Mac Pro Screen Freezes But Mouse Still Works

[sweetpeatles]

I just recently purchased a Mac Pro which has the ATI X1900 card. I'm also running dual monitors and upgraded the RAM to 3Gb. Ever since loading bootcamp and xp, when in OSX the system randomly freezes (not one application causes this). I'm able to use the mouse and move it, but unable to click on any application or do a "force quit". I then have to hard shut down. Also, one thing that was odd, I'm unable to use the Alt key at bootup/restart to get the OS selection menu. I always have to go to start up disk in system preferences to swap over to Windows XP and vice versa in XP to go back to OSX.

Has anyone experienced this or have ideas to troubleshoot?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Transeau]

having bootcamp / XP on the system isn't really an issue, as they do not interact at all.

Where did you get the extra 2GB of memory? Have you tried taking it out?

 

[sweetpeatles]

I got it from OWC (Mac Sales) -- I've read the forums and most seem to think their RAM works fine. One thing I forgot to mention, when I first got the Mac Pro, it asked if I wanted to xfer my old G5 stuff over using the fibrecable, which i did. I was amazed that it moved everything, settings and all to my macpro. But wonder if this caused a problem potentially?

 

[Transeau]

It's really your call...

Pulling out the memory is a simple test, but if you want to trust it, that's your call.

Moving the data shouldn't be an issue, but it is still very possible.

Like I said, pulling the memory is a 3 minute test. Wiping it clean and reinstalling a much longer.

 

[sweetpeatles]

Thanks. Will pull the memory and try that first.

 

[evp]

My mac pro did that. It also did these:

http://www.elias.pietla.fidisk.fi/screen2.png
http://www.elias.pietila.fidisk.fi/screen1.png

My x1900 was broken and swithing it fixed the problems. I hope yours isn't.

 

[Transeau]

the OP didn't describe any video corruption. I don't think it's his video card.

 

[lpicone]

Same problem here

I am having the same problem with my MBP. The screen sometimes freezes except for the mouse pointer.

I have the ATI Radeon X1600. Of course this started happening 13 months after purchase and I had skipped Applecare because of the lack of help I had received on a couple of phone calls. I didn't think I would have problems with the hardware so soon....

 

[mediaboy]

Guarantee its the video card. I had the exact problem. Replaced the video card, problem GONE.

To keep your sanity, change the card.

 

[hitretz]

How to solve this problem?Please help!

 

[evolusive]

listen to mediaboy, he has it right

I had the same issue with my macpro. My vid cards fan was cranking and became progressively noisier, it first started with the freezing, and then the horizontal black lines appeared.

The issues coincidentally happened shortly after I installed leopard on it, which led me to believe I needed new firmware, which I downloaded from apple.

Continued having the issues, googled the problem "black vertical lines mac pro" and read the reviews of mac pro upgrade cards on apple.com and found other experiencing the same thing.

Ordered a cheaper video card replacement, installed it, and haven't had any problems since. I tried everything, removed memory, hard drives, all peripherals, etc. Save yourself a headache and try a new video card....

 

[kenrobin]

I also experienced the same issue with my MacPro and the problems became more frequent after I upgraded to Leopard. I finally got frustrated enough to lug my MP to an Apple Store so that a Genius could look at it. He reviewed the crash log and confirmed that my frequent crashes were the result of a faulty graphics card. He authorized a replacement of my ATI Radeon x1900 card. I noticed on the authorization form that my original card was a Ver. 1 card while the replacement is a Ver. 2.

I've had the Ver. 2 card running for the past 2 weeks with absolutely zero problems.

Problems with the x1900 are a known issue. You should hound Apple until they replace it with a Ver. 2 card.

I had the same issue with my macpro. My vid cards fan was cranking and became progressively noisier, it first started with the freezing, and then the horizontal black lines appeared.

The issues coincidentally happened shortly after I installed leopard on it, which led me to believe I needed new firmware, which I downloaded from apple.

Continued having the issues, googled the problem "black vertical lines mac pro" and read the reviews of mac pro upgrade cards on apple.com and found other experiencing the same thing.

Ordered a cheaper video card replacement, installed it, and haven't had any problems since. I tried everything, removed memory, hard drives, all peripherals, etc. Save yourself a headache and try a new video card....