iMac crashes but mouse still functions. Any ideas?

[SureShot]

This just started happening yesterday and no happens pretty often. Sometimes when I reboot it will start right away, sometimes it will take a few hours.

Suddenly an application will stop working or responding, so I will click the mouse onto another window, it will become live most times only to hang. Same thing I try to open the menu, it will pop up and freeze up. The only way out seems to be a hard shut down by holding down the power button.

I have a brand new (well, 2 months old) iMac with all the latest software updates installed. Can anyone please help me

Thanks guys.

 

[SureShot]

No one at all...? I can't be the only poor bugger with this problem can I?

 

[airjuggernaut]

Hey, I'm not extremely sure what's going on but try the following things.

1. Do a PRAM reset (the PRAM contains a lot of different information that the iMac uses for startup and other activites, resetting it just restores the default values that might have been altered by other third party software)
To do a PRAM reset follow this guide http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

2. If the PRAM reset doesn't fix your problem, run the apple hardware test http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

3. If an error pops up during the test, something is wrong with your iMac and you need to send it in for repair.

4. If nothing shows up in the hardware test, your iMac is fine internally. What you need to do is isolate is which program or situation your iMac begins to have issues (e.g Running iPhoto while iTunes is playing is causing freezing). If you find a certain program to be causing the issue, delete the application and reinstall it.

5. If all else fails, back up your data and reformat.

 

[jch]

I had this same problem with a 2.8GHz Extreme 24" bought last Fall (2007).

An Apple patch helped take this from happening every day, to happening once every month or so.

Turned out the problem was an overheating issue (with the power supply).

I used iStat Pro to display the current Power Supply temp in the status bar and found that every time it reached 80C, the machine would lock (except the mouse would continue working).

Now I run smcFanControl (at 1400/2200/1800) to bump up the fan speeds, especially on hot days.

A bit noisier (though way quieter than my old Dell) but very stable now.

Give it a try.

.../j

 

[sk8mash]

This happens to me sometimes, although it doesnt freeze up for to long...

 

[IJ Reilly]

If an application seems unresponsive, click and hold on the Dock icon. If the application is stalled for some reason the Dock will give you the option of force quitting it. If it doesn't show this, then the problem is something else.