IMac suddenly shutdown by itself. Average time of work - around 5 min.

About year ago my iMac started to shutdown itself. First it was rare, then i forgot about this problem, and few months ago it started to do it again. And now it works no longer then five minutes.
But I found the one condition when it works well - when it works with opened display (i just unscrew display). I think the problem is in cooling system. And it could be shutsown when I gently punch it. So, maybe bad fan? Or I need to oil the fan? Any ideas?

Here is a temperature:
First number for opened case, second for closed case.
HDD 44 50
CPU 32 44
Airport 46.5 57
Ambient 23 28
GPU 42 53
GPU diod 40 52
GPU Heat 38 52
HD Bay 44 48
speed of all fans is the same in any condition
only HDD fan is 1270 rpm when it closed.
this is the lines from system.log
nothing special I think
no temperature words
Dec 11 22:05:56 Macintosh-3 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.qmaster.qmasterd[2269]): Exited with exit code: 1
Dec 11 22:06:44 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: * launchd[1] has started up. *
Dec 11 22:06:49 localhost DirectoryService[11]: Improper shutdown detected
Dec 11 22:06:50 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Maybe information from "all logs" will be more usefull?

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I have an ipod touch 4g it was just Fine and today i tried to plug it to my laptop to sync music and it suddenly turned off and it didn't work for 15 mins and then it worked but i can no longer sync apps or music plz help me as soon as you can

I have an ipod touch 4g it was just Fine and today i tried to plug it to my laptop to sync music and it suddenly turned off and it didn't work for 15 mins and then it worked but i can no longer sync apps or music plz help me as soon as you can

If you have not taken the iPod apart, Apple will exchange it for a refurbished one for $99. You can do it an an Apple store
- Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store.
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar
Or sent it to Apple

Sudden shutdowns at a specific time

I have a Dual-Core 2x2.66 Mac Pro that has a strange sudden shutdown issue. I don't have any mixed RAM or anything like that. Nor do I have an PCI cards for expansion. The Mac just has a couple of Apple SATA drives internally and a few FireWire drives on it's ports.
I did a search but didn't find anything that duplicates my problem.
Basically the Mac does a sudden shutdown and reboot every so often with varying frequency (sometimes several times a week, sometimes once a week).
The odd things is that other than a rare exception, it always occurs at a specific time of day (8:41 am to be exact).
My first thought was that perhaps I have some software that is running an automatic, prescheduled function at that time and that is causing the problem. But a review of the software I have installed that I know does this type of thing reveals no prescheduled activities at this time. I have even tried to watch my Activity Monitor at that time and of course the times that I do so, the shutdown doesn't occur.
It seems to me it maybe software/system related, but I hesitate to go all out and wipe my system and reinstall everything because of the sheer number of Apps I have loaded (I do graphics and video work so I am running full suites of Apple and Adobe stuff as well as a bunch of other stuff).
I would certainly do so if I were sure that were the problem, but I don't want to do that if it isn't going to resolve anything?
I had a similar issue with an iMac, but that was not time of day dependent and occurred far more frequently - AppleCare replaced the power supply.
Any thoughts on the cause?
Thanks

As a test try deleting the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist file. You might also try booting into safe mode to see if that makes a difference. Also creating a new user account and logging into that account (log out of your normal account) may also be useful in troubleshooting this.

I'm in CA. My Face time quit working Thursday April 17. I need it to talk to my dad in the hospital in FL. Seems others in CA are having this problem. Help!

I'm in CA and my Face Time quit working around Thursday April 17. I need it to talk to my dad in the hospital in FL. Please help.

Judging by all the posts on the forum, there seems to be an issue at Apple's end, although they have made no announcement on their status page.
http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

Microsoft Office 2004 (Word) unable to save files I have been running Office 2004 on my Intel iMac with Snow Leopard for some time and all of a sudden I cannot save a document. Word just stopped responding and I have to force quit. I can open Word and cr

Microsoft Office 2004 (Word) unable to save files
I have been running Office 2004 on my Intel iMac with Snow Leopard for some time and all of a sudden I cannot save a document. Word just stopped responding and I have to force quit. I can open Word and create a new document but I cannot save it. I reinstalled Word but that didn’t help. Then went to the Internet and found at least one other Mac user having the same problem which it suggests is caused by a recent Mac Security Update:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2004-macword/word-2004-wil l-not-open-or-save-documents/b04eb870-9b0d-4f3b-bb47-b122301e36f6
So I check for a new Mac Security Update and sure enough there was one. I downloaded it and now Word seems to be working, as it should. I can both open and save files. The only problem remaining is that when I open Word I get the following error message “An unexpected error occurred while trying to load the Microsoft Framework library”. I contacted Apple but they were unable to help.
How can I get rid of this error message?

