but how the system copes with the aftermath.

X: Press Alt-Apple-Escape, choose the App, Force Quit. Everything is hunky-dory. :)

XP: Press Ctrl-Alt-Del, choose the App, End Task. End Task. END TASK... wait ... "program is not responding" - End Task. End Task. End Task. END TASK. END ********** TASK! Reboot computer. :(

Of course, when you *do* get end task to work the whole system feels flakey until you reboot. On OSX I run high-end audio production rigs with important clients sitting next to me and I am confident enough not to bother rebooting after an application crash.