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help! mac crashes, firefox crashes, safari crashes! OS 10.4.11

B

bryantm3

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 15, 2003
127
0
hello all, i'm having a hell of a time with my mac. it started out when firefox would crash for no apparent reason, asking to send in an error report, and eventually it got to where mac itself would crash, turning the screen dark with a picture in the middle appearing saying "You need to restart your computer. Hold the power button down for 2+ seconds". I've tried a lot, I've repaired permissions using the disk utility, I've reinstalled Java, and I even verified the disk using the disk utility— which seems to be the problem. It said my mac needed the system to be repaired. Except I've got a big problem: I just moved and I don't have the apple hardware test disc, so I'm stuck. Then, today I tried to use Safari instead of Firefox and even it is crashing. This is really irritating, I thought it was a virus until I downloaded a free antivirus that said it wasn't. Please give advice, someone!
 
What kind of mac do you have?

Is it only crashing when using the internet or does it crash when not using the internet?

Are you connecting to the internet wirelessly or through the ethernet port?
 
It sounds like your grttig kernel panics, which are normally when sommat goes askew.

If you can get to another mac with a FireWire port you can boot
it into target disk mode which will enable you to view it as an external hdd. You could the repair permissions that way.

If you can give us more info about the crashes might be able to help more:)

PTP
 
i don't have another mac; this is the only one i've got. it's an iMac G5- the first one they came out with, with no camera. the computer crashes when on the internet, when not on the internet, anytime.
 
have you tried cleaning the cache (both system and user) of the computer, you can also try emptying the browser caches if you havent tried that yet.. Other than that, im tapped outta ideas.

Sorry! :s

PTP

EDIT: have you tried connecting to your router via ethernet? also have you disconnected from your wireless entirely, by turning off airport?
 
okay, i've now emptied out the system and user caches. i hope this works. i also made an appointment at the apple store this saturday, but when i went tonight they were utterly useless.
 
here is what disk utility told me:

Code: 
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Incorrect block count for file 0_data
(It should be 170 instead of 180)
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Overlapped extent allocation (file Overlapped extent allocation (file ielbryant/Desktop/crap/underworld tracks/full/1-03 Big Meat Show.wav)
Overlapped extent allocation (file 5121569 /Users/danielbryant/Pictures/on any other day/0137481-R1-052-24A.jpg)
Overlapped extent allocation (file 5717969 /Users/danielbryant/Desktop/untitled folder/HBCG/M2U00226.MPG)
Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
(It should be 4616538 instead of 4616538)
616528
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


1 HFS volume checked
	Volume needs repair
 
the problem is getting worse and worse. now even iTunes crashes, and when I tried to open Safari and iTunes at the same time, they both crashed. The other day, I ran about 7 apps at once to test if it was the RAM that was defective, and they ran fine, only for the computer to crash a couple of hours later. (i will refer to the crashing as a kernal panic henceforth because the computer doesn't just crash, it gives me the kernal panic warning.)
 
and now even the graphics are screwing up in firefox. when i booted it back up the toolbar menu looks like this (see attachment).
 

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that is definitely a hardware problem, from the last screenshot I would say the gfx chip is dying. This would also explain the kernel panics
 
second to the GFX chip dying, it looks like your HD is a bit wonky, have you got the DVD? it would be best to get it out, and run Disk Utility from the CD (press and hold C when you turn the mac on)

PTP
 
bryantm3 said:
and now even the graphics are screwing up in firefox. when i booted it back up the toolbar menu looks like this (see attachment).
Click to expand...

Try to reset the PRAM.

Steps

1. turn off computer
2. turn on computer and immediately hold down ALT+Command+P+R
3. The screen will go black and the computer will restart and you can take you hands off the keys.

Hope that might have done something?

Secondly try to repair permissions and fix the disk.

Steps

1. Get ur OS X DVD and put into computer
2. go to System Preferences->Startup Disk->and select the DVD to boot from and click restart
3. Then it will load the OS from the DVD and now you can repair your disk and the permissions.

See if this helps.
 
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