Look, I realize you might have to get your machine working, so this is how you revert back.
Restore proceedure to pre-Security Update 2012-001 v 1.0 & v 1.1
#1 Backup your personal data off the machine.
Backup files off the computer (not to TimeMachine). If you don't have a external drive, get one and connect to the USB/Firewire port and simply drag and drop copy your User folder to the external drive, it will copy all your files. It's best to have two backups of your data off the machine when trying to restore.
Disconnect all drives now to prevent any mistakes from occuring.
#2 Reinstall OS X 10.6 from disk
Get out your 10.6 install disk and make sure it's clean and polished (very soft cloth and a bit of rubbing alcohol, no scratches) If your disk is borked, you'll have to order a new one from Apple with your serial number.
Hold c boot off the 10.6 disk (wired keyboard, internal optical drive), use Disk Utility First Aid to >Repair Disk of your internal drive (do not format or erase!!), Quit DU and simply re-install 10.6.
Note: Simply reinstalling 10.6 version from disk (without erasing the drive) only replaces 10.6.8 with 10.6.x and bundled Apple programs, won't touch your files (backup anyway) or most programs, unless they installed a kext file into OS X itself. (only a few on average do this)
#3 Update to 10.6.8 without Security Update 2012-001 v1.0 or v1.1
Reboot and log in, update to 10.6.8 via Software Update, but EXCLUDE THE Security Update 2012-001 by checkinig the details and unchecking the blue check box.
#4 Reinstall any non-working third party programs
When you reboot, make sure to reinstall any programs that require kext files installed into OS X, you'll know, they won't work when you launch them or hang for some reason as they are missing the part they installed into OS X.
If for some freakish reason you get gray screen at any time when booting (possible it might occur when you reinstall older programs), hold the shift key down while booting (Safe Mode, disables kext files) and update your installed third party software so it's compatible with 10.6.8.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
That's it really.

Sudden Shutdown of iMacs with 16GB of RAM

An ongoing discussion of iMac shutdowns over at Apple Discussion has prompted me to try to get some answers to this issue that we too are seeing in one of our i5 iMacs with 16GB of 3rd Party RAM.
http://discussions.apple.com/messageview.jspa?messageID=13311466&stqc=true
Recently we found that the issue could be repeated when transforming a layer in Photoshop CS5. Dragging the image around, resizing it a few times will consistently cause a sudden shutdown of the machine. Not a standard shutdown or kernel panic, but an instant off to black screen. The machine will boot right back up with no problem.
Further, we also found that this would occur when the Photoshop tile cache size was set to 128k. Setting it up to 1024k seemed to get rid of the issue and we were never able to recreate the issue when set to 1024k tile cache.
Now I would think to blame Photoshop, but it happened in CS4 and CS5. It also has happened in other apps as well. It just so happens that Photoshop
is doing something that exacerbates the issue and triggers it.
Now, my question is this. And it is rather technical in nature, so if any Adobe techs are reading this, I would love your take on it.
I'd like to know what is going on in terms of data exchange between, RAM, video card or swap space when an image is being transformed.
Does the change in the tile cache size change how large the chunks of data are that are cached to the video card as well?
I'm wondering what the change in tile cache size could possibly be changing that could alleviate this issue.
There are also a number of reports that say removing 4 or 8 GB to leave 12GB or 8GB configs alleviates this issue as well. Do machines with smaller RAM configs exchange data in different size blocks?
I hope this all makes sense. Any info would be appreciated.
Scott

Not a standard shutdown or kernel panic, but an instant off to black screen.
That means that you have a hardware problem, probably in the RAM, but possibly in the motherboard. (having inadequate power supply to the RAM is a common problem that causes this - could be a bad capacitor, or a bad design)
An Apple technician should be able to put a scope on the power and signal pins of the RAM and see the problem happen (looking for a capacitive discharge pattern in the signals, dropping below signal threshold).
Changing the tile and cache size just changes the RAM access pattern slightly, but doesn't affect GPU usage much.
Yes, Photoshop moves a lot of data in and out of RAM with highly optimized code - which tends to expose problems with the hardware sooner than other applications.

HT201250 My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

My MacBook Pro (using OSX 10.7.5) suddenly can't find the Time Machine backup disk, which is on the harddrive of my desktop iMac. What to do?

Inherit a Backup
Inherit a Backup (2)

My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine. I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything. The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago.`

My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine. I tried unplugging the cord that connects the HD to the iMac and plugging it back in, but I still get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" below which are buttons for Initialize, Ignore and Eject. I was using a cord that went from larger square plug to larger square plug. So then I tried one that went from smaller square plug to what I think is USB (thin rectangular plug) of the sort that connects the keyboard and mouse. It's the type that my printers and scanners use to connect to the iMac. I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything. The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago. What else can I try before just trying to initialize and

Thanks, Michael! I do hear it at times spooling up and running. Just after I bumped the thread I looked for troubleshooting for this drive online and found the manual which suggested using Disk Utility which I've seen before accidentally (if I hit Command Shift U instead of Shift U to type "Unit" on a new folder for a student's homework ) but had never really noticed. Disk Utility does see it and also a sub-something (directory?) which might be the Time Machine archives on the disk, called disk1s2), sort of the way that my iMac's hard drive shows up as 640.14 GB Nitachi HDT7... and has a sub-something titled DB iMac, which is what I named my iMac's hard drive.
Anyway the owner's manual just shows the image under the formatting section, not the troubleshooting section, but as soon as I saw it in the manual I remembered seeing it accidentally a few times, went to it, and am now verifying the disk. Right now it's telling me that it will take 2 hours to complete the verification, so I guess I have a bigt of a wait. :-)
Does that fact that Disk Utilities can see it mean it's not failed, or just that it hasn't completely failed?
I can see the virtue in having multiple redundant backups, or at least two backups. What do you suggest? Two external hard drives? I had this one linked by ethernet, and but I also have a cord that could link it by USB (like a printer), so if this one is reparable I could get a second one and link it by USB. If this one is not reparable I could get two and do the same thing. I do have an Airport so I suppose it's possible to get some sort of Wi-Fi hard drive (my new printer/scanner uses only the network and not a cable, although it has a cable that I used for the initial installation), but I'd suspect a Wi-Fi hard drive might have a higher price.
What hard drives, if any, do you recommend? I seem to recall that when I was looking at external hard drives 4 years ago, Apple's were substantially more expensive, which is why I got the OWC Mercury Elite All Pro.

