iMac Freezes Up Constantly

[maurerg]

Having some trouble with my iMac5,1 - Intel Core 2 Duo - 2.16 GHz.

It's about 2yrs old. Symptoms include:

1 - freezing when I open, close or move windows too quickly, open too many windows and/or when I multi-task in general. Anything processor intensive is unreliable.
2 - apple mouse cursor shoots off to the side of the screen for no apparent reason and scroll button is unreliable.
3 - lines across the screen that resemble pixel drop-outs - they come and go.

I'm still running 10.4. I've wiped out my hard drive twice in the last 2 months and started over from scratch. When I re-install 10.4.0, it seems to run fine....until I run the system updates. That's when my trouble begins again.

I've also cleared out my caches and histories repeatedly. I've run the Disk Utility repeatedly.

This is getting serious. My PC at work is WAY more reliable than my Mac. I'm considering switching back! I owned a G4 for 7 years and was very happy with it. Was the switch to Intel a bad idea?

HELP!

 

[IJ Reilly]

I can't explain your symptoms in relation to system updates, but otherwise this sounds like a hardware issue. Have you added any RAM lately?

Also if you know how, posting the contents of your Panic Log might be helpful.

 

[maurerg]

No added RAM lately.....

Would that help? It worked fine for the first year or so. If it is a hardware problem, any guesses on what it may be?

 

[SaSaSushi]

Would that help? It worked fine for the first year or so. If it is a hardware problem, any guesses on what it may be?

I can only assume he was asking if you had added any RAM lately to determine whether or not that was somehow related to your sudden system instability.

I agree it sounds like you may have a hardware issue. Freezing and video glitches/artifacting, for example, are common symptoms of a logic board going bad.

Do you (hopefully) have AppleCare coverage on the machine? If so I'd send it in to Apple for service.

 

[MacCurry]

My 24" Aluminum iMac 2.4GHz was doing that some time back and it turned out that my external HDD used for Time Machine, a Lacie 1TB drive, was mounting and then unmounting due to h/w problems it was having. When it finally died and no longer mounted, the problem went away.

 

[SaSaSushi]

My 24" Aluminum iMac 2.4GHz was doing that some time back and it turned out that my external HDD used for Time Machine, a Lacie 1TB drive, was mounting and then unmounting due to h/w problems it was having. When it finally died and no longer mounted, the problem went away.

Wow, that's strange, the failing external HDD was actually causing video glitches on the iMac? That's a new one for me. I could see it causing lockups or even kernel panics but I don't see how it could affect the system's graphics. It's something for the OP to consider if he is using external hardware connected to the Mac.

 

[maurerg]

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate your input. Thanks again!

 

[mtobelman]

My 24" Aluminum iMac 2.4GHz was doing that some time back and it turned out that my external HDD used for Time Machine, a Lacie 1TB drive, was mounting and then unmounting due to h/w problems it was having. When it finally died and no longer mounted, the problem went away.

My 24" iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM running 10.5.6 has been freezing since my 1TB Time Machine performed a Firmware update! Could this be the cause of all my problems? I thought my hard drive was failing, my Mac wouldn't start up: flashing ? folder!!!! No hard drive found when booting from install disks. I have performed a multitude of disk utilities but they all say my HD is fine! HELP!!!!

 

[IrishBritish]

My old one had the same issue and now Apple is sending me this gen Imac with the ATI card ,just hope this one doesn't do the same.
BTW mine went into repair shop and tech had it for a week and did everything possible but could not get the Imac to freeze while in the shop hmmmmm.
So i am at a loss for what it could be.
At first everyone was saying logic board , but after spending time on the phone with Apple for four months they finally decided just to replace and now i wait.

 

[sassafrass]

1 - freezing when I open, close or move windows too quickly, open too many windows and/or when I multi-task in general. Anything processor intensive is unreliable.
3 - lines across the screen that resemble pixel drop-outs - they come and go.

i have the same computer, new in '07, just started acting up, dont have the mouse issue, do have random blotches of pink or blue or yellow.

could it have anything to do with overheating? my iMac is incredibly hot to the touch, esp in back.

 

[GuyInTheBack]

My 24" iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM running 10.5.6 has been freezing since my 1TB Time Machine performed a Firmware update! Could this be the cause of all my problems? I thought my hard drive was failing, my Mac wouldn't start up: flashing ? folder!!!! No hard drive found when booting from install disks. I have performed a multitude of disk utilities but they all say my HD is fine! HELP!!!!

Uh. I did a search with my freezing problem and came here.

And, what do you know, 1TB Time Machine too.

Is there a fix for this? I just turned off my TM update and only turn it on when going to bed now which is kind of killing the point of on-hand backup.

 

[Macman45]

When You Say Hot

1 - freezing when I open, close or move windows too quickly, open too many windows and/or when I multi-task in general. Anything processor intensive is unreliable.
3 - lines across the screen that resemble pixel drop-outs - they come and go.

i have the same computer, new in '07, just started acting up, dont have the mouse issue, do have random blotches of pink or blue or yellow.

could it have anything to do with overheating? my iMac is incredibly hot to the touch, esp in back.

Do you mean burning to the touch hot? If thats the case you need to get it checked out...NO way should the rear of your iMac run that hot.

OP

This could be a number of things, and if you have Applecare I would take it up with them. If not, and you have disconnected any external hods you may have, I'm thinking this is either a graphics issue, or it could be as simple as adding some more RAM. Best to get it checked before throwing$$$ at it though.