Who Says that OS X Doesn't crash?

[MacBandit]

Re: Crashes or Panics

Originally posted by Chrisnorth
I waited for Jaguar before upgrading to OSX and for the most part I've been very pleased. There is absolutely no doubt that OSX is a much more robust and capable operating system. Being able to access UNIX shell commands and functionality is also a bonus. However, when you read marketing hype about a crash free operating system, you just have to smell sulphur. I've never heard of a crash free OS, and I'm not sure that it's possible.

I think the English language has been twisted somewhat to make the claim, and in my opinion a kernel Panic or a system crash are effectively the same. Also, a complete GUI crash, which seems more common than kernel panics, is still a crash if it leaves the user in a position where a reboot is required.

I'd like to see Apple impliment a keystoke combination like Window's cmnd+alt+delete that would bring up a some kind of task manager to address anything short of a kernel panic. This would include a Windowing system crash. If this already exists within OSX, can someone elaborate on it?

I've been running 10.2 since the day it was released and on only one occasion has the system crashed in such a way that it required a reboot. The only problems I ever have are with poorly written apps. Those same apps in 9 would force me to reboot at least once a day but not in X.

 

[Chrisnorth]

Re: Re: Crashes or Panics

Originally posted by MacBandit
I've been running 10.2 since the day it was released and on only one occasion has the system crashed in such a way that it required a reboot. The only problems I ever have are with poorly written apps. Those same apps in 9 would force me to reboot at least once a day but not in X.

I suppose that I should qualify my remarks by adding that OSX has been generally quite stable on my iMac. I've had approximately three kernel panics and maybe five GUI failures since installing the OS, so less than ten forced reboots. Of course, all have been caused by badly bahaving apps, but what's an operating system without an app? Most operating systems will beahave flawlessly if you don't use any applications...

 

[janey]

nobody ever said that os x doesn't crash people just say it's stable, very stable.
In one year with a Power Mac:
3 kernel panics and several forced reboots which were mainly done on purpose by me and my having too much fun tinkering with the OS and writing fun software
In one year with Windows 98:
Too many BSOD's to count, sometimes because i right clicked a folder
In one year with Windows 2k and XP:
Constant crashing and formatting of hard drives.
Now tell me which operating system is better

 

[scem0]

if OS X is crashing often, then you've got a problem. OS X has
crashed twice for me out of all the years I've been using it.

 

[saabmp3]

Re: Crashes or Panics

Originally posted by Chrisnorth
I'd like to see Apple impliment a keystoke combination like Window's cmnd+alt+delete that would bring up a some kind of task manager to address anything short of a kernel panic. This would include a Windowing system crash. If this already exists within OSX, can someone elaborate on it?

Command + Option + Escape. Try it out, I think that's your command alt delete right there.

BEN

 

[scem0]

Re: Re: Crashes or Panics

Originally posted by saabmp3
Command + Option + Escape. Try it out, I think that's your command alt delete right there.

BEN

if any problems are encountered in OS X this will fix 99% of them.
The other 1% you will have to restart for. That is why most people
have restarted their Macs (Running OS X) because of errors.

 

[stromie952]

I have had similar experiences to most here with very good stability and very few reboots. Except for a faulty 256MB RAM stick I had in my iBook, it causes innumerable kernal panics during reboot. Like others have said, only buy name brand RAM like Crucial or Kingston etc.

The only other crashes I have had were resulting from SMB shared drives. They occasionally brought down the system, but other than that it has been remarkably good

 

[Datazoid]

Originally posted by Chrisnorth
I'd like to see Apple impliment a keystoke combination like Window's cmnd+alt+delete that would bring up a some kind of task manager to address anything short of a kernel panic. This would include a Windowing system crash.

Search on http://www.versiontracker.com for a program called escapepod, this gives you ctrl-alt-delete (backspace button, not the delete under the help button), as well as shift-ctrl-alt-delete to kill the dock and command-ctrl-alt-delete to force-logout. These commands all kill programs automatically, without the need for GUI response.

I was having similar problems to the original poster with my 17" iMac until I got more RAM (upgraded from 256 to 768), at which point the random lockups ceased. I would highly suggest a RAM upgrade if this has not been done already. But, for the occasional unpreventable interface lockups, I have found escapepod indispensible.

 

[Computer_Phreak]

to the person with grinding and scratching sounds from your HD:

backup all your files ASAP and either purchase a new hard drive or get the one you have replaced if its under warranty. That, and not OS X, is your crashing problem.