My imac is 2008 model. It shuts down suddenly often by itself. Any idea how to fix?

My imac is 2008 model OS X (10.5.8) . It shuts down suddenly often by itself. And sometimes not able to restart. Any idea how to fix?

I know exactly what you are going through. I am almost 100% sure it has to be due to these other failures involving temperature. Mine is in this group. Here is a further discussion:
Re: 75% failure rate on 24" iMac hard drives?
created by John P. in iMac (Intel) - View the full discussion
As an anecdote, our 20" early 2008 iMac has been running fine since we bought it nearly three years ago. The AppleCare is up at the end of this month so unless Murphy's Law notices we expect another year or two out of it before we upgrade it. It's on probably 18-22hrs out of every day.
Reply to this message by going to Apple Support Communities
Start a new discussion in iMac (Intel) at Apple Support Communities
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IMac suddenly chimes, and reboots itself repeatedly

can anyone help? My early 2008 iMac suddenly reboots itself, chimes, but then screen does not come on. I can hear the disk spinning, but no video, and the mouse and keyboard dont have any effect.
Afetr a while, it suddenly responds to the power button, and then reboots itself randomly. Been happening randomly now for long, and its driving me crazy!!
Any idears anyone please.....??

Try using Apple Hardware Test on your iMac it sounds like a video or RAM problem.

IMac goes to sleep/hibernate multiple times per day after installing Maverick OS. I have to shutdown and power back on.

iMac goes to sleep/hibernate multiple times per day after installing Maverick OS. Moving the mouse or hitting the spcaebar will not wake the pc.
I have to shutdown and power back on. My iMac was purchased in January 2011 and no longer in warrenty. The energy saver 'sleep' and 'display' settings are set at 10 minutes. When I changed to 'never' the machine got very hot and I changed the settings back. I have checks by: Put hard disk to sleep when possible and wake for network access. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

When open my imac just got white screen and it shutdown by itself in maverick

when I open Imac It start and it load but when it load it shutdown by itself
Can someone help me?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, or by corruption of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin. Test while in safe mode. Same problem? After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

My iMac suddenly runs very slowly

My iMac began running extremely slow suddenly. I have a photography and design company that I rely on the speediness of my machine. I ran an EtreCheck. Can someone decipher what may be causing this?
Problem description:
iMac suddenly running slow
EtreCheck version: 2.1.2 (105)
Report generated December 10, 2014 at 8:34:27 PM CST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) (Verified)
iMac - model: iMac14,3
1 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Video Information: ℹ️
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M - VRAM: 1024 MB
iMac 1920 x 1080
System Software: ℹ️
OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: 1:9:3
Disk Information: ℹ️
APPLE HDD ST1000LM024 disk0 : (1 TB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (629.51 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
USB Information: ℹ️
Seagate Expansion Desk 3 TB
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 315 MB
Seagate Expansion Drive (disk1s2) /Volumes/Seagate Expansion Drive : 3.00 TB (1.82 TB free)
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Western Digital My Passport 0730 500.07 GB
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
disk2s1 (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 32 KB
New Bloom External HD (disk2s3) /Volumes/New Bloom External HD : 499.94 GB (33.48 GB free)
H850S 81
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
Anywhere
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/System/Library/Extensions
[loaded] com.logmein.driver.LogMeInSoundDriver (4.1.46f67) [Support]
[loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.6 - SDK 10.4) [Support]
/System/Library/Extensions/Seagate Storage Driver.kext/Contents/PlugIns
[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.6 - SDK 10.4) [Support]
[loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.6 - SDK 10.5) [Support]
[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.6 - SDK 10.4) [Support]
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist
[failed] com.apple.cmfsyncagent.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.recentsd.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.spindump_agent.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist [Details]
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.ctkd.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist
[failed] com.apple.nehelper.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.softwareupdated.plist [Details]
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist [Details]
[running] com.seagate.TBDecorator.plist [Support]
[failed] org.cups.cupsd.plist [Details]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Support]
[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Support]
[running] com.logmein.logmeingui.plist [Support]
[running] com.logmein.logmeinguiagent.plist [Support]
[not loaded] com.logmein.logmeinguiagentatlogin.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
[running] com.logmein.logmeinserver.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
[running] com.seagate.dashboard.plist [Support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
None
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.246 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.246 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 16.0.0.235
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30317.0 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 71 Check version
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player [Support]
Java [Support]
Seagate Dashboard for Mac OSX [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 369.83 GB
Destinations:
Seagate Expansion Drive [Local]
Total size: 3.00 TB
Total number of backups: 76
Oldest backup: 2014-04-19 01:52:26 +0000
Last backup: 2014-12-11 01:17:13 +0000
Size of backup disk: Excellent
Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk size 999.35 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      22% Seagate Dashboard 3.0
      4% WindowServer
      3% com.apple.WebKit.Networking
      2% Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5
      1% Safari
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
893 MB Seagate Dashboard 3.0
429 MB Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5
352 MB Adobe Bridge CC
215 MB Adobe Photoshop CC 2014
180 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
145 MB Free RAM
1.80 GB Active RAM
1.48 GB Inactive RAM
1.06 GB Wired RAM
4.39 GB Page-ins
103 MB Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Dec 10, 2014, 07:26:03 PM Self test - passed
Dec 10, 2014, 08:12:43 PM Adobe Photoshop CC 2014_2014-12-10-201243_Ashleas-iMac.cpu_resource.diag [Details]
Dec 7, 2014, 11:21:39 PM Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5_2014-12-07-232139_Ashleas-iMac.cpu_resource.diag [Details]

