24" iMac Issues- Hangs Up Consistently

I have an early 2008 24". This thing has served me flawlessly until I first installed Mountain Lion. It's a 3.2Ghz, 4GB RAM, with now, a 120 GB SSD, with 100 GB free at this time. My only issue ever, was that my HDD failed a couple of years ago. Once I installed ML, I started having the expected issues with program compatibility and what not.
Disk Utility is returning no errors. Activity monitor is almost completely idle, meaning that no program is taking any more than 1/10% or so. I had no issues with this thing until I decided to upgrade to ML since they started phasing out the programs for Snow Leopard. The first time I installed ML, I noticed it was slower. I've switched back and fourth to SL at least three times, but I get the exact same behavior. I've also changed from HDD to SSD a few months ago, thinking that would help, but yeilded no performance increase.
I run a constant 5Mb/s or so network speed and have tried various networks, so the connection isn't the issue. The main issue seems to be when I click a different web page, or click to work within an application: I get the beachball for 15, 30 or 45 seconds. Not every time, but a lot of the time. It's the same behavior no matter, SL or ML. Shortly after wiping the system, with no connection to my other drives, it will start this. It's as though Apple has preordained this behavior. Ever since the inception of ML, I have had nothing but problems. Do I need to buy the latest model or something? If I had another $3k to spend, I'd experiment, but my machine has been flawless, so I expect it's a "compatibility" issue. Please help me.
-Jason Blackwell

Mountain Lion is fully compatible with 2008 iMacs, I suspect either corrupt download that resulted in a corrupt install or a hardware fault. However you may have a hardware fault that may need to be professionally diagnosed. To see if there is a hardware issue run Apple Hardware Test in Extended mode at least 3x back to back. AHT isn't 100% reliable but it finds errors they are correct, if it doesn't that only means you need to take it into an Apple Store or AASP to be profesionally diagnosed.
Good luck.

Similar Messages

Finder crashes with OS 10.6.8. With or without any apps running finder will hang repeatedly causing the iMac to hang also. I upgraded from 10.5.8 to 10.6.8 recently and finder was OK for 1 week. How do I submit a crash log?

Folllowing an upgrade from 10.5.8 to 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) Finder frequently hangs, causing any open apps and the iMac to hang. This will occur whether or not any 3rd party apps or Safari are open. About 50% of the time trying to empty the trash will cause a finder hang. There are no error messages to let me know what code such a hang may be. Repeated attempts to force quit the iMac always fail, so I have to hard crash using the power button. Multiple attempts are required to successfully restart via the login screen. I do not know whether any other apps, such as Safari or screen saver may be involved. I think a crash log would help, however I am not sure whether I should look in: useres/library/logs/DaiagnosticReports or : users/library/logs/CrashReporter, and whether I should attempt to open the latest in either in Console or Text edit and then post here. Also, is this the appropriate site to post a log in the hope that Apple may look at it? I have read through threads on Apple finder, and am stunned to find that after all these OS-X versions finder is still buggy and inferior to MS Explorer and Apple appears to be in denial. Maybe their efforts are in devices such as iPhones and iPads? Ths issue never occured in OS 10.5.8.

Better is http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Imac keeps hanging..

imac keeps hanging. tried instal disk; disk utility; repair permissions >done verify disk>volume error repair disk repair disk>volume error will not complete.
I am running disk warrior now and get "speed reduced by disk malfunction". Trying to figure out if this is a disk error or actually a hardware issue?

