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new imac g5, beachballs, hangs and more

biohazard6969

biohazard6969

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 23, 2005
836
0
toronto canada
ok, i've had my imac for a good 2 weeks now, and in that time i've had numerous occations of beachballs that would last for great lengthes of time. and one issue that occurs only with itunes, i will try to quit it, and it will hang, i will not be able to force quit it, it jsut doesn't do anything, and then spotlight and the menu bar will hang and it won't let me even shut down. i eventually have to unplug it from behind....this has happened twice today alone!!! i've run fsck, apple harware check, repaired permissions, everything...what the hell is wrong, it seems that the whole computer is just unreliable and inconsistent
 
I'm assuming this is the iMac in your sig. If so, I have no idea...with 1.5gb of ram it shouldn't be doing this. Did it do it from day 1?
 
the itunes, and me having to unplug it everytime it hung was something that happened at LEAST every other day from since i got it, i just finally noticed the frequency of ti recently
 
For me, [specs listed in sig] that was a sign that my hard drive was failing. Although, I didn't get to do any checks beforehand, after it had gotten to the point where it refused to start up, it couldn't finish the hardware test. Just a warning, you may want to back up.
 
holy crap u gotta be kiddin me!!! this computer is three weeks old!!!! THIS is my backup for my powerbook, i don't have anywhere to put anythign else, well...dvds but still. this is not supposed to happen, its brand NEW!

alrite well i'll run the hardware check again i guess
 
forgot to mention, half the time, the only way i can eject a cd (after playing the game asosiated with it) i have to restart with the mouse button depressed
 
Did you do a fresh install of the OS when the computer arrived? Or did you go with the factory install?

I'm anal and like to do the installation myself. I've heard of folks having issues with the factory installation.

Perhaps you can backup your important files to your laptop and do a fresh, erase and install on the iMac. If this doesn't solve the problem, then it's time for a trip to the Apple Store...

I also wonder if it could be bad RAM that is somehow passing the hardware test. My wife's rev A iMac G5 was having some sluggishness. I opened it up to take a look, reseated the RAM, and everything's been smooth-sailing every since.
 
i've had the new imac g5 20 incher for... 6 days now and I had to restart at least 8 times - iPhoto almost always needs to be force quit, quicktime hangs even more than it did on my pbook Ti, Front Row is SLOW, sometimes won't even commence, gets stuck and gets errors connecting to iPhoto.

AND I just had the worst Finder crash ever - it wouldn't relaunch so I tried to log out - consequently every application crashed one by one and I would get a message "XXXX.app cancelled log-out do u want to force quit it" so I had to force quit every app one by one - still it wouldnt log out or restart so i had to switch it off from the power button THE 3RD time i had to do this in 6 days - this whole procedure of force quitting the apps one by one on restart reminds me of something... WINDOWS. that's scary!! never had this b4 on a mac... and ive been using macs all my life...

Admittedly I didn't fresh install osx when i got the iMac - too much trust in Apple? or... Apple not very trustworthy anymore? I don't have TIME to copy 250gb of stuff, format and reinstall the 50 apps i have to use for my work and leisure.. I have work to do..... gr8......
 
The great thing about brand new computers like this is that it's relatively easy to do a completely fresh install because everything should be pretty well backed up. Although it's a possibility, I seriously doubt it's a failing hard drive and/or bad RAM at this stage.

So, has it been like this the whole three weeks? What have you put onto it (software and hardware)?
 
I just got a new 20"er 2.1ghz and it seems v unreliable.
It doesn't read some discs, that my other 20" 2ghz can easily. It crashes and freezes and i have to hard reboot, 3 times already - something i never had to do with my old imac.
It could get better once i install more memory to 1.5gb, i hope so.
 
wow so these problems seem to come standard with the new imacs....if i had known they were going to be like this i would probably not have purchased mine. this is totally unacceptable, i feel if i take it into the apple store i won't have anything to show tyheym and they'll say theres nothign wrong with it because this happens completely at random. i too have used macs all my life and have never come accross this problem. and yes i did a fresh install when i ghot the computer
 
Someone else mentioned spotlight trying to index the whole hard drive when firing up a new computer and that it takes a loooooooooooog time. Considering that you keep shutting down the machine is it possible that it just never had a chance to finish?
 