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.
Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.
2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.
There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.
You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.
In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.
You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of the script have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message.
Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.
4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:
☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.
☞ Paste into the window of another application.
☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.
☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.
The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.
5. You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode, under the conditions in which the problem is reproduced. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.
6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.
7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=(Software Hardware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Fonts SerialATA 4 1000 25 5120 KiB/s 1024 85 \\b%% 20480 1 MB/s 25000 ports ' com.clark.\* \*dropbox \*genieo\* \*GoogleDr\* \*k.AutoCAD\* \*k.Maya\* vidinst\* ' DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES\ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH -86 "` route -n get default|awk '/e:/{print $2}' `" 25 N\\/A down up 102400 25600 recvfrom sendto CFBundleIdentifier 25 25 25 1000 MB ' com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0 com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0 com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager com.adobe.fpsaud com.adobe.SwitchBoard com.adobe.SwitchBoard com.apple.aelwriter com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent com.apple.FolderActions.enabled com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing com.apple.mrt.uiagent com.apple.ReportCrash.Self com.apple.rpmuxd com.apple.SafariNotificationAgent com.apple.usbmuxd com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate com.google.keystone.agent com.google.keystone.daemon com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx org.macosforge.xquartz.startx ' ' 879294308 4071182229 461455494 3627668074 1083382502 1274181950 1855907737 2758863019 1848501757 464843899 3694147963 1233118628 2456546649 2806998573 2778718105 2636415542 842973933 2051385900 3301885676 891055588 998894468 695903914 1443423563 4136085286 523110921 2883943871 3873345487 ' 51 5120 files );N5=${#p[@]};p[N5]=` networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder|awk ' NR>1 { sub(/^$[0-9]+$ /,"");n=$0;getline;} $NF=="'${p[26]}')" { sub(/.$/,"",$NF);print n;exit;} ' `;f=('\n%s: %s\n' '\n%s\n\n%s\n' '\nRAM details\n%s\n' %s\ %s '%s\n-\t%s\n' );S0() { echo ' { q=$NF+0;$NF="";u=$(NF-1);$(NF-1)="";gsub(/^ +| +$/,"");if(q>='${p[$1]}') printf("%s (UID %s) is using %s '${p[$2]}'",$0,u,q);} ';};s=(' s/[0-9A-Za-z._]+@[0-9A-Za-z.]+\.[0-9A-Za-z]{2,4}/EMAIL/g;/faceb/s/(at\.)[^.]+/\1NAME/g;/\/Shared/!s/(\/Users\/)[^ /]+/\1USER/g;s/[-0-9A-Fa-f]{22,}/UUID/g;' ' s/^ +//;/de: S|[nst]:/p;' ' {sub(/^ +/,"")};/er:/;/y:/&&$2<'${p[10]} ' 1s/://;3,6d;/[my].+:/d;s/^ {4}//;H;${ g;s/\n$//;/s: (E[^m]|[^EO])|x([^08]|02[^F]|8[^0])/p;} ' ' 5h;6{ H;g;/P/!p;} ' ' ($1~/^Cy/&&$3>'${p[11]}')||($1~/^Cond/&&$2!~/^N/) ' ' /:$/{ N;/:.+:/d;s/ *://;b0'$'\n'' };/^ *(V.+ [0N]|Man).+ /{ s/ 0x.... //;s/[()]//g;s/(.+: )(.+)/ (\2)/;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;s/\n\n//;/Apple[ ,]|Genesy|Intel|SMSC/d;s/\n.*//;/\)$/p;' ' s/^.*C/C/;H;${ g;/No th|pms/!p;} ' '/= [^GO]/p' '{$1=""};1' ' /Of/!{ s/^.+is |\.//g;p;} ' ' $0&&!/ / { n++;print;} END { if(n<10) print "com.apple.";} ' ' { sub(/ :/,"");print|"tail -n'${p[12]}'";} ' ' NR==2&&$4<='${p[13]}' { print $4;} ' ' END { $2/=256;if($2>='${p[15]}') print int($2) } ' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 21 22`" 'NR!=2{next}'"`S0 37 17`" ' NR!=5||$8!~/[RW]/{next};{ $(NF-1)=$1;$NF=int($NF/10000000);for(i=1;i<=3;i++){$i="";$(NF-1-i)="";};};'"`S0 19 20`" 's:^:/:p' '/\.kext\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/p' 's/^.{52}(.+) <.+/\1/p' ' /Launch[AD].+\.plist$/ { n++;print;} END { if(n<200) print "/System/";} ' '/\.xpc\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/p' ' NR>1&&!/0x|\.[0-9]+$|com\.apple\.launchctl\.(Aqua|Background|System)$/ { print $3;} ' ' /\.(framew|lproj)|\):/d;/plist:|:.+(Mach|scrip)/s/:[^:]+//p ' '/^root$/p' ' !/\/Contents\/.+\/Contents|Applic|Autom|Frameworks/&&/Lib.+\/Info.plist$/ { n++;print;} END { if(n<1100) print "/System/";} ' '/^\/usr\/lib\/.+dylib$/p' ' /Temp|emac/{next};/(etc|Preferences|Launch[AD].+)\// { sub(".(/private)?","");n++;print;} END { split("'"${p[41]}"'",b);split("'"${p[42]}"'",c);for(i in b) print b[i]".plist\t"c[i];if(n<500) print "Launch";} ' ' /\/(Contents\/.+\/Contents|Frameworks)\/|\.wdgt\/.+\.([bw]|plu)/d;p;' 's/\/(Contents\/)?Info.plist$//;p' ' { gsub("^| |\n","\\|\\|kMDItem'${p[35]}'=");sub("^...."," ") };1 ' p '{print $3"\t"$1}' 's/\'$'\t''.+//p' 's/1/On/p' '/Prox.+: [^0]/p' '$2>'${p[43]}'{$2=$2-1;print}' ' BEGIN { i="'${p[26]}'";M1='${p[16]}';M2='${p[18]}';M3='${p[31]}';M4='${p[32]}';} !