replying to my own question:
Found this on the alsoft diskwarrior support page:
Product
DiskWarrior
Question
When I run DiskWarrior, I get a message that says "speed reduced by disk malfunction". What does this mean?
Answer
The message "speed reduced by disk malfunction" means there is a problem reading data from the disk due to a disk malfunction.
As long as the mouse cursor still moves during step 5, then the computer did not hang or freeze. DiskWarrior is still working on reading the directory of the disk.
Such slowdowns are usually the result of having bad blocks on the media. DiskWarrior is having trouble reading data from the locations on disk where the directory structures are stored.
You will also notice that an error count is kept at the end of the message. This feedback allows you to see that DiskWarrior is still working on reading data from the drive.
NOTE: This count does not increase at a regualr interval as disk errors are not distributed evenly across a drive.
Please let DiskWarrior run for as long as it takes. This can take quite a few hours but should eventually complete. On rare occasions, it might even be necessary to run this for a day or two.
Since the "speed reduced by disk malfunction" message indicates hardware-related issues, you will need to backup your files from the DiskWarrior Preview window (accessed from the DiskWarrior Report window) to another hard drive. Once you have a backup of your files, you will need to install a new hard drive to replace the damaged hard drive.
bummer eh?!

IMac G5 hangs when downloading and installing updates to 10.5

My iMac G5 hangs when I try to download and install the recent large update to 10.5. Message says restart to complete the installation, but after restart the messages says it is configuring the software, but progress bar shows no progress after several attemps, the longest being over 12 hours. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob.

Repair permission & restart your computer. Try reinstalling the OS update from the combo installer if you have not already done so instead of using Software Update.
If successful, make sure you repair permissions again after all installations are completed.

There appears to be a MAJOR issue (hang/memory leak) in "about:home", also known as the Firefox Start Page, in Firefox 26.0 on Windows!

There appears to be a MAJOR issue (hang/memory leak) in "about:home", also known as the Firefox Start Page, in Firefox 26.0, on Windows!
observed on:
- Windows 7 x64 machine with 12GB RAM and high-performance CPU (core i7-920)
- Virtual Machine guest running WinXP SP3 (in Oracle VirtualBox) on the same machine
- Intel Atom D525 netbook with 4GB RAM, running Win7 x64
Neither of these machines are connected via Sync or anything like that. The Firefox instance on the VM is a fresh/clean install.
The problem:
- 100% cpu usage for 10 seconds, memory usage (PF usage in XP) goes up to 1.7GB
- if "about:home" is the Firefox Start Page, effectively it hangs the computer at Firefox startup for 10 seconds
- if "about:home" is NOT the Firefox Start Page, startup is fine - BUT if I press the "home" button on the toolbar it loads "about:home" which causes the same issue again

Thank you cor-el! Your suggestion has solved the problem on my WinXP VM which I was using to test, and I will soon confirm that it has also solved the problem on my primary Win7 desktop.
To recap:
- I set "browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl" to an empty string
OLD VALUE: https://snippets.mozilla.com/%STARTPAGE_VERSION%/%NAME%/%VERSION%/%APPBUILDID%/%BUILD_TARGET%/%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%/%OS_VERSION%/%DISTRIBUTION%/%DISTRIBUTION_VERSION%/
NEW VALUE: (blank)
- I deleted the folder \storage\persistent\moz-safe-about+home under the Profile directory
Actual folder name on WINDOWS XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<PROFILENAME>\storage\persistent\moz-safe-about+home
However I have a concern that the '''OLD VALUE''' of "browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl" will creep back in, in a future update! Can you communicate this issue to someone on the development team?

How come most people think it's an isolated Alu iMac issues?

My old PC couldn't do what I needed it to do anymore so I desperately needed a new computer for my project. I was going to go Apple's London store and move a new Alu iMac home immediately, but before I did that I came to this forum ... And that's how thing started to become very complicated.
At first, I was shocked by the number of people complaining about this 'new iMac issues' - the faulty display and the freezing problem ... mostly, the freezing issue. Quite a few people believed it was caused by the 1.1 update and the ATI card. After a few days of my intense reading on this iMac forum, Apple issued a statement acknowledging the freezing issue.
I knew it would only be sensible if I waited until Apple solve the problem. The thing is: I just cannot afford to wait - I have to finish my project.
I stared looking at other options: Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mini .... and ... what I have found on this Apple forum, based on what other Mac owner's posts, none of these models is clear of the same problem - unexpected, continuios freezing problem!
Based on what I have read so far, the freezing problem is not exclusive of the
1: new Alu iMAc - some white iMAc, MacPro, MBP, Mini owners have reported the same issue.
2: Macs with ATI graphic card.
3: Macs have been updated to OS X 1.1
4: Macs have games installed
It's a large, wide spread issue than some people would believe, isn't it? To be honest, I have started looking at Dell desk top these two days ... but I just cannot imagine to spend any money for another PC - it should be my last solution.
I desperately needed an Mac for my project - it's a very important one. I am depressed by the situation I am facing now and don't really know what to do. Can anyone kindly offer me some advice?
Some of you might say: get a grip - it's only a computer ... and the freezing issue is not that serious ...
However, if you rely on the computer to get your work done, would you really go ahead and buy an iMac regardless what is going on. Otherwise, what else can I do? If I buy an iMac and only work under bootcam with Windows until Apple fix the freezing problem - will it be a solution?
If you were me, what would you do?
I will appreciate any input!

