Forced Restarts

[Vendo]

After having this Mac for a month, I've been surprised for the past few days to find that after an hour to three hours of use, the computer might freeze and then state that it must reset.

Is this the result of any certain common activity in Mac OS that I could avoid just by changing my usage habits?

 

[jmann]

This is not normal. Try repairing permissions. If that doesn't work reinstall the OS or take it to the genius bar.

 

[JediMeister]

There are several factors to consider with your issue. Something to take note is what applications are running when you encounter this hanging problem. Also, have you also attempted to bring up the Force Quit Applications window to see if you can find an unresponsive application and quit it without affecting the rest of the system? How about running Activity Monitor in the background and if the mouse cursor or the +tab keys allow you to bring up the application switcher to see what's red in Activity Monitor? Are you using a wireless mouse or keyboard which could lose its connection to the computer and make it seem as if the system's unresponsive?

If you suspect a hardware issue you can run the Apple Hardware Test to check for potential memory/processor issues. Is the computer getting hot, perhaps overheating?

 

[Vendo]

Typically, I will run all the following at the same time:

iTunes
Mail
Safari
Zyrix (Twitter client)
And I connect online through a USB 3G modem.

I also have downloaded 10 or so other Mac freeware apps and games from the list on Apple's site.

Would restoring to a previous state in Time Machine solve it or would a complete reinstall be necessary?

 

[surflordca]

Would restoring to a previous state in Time Machine solve it or would a complete reinstall be necessary?

If it's a software issue, restoring should work...