/^A/{next};/%/ { getline;if($5<M1) a="user "$2"%, system "$4"%";} /disk0/&&$4>M2 { b=$3" ops/s, "$4" blocks/s";} $2==i { if(c) { d=$3+$4+$5+$6;next;};if($4>M3||$6>M4) c=int($4/1024)" in, "int($6/1024)" out";} END { if(a) print "CPU: "a;if(b) print "I/O: "b;if(c) print "Net: "c" (KiB/s)";if(d) print "Net errors: "d" packets/s";} ' ' /r\[0\] /&&$NF!~/^1(0|72\.(1[6-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-1])|92\.168)\./ { print $NF;exit;} ' ' !/^T/ { printf "(static)";exit;} ' '/apsd|BKAg|OpenD/!s/:.+//p' ' (/k:/&&$3!~/(255\.){3}0/ )||(/v6:/&&$2!~/A/ ) ' ' $1~"lR"&&$2<='${p[25]}';$1~"li"&&$3!~"wpa2";' ' BEGIN { FS=":";p="uniq -c|sed -E '"'s/ +\$[0-9]+\$\$.+\$/\\\2 x\\\1/;s/x1$//'"'";} { n=split($3,a,".");sub(/_2[01].+/,"",$3);print $2" "$3" "a[n]$1|p;b=b$1;} END { close(p);if(b) print("\n\t* Code injection");} ' ' NR!=4{next} {$NF/=10240} '"`S0 27 14`" ' END { if($3~/[0-9]/)print$3;} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[36]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n   "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n   [N/A]";"cksum "F|getline C;split(C, A);C="checksum "A[1];"file -b "F|getline T;if(T!~/^(AS.+ (En.+ )?text(, with v.+)?$|(Bo|PO).+ sh.+ text ex|XM)/) F=F" ("T", "C")";else F=F" ("C")";printf("\nContents of %s\n%s\n",F,f);if(l>L) printf("\n   ...and %s more line(s)\n",l-L);} ' ' s/^ ?n...://p;s/^ ?p...:/-'$'\t''/p;' 's/0/Off/p' ' END{print NR} ' ' /id: N|te: Y/{i++} END{print i} ' ' / / { print "'"${p[28]}"'";exit;};1;' '/ en/!s/\.//p' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-M]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 39 40`" ' $10~/$L/&&$9!~"localhost" { sub(/.+:/,"",$9);print $1": "$9|"sort|uniq";} ' '/^ +r/s/.+"(.+)".+/\1/p' 's/(.+\.wdgt)\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/\1/p' 's/^.+\/(.+)\.wdgt$/\1/p' ' /l: /{ /DVD/d;s/.+: //;b0'$'\n'' };/s: /{ /V/d;s/^ */- /;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/APPLE [^:]+$/d;p;' ' /^find: /d;p;' "`S0 44 45`" ' BEGIN{FS="= "} /Path/{print $2} ' ' /^ *$/d;s/^ */   /;' ' s/^.+ |\(.+$$//g;p ' '/\.(appex|pluginkit)\/Contents\/Info\.plist$/p' ' /2/{print "WARN"};/4/{print "CRITICAL"};' ' /EVHF|MACR|^s/d;s/^.+: //p;' );c1=(system_profiler pmset\ -g nvram fdesetup find syslog df vm_stat sar ps crontab iotop top pkgutil 'PlistBuddy 2>&1 -c "Print' whoami cksum kextstat launchctl smcDiagnose sysctl\ -n defaults\ read stat lsbom mdfind ' for i in ${p[24]};do ${c1[18]} ${c2[27]} $i;done;' pluginkit scutil dtrace profiles sed\ -En awk /S*/*/P*/*/*/C*/*/airport networksetup mdutil lsof test osascript\ -e );c2=(com.apple.loginwindow\ LoginHook '" /L*/P*/loginw*' "'tell app \"System Events\" to get properties of login items'|tr , \\\n" 'L*/Ca*/com.ap*.Saf*/E*/* -d 1 -name In*t -exec '"${c1[14]}"' :CFBundleDisplayName" {} \;|sort|uniq' '~ $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 $' '.??* -path .Trash -prune -o -type d -name *.app -print -prune' :${p[35]}\" :Label\" '{/,}L*/{Con,Pref}* -type f ! -size 0 -name *.plist -exec plutil -s {} \;' "-f'%N: %l' Desktop L*/Keyc*" therm sysload boot-args status " -F '\$Time \$(RefProc): \$Message' -k Sender Req 'fsev|kern|launchd' -k RefProc Rne 'Aq|WebK' -k Message Rne 'Goog|ksadm|probe|Roame|SMC:|smcD|sserti|suhel| VALI|ver-r|xpma' -k Message Req 'abn|bad |Beac|caug|corru|dead[^bl]|FAIL|fail|GPU |hfs: Ru|inval|jnl:|last value [1-9]|NVDA$|pagin|pci pa|proc: t|Roamed|rror|SL|TCON|Throttli|tim(ed? ?|ing )o|WARN' " '-du -n DEV -n EDEV 1 10' 'acrx -o comm,ruid,%cpu' '-t1 10 1' '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/com.apple.*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cght] ! -name .?\* ! -name \*ag \( -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true $ -execdir stat -f:%Sc:%N -t%F {} \;|sort -t: -k2 |tail -n'${p[38]} '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc* >&- ||echo No' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' '-L /S*/L*/{C*/Sec*A,Ex}* {/,}L*/{A*d,Ca*/*/Ex,Co{mpon,reM},Ex,In{p,ter},iTu*/*P,Keyb,Mail/B,Pr*P,Qu*T,Scripti,Sec,Servi,Spo,Widg}* -path \\*s/Resources -prune -o -type f -name Info.plist' '/usr/lib -type f -name *.dylib' `awk "${s[31]}"<<<${p[23]}` "/e*/{auto,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,mach_i*/*,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {,/usr/local}/etc/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t {/S*/,/,}L*/Lau*/*t .launchd.conf" list getenv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' -I --dns -getdnsservers\ "${p[N5]}" -getinfo\ "${p[N5]}" -P -m\ / '' -n1 '-R -l1 -n1 -o prt -stats command,uid,prt' '--regexp --only-files --files com.apple.pkg.*|sort|uniq' -kl -l -s\ / '-R -l1 -n1 -o mem -stats command,uid,mem' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' com.apple.dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER&&echo On' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' "+c0 -l|awk '{print(\$1,\$3)}'|sort|uniq -c|sort -n|tail -1|awk '{print(\$2,\$3,\$1)}'" -m 'L*/{Con*/*/Data/L*/,}Pref* -type f -size 0c -name *.plist.???????