A Freeze-up that I can't fix.

Question

Ok, so I have been having a problem that appears similar to the lookupd problem that many people have discussed here and on other Mac forums. I have a brand new Dual 2.3 G5, and it has worked fine for a week and a half, performing with wonderful speed all the usual graphic design and video work that my G4 laptop has been doing up till now.
Then yesterday, the system froze when I tried to bring maximize iTunes from the dock. I was running what usually constitutes "too many programs" at the same time, and so I figured I had found the performance peak. Manual power shutdown was my only option.
Since then, the problem has persisted, sometimes waiting for a while before locking up, sometimes locking up in the middle of the startup screens. It doesn't correspond to any program in particular. Sometimes there are some graphical 'artifacts' that appear on the screen when the lockup occurs, but not always. The cursor still works, and cycles between the pointer arrow and the spinning beach ball of Death, depending on how many "frustration clicks" I give it. If I press the 'eject' button on the keyboard, the tray opens after about 10-20 secs, or sometimes immediately. If the dock or any maximizing function is occuring at the crash, it freezes in place. I also hear a quiet but high-pitched whine from inside the tower as the moment of the crash, which continues uninterrupted until the machine goes to sleep. Did I mention that it can still go to sleep and wake up, based on the timing set in Energy Saver? ***? What kind of crazy crash can do all that, I ask!
I removed the two 512 cards of 3rd-party RAM. I ran the Hardware test - everything checked out OK. I reinstalled OS 10.4 onto one of the partitions of my second internal hardrive, and booted from that. At first, it worked ok, then I walked away for a few mintues, and it had frozen again upon my return. I restalled the OS on the original factory HD, first with the "Archive and Update Accounts" option, which kept all my software and User accounts in place, and then when the problem continued, I tried a full Erase and Install on the HD.
IT STILL FREEZES.
After reading the lookupd forum and getting thoroughly confused by the fun scripting lingo, I tried unplugging the Ethernet cable after the crash occured, which seems to help unfreeze the system in the case of the lookupd bug. Didn't help. Tried rebooting without the network connected at all. No dice. I get about 5 to 20 seconds of functioning Mac, and then the crash occurs, so I can't even check my console logs.
I can't figure it out. The only thing I can think of right now is that it has something to do with the latest updates. On the last reinstall, I immediately installed all the Software updates. It made it through this process...and then the crashes begin again. I may try the reinstall once more to see if this affects the problem. I just concerned now about how many times I've manually had to powerdown the machine today - something like 15 to 20 times, and I've never made it to a 'natural' shutdown command, except when Hardware test is done telling me that I have no problems.
I haven't contacted Apple yet, but will once their customer support is open again tomorrow.
Help! And thanks in advance.
Leon

Answer 1

Hi, Leon —
Edit: and Frank — glad to see your post! (Once I'd finally posted my loquacious message...)
Please accept a warm welcome to Apple Discussions! Sorry it's under these circumstances. . . you must be feeling very frustrated.
From what you've described so far, I haven't really heard evidence to support conclusions about lookupd, "the performance peak," "something to do with the latest updates," or a "fried motherboard." Sounds like in your frustration, you've tried quite a few "solutions" unsuccessfully, and are trying to think of ~anything that may explain things.
"What kind of crazy crash can do all that, [you] ask!"
More on all that in a moment. . .
Leon, my first thought is to suggest that you contact AppleCare immediately at
[phone] — and be prepared to be patient, spending whatever time may be necessary to work through a number of steps with the AppleCare tech. Although you may have read some participants expressing skepticism about this approach — my personal experience with AppleCare support has been outstanding.
The main reason I suggest this to you at the outset of posting is that I believe your situation warrants a more step-by-step, interactive supporting relationship than is easy to provide here, given the delays and Gee-I-wish-I'd-asked-that limitations of an online forum. If the problem(s) aren't solved during your initial conversation, you'll be given a case number for use at an Apple-Authorized Service Provider (AASP — limited to authorized hardware problems) or for future reference. If the problem persists, your subsequent call(s) may be forwarded to higher-level support folks.
That said, let me make a few comments about my previous statements, as promised.
Imho, the troubleshooting steps you've described sound as if you may benefit from a slightly more calm, organized, step-wise, and logical approach to diagnosis and attempts at "fixes." The first thing I recommend is that you pause, take a really deep breath, think (and note) very carefully about everything that you had done and observed before "the system froze when [you] tried to bring maximize iTunes from the Dock." As a few examples: any new or modified peripheral connections, cards, etc.? is your second internal HD new, or recently moved from your G4? had you just migrated some of the "usual graphic design and video work" from your "G4 laptop"? have you utilized Activity Monitor &/or your console logs to provide data correlating to the time(s) when problematic behavior began and ensued? etc.
From my own experience, taking the time to review the thought processes expressed in KnowledgeBase Articles 25392: Isolating issues in Mac OS X, 25398: Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue> and 4299: Application Issues and Basic Troubleshooting (and some of their links) may be very helpful — it can be difficult for all of us to keep everything in perspective when faced with such problems. Some parts of Article 106464: Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X may also be pertinent.
A few final points. You've mentioned "crazy crash(es)," leaving me wondering . . .
Are there <Application name>.crash.logs accessible using Console in either ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter or /Library/Logs/CrashReporter that correspond to any of the behaviors you've described? (Check the time stamps on entries vs. your recollections/observations.) How about panic.logs in /Library/Logs/? If you closely monitor the processes in an Activity Monitor window, do/have any showed up in red typeface — indicating they're "hanging" — and what are they?
Leon, I hope some of my suggestions are useful to you. Hang in there!
Good luck!
Dean
Message was edited by: Dean Pahl