Starcraft 2 crash on iMac

[maatt94]

A few hours ago i purchased a 21.5-inch: 3.2gHz iMac. This is my first Apple computer.

I just installed Starcraft 2 and attempted to play it three times. All the times however, only minutes into a game the screen would darken and a message appeared reading "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button until it turns off, then press the power button again".

Im positive the specs of the computer aren't the issue as the specs surpass those of my old pc in every way, which ran starcraft.

Other than this annoying issue, it's been a great machine so far

 

[Sdashiki]

Is that message in multiple languages?

like this:

 

[maatt94]

Is that message in multiple languages?

like this:

View attachment 264849

yeh thats the exact message. Does anyone know how to stop this ?!?!

 

[aki]

What you have there is a kernel panic. Not good.

Does it only happen when you play SC2? Or does it happen other times as well?

There are many different things that can cause a panic but it's never good. Here is a long and pretty authoritative document about what they are and what is often the cause http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html .

If you have only just bought your machine, it's possible there is actually something wrong with it.

Use it for a bit doing things other than SC2. If there is no panic, your hardware is probably ok. In that case, I'd suggest installing iStat or Temperature Monitor and checking your internal temperatures after playing SC2 a little. (I'm not actually certain that heat can cause kernel panics but it's what I would check for first.)

If the panics occur regularly, even when playing other games or web surfing or whatever, call Apple and get them to repair or replace it.

Good luck!

EDIT: One thing I just thought of - did you add RAM? If you have the wrong kind of RAM or if you didn't put it in properly you can get kernel panics, I did this once.

 

[maatt94]

What you have there is a kernel panic. Not good.

Does it only happen when you play SC2? Or does it happen other times as well?

There are many different things that can cause a panic but it's never good. Here is a long and pretty authoritative document about what they are and what is often the cause http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html .

If you have only just bought your machine, it's possible there is actually something wrong with it.

Use it for a bit doing things other than SC2. If there is no panic, your hardware is probably ok. In that case, I'd suggest installing iStat or Temperature Monitor and checking your internal temperatures after playing SC2 a little. (I'm not actually certain that heat can cause kernel panics but it's what I would check for first.)

If the panics occur regularly, even when playing other games or web surfing or whatever, call Apple and get them to repair or replace it.

Good luck!

EDIT: One thing I just thought of - did you add RAM? If you have the wrong kind of RAM or if you didn't put it in properly you can get kernel panics, I did this once.

i've added no RAM at all. I've not gotten this 'panic' when doing anything but attempting to play starcraft. I would install 'iStat' and do what you say, but this 'panic' happens after only a few minutes, so i believe it to be impractical.

Thanks for your time, but do you have any other ideas ?

 

[Paulie420]

i've added no RAM at all. I've not gotten this 'panic' when doing anything but attempting to play starcraft. I would install 'iStat' and do what you say, but this 'panic' happens after only a few minutes, so i believe it to be impractical.

Thanks for your time, but do you have any other ideas ?

I hate to give you this canned response, but if you just bought this iMac brand new, and you bought starcraft... (or heck, even if u didnt pay for SC...)

Just take that sucker into the apple store and let them figure it out.

Call 800-my-apple and make an appointment for the genius bar, in my city they can usually get me in the same day.

You have a warranty, use it.

 

[maatt94]

I hate to give you this canned response, but if you just bought this iMac brand new, and you bought starcraft... (or heck, even if u didnt pay for SC...)

Just take that sucker into the apple store and let them figure it out.

Call 800-my-apple and make an appointment for the genius bar, in my city they can usually get me in the same day.

You have a warranty, use it.

hah yeh, thanks man thats the last resort seeing as ill be needing to go into town which i cannot be f*cked doing. But it looks like ill have to. Thanks to everyone

 

[Aaron from KY]

Did you make sure to run software update from the apple menu? Who knows how many updates were released between the time that iMac was made and you bought it. It would be the first place I would look for something like that.

 

[aki]

Ok if you only get the panic when playing Starcraft here is what you can do, other than call in the Apple Rapid Response Team.

Check all software is up to date. Use Apple Software Update. Try Sc2 again.

Uninstall SC2. Reinstall Sc2. Let it update. Try again.

Create a fresh, new, clean user account. Install SC2 on that account. Try again.

Reinstall OSX from scratch. Use Apple Software Update. Install SC2. Let it update. Try again.

The fact that you get panics only when playing SC2 suggests a software issue to me. Unless it is heat related. Though tbh if you get a panic after running SC2 for only a few minutes, that's not long enough to get any heat buildup.

 

[Loramarthalas]

If it was heat related, you would get artifacts on the screen. Green lines, red lines, weird shapes, something like that. I've had heat issues before and you can always tell straight away.

Unless the heat is affecting the CPU, then I dont know what would happen.

Definitely sounds like software to me. Try the update/reinstall path firstly.

 

[VanNess]

You probably have a bad graphics card that will need to be replaced. Kernal panics tend to be hardware related and since you only get this while running a program that pushes the graphics subsystem, all signs point to the graphics card. Reinstalls, erase and installs, etc., aren't going to cure bad hardware. Contact Apple.