|wc -l' kern.memorystatus_vm_pressure_level '3>&1 >&- 2>&3' " -F '\$Time \$Message' -k Sender kernel -k Message CSeq 'n Cause: -' " );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..9};do c2[N1+j]=SP${p[j]}DataType;done;N2=${#c2[@]};for j in 0 1;do c2[N2+j]="-n ' syscall::'${p[33+j]}':return { @out[execname,uid]=sum(arg0) } tick-10sec { trunc(@out,1);exit(0);} '";done;l=(Restricted\ files Hidden\ apps 'Elapsed time (s)' POST Battery Safari\ extensions Bad\ plists 'High file counts' User Heat System\ load boot\ args FileVault Diagnostic\ reports Log 'Free space (MiB)' 'Swap (MiB)' Activity 'CPU per process' Login\ hook 'I/O per process' Mach\ ports kexts Daemons Agents XPC\ cache Startup\ items Admin\ access Root\ access Bundles dylibs Apps Font\ issues Inserted\ dylibs Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi Profiles Root\ crontab User\ crontab 'Global login items' 'User login items' Spotlight Memory Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching SATA Descriptors App\ extensions Lockfiles Memory\ pressure SMC Shutdowns );N3=${#l[@]};for i in 0 1 2;do l[N3+i]=${p[5+i]};done;N4=${#l[@]};for j in 0 1;do l[N4+j]="Current ${p[29+j]}stream data";done;A0() { id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]==0))&&sudo true;v[2]=$?;v[3]=`date +%s`;clear >&-;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';};for i in 0 1;do eval ' A'$((1+i))'() { v=` eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((3+i))'() { v=` while read i;do [[ "$i" ]]&&eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}" \"$i\"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}";done<<<"${v[$4]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((5+i))'() { v=` while read i;do '${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$1]}" "$i";done<<<"${v[$2]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((7+i))'() { v=` eval sudo "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};';done;A9(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};B2(){ v[$1]="$v";};for i in 0 1;do eval ' B'$i'() { v=;((v['$((i+1))']==0))||{ v=No;false;};};B'$((3+i))'() { v[$2]=`'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}"<<<"${v[$1]}"`;} ';done;B5(){ v[$1]="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d: <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F: ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`grep -Fv "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"`;};C0() { [[ "$v" ]]&&sed -E "$s"<<<"$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v"|sed -E "$s";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { v=`sed -E "${s[63]}"<<<"$v"`&&C1 1 $1;};for i in 1 2 7 8;do for j in 0 2 3;do eval D$i$j'(){ A'$i' $1 $2 $3; C'$j' $4;};';done;done;{ A0;D20 0 $((N1+1)) 2;D10 0 $N1 1;B0;C2 27;B0&&! B1&&C2 28;D12 15 37 25 8;A1 0 $((N1+2)) 3;C0;D13 0 $((N1+3)) 4 3;D23 0 $((N1+4)) 5 4;D13 0 $((N1+9)) 59 50;for i in 0 1 2;do D13 0 $((N1+5+i)) 6 $((N3+i));done;D13 1 10 7 9;D13 1 11 8 10;B1&&D73 19 53 67 55;D22 2 12 9 11;D12 3 13 10 12;D23 4 19 44 13;D23 5 54 12 56;D23 5 14 12 14;D22 6 36 13 15;D22 20 52 66 54;D22 7 37 14 16;D23 8 15 38 17;D22 9 16 16 18;B1&&{ D82 35 49 61 51;D82 11 17 17 20;for i in 0 1;do D82 28 $((N2+i)) 45 $((N4+i));done;};D22 12 44 54 45;D22 12 39 15 21;A1 13 40 18;B2 4;B3 4 0 19;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 5 11;A1 17 41 20;B7 5;C3 22;B4 4 6 21;A3 14 7 32 6;B4 0 7 11;B3 4 0 22;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 8 11;B5 7 8;B1&&{ A8 18 26 23;B7 7;C3 23;};A2 18 26 23;B7 7;C3 24;D13 4 21 24 26;B4 4 12 26;B3 4 13 27;A1 4 22 29;B7 12;B2 14;A4 14 6 52 14;B2 15;B6 14 15 4;B3 0 0 30;C3 29;A1 4 23 27;B7 13;C3 30;B3 4 0 65;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 16 11;A1 26 50 64;B7 16;C3 52;D13 24 24 32 31;D13 25 37 32 33;A2 23 18 28;B2 16;A2 16 25 33;B7 16;B3 0 0 34;B2 21;A6 47 21&&C0;B1&&{ D73 21 0 32 19;D73 10 42 32 40;D82 29 35 46 39;};D23 14 1 62 42;D12 34 43 53 44;D12 22 20 32 25;D22 0 $((N1+8)) 51 32;D13 4 8 41 6;D12 21 28 35 34;D13 27 29 36 35;A2 27 32 39&&{ B2 19;A2 33 33 40;B2 20;B6 19 20 3;};C2 36;D23 33 34 42 37;B1&&D83 35 45 55 46;D23 32 31 43 38;D12 36 47 32 48;D13 10 42 32 41;D13 37 2 48 43;D13 4 5 32 1;D13 4 3 60 5;D12 21 48 49 49;B3 4 22 57;A1 21 46 56;B7 22;B3 0 0 58;C3 47;D22 4 4 50 0;D12 4 51 32 53;D23 22 9 37 7;A9;C2 2;} 2>/dev/null|pbcopy;exit 2>&-
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
8. Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.
9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter
exec bash
and press return. Then paste the script again.
10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, press the key combination control-C or just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.
If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.
11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, there will be nothing in the Terminal window and no indication of progress. Wait for the line
[Process completed]
to appear. If you don't see it within half an hour or so, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, close the Terminal window and report what happened. No harm will be done.
12. When the test is complete, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.
At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.
If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.
13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.
14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak only for themselves, and I don't necessarily agree with them.
Copyright © 2014 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