I have had my 20" 2.1GHz iMac for 12 days now and i haven't had a single problem with it yet. Well i can't say that, i did have one thing happen when i first started it up and did the software updates, the second i opened up software update the fans started ROARING. They were like that for about 15 minutes while it ran software update and then were fine after a restart. That is the only thing i had that scared me a bit. Other than that no problems.
 
biohazard6969 said:
holy crap u gotta be kiddin me!!! this computer is three weeks old!!!! THIS is my backup for my powerbook, i don't have anywhere to put anythign else, well...dvds but still. this is not supposed to happen, its brand NEW!

alrite well i'll run the hardware check again i guess
Click to expand...

Relax......sounds like a corrupt directory. Easy fix.


Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
 
biohazard6969 said:
forgot to mention, half the time, the only way i can eject a cd (after playing the game asosiated with it) i have to restart with the mouse button depressed
Click to expand...

.........and what games...exactly are you playing/using?
 
.........and what games...exactly are you playing/using?
Click to expand...

mainly for warcraft 3: TFT and halo

So, does Activity Monitor tell you about any process using more than its fair share of resources? This isn't normal iMac behaviour.
Click to expand...

everything is as it should be, no overusage of ram or processor or anything

Relax......sounds like a corrupt directory. Easy fix.


Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
Click to expand...

thanks a lot i'll try this then post again with results
 
ok well rite off the bat, when single user mode and the command line came up the fans ROARED it was really loud and sure as hell didn't sound right...but anyways ran the fsck it said everything was fine...
 
biohazard6969 said:
ok well rite off the bat, when single user mode and the command line came up the fans ROARED it was really loud and sure as hell didn't sound right...but anyways ran the fsck it said everything was fine...
Click to expand...

What condition are those CD's in (that have the games on them)? Are they scratched up or are they clean?

I'm not a gamer so this question may seem stupid, but can you run the game off the HD instead of the CD?

Have you added any RAM recently?
 
Memory

My new imac 2.1Ghz had a wobly with my new memory. Drove it nutty - had trouble with starting up and shutting down - would freeze. Then 3 beeps at start up - it died. Getting a replacement soon. Seems that the new DDR2 memory controller is a bit fussy.
Try removing memory stick and see if it behaves properly.
 
iMac BTO is going to break??

My soon to arrive iMac (see sig) with 1.5GB sounds similar to these guys. I do not want mine to do this its my first mac and first impressions mean alot. Is anyone else having these probems apart from these guys?
 
Not to worry

Applestore BTO iMac probably has approved compatible memory - so no worries there.

For those of you buying 3rd party memory, I have noticed from kodowarisans pictures of the new iMac internals, that the built in DDR2 memory is made by Micron, so I am assuming that Crucial would be a good brand as all their memory is produced by Micron, and they appear (via the website) to have good knowledge on mac memory. So I have purchased 1GB od DDR2 CL4 and will be able to see how it goes this coming friday.
 
What condition are those CD's in (that have the games on them)? Are they scratched up or are they clean?

I'm not a gamer so this question may seem stupid, but can you run the game off the HD instead of the CD?

Have you added any RAM recently?
Click to expand...

the CD's ARE very scratched but that was never a problem in my PB.

i've tried disc images with the games it won't work, you need a physical CD in the drive for it to work

Yes, when i got it, about 2 days later i added 1GB of crucial
 
ok this is really pissing me off, i can't eject games, is there any way to force eject without having to restart??? when i push the eject key, the icon will leave the desktop but the disk will remain in the computer

EDIT: also whenever i can't get the CD/DVD to eject, i will have to unplug the imac because it will hang with just the desktop picture showing and wont' complete the shutdown
 
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