imac is freezing up... and other odd things.

[Korndog]

Ok so about 2 months ago my imac gave me the screen with the folder with a question mark blinking. So I was leaving the next day anyway so I figured when I got back from vacation I would bring it in. When I got back I just gave it a shot and started right up no problems. I continued using it for about a month when just yesterday it decides it wants to randomly freeze up on me. Now I was watching a video when this happened and the sound went on for some time, and the mouse was able to move around however nothing was responding to being selected. I turned it off and on a few times and when I got it to boot up it would proceed to do the same thing (freeze mouse still active) a few minutes after use. and once it gave me the folder with the question mark blinking while I was turning it on. In the long run I couldnt keep it running so I left it for the day. Today I decided to give it a try an it started right up Im using it now and was wondering if there is any way to trouble shoot it while I have it running, or if anyone know of a program that can read the temperature to see if its an overheating problem.

Thank you very much for your time

Fred

 

[Intell]

Which iMac model is it? What OS is it running? What is the video card? I don't think this is a heat related issue, but the blinking folder on startup could be an unrelated hard drive issue.

 

[Korndog]

Which iMac model is it? What OS is it running? What is the video card? I don't think this is a heat related issue, but the blinking folder on startup could be an unrelated hard drive issue.
__________________

20 inch imac 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. ATI Radeon HD 200 Prog graphics processor with 265MB of GDDR3 SDRAM I bought it in late 2007 if my memory is serving me correctly.

 

[Detrius]

I do think it's a hard drive issue, and I don't think it's unrelated. If you have any important data, back it up while you still can.

 

[Intell]

It sounds like your iMac might be having GPU crashes. Mine and a few others are crashing like this. See this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1262891/

 

[Korndog]

I dont have any of those however i have the same graphics card as you. i have from top to bottom in my extensions folder ATIRadeonX2000VADriver.bundle ATIRadeonX2000GLDriver.bundle ATIRadeonX2000GA.plugin ATIRadeonX2000.kext ATIRadeonX1000VADriver.bundle ATIRadeonX1000GLDrive.bundle ATIRadeonX1000GA.plugin ATIRadeonX1000.kext ATIRadeonGLDriver.bundle ATIRadeonGA.plugin ATIRadeonDVDDriver.bundle ATIRadeon9700VADriver.bundle ATIRadeon9700GLDrive.bundle ATIRadeon9700GA.plugin ATIRadeonDVD9700Driver.bundle ATIRadeon9700.kext ATIRadeon8500VADriver.bundle ATIRadeon8500GLDrive.bundle ATIRadeon8500GA.plugin ATIRadeonDVD8500Driver.bundle ATIRadeon8500.kext ATIRadeon.kext ATINDRV.kext

 

[Detrius]

It sounds like your iMac might be having GPU crashes. Mine and a few others are crashing like this. See this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1262891/

A graphics card will not cause the blinking question mark issue. It can easily cause issues where the system locks up, which is half of the symptoms listed, but it will never cause an issue where the system can't find the boot device. A faulty hard drive will cause all of the symptoms listed in this thread (whereas it won't cause the issues listed in the thread you linked).

 

[Intell]

A graphics card will not cause the blinking question mark issue. It can easily cause issues where the system locks up, which is half of the symptoms listed, but it will never cause an issue where the system can't find the boot device. A faulty hard drive will cause all of the symptoms listed in this thread (whereas it won't cause the issues listed in the thread you linked).

You seem to have failed to notice my other post:

... but the blinking folder on startup could be an unrelated hard drive issue.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Thinking...

Seems like hard drives dying in iMacs are a common occurrence due to the heat buildup in these computers.

My own iMac (late 2009 Corei7 27" model) just came back from repair for just this reason.

I bet it's the hard drive.