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iMac Freezes on Restart

Y

Yerman

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 16, 2008
37
3
Hi Everyone,

I have a 3.06 Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with Snow Leopard. It is completely up-to-date and has always ran beautifully. I have not installed any new programs lately.

Recently, when I go to APPLE > Restart (maybe after an update or just because I like to restart my computer on occasion) the bar at the top disappears, my dock stays up on the screen, and the computer just sits there and freezes up on me. I am forced to hold down the button on the back to get my computer back.

Here are the things I have tried:
  • Re-install of the latest update using Combo Update
  • Reset PRAM
  • Repaired Permissions
  • Booted from disk and ran a Repair Disk
  • Complete zero-out of the HD, clean install of Snow Leopard, and reinstallation of everything from a Time Machine backup

Nothing has worked...The other problem is that it only happens when my computer is on for several days. If I restart daily, it doesn't happen. So, it makes it hard for me to log-in as a different user for that long to initiate the problem.

I think it has something to do with a program that I may open and close throughout the week but I have no way to pinpoint what program it is.

Please help if you have any ideas. It is driving me nuts...Thanks for all your help.
 
Yerman said:
...
Here are the things I have tried:
  • Re-install of the latest update using Combo Update
  • Reset PRAM
  • Repaired Permissions
  • Booted from disk and ran a Repair Disk
  • Complete zero-out of the HD, clean install of Snow Leopard, and reinstallation of everything from a Time Machine backup

Nothing has worked...The other problem is that it only happens when my computer is on for several days. If I restart daily, it doesn't happen. So, it makes it hard for me to log-in as a different user for that long to initiate the problem.

I think it has something to do with a program that I may open and close throughout the week but I have no way to pinpoint what program it is...
Click to expand...

Ok I'll give this a go:
Please list the common applications you use on a daily basis. Second when restored from time machine you restored your apps and settings etc correct?

Cheers
 
Thank you for the help. Yes, I did a full restore from Time Machine. My original thought was that the OS was at fault so I thought that would fix it but it did not. Here is a list of the programs I use as well as programs that run in the background. I put the most used programs in BOLD

  • Safari
  • Mail
  • iCal
  • Address Book
  • Office 2011 (Fairly New)
  • Acrobat Pro 9
  • Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 (Fairly New)
  • Aperture 3 (Fairly New)
  • Keynote 09'
  • iChat
  • Skype
  • iTunes
  • TuneUp for iTunes (Fairly New)
  • TacoHTML
  • Transmit (FTP Program - Fairly New)
  • iPhoto
  • iMovie
  • Screenflow
  • 1Password
    [*]AllBookmarks
  • Firefox on occasion with I need FireFTP
  • Dropbox
  • Logmein - (In the process of removing - It keeps changing my "Wake for Network Access" feature and it makes my computer wake at night)
  • Appzapper
  • MobileMe

Thanks again for any help.
 
Yerman said:
Thank you for the help. Yes, I did a full restore from Time Machine. My original thought was that the OS was at fault so I thought that would fix it but it did not. Here is a list of the programs I use as well as programs that run in the background. I put the most used programs in BOLD

  • Safari
  • Mail
  • iCal
  • Address Book
  • Office 2011 (Fairly New)
  • Acrobat Pro 9
  • Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 (Fairly New)
  • Aperture 3 (Fairly New)
  • Keynote 09'
  • iChat
  • Skype
  • iTunes
  • TuneUp for iTunes (Fairly New)
  • TacoHTML
  • Transmit (FTP Program - Fairly New)
  • iPhoto
  • iMovie
  • Screenflow
  • 1Password
    [*]AllBookmarks
  • Firefox on occasion with I need FireFTP
  • Dropbox
  • Logmein - (In the process of removing - It keeps changing my "Wake for Network Access" feature and it makes my computer wake at night)
  • Appzapper
  • MobileMe

Thanks again for any help.
Click to expand...

My guess would be that your issue is some system file or combination of files that you restored with time machine. Here is what I would try since it is easy to restore your disk with time machine.

