Imac randomly freezes and restarts

[iBaba]

I recently installed an external SSD to move the system and apps on a 2013 Imac with latest version of Mojave. Since then I had it happen twice that the computer froze, both times I happened to be in Chrome. Then after about 10 seconds I got a blank screen and the Apple logo with progress bar came. After some time I got the Disk Utility screen and went tot he Apple logo in the corner and selected restart, After that it restarted normal and everything works fine.

Wondering here where the problem lies. It could have been accidentally to happen twice in Chrome. But this only happened after putting the system on external SSD.

Other than that no issues.

Any ideas as where the problem could be?

 

[awer25]

I have had a lot of freezing issues with my iMac since moving to Mojave. No issues on my MBP.

 

[iBaba]

Could a firmware upgrade for external SSD fix it. Someone mentioned that somewhere. Might be a little hard since it's running the system currently.

 

[Mugwumper]

I'm having similar problems with a 2017 iMac 27" running High Sierra. This system has the 2TB Fusion drive, so I'm wondering if indeed the SSD is part of the problem. About once every 2 weeks, after waking from sleep (several hours during the day or overnight), the system will look like it's ready to work (screen on, apps running), but then it just shuts down, reboots and then all is well. My mix of apps is pretty constant (Chrome, Mail, Excel, Word, TextEdit, iTunes, Sonos, 1Password, Calendar, and Contacts), and even this number of apps only uses 10% or less of the system.

Or is it possibly a RAM issue? The system came with 8GB and I added 16GB from OWC.

Any thoughts on what tool to run to see if it can catch this in action and log it?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Since then I had it happen twice that the computer froze, both times I happened to be in Chrome..."

Somewhere in the sentence above... can be found "the answer".

 

[iBaba]

OP wrote:
"Since then I had it happen twice that the computer froze, both times I happened to be in Chrome..."

Somewhere in the sentence above... can be found "the answer".

It just happened again but haven't been using Chrome since last time it happened.

 

[DeltaMac]

Which external SSD do you have?
Have you checked for firmware updates (at the manufacturer's support page)?
Some SSD firmware updates can only be done from Windows.

 

[iBaba]

Which external SSD do you have?
Have you checked for firmware updates (at the manufacturer's support page)?
Some SSD firmware updates can only be done from Windows.

It's something I thought about. I'll try that and see if it happens again. thanks!

 

[Reindeer_Games]

Check your diagnostic reports in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and it'll point you in the right direction. It will probably be the most recent .diag file and open in Console (built-in, double-click it).

 

[iBaba]

Check your diagnostic reports in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and it'll point you in the right direction. It will probably be the most recent .diag file and open in Console (built-in, double-click it).

Great Tip!

Once I'm in that file what should I exactly look for?

 

[Reindeer_Games]

Great Tip!

Once I'm in that file what should I exactly look for?

Match the date/time to your event and at the top section is basic OS sytem info, but at the top of the third section is Command. That's the execution the OS faulted on- and from looking at my last .diag report it looks like the Project Name a few lines lower relates to the progam that was running it. That should allow you to have a more detailed question that one of the coder-types can help you in debugging your issue.

 

[iBaba]

Match the date/time to your event and at the top section is basic OS sytem info, but at the top of the third section is Command. That's the execution the OS faulted on- and from looking at my last .diag report it looks like the Project Name a few lines lower relates to the progam that was running it. That should allow you to have a more detailed question that one of the coder-types can help you in debugging your issue.

Thanks. Will look into it. Much appreciated