 

[Chrisnorth]

Ok, ok

Originally posted by übergeek
nobody ever said that os x doesn't crash people just say it's stable, very stable.
In one year with a Power Mac:
3 kernel panics and several forced reboots which were mainly done on purpose by me and my having too much fun tinkering with the OS and writing fun software
In one year with Windows 98:
Too many BSOD's to count, sometimes because i right clicked a folder
In one year with Windows 2k and XP:
Constant crashing and formatting of hard drives.
Now tell me which operating system is better

I wouldn't suggest that Windows is even in the same league as OSX. Frankly, I wouldn't trade my Mac for weeks of reformatting recalcitrant PC's without some mighty fine enducements. Like you,übergeek , the crashes that I have experienced have been caused by my own exerimentation with untried apps. For the most part OSX has been very stable and enjoyable to use.

Oh, and describing the ocasional kernel panic is a much greater pleasure that ranting about the many anoyances on your average Windows macine!

Also, thanks to Saabmp3, scem0, and Datazoid for your suggestions.

 

[tjwett]

i get crashes all the time, mostly beachball hangups that never end. the best thing about OS X is that Force Quit actually works, as long as it's not the Finder that's hung up. if the Finder is stuck i usually have to do a forced restart. i fix permissions all the time and keep my HD very "clean". the weirdest one i get is when ever i try to shut down, all it does is go back to the Log In screen and i have no USB activity at all, so no mouse either, and i then have to force power down. i haven't had a normal shut down since installing Jaguar. it even happens when i'm just running any old application too. just a crash and straight back to the Log In screen. it's a drag.

 

[mmmdreg]

I've had one kernel panic in my life...and never apart from that has the computer totally locked up..

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by tjwett
i get crashes all the time, mostly beachball hangups that never end. the best thing about OS X is that Force Quit actually works, as long as it's not the Finder that's hung up. if the Finder is stuck i usually have to do a forced restart. i fix permissions all the time and keep my HD very "clean". the weirdest one i get is when ever i try to shut down, all it does is go back to the Log In screen and i have no USB activity at all, so no mouse either, and i then have to force power down. i haven't had a normal shut down since installing Jaguar. it even happens when i'm just running any old application too. just a crash and straight back to the Log In screen. it's a drag. i also get apps crashing left and right, althoguh i haven't had a visible kernal panic in a while like in 10.1

 

[tjwett]

oops, sorry about the above. i meant to edit my original post. tried to delete it but it wouldn't let me. my bad...

 

[KingArthur]

Hmmmmm, well, since I have started using WinXP on my laptop (upgraded from 2000 which crashed on me all the time), well, the only major crash was my own fault. I accidently removed the CD-RW drive instead of the battery, and that brings up the blue screen of death. Oh, wait, I have done one other thing to make it crash (also my fault), well I got really angry with it b/c although the computer was connected to the net, none of my programs including IE recognized that I was connected, so I got really angry b/c I had to do something important on it, and I threw the laptop on the couch and punched it Not somthing to do to a laptop. It survived, though, but it brought up the blue screen of death (which is to be understood). Other than that, the biggest problem I have had with WinXP is that, although the whole system doesn't go down, certain features randomly go down, and I have to restart the computer to get them back. That is REALLY annoying. Also, if you do have to do a forced restart, the computer is horrible at having corrupted system files on the HD and that screws things up until you can fix them.

All in all, I am impressed with XP compaired to what I expected from MS. I still would rather have a Mac any ol' day! Currently, I want to restart b/c the scroll feature of the track-pad has stopped working, but I am downloading stuff via WinMX and don't want to have to find sources all over again. My syste has been up for two and a half days straight, and I have had problems with the modem and this. Ugh. XP annoys me

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by tjwett
i get crashes all the time, mostly beachball hangups that never end. the best thing about OS X is that Force Quit actually works, as long as it's not the Finder that's hung up. if the Finder is stuck i usually have to do a forced restart. i fix permissions all the time and keep my HD very "clean". the weirdest one i get is when ever i try to shut down, all it does is go back to the Log In screen and i have no USB activity at all, so no mouse either, and i then have to force power down. i haven't had a normal shut down since installing Jaguar. it even happens when i'm just running any old application too. just a crash and straight back to the Log In screen. it's a drag.

Did you do a clean install of 10.2? Do you have any system add-ons or hacks installed? Are you running a supported system?

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by MacBandit
Did you do a clean install of 10.2? Do you have any system add-ons or hacks installed? Are you running a supported system?

sure did. jag was installed on a totally clean HD, even erased the binaries and everything. i have no hacks or kracked software at all. all i run is industry standard apps; illustrator, photoshop, final cut, after effects, Logic, quark, mail, and safari. that's pretty much it. maybe text edit once in a while. this is a workstation so i don't run Limewire or anything like that on it. it's a 733 Quicksilver w/1.5 gigs Viking RAM. i've had the hardware checked by a certified Apple tech and everything is in order. i've never had these problems running in 9.2.2 or even 10.1 for that matter. i love jag but it just makes me nervous, i save and backup my work all the time. maybe it's my machine but i will never get rid of it because i need to boot into OS9 all the time. oh well...

