Freezing after a few minutes or open more than 2 tabs beta10/12

Question

After beta 10 firefox freezes up after a few minutes and have to ctrl alt delete to close it, i noticed the memory drops from 120,000 to 40,000+ only seemed to happen after beta 10, firefox 3.6 works fine
windos7x64 beta12

Answer 1

Michael Lafferty wrote:
The symptoms you describe with and ALS model are indicative of a power supply failure, and not an issue with electrolytic capacitors on the logic board.
I was speaking about the components in the power supply, although the Logic Board components are also in visually good condition.
My concern is; replacing the PS may place greater pressure on the components of the Logic Board, which are obviously of the same age. Precipitating a similar failure in the LB at an early stage...
£100 for a power supply is one thing, then the probability of £200+ for a LB replacement is quite another. £300+ is not a viable repair for a 5 year old iMac in my opinion.
A dealer or service provider can replace the power supply, which should completely address your issue EXCEPT to the extent that repeated, abnormal shutdowns have damaged your drive directory. Using Disk Utility as a first pass may address any such concerns. More extensive directory damage will require a utility like Disk Warrior.
Quite capable of replacing PS my self, not too worried about the warranty aspect now!
Agreed, repeated shut downs may have messed the directory. The contents have been duplicated throughout the life of the machine, so backup is not an issue, a reformat and zero of the drive would be a natural progression from replacing the PS, if we go that route.
The part required for replacement in an iMac 17 inch (ALS) model is the 661-3627. In the 20 inch (ALS) model, it is a 661-3625.
Thank you for your observations and help, also for the confirmation of the part #. There are some new on UK eBay right now @ £80 - £100.
Message was edited by: Epochmaker due to omissions in the text.