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Why my Mac pro always crashes?

B

benzhao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 6, 2011
7
0
Hi! Recently my mac pro has some problems: after I use it for a while, it will crash (the cursor turns to a colorful circle) for about 30 seconds, and then it goes back to normal. it always worked smoothly every time I took it to apple store to find out the problem:mad:. Does any know what's wrong of it? hard drive? memory stick? or CPU? Thank you!
 
which mac pro...specs? how old? what exactly are you doing/running when it crashes?

if you take it to the apple store, did they not do a hardware test to see if everything was working ok?
 
benzhao said:
Hi! Recently my mac pro has some problems: after I use it for a while, it will crash (the cursor turns to a colorful circle) for about 30 seconds, and then it goes back to normal. it always worked smoothly every time I took it to apple store to find out the problem:mad:. Does any know what's wrong of it? hard drive? memory stick? or CPU? Thank you!
Click to expand...

what you're describing is called freezing, not crashing.

but we need more info, like your specs and what you're running when this happens, if you want help. or just bring it to the apple store.
 
benzhao said:
after I use it for a while, it will crash (the cursor turns to a colorful circle) for about 30 seconds, and then it goes back to normal.
Click to expand...
That's not a crash, but whatever. :)

I'm terribly unfamiliar with macs and their particular issues (bought my first one about a month and a half ago), but from my general computer knowledge I'd suspect the harddrive, assuming the problem is with the Mac itself.

Could be you have a lot of bad sectors on the drive, the freezing episodes you're experiencing could be due to the drive sitting there retrying countless times to read or write some particular sectors. A drive diagnostic tool might be able to tell you more.

If this had been about a PC it could just as well be a bad piece of software or maybe corrupt operating system ("windows rot"); I don't know how susceptible Macos is to that sort of thing though.

What stuff are you running when this happens, can it occur spontaneously or at any time even with no running applications at all (even background programs that autostart perhaps)?

Try to eliminate as many factors as you can. Quit all open programs except for the one you're currently working in, including stuff that just sit in the menu bar beside the clock. Try to watch for the spinning circle. See if it happens more often with one program than with another, and so on.
 
bluesteel said:
which mac pro...specs? how old? what exactly are you doing/running when it crashes?

if you take it to the apple store, did they not do a hardware test to see if everything was working ok?
Click to expand...

It's Mac pro 13.3', bought in september 2009, the freeze happens in any condition, watching movies, browsing web, ......
 
Lennyvalentin said:
That's not a crash, but whatever. :)

I'm terribly unfamiliar with macs and their particular issues (bought my first one about a month and a half ago), but from my general computer knowledge I'd suspect the harddrive, assuming the problem is with the Mac itself.

Could be you have a lot of bad sectors on the drive, the freezing episodes you're experiencing could be due to the drive sitting there retrying countless times to read or write some particular sectors. A drive diagnostic tool might be able to tell you more.

If this had been about a PC it could just as well be a bad piece of software or maybe corrupt operating system ("windows rot"); I don't know how susceptible Macos is to that sort of thing though.

What stuff are you running when this happens, can it occur spontaneously or at any time even with no running applications at all (even background programs that autostart perhaps)?

Try to eliminate as many factors as you can. Quit all open programs except for the one you're currently working in, including stuff that just sit in the menu bar beside the clock. Try to watch for the spinning circle. See if it happens more often with one program than with another, and so on.
Click to expand...

I doubted it was the hard drive problem, but I tested using "techtool pro 6", it showed no bad blocks.
 
Kyllle said:
what you're describing is called freezing, not crashing.

but we need more info, like your specs and what you're running when this happens, if you want help. or just bring it to the apple store.
Click to expand...

the freeze happens Occasionally. I took it to apple store while it worked fine.
 
As an Apple Service tech, intermittent freezing can be one of the hardest problems to diagnose. It could be any number of things, most likely the HDD, though if Tech Tools showed no bad blocks, then that may well be ok. I would take the first step as provided in your manual and perform a re-install of your Operating System and see if that corrects the problem, as it will remove any chance that it is software related.

If the re-install still shows the same issue, then it is hardware related.

Take it to the Apple store and have them thoroughly test it and if need be, stay with them until they witness the fault. A faulty HDD cable, Optical Drive or Logic Board could all cause this issue.
 
Jexta said:
As an Apple Service tech, intermittent freezing can be one of the hardest problems to diagnose. It could be any number of things, most likely the HDD, though if Tech Tools showed no bad blocks, then that may well be ok. I would take the first step as provided in your manual and perform a re-install of your Operating System and see if that corrects the problem, as it will remove any chance that it is software related.

If the re-install still shows the same issue, then it is hardware related.

Take it to the Apple store and have them thoroughly test it and if need be, stay with them until they witness the fault. A faulty HDD cable, Optical Drive or Logic Board could all cause this issue.
Click to expand...

I reinstalled it but the issue still appears. I think it is a hardware problem.
 
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