David,
I posted the same thing and was taken to task by some posters for stating it also. The truth is that gamers were the first to report this issue and did so in far larger numbers than other users. In fact, those who are or were reporting issues with Aperture or iTunes or other applications really didn't start posting in significant numbers about the issue until a few days after it surfaced.
I think many people didn't get a chance to read some of the first posts on the subject as many of them were removed, for cause, and some of them are a few pages back now and forgotten.
I too have had the problem but in my case I was able to solve it by removing the game that was causing it all the time, reformatting the drive, reinstalling, and then updating. That was a week ago and I have not had any freezes since, but I have had video artifacts a couple of times. When it does that I just save my work and restart. I have even managed to get through some iPhoto sessions without issue.
*To the Original poster:*
No one can tell you what you should or should not do but if you want a Mac, buy one. This problem is not as widespread as some would have you believe. If you base your opinion on what you read here you would come to the conclusion that everyone's iMac is sick, but that is not true. In my case of the three Intel iMacs that I have, only my 24" has the problem, the other two are just fine.
Even if 30% of them were/are bad, which is an absurdly high figure, you would still have a 70% chance of getting one with no issues!!
I also trust that Apple will find and solve the problem. After dealing with them for 20+ years that is what I have come to expect based on my past experiences with them.
Message was edited by: Al Van Malsen
Message was edited by: Al Van Malsen

Is my iPhone 4 greyed out wifi and non working bluetooth software or hardware... seems that the forums are full of this issue with no consistent or official answer. is it all coincidence that so many are having the problem? Please help...

Is my iPhone 4 greyed out wifi and non working bluetooth software or hardware... seems that the forums are full of this issue with no consistent or official answer. is it all coincidence that so many are having the problem? Please help... I have scoured the net trying everything the last few days.

Please correct your porfile: iPhone 4 do not have IOS 6.1.4.
The usual troubleshooting steps are, also remember to test it after every step:
1. Restart
2. Reset
3. Restore from backup
4. Restore as new.
If no joy, make an Appointment with the Apple genius and have them evaluate

Imac is hang when itunes updates applications

Hi guys.
i have iMac 24" C2D 3.06, 4G ram bus800, HDD 1TB...It runs well but one thing.
When i login my iTunes account, choose update mobile applications, iTunes will update...after 3-4 apps update done, then it is hang, iTunes is hang and my iMac is hang too.
and it just be hang when i do that ( open iTunes and choose update apps) again...
i changed ram, i changed hdd, reset PRam, reinstall lion, reinstall snow leopard, run sofeware update....bla bla...but my iMac still hang when i run iTunes and choose update for my iPhone's applications. it appears apple color spinning wheel, and the only application can run is that Spinning Wheel...:(
Any idea my friends? Thanks
i posted it in iMac forum, but one man told me should post here. Thanks

I would think you would get a faster answer from the users in the iTunes for Mac forum. Good luck