Wipe your drive install the OS only (no TM restore) and see if the problem occurs. If not install your software cleanly one by one and see if you can trigger the issue. If you find one that triggers it there is your answer. If the issue is there with a clean install of the system its a hardware issue.

I know its a pain, the other thing you could try is just making a new user and seeing if the issue occurs. It may isolate the problem to a user but would not necessarily tell you what the issue is.

This is the best I can think of at the moment. I hope this helps. I thought I might see something in your list of apps but nothing stands out.

-Simon
 
Hhmm..I'll have to think over that one. I guess it does solve the problem but I do see it taking forever. Here's why...

If I restart my computer every day or two, I really don't run into the problem. It seems like once I hit that 4 day mark, it's almost guaranteed that it will freeze. It would take forever because I would have to install my 20+ applications one at a time and wait 4 days in between....

That is a huge undertaking but i do have a MBP I can work off of as well...I'll have to think about how I can speed up that process...Maybe I can install them in batches of 4 so when it does happen I can narrow it down

Out of curiosity, you said "I thought I might see something in your list of apps but nothing stands out." Can you fill me in a little bit with your thoughts? I didn't mention every program I have. Are there certain programs which would have triggered a different response? Thanks.
 
Happens on a clean install of OS X after a zero-out of your disk? It's hardware then. I'm going with bad memory. Get a copy of a bootable CD with a memory check, and scan.
 
Yerman said:
...Out of curiosity, you said "I thought I might see something in your list of apps but nothing stands out." Can you fill me in a little bit with your thoughts? I didn't mention every program I have. Are there certain programs which would have triggered a different response? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sure for example if you were running software that was not completely compatible with Intel macs or OS 10.6. An example from a place that I used to work doing landscape design: they were running Photoshop CS2 on Intel macs which its not compatible with. The result was the operating systems there would become corrupt to the point of being totally unusable within a matter of days or weeks depending on the usage of CS2, which was hours and hours every day.

I will confess I have not used every program listed, so the fact that nothing jumps out is not necessarily a good indicator.

Cheers
 
Your best bet is to verify inside system.log and see what tasks it hangs at.

Load up system profiler and on the left under software click on logs then look at the right for system.log
 
dashcs said:
Your best bet is to verify inside system.log and see what tasks it hangs at.

Load up system profiler and on the left under software click on logs then look at the right for system.log
Click to expand...

Now we are talking...Can you tell me how to read it? What do I look out for?
 
Yerman said:
Now we are talking...Can you tell me how to read it? What do I look out for?
Click to expand...

Go to utilities Console and you can view all log files everything from crashes to run of the mill system operations.

I personally never recommend people look at this for the simple reason that most ask what you do: how do you read it? (Sorry, but the console can look scary and be nothing.)

http://www.macobserver.com/tips/hotcocoa/2001/20010803.shtml

What you want to look for is some regular issue that appears in your system log that causes an error (operation failed etc). Ideally search for it around the time your computer last force you to reboot.

You can also try posting suspicious portions here.

Cheers
 
MacForScience said:
Go to utilities Console and you can view all log files everything from crashes to run of the mill system operations.

I personally never recommend people look at this for the simple reason that most ask what you do: how do you read it? (Sorry, but the console can look scary and be nothing.)

http://www.macobserver.com/tips/hotcocoa/2001/20010803.shtml

What you want to look for is some regular issue that appears in your system log that causes an error (operation failed etc). Ideally search for it around the time your computer last force you to reboot.

You can also try posting suspicious portions here.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Looks like I have a plan then...I'll wait until the next occurrence happens, immediately write down the date and time, and go back into the Console to see if anything stands out. Thanks and I'll get back to you guys...
 
Yerman said:
Looks like I have a plan then...I'll wait until the next occurrence happens, immediately write down the date and time, and go back into the Console to see if anything stands out. Thanks and I'll get back to you guys...
Click to expand...

I know this is an old thread, but if you are freezing up during restart, open activity monitor and check the country for processes that are halting the restart.

You can click and kill them one at a time.

I had read that the Wacom tablet could be a culprit so I was looking for that process. I noticed a process called bamboo, which is the Wacom tablet. As soon as I killed that process, restart occurred like it is supposed to and all is happy.
 
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