The iMac 2009 Mystery - freezing without any reason

wdekreij · Nov 14, 2012, 04:52 AM

Recently my 24" iMac 2009 started freezing every 60-90 minutes. I can still move the mouse, but nothing seems to respond anymore. This is what I tried so far:

Disconnected all external devices
Tested the RAM memory by removing them both 1 by 1 (as well as running a memtest
Reset the SMC (e.g. but power for a while)
Reset the PRAM
Started in safe mode (still crashing)
Tried re-installing OS X. First few times that didn't work (crashed during setup, after a few times it got installed but still freezing).
Temperature of the CPU never goes above 40 degrees. All other items are cooler.
Tried to run the hardware test, but that doesn't seem to be installed on this OS X (so haven't been able to run this test).

Any thoughts on what you think might be the problem? Any kind of help would be very much appreciated!

wdekreij · Nov 14, 2012, 04:54 AM

In the error-logs-directory there are various logs from Finder. See attached for an example.

Perhaps this error log tells you something?

Razzerman II · Nov 14, 2012, 04:55 AM

Hello,

You don't mention the hard disk, but that's where I'd have a look. Run disk utility and see what you find.

Ray

wdekreij · Nov 14, 2012, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razzerman II

Hello,

You don't mention the hard disk, but that's where I'd have a look. Run disk utility and see what you find.

Ray

Sorry - forgot to mention that. Disk utility doesn't give any errors.. I'm also thinking it might be the hard disk, but it's quite of a waste if I order a new one and it appears to be something else. Any ideas how to do a more thorough check on this?

Razzerman II · Nov 14, 2012, 05:02 AM

Which version of OS X are you using? And, just out of curiosity, what are your energy saver settings?

wdekreij · Nov 14, 2012, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razzerman II

Which version of OS X are you using? And, just out of curiosity, what are your energy saver settings?

OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion).

Energy settings: Sleep time of iMac is set at "never". The screen at 15 minutes. Hard disk in sleep modus when possible.

Razzerman II · Nov 14, 2012, 05:11 AM

I would try setting them both to 'never' and uncheck the 'sleep when possible' and see what happens.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread...t=210&tstart=0

Don't know if you've read anywhere else, but it could be related to your problem.

Ray

wdekreij · Nov 14, 2012, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razzerman II

I would try setting them both to 'never' and uncheck the 'sleep when possible' and see what happens.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread...t=210&tstart=0

Don't know if you've read anywhere else, but it could be related to your problem.

Ray

Just tested that. No luck - it still freezes..

Any other thoughts? Does the crash report tell you guys anything?

johto · Nov 14, 2012, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdekreij

Just tested that. No luck - it still freezes..

Any other thoughts? Does the crash report tell you guys anything?

Get a small cheap external USB hard disk and install clean OS X there. You can boot using the external by pressing ALT key while booting. That way your imac should not read/write to the internal. You could see if that helps to diagnose if its the disk.

forty2j · Nov 14, 2012, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdekreij

Sorry - forgot to mention that. Disk utility doesn't give any errors.. I'm also thinking it might be the hard disk, but it's quite of a waste if I order a new one and it appears to be something else. Any ideas how to do a more thorough check on this?

If you can find your original disks, you can run Apple Hardware Test from there.

This still sounds an awful lot like an HDD problem, and those sometimes don't show up in diagnostics at all. Mine was reporting SMART Status: Passed right up until the minute it couldn't mount.

MeFromHere · Nov 14, 2012, 08:24 AM

Try downloading SMC Fan Control (it's free) and running it.

40 degrees may be too hot. My late 2006 iMac can't tolerate a CPU temperature that high any more. You have different hardware, but it's worth trying some experiments to see if the problem is related to the temperature.

You can use SMC Fan Control to speed up one or more of the fans and test whether the problem goes away.

Nov 14, 2012, 04:52 AM	#1
wdekreij macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2012	The iMac 2009 Mystery - freezing without any reason Recently my 24" iMac 2009 started freezing every 60-90 minutes. I can still move the mouse, but nothing seems to respond anymore. This is what I tried so far: Disconnected all external devices Tested the RAM memory by removing them both 1 by 1 (as well as running a memtest Reset the SMC (e.g. but power for a while) Reset the PRAM Started in safe mode (still crashing) Tried re-installing OS X. First few times that didn't work (crashed during setup, after a few times it got installed but still freezing). Temperature of the CPU never goes above 40 degrees. All other items are cooler. Tried to run the hardware test, but that doesn't seem to be installed on this OS X (so haven't been able to run this test). Any thoughts on what you think might be the problem? Any kind of help would be very much appreciated!
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Nov 14, 2012, 04:55 AM	#3
Razzerman II macrumors member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Scunthorpe - yes, that place	Hello, You don't mention the hard disk, but that's where I'd have a look. Run disk utility and see what you find. Ray
	0

Nov 14, 2012, 05:02 AM	#5
Razzerman II macrumors member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Scunthorpe - yes, that place	Which version of OS X are you using? And, just out of curiosity, what are your energy saver settings?
	0

Nov 14, 2012, 05:11 AM	#7
Razzerman II macrumors member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Scunthorpe - yes, that place	I would try setting them both to 'never' and uncheck the 'sleep when possible' and see what happens. https://discussions.apple.com/thread...t=210&tstart=0 Don't know if you've read anywhere else, but it could be related to your problem. Ray
	0

Nov 14, 2012, 08:24 AM	#11
MeFromHere macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2012	Try downloading SMC Fan Control (it's free) and running it. 40 degrees may be too hot. My late 2006 iMac can't tolerate a CPU temperature that high any more. You have different hardware, but it's worth trying some experiments to see if the problem is related to the temperature. You can use SMC Fan Control to speed up one or more of the fans and test whether the problem goes away.
	0