Imac crash/shutdown during movie export

Hi,
I've just purchased Final CutPro X and while I was "exporting" my first movie my imac suddenly turn itself off! I am running the 27 imac i5 with 16gb RAM Mac OS X and after the first incident I tried exporting FCP X again with the Activity Monitor running. This time I noticed that out of the 16gb RAM I only had about 120mb Freeand then the computer shutdown again. The computer would restart normallywhen I turn it on after that.
What can I do?
Thanks,
Apiwat

Hi Apiwat,
I have the same spec computer exactly only the 21" but with 16GB, i5 running Lion and FCP X. I would not worry about the memory you show free since many people are reporting that ... many of whom are not affected by it. I am taking an educated guess here, but it seems like FCP X likes to allocate (reserve) as much as is available since it will be working with giga-byte clips. It can always release some of that memory if other processes/applications start up. I wrote operating systems for a living most of my life, and this is a fairly common practice. Mac OS X will be the referee between the apps over the memory usage.
Out of almost 100 exports/shares I have done using FCP X, I have only had my system crash twice. And I do fairly large projects. Both times were when I had done a lot of edits and added effects, titles and color processing, etc and tried to share (export) before the background rendering was complete. Maybe it was just coincidence, or that I'm a little over cautious, but nowadays I always let the background rendering complete before starting the share processing. If I feel I have done a heavy, heavy amount of processing in the edit session, I will exit out of that project and back to the project browser then come back into the project ... then start my export/share ... again after the background rendering has completed. When I wait for background processing to end before starting the export, I have never had a problem. Again, I am not saying this is defintely it ... just trying to give you something that might help a little. Best wishes,
stephen

