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Having iMac Core Duo Issues

I

Infinity

macrumors member
Original poster
May 16, 2005
89
0
Perth, Australia
I'm a recent switcher to the Mac platform and having purchased my iMac Core Duo 2Ghz just a couple of weeks ago. I'm been startng to have issues with Finder as sometimes it locks up and freezes about 5 seconds after waking. I can't even bring up a force quit and nothing works only thing to do is a hard poweroff (shudder!) which I hate doing to a new machine, done the hardware test which came out clean, repaired permissions installed all the updates. I'm so lost at whats going :( However I've been reading OSX having an issue with "lookupd" causing lots of problems I was sure the Apple fixed that already does anyone know if this could be causing my unstable system?

Has anyone else had any issues with this or had similar experiences?
my system specs are

- Stock iMac 2Ghz with 2Gb RAM
- Tiger 10.4.5 (all updates installed)
 
Did you add 3rd party Ram? IF so, take it out and see if you still lock up.
 
jsfpa said:
Did you add 3rd party Ram? IF so, take it out and see if you still lock up.
Click to expand...

Would this cause these problems? And if it was faulty RAM, wouldnt the system just not use it, and instead use the Built-In RAM in the machine?
 
The RAM wasn't installed by Apple but by an Apple authorised service center when i bought it. I don't know too much of the apple hardware stuff yet and didn't want to fiddle around with it myself. But everything checked out fine with the Apple hardware test though.
 
Infinity said:
The RAM wasn't installed by Apple but by an Apple authorised service center when i bought it. I don't know too much of the apple hardware stuff yet and didn't want to fiddle around with it myself. But everything checked out fine with the Apple hardware test though.
Click to expand...

It's not the way it was installed, but whether it is faulty. You cannot see that by checking the ram. I'd advise to try without one of the chips.
 
I'm currently exploring another avenue of a potential cause of the hanging finder, I've installed Unlockupd which apparently prevents "lookupd" issues to a certain extent (well to the point of preventing from total system hang) I'm so frustrated at the very least this may or may not fix my issue. And if still hangs then looks like I'll be removing that memory and trying those suggestions out. its so strange that this is happening, I was to believe OSX is very stable. In truth, my transition to Mac has not been as smooth as I'd hoped. :(
 
Do you have the "Put the hard discs to sleep when possible" box checked in the Energy Saver options in System Preferences?
 
I dont know. I have been hearing alot of this, however I have had no problems.

iMac Core Duo 2GHz, 2GB DDR RAM, 256MB VRAM - Everything installed by apple. As soon as I turned it on I erased the hard drive and re-installed Tiger using the disk that came with the computer, So I could install a lighter version of tiger (Cuz I dont need 1.5GB of printer drivers if I have 1 printer) etc...

Then I updated everything to the newest software and security updates... Ran the Daily / weekly/ monthly script, repaired permissions, and I was all set. I have had no issues whatso ever. No keyboard not working issue, no lockups, no freezes, the only issue i ever had was my fault what I plugged in my Windows Formatted iPod and iTunes freaked out... since I formated it to Mac, i have had no problems :)

So im really not sure.... I mean, I just know very very basic stuff / maintence and what not for Mac, I practiced for about a year on my G4 i Book.... So I am new too to the transition... No issues.
 
I have Alot of USB devices conected, and still no problems.

I have My Mouse and My Keyboard connected directly to my iMac. Then I have a USB 2.0 Hub Connected to my final Port. This is a 4 port powered hub, which has my iPod, External Hard Drive, Printer, digi cam hooked up to it. No problems.

I also have a Cat 6 cable connected for Gigabit Eithernet, and a pair of speakers

My Power settings are:

Turn off the monitor at 15 min.

Go to sleep at 1 Hr.

Hard drives are left on (Until sleep obviouslly)
 
iBunny said:
I have Alot of USB devices connected, and still no problems.
Click to expand...

It's not the number which matters... A computer can run fine with 30 USB devices, another one badly with only 5. The problem is if you have ONE wrong USB device.

To check that, unplug all USB devices and see if the problem persists. If it disappeared, you might have an "unfriendly" device, and you'll have to isolate him.

It has indeed happened to me, problems with my Canon USB scanner preventing the iMac to go to sleep - although I had no way to suspect it in the first place -.

About the faulty ram I mentioned, it also happened to me. Finder hanging at any time, too many beach balls, delays and frozen iMac. I returned the machine to the shop, they checked it all and found the faulty ram. All got back to normal afterwards. NB: the ram is not hard to take out from the iMac, check http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303084 . When I think I had to dismount half my iMac (G5 rev.A) to change it...
 
iGary said:
Do you have the "Put the hard discs to sleep when possible" box checked in the Energy Saver options in System Preferences?
Click to expand...

I Just left everything as is when I unpacked it and turned it on, so yes the Hard disk is put to sleep when possible.

Applespider said:
How are you connected to the internet? Is it a USB modem which can often not play nicely with OS X - particularly, I'd imagine with the new Intel Macs?

Any other odd USB devices connected? They can sometimes cause problems on the wake from sleep.
Click to expand...

I've been connected to a Dlink ADSL/4 port Router. Other than that, the only USB device I've connected was my Digital Camera (which by the way I was impressed that it didn't even need drivers to mount :) and iPod.

I think I might try a reformat...err Erase and Install cuz I've been getting some other strange oddities like Date/Time in control panel just pooping out when I try to access it after having launched some apps (iTunes, Mail, Safari) prior to checking those settings.

I'm using a windows box at the moment I'm sooo paranoid my new iMac is gonna crap out on me again :(
 
Arnaud said:
It's not the number which matters... A computer can run fine with 30 USB devices, another one badly with only 5. The problem is if you have ONE wrong USB device.

To check that, unplug all USB devices and see if the problem persists. If it disappeared, you might have an "unfriendly" device, and you'll have to isolate him.

It has indeed happened to me, problems with my Canon USB scanner preventing the iMac to go to sleep - although I had no way to suspect it in the first place -.

About the faulty ram I mentioned, it also happened to me. Finder hanging at any time, too many beach balls, delays and frozen iMac. I returned the machine to the shop, they checked it all and found the faulty ram. All got back to normal afterwards. NB: the ram is not hard to take out from the iMac, check http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303084 . When I think I had to dismount half my iMac (G5 rev.A) to change it...
Click to expand...

I'll check that out, but gonna try an Erase and Install first when I get some time. Thanks for all the help. I'll post and update on this for anyone that may be tracking the progress on a Rev "A" iMac Core Duo (Can you really call it Rev A?)
 
Infinity said:
I'll check that out, but gonna try an Erase and Install first when I get some time. Thanks for all the help. I'll post and update on this for anyone that may be tracking the progress on a Rev "A" iMac Core Duo (Can you really call it Rev A?)
Click to expand...


I bet it's that darn faulty ram..I lived with a "bad" computer for the first two months, and never understood why it would lock up (in my case it gave me kernel panics, which is bad)

Then one day I had had enough, took it to the store, swapped out the ram and everything has been perfect since.

That sucks that your first experience with OS X has been so bad.

It will get better once you get past this obstacle.

:)
 
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