IPad 2 to iMac sync hanging up on step 3, corrupted app

I have tried several times to sync my iPad 2 to my iMac OS X, 10.7.5, but in all instances, it hangs up at step 3. I have totally shut down and restarted both devices.
Based upon similar questions in the community, I suspect (but obviously am not certain) the issue is related to an app I attempted to download last night. The app, Chimani Yosemite, I believe is quite large, and it did not function once installed on my iPad. Troubleshooting on the Chimani website revealed the following remedy: "On poor/weak WiFi or Internet connections, the database for the app can get corrupted during download. To resolve the problem, delete the app from your device and from iTunes on your computer. Then go to the App Store and re-install it." I deleted the icon for the corrupted app from my iPad and then attempted to delete the app from iTunes on my iMac as instructed. However, the app is not on my iMac because I have not synced the devices. (I do not sync automatically.) Therefore, I attempted to sync to get the app on my iMac so I could delete it, but the sync would not complete. When I go to the App Store, it shows I already own the app in the cloud, but when I reinstall on my iPad, I am only reinstalling the corrupted app that does not work.
Assuming the corrupted app is the reason my devices won't sync, how can I remove the app so that I can sync? If the app is not the issue, then what do I need to do to resolve this issue?
I appreciate any help you can provide!

You would need to backup your data to iTunes or iCloud and then restore from backup on the iPad 3. Content should reside on your computer or you can reload apps from the cloud. I don't believe you can just restore one app
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

IMac issues

Any ideas where I should go from this as it's been unanswered now for over a month? Sent via post, email and now forum.
Any advice on what I should do would be appreciated. Won't go to indepth as the letter says it all.
Noted also that my last post was deleted for some reason?
Thanks
Simon
Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm writing a letter of complaint, due to frustration, upset and general let down of two of your products.
In January 2008 I bought a 24" iMac G5 with iSight with the intention of using for university work. Since purchasing it I found that the Mac OS and software on it is so good that I replaced all of my Windows based devices with Apple products, this includes a Macbook, G5, time capsule and iPhone. The ease of use of your products, coupled with their quality and style has led me to recommend them to friends and colleagues, many of whom have gone on to purchase various devices.
Unfortunately for all the praise I put upon Apple and its products I have had a rather unpleasant experience with some of the items I own and the service that I have received. I am not one to complain lightly and generally willing to accept that all products have their issues and occasional problems but after repeated let downs I felt compelled to write this letter.
The iMac developed a Graphics card issue causing the screen and as a consequence the iMac to become unusable and as such I took it into the Bluewater Apple store to have it repaired under the APP I took out. I took my iMac fully boxed into the store as I didn't want it to become damaged on route. I understand your staff must see and handle these things everyday but the Genius I saw happily threw the polystyrene mould onto the floor and kicked it aside snapping it in the process, before pulling my iMac out and practically dropping it onto the desk.
Admittedly they are heavy but this was carelessness and not the inability to hold it securely. Surely your staff are trained in handling these products?
It was noted that something was wrong and the iMac was taken in for repair and could be picked up a week later. At the same time I had my Macbook looked at due to an issue with the battery and charger cable. This was rectified at that time.
Unfortunately a few days later my Macbook developed a new issue as well causing it to hang on boot up. I decided to have this booked in for the same time as I was due to pick up my iMac.
I went back a few days later to collect the iMac and have my Macbook looked at. After waiting for almost an hour they pronounced the hard drive in the Macbook dead. This meant another few days later I'd have to come back to the store, which is roughly 50 miles from my home.
Following this I was presented with my iMac with no box. As it was taken to the store in its box I was expecting to get it back in the same state I had left it in. When I mentioned this to the staff they gave little if any concern about this and I had to argue the point to get my box back. Although a box may not seem that important it was the way this was handed that surprised me the most. Once the box was found I was asked if I’d like a hand taking my product out to the car. This was a kind gesture but I politely declined as the car was only a few feet away. I was then told that he would take the product for me, as if I dropped it, it wouldn’t be covered by the warranty and I would be liable. I again polity declined but by which time he had picked up the product and was walking towards the exit. When we arrived outside announced that he needed to get out for a cigarette, using this as an excuse to smoke seems wholly inappropriate and very unprofessional.
When I got home I noticed that the remote for the iMac was missing, this was inside the box when it was given to the Apple store... Already quite irritated I set up the iMac and started it up, only to find that there were two dead pixels on the screen! Now these were defiantly not there before hand. On top of this my iMac was deadly silent before being repaired and now had a high pitched whistle emanating from it.
My girlfriend, father, brother and work friends all said they would have got extremely angry at this point and almost certainly got in touch with someone about the whole situation. With hindsight I tend to agree with them and wish I had done something about it before now however at the time I was just happy to have my computer back and be able to work on it again.
So what's sparked this letter? Around 4 days ago my iMac developed exactly the same issue with the graphics card and is unable to boot again. This is roughly 5 months after getting a 'new' one fitted and I now have less than 4 months warranty left, I am left wondering if this will end up happening again when the warranty expires?
That thought made me anxious but what topped it is my Macbook battery has died again as well. Although the Macbook is of less worry to me as I can still use it it's still a burden to me and something of massive frustration.
Just to put things into context I'm writing a list of products I have from apple.
My current apple product list:
iMac,
Macbook Black,
Mac Mini,
Mac Pro G5,
Time Capsule,
iPhone x 3 (in the household),
iPod x 2 (in the household),
iPod shuffle x 2 (in the household),
iPod Nano
Apple Software list:
Remote Desktop,
Logic Studio,
iLife,
Leopard
MobileMe
Journeys to Apple store to sort out problems:
1 x for Macbook battery
2 x for Macbook hard-drive (and another occasion which has not been talked about in this
letter)
2 x for iMac Graphics card
Totalling over 250 miles for Mac related issues.
As stated before I take pride in my machines and don't in anyway shape of form abuse them. They are put to sleep or shut down when not used and I even follow guides on your website to keep them in top shape. So I am positive it's not user error.
This can only lead me to think that there is a problem with these products, as your company has such a good reputation it suggests that I have been unlucky and just got a couple of machines with unusual faults. However this doesn’t really make the issues I have had or the treatment I have received any easier to take.
My confidence in Apple has been somewhat dented as a result of these unfortunate problems and I would like to know what you intend to do to rectify the problems I have had? I am not trying to get something for nothing; all I am hoping for is that you can provide me with a solution that will allow me to gain the enjoyment and pleasure from your products I so desperately crave.
I look forward to your reply
Simon Longson

