Another system freeze thread

Question

My apologies in advance on the possible redundancy... I'm a long time Mac user (1985 & a little Fat Mac), and I've never been discouraged with a problem such as this. I don't claim to be an expert, but I've seen alot through the years.
I've had my G5 (Dual 2GHz PowerPC, 2GB SDRAM, OS 10.4.7) for going on 3 years now, and just the other day for the first time I started to experience random freezes. Total system freezes, where the cursor begins to spin endlessly and the clock stops. (I used to believe that pressing the capslock key could identify whether the system was just lagging, or indeed frozen if the light came on... The light would come on, but the system never caught up.) The only way to get my system back is to power-cycle.
This happens to me sometimes just after the computer has booted and is just sitting there (I have no apps set to automatically load up). Sometimes it happens when I double-click to open my HD. It will sometimes happen randomly after selecting various apps to open from the Dock or from their file in the Applications folder. I've tried leaving my Activity Monitor open to see what happens just as it freezes, but I can't catch anything.
I've removed all external devices, stripped it down to just the G5, the keyboard, monitor and mouse.
I zapped the PRAM.
I have run all of the Disk, Permissions and Cache drills...
I have Onyx installed and have used both it's maintenance tools and cleaning tools...
I have used DiskWarrior to verify the directory (it has come back clean) and replaced it anyway with a fresh copy. (I've used v.3.0.3 - compatible with Tiger.)
I boot it back up, and bam - just when I least expect it I freeze up.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Mike

Answer 1

Hi, I have the same problem too since a year or so. (I also own a G5 dual 2GH, 1GB RAM).
The freezes became frequent with Tiger 10.4 and every day get worst. Today I'm 10.4.7.
I've taken to support service and, along a year, the hard driver have been replaced once, RAM once too, the motherboard has been replaced twice and first a micro and last the other (few days ago) have been replaced too.
My G5 keeps freezing. Some times with kernel errors on screen, but major times the screen freezes and in few minutes, the fans begin to spin fast and loudly.
Many times after the freeze the system can be rebooted and is usable (no freezes in hours), but sometimes it keep freezing and "refreezing" and so on and I can not use the system in days.
Any times the freezes ocurs when I'm logged in the system, other when is booting (you can see the spinning gear and suddenly it stops). Another times the system frezzes before it begin to load the sistem.
Does any one have a solution.
TIA
Antonio Peinado
PS My son has an identical G5 bought both together and works fine, no freeze in two years.
G5 dual 2GH, 1GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.7)