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New iMAC keeps Crashing!!!

A

anthp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 20, 2005
9
0
Hows it going?? New member here with first post!! Sadly not a good one :(
I just purchased a new iMAC G5 (17in screen, superdrive) computer. Its my first apple computer. Unfortunately the dam thing keeps crashing on my like crazy and sometimes when it crashes it makes a REALLY loud noise that you can hear in the next room. This has been happening at least once a day and its not good. I thought it was memory so i installed 2 gigs worth and that didnt solve the problem. The thing is brand spanking new so there isnt anything installed on it that screwed it up.

It happens whenever it wants. Either the computer is just sitting there with no apps open or at the most a couple of safari windows. It also seems to happen when i leave the computer alone and then the screen turns off. When i go to turn it back on it totally freezes up and you cant do anything.

I should mention that my definition of "crash" here is that the everything freezes and you cant move the mouse cursor or anything and then the loud engine noise comes on. I have been forcing a restart on this thing more then i would have to with windows and i know thats not supposed to be...

I updated the mac software to its latest version and that didnt fix it either. Any help is greatly appreciated seeing that this first experience with apple isnt going so well and it sucks not to be able to utilize the system to its great potential i know is possesses!!! thx in advance!!
 
And i have no clue whether or not this is software or hardware related hence the reason why its in the general tech section. thx again
 
2 things I know that I do will solve this problem 90% of the time. Replace the RAM (again) and do a complete clean re-install of Panther. Do not use any third party apps that mess with system systems.
 
Fist, take out the memory you added and see if problem persists. You find by searching, that the newer macs are particular about their memory.

Second, if the problem was happening before the upgrade, call Applecare or if its that new, perhaps you could exchange it.
 
ya it started before the memory upgrade and this problem is the main reason why i even bothered getting more memory in the first place. And for sure im going to call apple, just thought id give a try here seeing that they only work until 9pm here in Canada!!!
 
take out the ram as others have said and see if that fixes the issue

you can also boot up from the hardware test cd to see if there are any other hardware related issues

good luck, i hope you get the problem fixed!
 
i would pop the thing open again but the problem happened before the memory upgrade so it cant be the problem.
but ill give the hardware test a try and ill wait until tomorrow after i call apple to see if ill reinstall panther
 
I'm surprised nobody asked you about the sound you report. I've never heard of such a thing, and so I'm extremely curious to know what this sound is. Please describe it and where you think it's coming from.

Also, do you know how to restart in single user mode and run fsck on the disk? This is essential if you've locked up the machine, especially more than once. Disk damage does not heal itself, no matter what kind of computer you're using.

Your problem is almost certainly hardware-related. It could be bad RAM as suggested, but if any sort of mechanical noise is heard I'd strongly suspect a faulty hard drive.
 
I performed the extended hardware test and it took an hour and 45 minutes to complete but there were no problems with any of the hardware. Took awhile to test the 2gigs of ram. I dont know if thats normal but it did say time will vary depending on how much ram is installed.

And the noise sounds like the fan going nuts and a high pitched noise which im assuming could be the harddrive going crazy too. It actually freaked out my dad cause he thought the thing was going to blow up cause the thing was reving so high. Next time it happens ill try to record the sound and if possible post here in the forum.
 
anthp,

The fan sound you hear is normal. When an iMac G5 crashes with an OS panic, there is no software control of the fans. They will run at high speed, and sound as loud as they do with the Hardware Test CD.

It is entirely possible that during 'cloning' of the hard drive at the factory, something went amiss. You may want to do as others have suggested and reformat the hard drive, tehn re-install the OS from the CDs. Also, remember to repair permissions before AND after loading any additional software

S
 
The Hardware Test CD is a good start, but only a start. If it detects a fault, then you know you've got one -- but the opposite isn't necessarily true. Authorized dealers have a much deeper test they can run. I presume you're still under warranty, so I'd go that route.

First, I'd still try running fsck on the disk because almost without a doubt the crashes have caused directory damage -- which as I said, doesn't heal by itself.

I have to disagree with the OS reinstall advice. This almost never fixes any problems, except possibly by blowing them away with a big canon that you didn't need to fire.
 
Hi, the time it took to do the test sounds like a long time (almost 2 hrs.). I know with my first iBook (maybe because it's different) but the test only lasted about 10-15mins when I was at the Apple store and I had the ram maxed (see my sig.) and nothing showed up after that just sounds off :confused:
Hope you get it fixed, whatever it is :rolleyes:
 
He installed the RAM after the problem started!

AFTER...

AAAAA
FFFFF
TTTTT
EEEEE
RRRRR

Can anyone read around here anymore. Does anyone bother. Every thread where people ask for help, the responders ignore info in the first post.

SO anyway.
I would suggest it's a hardware problem, you need to have Apple swap some parts out here. I really doubt reinstalling Panther would help, as long as you haven't installed any haxies or nasty system modifications, and it sounds like the only peripherals are mouse/keyboard.
 
maybe you have a lemon..bitter:D. I reckon you should return it to applecare and get a new one.

Peace
DjVoTeZ
 
sounds like a HD controller (most likely, because of the noise and the fan) issue - the computer needs to be sent in to apple care ASAP... i'm not sure how installing the memory yourself affects your warrenty - does anyone know if it should be taken out before getting apple service? I've always just bought my own memory and taken it in to the apple store to get it installed so i don't know if this is a problem.

but you should definitely take it in...

-TO
 
paulwhannel said:
He installed the RAM after the problem started!

AFTER...

AAAAA
FFFFF
TTTTT
EEEEE
RRRRR

Can anyone read around here anymore. Does anyone bother. Every thread where people ask for help, the responders ignore info in the first post.

SO anyway.
I would suggest it's a hardware problem, you need to have Apple swap some parts out here. I really doubt reinstalling Panther would help, as long as you haven't installed any haxies or nasty system modifications, and it sounds like the only peripherals are mouse/keyboard.
Click to expand...

Well some of us do read. Though I doubt it's the problem here, good RAM certainly can go bad. It happens (it's happened to me, twice.)

At least we agree on the value of an OS reinstall. That wastes time and almost never helps.
 
I wonder if he also upgraded to 10.3.8 right before the crashes to rule that out as a cause.
 
It's tempting to automatically jump to blaming the RAM, but it could be something else. My new iMac was crashing about once per week, and after a bit of browsing I found that there can be a problem with high current USB devices causing the USB driver to freak out and crash the system. I checked panic.log and sure enough, each of my crashes named the USB driver. I now keep my Canon scanner unplugged while I'm not using it, and I haven't had a crash for 2 months.
 
blodwyn said:
It's tempting to automatically jump to blaming the RAM, but it could be something else. My new iMac was crashing about once per week, and after a bit of browsing I found that there can be a problem with high current USB devices causing the USB driver to freak out and crash the system. I checked panic.log and sure enough, each of my crashes named the USB driver. I now keep my Canon scanner unplugged while I'm not using it, and I haven't had a crash for 2 months.
Click to expand...

When I lived in Morocco, the only way to get anything besides a dialup connection was an ADSL connection that used a USB modem. The only time I ever saw my friend's PowerBook kernel panic was if the modem was unplugged while shutting down.
 
AL-FAMOUS said:
Im not sure how much more i can take of this calling it MAC thing by newbies - this must be the tenth time this week

its clearly a Mac not a media access controller

[/rant]
Click to expand...

Wow, i think this is the longest it has ever taken for someone to get mad about a newbie calling it a MAC instead of a Mac. When i clicked on the thread i figured it would be in the first couple of replies, but it took till #21. :rolleyes:
 
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