Just yesturday, my mac will run fine all day, and then all of a sudden, the screen goes gray and a message says i need to restart. so i did and it restarted. This time i didn't do anything, just let it sit idle and later in the day it did again. i have no apps running. just whatever loads when a stock os loads. I'm running 10.4.8 fully updated. On a iMac. any ideas. I'm not sure how to look at the logs. thanks
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mac keeps freezing
- Thread starter tronica
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It is possible the apps you have 'installed'. Check the web for misbehaving apps. This is often a good place to start if the obvious ones not the issue.
Mmm... that's disconcerting. Your OS version reported it out of sync with what you reported it as. Also, your Software Update version is out of sync, as well. Are you positive you have 10.4.8 installed? You can check in the "About this Mac" item under the Apple menu.
Since it seems to be crashing when Software Update finds a new update and launches, I'd suggest disabling its auto-check in the System Preferences -> Software Update, and then downloading 10.4.8 standalone and reinstalling that update. (PPC link, Intel link). Please be sure to download the proper one for your machine.
Before you do so, however, you may wish to read and post the "/Users/Lyle/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Software Update.crash.log" file to see if you or any of us can parse anything out of it. As always, be sure to backup before doing any of these procedures.
Since it seems to be crashing when Software Update finds a new update and launches, I'd suggest disabling its auto-check in the System Preferences -> Software Update, and then downloading 10.4.8 standalone and reinstalling that update. (PPC link, Intel link). Please be sure to download the proper one for your machine.
Before you do so, however, you may wish to read and post the "/Users/Lyle/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Software Update.crash.log" file to see if you or any of us can parse anything out of it. As always, be sure to backup before doing any of these procedures.
Yes, well, what the error is saying is that it can't find the LaunchServices application inside the path you see there.
You can confirm that it actually exists by browsing to "/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework" and looking for LaunchServices -- if this does not exist, then you've worse problems. This is a critical system process that should not have been moved or changed aside from system updates, so... it should be there.
As you say you've attempted most of the basics -- repair permissions until no more errors are found, etc -- I'll assume you tried to "Repair Disk" from your 10.4 installer DVD, as well, and have performed the hardware test, as well.
My thought worked in the following way -- your OS version is being reported by the CrashReporter log as 10.4.7, and your Software Update version appears to be out of sync. I could be mistaken here, but my iMac G3 (10.4.7) reports 2.0.5 as the latest version, as does my MacBook (10.4.8). Bypassing Software Update to install the 10.4.8 update may give you more robust error messages, or may actually bring everything up to sync.
One road or another, there're more than a few things amiss.
You can confirm that it actually exists by browsing to "/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework" and looking for LaunchServices -- if this does not exist, then you've worse problems. This is a critical system process that should not have been moved or changed aside from system updates, so... it should be there.
As you say you've attempted most of the basics -- repair permissions until no more errors are found, etc -- I'll assume you tried to "Repair Disk" from your 10.4 installer DVD, as well, and have performed the hardware test, as well.
My thought worked in the following way -- your OS version is being reported by the CrashReporter log as 10.4.7, and your Software Update version appears to be out of sync. I could be mistaken here, but my iMac G3 (10.4.7) reports 2.0.5 as the latest version, as does my MacBook (10.4.8). Bypassing Software Update to install the 10.4.8 update may give you more robust error messages, or may actually bring everything up to sync.
One road or another, there're more than a few things amiss.
I checked to see if that file was there, and it is. I don't understand why its messed up. When i did a reinstall of 10.4.7, the first thing i did was update to 10.4.8. Should i do it again. I'm kind of at a loss here. Its weird that it just started the other day. out of clear blue sky. Could the hard drive have problems. maybe the os isn't installing correctly. What would you do if it were you.
First and foremost, I'd backup everything I have. Then I'd do these in the following order:
- Boot off your Install DVD by restarting and holding down C, then run Disk Utility from there. In there I'd run the "Repair Disk" operation until there are no further errors.
- I'd run that repair permission operation, as well, until there are no further errors. This is not likely to produce any appreciable fix to your issue, but it shouldn't hurt.
- If you have a Hardware Test CD, which is sometimes on the Tiger restore DVD that shipped with your machine, in which case you hold D as you restart. Otherwise it could be a reflective CD. I'd try booting off that and let it run its thorough scans. This should tell you if it's a hardware issue -- particularly RAM and hard disk.
- Let it sit with automatic updates off for a while and see if you get another crash. If you don't, then it's almost assuredly something to do with Software Update. If you still do, then it's probably something else, a hardware issue, a corrupted install or something else.
- As a last resort, I'd bypass Software Update and see if reinstalling the standalone 10.4.8 updater reports any problems, or if it lets you cleanly reapply the 10.4.8 update.
Good luck. 
Hopefully one of those procedures will sort it out for you. If it is indeed a Software Update issue, that can likely be resolved with relative ease.
Hopefully one of those procedures will sort it out for you. If it is indeed a Software Update issue, that can likely be resolved with relative ease.
well i checked hardware no problems. even switched hard disc out. I ran linux on here solid with no problems. I comes up the with the grey screen to restart roughly every 2 hours on the dot. I just don't get it, when i restart i check the logs.and heres what happended at the time of the crash
any help would be greatly appreciated.
any help would be greatly appreciated.