If you wish to be pointed to the correct folks to assist, then post that, no more, no less.
There are two warranty options, the original 1 year warranty and the Apple Care extension to three years. BTW if you have not bought the extension, you have until the day before the one year warranty expires to buy and activate it. It often pays for itself with one repair.
Either directly, face to face with the store staff, or with an Apple Care first line agent on the phone, relay the information of the issues you are having with the Mac and rehearse the remedies that have been applied to the situation up to this point. If the issue is a repeat, or if there are multiple issues, directly ask for the machine to be replaced. From what folks report here, Apple's general policy appears to be to repair twice, then replace. There are often acceptions.
If you feel that the person to whom you are speaking is uncaring with your issue, request to escalate the issue to the next level; store management or, on the phone, a product specialist.
On the phone, ultimately, there are also Customer Relations agents who are authorized to pretty much make the customer happy. Hopefully you do not need to go to that level.
Always remain firm and specific in your requests, but non-argumentative. No threats, especially regarding lawyers. Apple pretty much will not deal with you at all after that kind of statement, other than perfunctory adherence to the warranty, which is always repair or replace on their terms.
Dah•veed

IMac boot hangs/takes a while

So I've had my iMac for almost a year (and opted for Apple care which I'm glad about!) and within the past month approximately 3 times the boot sequence has hung. It either hangs at the gray screen (with or without the apple logo) or it gets past that and too just a purple screen right before my desktop wall paper would normally appear. I let it sit for a minute or two and it didn't finish. To get it to boot when this occurs, I either turn it off and back on or sometimes I've resulted in booting from the DVD and running disk utility. Disk Repair finds no issues most times but repairing permissions seems to fix it when it occurs.
It just started doing this and is otherwise working fine. I've had the extra 2gb of RAM in for quite a while before this popped up so I don't think it's related.
Any ideas? I'm running 10.6 but it first did this with 10.5.7 I believe.
Thanks
Dave
Message was edited by: dfbennett

Thanks for the tips.
Since it's an intermittent problem I'll have to wait until it springs up again. I did a bit of research and found that some folks have had this problem with a USB hard drive plugged in while booting. I have a regular old IDE hard drive in a USB 2.0 case plugged in (it has switched power) and sometimes it's on sometimes off when I boot. I'm trying to see if I can find a pattern to the issue when the hard drive is off versus on.