 

[technocoy]

hmmm, crashes, crashes...

in response to the original post...

it seems to me you are having the most problems with the spinny beach ball...

it also appears that the majority of the systems you are running it on are older.

I work as a graphics and design proffessional doing everything from cleaner and after effects, to photoshop, indesign and flash MX and Director.

My company runs many older machines as well as many brand spanking new ones. My co-worker and i have been running X for about a year and a half now with maybe 6 system crashes total on our main work machines... i love it more every day!

however, i also have noticed that any sub g4 and some earlier g4's are very likely to get the spinny beachball into infinity... just my opinion,
but i would say if you are running OS X on anything earlier than the white LED G4's (or an upgraded machine) you are asking for trouble. (for power users, anyway. I would say this doesn't apply for those who surf and type)

simply put: OS X is the most stable user friendly OS on the market. If you are having problems with it it is from untested software or drivers, or hardware failures.

sorry for the rant!!

Technocoy

 

[VegetaPunk]

Who Says that OS X Doesn't crash?

I do. LOL
The only times I have had my computer crash in OS X were.

1) in the early versions of OS X just after the beta was released
-It crashed a few time not much though, was still a little buggy at that time

2) when I was beta testing for shadow bane, I couldnt make a charater without it crashing, *shakes fist in shadowBanes direction*

 

[mymemory]

Originally posted by MacBandit
Sounds like it must be related to something you are installing or using.

I have never had the problems that you are noting.

Crashes are always because of that my friend, unless you mean trowing your computer of the balcony

BTW, OSX crashed on me the first time I was using it, I mean the first hour. That is why I may do the jump where there is no other way.

 

[trose]

Ive owned OSX for 4 Months and have had 4 system crashes. 2 of which were last night.

It was really frustrating...spinning beachball, but I KNEW that the computer was still working. Force quit didnt bring anything up, and the last folder I clicked was still bouncing. So I forced reboot..and about half hour later it did it again. Argh. I havent installed anything new,maybe was just a fluke.

All in all im very happy with X, and its stability is my favorite factor. 9 was just horrible for crashing....just a usual thing to have to restart multiple times in a week. WindowsXP is good, but not nearly as stable as X. At work Id say the XP machine I use for 3 hours a day crashes 1-2 a month. Compare that to the 4 crashes of X on my Mac I use for 6+ hours a day for 4 months.

 

[Eckslusive]

the only programs that crash on me is MSN Messenger and MS Office X. WHAT A SURPRISE! They are both Microsoft products. And I'm not lying just so i can pick on them. Its true.
The only time that OS X has crashed for me was when i was connected to a server and the server turned off and then X tried to find it and it couldn't so it just sat there. But after 5 minutes, it went back to normal. Didn't even have to shut it down.

 

[awulf]

I found ouy my computer crashes once it gets disconnected from Dial-up internet, It's harddisk rattles on very hard the screen freezes, escapepod can'tdo anything, and I can't SSH my computer over the network.

I sometimes leave the computer on over night to download files.
______________
The Hardware test didn't fail, so it has to be the corrupted OS. I have found that a few of my settings have dissapeared (this happend earlier on), The Dock, Address book contacts and some other things that I can't remember.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by awulf
I found ouy my computer crashes once it gets disconnected from Dial-up internet, It's harddisk rattles on very hard the screen freezes, escapepod can'tdo anything, and I can't SSH my computer over the network.

I sometimes leave the computer on over night to download files.
______________
The Hardware test didn't fail, so it has to be the corrupted OS. I have found that a few of my settings have dissapeared (this happend earlier on), The Dock, Address book contacts and some other things that I can't remember.

Have you ever used or installed any Norton Utility product? Also your hard drive should NOT rattle.

 

[Flynnstone]

I have never had a kernel panic, but I have effectively hung the machine. On a FP iMac, I was running a game and the game hung, but since the game had taken control of the keyboard and screen, there was no way to get control back, so I thought at first. What I did was to enable remote login. Next time I hung the iMac, I logged in from my W2K machine using SSH, found the offending task (using ps), killed it and the iMac was back, no problem and still stable.

I have run into the spinning beachball, with a unresponsive system on my DP PMac 867. It seemed to be due to Retrospect (the backup program). I remote login, and the machine is fine again.

I do have one strange behaviour on my DP PMac. Occasionally my mouse jumps across the screen. I've tried two different mice. The original clear mouse and a three button Logitech scroll mouse.
Any ideas? Not a problem, but somewhat annoying.