I have a serious problem with crashes in Leopard

Hello to all,

I've had a problem with my G5 8-core Xenon ever since I bought it last spring and hope that someone here will be kind enough to help. Sorry about the length of this message, but I'm desperate for help.

Here's my hardware set-up:

*Processor 065-7534 Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeo
*Memory 10 Gig ram
*Graphics Card 065-7182 ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB
*Hard Drive Bay 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
*Hard Drive Bay 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb
*Four Western Digital 500G external drives, using Firewire 800

I'm a composer and I use my Mac Pro on an average of 8 hours a day with Leopard 10.5.5, Digital Performer 6.01 and numerous third party audio apps and plug-ins. Digital Performer crashes on me at once every hour, and I've been through the ringer in my search for finding out why. I've spent many, many hours on music forums and had two different techs from the local Apple store come out and access the situation...they all suggested a total OS re-install.

I did a total OS-X re-install two weeks ago, and re-installed all my third party software (what a pain!). I still have the crashes. The latest verdict is it's not Digital Performer. It could be my hardware or Spotlight and "mds" trying to index a corrupt file that might be causing me problems.

Is there anyone on line that I can send Console crash logs and help me decipher what's really going on? I'm an novice at reading these crash logs, and I really need some expert help. Any advice would really be appreciated!

Thanks,
Rod

 

Did you have this problem in previous versions of Leopard? Say 10.5.4?

 

was there something that you may have added or removed from the system?

and may i suggest in the future, using time machine, or ibackup.
it will definitely save you most of the hassle and stress that comes with restoring a system

 

Maybe try going back to 10.5.4. I did it recently after major problems on my home computer and it seems to have fixed it.

When you are running programs such as DP, I would recommend not updating every time there's a new OS. For stability, if it's working, stick with the current OS and only upgrade if you really have to as most software developers are a few months behind any OS update. Even the minor ones can cause havoc.

I operate on Protools and Pyramix and hate the thought of upgrading unless it's absolutely necessary. We're still running Os10.4 on the Protools rigs and all is well.

 

I just have a laptop, but in the six months I've run Leopard it has not crashed once. I update as soon as available
and am now running the current 10.5.5

 

That is quite possible, however are you trying to run audio programs such as Digital Performer? Small changes in the OS updates can render these programs useless for no apparent reason.

It is the 3rd party programs which are slow in keeping up with OS updates and when you are relying on it 8 hours a day for your income it can get very stressful. Hence my motto of "if it aint broke, don't fix it." In other words if it is working and stable, why expose yourself to possible delays, hassles and potential financial loss by updating to the latest and greatest version of OS.