Lightroom 4.3 import issues - hangs

Anybody got a clue why this behaves so badly??
Very consistent and very annoying bug....have about 20,000+ images on my laptop HD. Desire to use LR to catalog and organize, etc. On some folders import runs fine. On others it just hangs, with no error message, and does not 'crash' LR.....it just hangs and does nothing. I have waited for 30 minutes to see if it is just 'busy', but nothing. The progress bar also shows no progress, or stops half way and hangs. Upon searching the forums I see this is a consistent complaint about LR in general, but most of the other reported problems are with external media. My issue is with images spinning on the internal HD. I checked folders that 'hung' consistently and with my other program, ACDSee, it builds thumbnail pages and opens the images just fine.The metadata also appears normal (Nikon D80 and D7000 images mostly...NEF and JPG)
Win7 Pro, Lenovo laptop w/4GB memory. Help....or I'm getting my money back. This is ridiculous behavior for s/w this expensive, from a reputable company, for a simple function like opening an image and interrogating the metadata, etc....wasting my time, which is valuable.
UPDATE:
Just tried importing from an SD card. This does not work either. Images from a D7000. Initially the import screen showed thumbnails, but after creating a new directory in the target folder, the thumbnails would not display, and import simply hangs with no error or crash. When I cancel the import I get a message that says "no photos or videos were found to import" (and...yes...they were all selected)

Looks like I found the problem....VIDEO files are what causes the hanging upon import. ANY 'supported' video file (AVI, MOV, MP4, etc.) cause the import to gack. To test this I built a temp directory with a mix of JPG, DCR, NEF, TIF image files and WMV, MOV, AVI, MP4 video files. The WMV it simply ignores since it is not supported. If any of the supported file types are 'seen' the import preview thumbnails will not draw, and the import will hang. If you simply change the file extension on a video, then re-initiate the import, it imports all images OK, and ignores the unknown file type (i.e. it does not open the files and interrogate them if the extension is not known - the smart thing to do). I also checked the CODEC used in several of the video files and it is supported, so I dont think it is a CODEC issue. You would think if LR saw a file it did not understand, it would simply ignore it (e.g. a supported file extension with an unsupported CODEC inside). In my professional opinion this is a serious bug and needs to be addressed. I also installed the latest version of QuickTime and tried the test folder with just a single MOV video and it still hung. This is really stupid behavior.....I'm quite surprised that Adobe's QA team did not find this bug (file type smarts are pretty basic stuff....), so there must be something quite unique to my Windows box which has LR tied up in knots....
The final test was to cleanse my image folder tree of all videos, then import the entire tree of about 7000 images (about 20GB) in several hundred different folders. It chugged through the import without a problem (took ~10 min). This whole mess only killed several days of my time. I'll send Adobe the bill for my time.....

Photoshop CS3 causing new iMac to hang

I have an issue with Photoshop CS3 hanging my iMac.
When the application is active but in the background and unused for a while and I return to use it the entire machine becomes unresponsive, the mouse cursor can still be moved around the screen but nothing can be clicked (wireless mighty mouse), force quit can not be invoked to kill PS.
I have to resort to switching of the machine in order to get it back up.
Has anyone else seen this, either on an iMac or other intel macs..?

