Applications quit when system goes idle...

[triplemoons]

My new (used) iMac displays some interesting behavior I have never seen before. Even though all Energy Saver and Screen Saver preferences (only done to see if it would fix the problem) are disabled, every time the machine goes idle it quits all applications. This has become quit bothersome these last few days as I'm working on two machines at the same time and don't always catch it before it goes idle.

It did it with the Tiger installation and now with Snow Leopard it continues.

Thoughts?

 

[triplemoons]

I really can't be the only one that's ever experienced this problem...

 

[triplemoons]

bump!

 

[iLidz]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Sorry I can't help diagnose the problem but have you tried downloading caffeine to keep the system from idling?

 

[FSMBP]

My new (used) iMac displays some interesting behavior I have never seen before. Even though all Energy Saver and Screen Saver preferences (only done to see if it would fix the problem) are disabled, every time the machine goes idle it quits all applications. This has become quit bothersome these last few days as I'm working on two machines at the same time and don't always catch it before it goes idle.

It did it with the Tiger installation and now with Snow Leopard it continues.

Thoughts?

I have never seen a Mac quit applications by itself. Could you explain more? For example, does the Application's indicator light on the Dock actually turn off (this would indicate Quitting)?

If the problem persists, I would backup all your files & do a clean restore on OS X (install the Snow Leopard Disk, restart, Erase the Macintosh HD, and install OS X).

 

[sth]

Sounds really weird.

I would try the usual steps:
- Check your hard drive for errors (with Disk Utility)
- Repair permissions (with Disk Utility)
- Run Apple Hardware Test (included on the system DVDs that shipped with your Mac)

If no problems are detected, try a clean installation of Snow Leopard, install all the updates (but no 3rd-party software yet!) and see if the problem still persists.


But before you do anything: Make sure you have a complete backup of your data somewhere.

 

[triplemoons]

Sounds really weird.

I would try the usual steps:
- Check your hard drive for errors (with Disk Utility)
- Repair permissions (with Disk Utility)
- Run Apple Hardware Test (included on the system DVDs that shipped with your Mac)

If no problems are detected, try a clean installation of Snow Leopard, install all the updates (but no 3rd-party software yet!) and see if the problem still persists.

But before you do anything: Make sure you have a complete backup of your data somewhere.

I'm running disk utility as I type this. I will post again once that's completed.

I do not have system DVD's as the iMac was purchased used.

I absolutely do not want to do a wipe and install of the OS because it took me two days to install all of my software and I don't have that kind of time. I'm booked well into September and down time is out of the question.

I have never seen a Mac quit applications by itself. Could you explain more? For example, does the Application's indicator light on the Dock actually turn off (this would indicate Quitting)?

If the problem persists, I would backup all your files & do a clean restore on OS X (install the Snow Leopard Disk, restart, Erase the Macintosh HD, and install OS X).

It quits everything and will completely log out if something does not need saved and stops it. I've never timed it, but I bet it's less then 10 minutes of idling and then it does it.

I'm also having a lot of problems with my FireFox browser. I have to force quit it 1-3 times a day because I get the rainbow spinning ball of doom for extended periods of time.

Sorry I can't help diagnose the problem but have you tried downloading caffeine to keep the system from idling?

No I have not, but I will certainly look for it and try it out.

 

[triplemoons]

I can't even run Disk Verifications because unless I sit and babysit it it shuts everything down and I have to start over from the beginning.

 

[triplemoons]

Verify Disk: The volume Macintosh HD appears to be ok.

I'm working on the permission repair now.

If I upgrade to Lion do you think the problem will persist?

 

[apunkrockmonk]

Sounds like you need to go into System Preferences > Security and check and make sure that "Log out after X minutes of inactivity" isn't checked, and turn it off if it is.

 

[triplemoons]

You sir, are brilliant! All these weeks of this driving me up the wall and it's as simple as that! I never would have thought to look in the security preferences.

 

[apunkrockmonk]

I thought it was a long shot but it was the only thing I could think of that would be causing your problem. I'm glad it worked out for you.

 

[augustocbx]

Sounds like you need to go into System Preferences > Security and check and make sure that "Log out after X minutes of inactivity" isn't checked, and turn it off if it is.

This works to me, thank you very much!