System lock-ups after upgrading to Tiger

Question

This topic was previously posted in 'Installation & Setup'.
After 3 days (and 18 views) I got no replies.
Maybe that forum was not appropriate, so I decided to try it in this forum.
About 4 months ago I exchanged my 80 GB Hd in favor of an 200 GB Maxtor 6L200P0. One day later I upgraded OS X 10.3.9 to Tiger (retail DVD).
At that time I experienced a frequent (several times a day) lock-up of my system.
No messages, nothing, not even after powering down and restarting.
After some time I figured out that the lock-ups occurred on Internet access. Clicking on a link in Safari, posting messages on Discussions. Even Mail locked the system a few times. Also Corripio (artwork and lyrics finder for iTunes) caused the system to lock.
After that, I decided to perform an Archive & Install (first time after almost 4 years of using this Mac). Except from having to re-install a number of 3rd party apps. the system seemed to perform well. No lock-ups were experienced for a few weeks.
Problem solved, I thought.
Although far less frequent than before, I do experience those annoying lock-ups a few times a week.
Here are my questions:
What could be the cause of the lock-up?
Is is advisable to perform a Clean Install? What advantage do I have of, it opposite to performing an A&I. I'm reluctant to perform a clean install at the moment, because I haven't found a few serials of commercial and shareware applications yet ( I know, I should have written them down :-/ )
Any hints/tips to track down the exact cause?
TIA
M
P.S. ( I do have a bootable complete backup of my HD on an Maxtor Onetouch II )

Answer 1

Hi, M.
1. You wrote: "What could be the cause of the lock-up?"The number of potential causes range from disk corruption or bad applications to serious hardware problems, such as a defective logic board.
2. You wrote: "Any hints/tips to track down the exact cause?"I suggest treating the "lock up" problem — better described as a "freezes and hangs" problem — similar to a kernel panic as the basic troubleshooting and hardware testing steps are virtually the same. See my "Resolving Kernel Panics" FAQ.
It provides a comprehensive roadmap which you should follow from beginning to end, in the order specified in the FAQ.
2. You wrote: "Is is advisable to perform a Clean Install? What advantage do I have of, it opposite to performing an A&I."The term "Clean Install" does not apply in Mac OS X. That is obsolete Mac OS 9 terminology. The closest Mac OS X equivalent to a "Clean Install" is an Archive and Install with the Preserve User and Network Settings option, which it sounds like you've already tried once previously, but you may want to try again as part of the troubleshooting process I outlined above. See my "General advice on performing an Archive and Install" FAQ for some important tips on this process.
The other options are:
• Archive and Install without the Preserve User and Network Settings option: This reinstalls the OS and wipes out both your accounts and your network configuration, but preserves the previous System folder.
• Erase and Install: Erases the hard drive, i.e. Macintosh HD, and reinstalls the OS from scratch, preserving nothing: your accounts, network settings, and everything else on the drive are deleted.
Of those two, and since you have a bootable backup, the second (Erase and Install) would be the second-to-last thing you would try, the last being taking the machine in for service.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
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