Not to dismiss your problem by any means, I thought I'd report my experience since I'm running PS CS3 as well. I'm on a 24" iMac and PS CS3 has been running well for me.
In addition to the keyboard and my Epson all-in-one printer (plugged into the back), I have a Logitech cordless mouse whose dock is plugged into the keyboard, and I have a USB 2.0 Maxtor hard drive plugged into the back.
I am getting general problems when I try to use my Belkin usb hub and when I use my usb card reader for any length of time, but I can't see that they have had any effect on running PS CS3.
Like I said - not to dismiss your issue - I just thought it might be helpful to share about my peripherals etc.
Good Luck,
Frank B.

IMac crash - Hang and crazy display on restart

I've got an iMac Core 2 Duo and have had it for a year and a half. (Warranty expired)
I upgraded to Snow Leopard when it came out.
It hung recently and a restart brought up the grey screen, apple and the spinning load symbol but then the screen went light grey and was covered by dozens of 3mm black squares. The bottom 20mm of the screen was also black.
Sometimes a boot will get to the blue screen where I can use the mouse but then stalls and on occasion it'll get to the desktop image with an active mouse but then the pinwheel of death.
I've flashed the PRAM.
I've run an advanced hardware test. (Nothing)
I've removed all devices except the keyboard.
I can boot into Safemode and have done a permissions repair.
Still nothing.
I've tried to boot off another drive. Stills fails. Only safe mode will work.
Tried both the SL installer disk and the L installer disk and they hang on the screen that follows the language selection.
Tried with only one memory chip, then the other. Still didn't work.
This all happened a few weeks ago and I managed to get it working again after booting using verbose mode. Now verbose mode runs but then once it's done I get a black hang screen covered in tiny white dots. The pattern is reminiscent of the above mentioned grey screen with black dots but with more noise and inverted.
Any ideas?

Hmm. Based on a hunch that the screen tears implied a video card issue I tried deactivating the Quartz Extreme using the instructions I found at,..
http://www.felipecruz.com/g5-freeze-ups-problem.php
+To disable Quartz Extreme, enter the following command in Terminal:+
+defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver GLCompositor -dict tileHeight -int 0 tileWidth -int 0+
+To re-enable Quartz Extreme, enter the following command in Terminal:+
+defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver GLCompositor+
+You can also downlaod this app to disable Quartz Extreme.+
+http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/downloads/qa1236_1.tar.gz+
And Bam! Bob's your uncle, it booted without a problem.
Now to go find out how to reinstall the video card drivers.

Isight Access Causes iMac to Hang

Hi All,
Having completed two recent updates - Airport Extreme Update 2007-001 and Security Update 2007-001, I now find that my Imac 'hangs' every time an application tries to acces & use my iSight camera. Happens in iChat and Photobooth for example. Is also not user-specific (logged on as another user with same result). I have already tried rebooting (necessary to shutdown each time via the power button as no other mouse or keystrokes respond), and also downloaded these updates and re-installed them to no avail. Any ideas before I try an OSX re-install?? As far as I am aware iSight was working perfectly prior to these updates - regular use via iChat/Skype etc. I admit to recently having also reviewed and modified a few system preferences (not sure which ones or even if these would have had such a disastrous effect).
Oh for a 'system restore' button!! (sorry - ex PC user!!) Roll on Leopard!
No , seriously any help would be much appreciated.
OSX is 10.4.4
iChat is 3.1.6 (v441)

I would re-order this list
1) you can remove your system level cache file /Library/Caches
Use something like MacJanitor from this FAQ as it will clean them to the same Extent running the Cron Scripts do if the computer is On and Awake at the required times.
2) reset your PRAM -- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
3) update your OS. Your notes say you are running 10.4.4. Current version is 10.4.8. The OS update from 10.4.7 to 10.4.8 is rather substantial and resolved several issues.
Combo Updates are here Make sure you pick the right one.
4) After installing ALL the Apple udpates I would use Disk Utility to repair your disk permissions.
5) f that fails then reset your PMU/SMC/SMU depending on what kind of computer you have.
MacBook and MacBook Pro version It links to others at the top of the article.
6) Only after careful consideration and asking more here
... an archive and install would be the next way to go -- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
5:07 PM Monday; January 29, 2007

24" iMac Issues- Hangs Up Consistently

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for