Random, Sudden Shutdowns - A redux and other things to rule out first

Do a google search for "macbook random shutdown" and you'll find many people with similar problems reporting on various forums. At present, this issue has not been picked up by the mainstream PC news media. However, one should also note that only a fraction of those with problems are suffering this particular fault. A large number of other reasons must be ruled out before a MacBook owner should become convinced their machine is one which suffers this problem. Bad RAM, poorly seated RAM, improperly installed hard drive, corrupted OS, corrupted plists, bad batteries, bad chargers, corrupted PMU, and corrupted NVRAM all need to be ruled out first!
My own MacBook suffered the random sudden shutdown malady and eventually required complete replacement after a logic board replacement did not solve the issue. Some of the MacBooks appear to have a hardware problem which surfaces after a period of use. Many reported their problems starting after a month of ownership. Coincidentally, that also coincided with the release of 10.4.7, but most likely that is not at the root of the sudden, random, shutdown problem.
(However, 10.4.7 is strongly implicated in a separate MacBook problem - colored vertical lines during boot on some machines. That is probably a separate issue.)
Description of the Random, Sudden Shutdown Problem
MacBook suddenly shuts off to a completely powered down state seemingly at random. There are no kernel panic, mouse freezing, or other premonitory symptoms. The machine simply powers down suddenly. The screen goes black. The hard drive spins down and no sleep light illuminates. The machine simply turns itself off.
The shutdowns may occur on either battery or with AC adapter attached. Some owners report their MacBook is less prone to sudden shut down while on battery vs AC adapter. My own afflicted MacBook would suddenly shutdown on a fully charged battery or on either of two AC adapters.
The shutdowns occur with either 10.4.6 or 10.4.7 OS loaded. I went through several cycles of clean installs of the base 10.4.6 and the Intel Combo update to 10.4.7 before it became clear that it mattered not which OS was running. Another indicator that this is not an OS issue is that sudden shutdowns can occur in target mode and also when running just the Apple Hardware Test - which relies on minimal software to operate.
The shutdowns tend to grow more frequent once they begin. They may worsen to the point that a machine will not complete boot up before shutting down. It may take several power up presses to start the machine. Oddly enough, a machine that had difficulty starting up, may be easy to start up several minutes later. It may run for hours or minutes before another sudden shutdown. The frequency is low and random enough that is very difficult to demonstrate this fault to a service technician.
Some users are able to induce a sudden shutdown by running their CPU's at high load and thus heating up the machine. This is easily done by running the yes command in two Terminal windows. Some users report their MacBook is more prone to sudden shutdowns when their CPU is relatively cool. The bipolar reporting is confusing. There may be more than one type of sudden shutdown being reported. One due to CPU overheating and another due to another hardware problem which has yet to be elucidated.
Resetting of the PMU and PRAM MAY temporarily reduce the frequency of the sudden shutdowns, but the effect is temporary. Indeed, the effect may not even be real given the randomness of the shutdowns. None-the-less, one must perform PMU and PRAM resets to ensure that some corruption of those devices is not creating a reason for shutdowns. On my own MacBook, resetting PMU and PRAM (four chimes) did not prevent the random sudden shutdowns.
The sudden shutdowns occur with well seated stock RAM, replacement RAM, and reseated/replaced hard drives. Swapping out and testing both RAM and hard drive helps to eliminate those as the source of the problem. On my own machine, I exchanged the RAM and the hard drive to eliminate them as the cause. This made it considerably easier for the Apple genius to decide it was an internal problem.
In my case, a logic board replacement did indeed solve the fault, but several days later, sudden shutdowns began again. Presumably either the replacement board has the same weakness as the original or some other component of the machine was the actual reason for the sudden shutdowns. The former is quite likely because the machine was made stable for several days with a new logic board. At that point, I requested to be swapped to a new machine and the Apple Store manager wisely decided to help out his customer. For that I am most grateful. However, it is unlikely that the majority of people will have their machines swapped out, but instead repaired.
At this time, no official statement regarding cause for or acknowledgment of the MacBook's sudden random shutdown problem has been made. Because the underlying cause has not been revealed, it is impossible to know that a logic board replacement will permanently solve the problem or merely result in the same fault recurring later on the replacement board. Of course, we do not know if it actually is a logic board flaw.
My advice to MacBook owners whose machines develop the sudden random shutdown symptoms are to...
1. Get your data backed up immediately. The machine will likely suffer more and more frequent shutdown events.
2. Revert to stock RAM and hard drive if you have installed after-market replacements. You must do this and see if the shutdowns continue to occur. Otherwise, the first thing blamed will be your RAM and hard drive.
3a. Perform a PMU reset, by shutting down the MacBook. Removing the battery. Disconnect the AC Adapter. Then, press the power button for five seconds. The reinstall the battery and mains adapter. Restart the machine.
3b. Reset PRAM by holding option-command-P-R keys down during startup until you hear the chime at least three or four times.
Resetting the PMU and PRAM are standard procedures you'll otherwise be asked to perform to diagnose your machine.
4. Do a CLEAN install of the OSX if you wish to totally eliminate a bad OS install as the problem. This will destroy all your data. Alternatively, an archive and install will be helpful without totally destroying your data, but that will not let you exonerate your system files and settings. An alternative is to run Apple's hardware test utility which is found on your OS installation disc. However, an extended hardware test is needed because the shutdown flaw may take hours to surface.
Note: If your MacBook has become so "narcoleptic" that it cannot even complete a boot up sequence, try holding the power button down until you hear a loud beep. That may allow an otherwise balky machine to start.
Once you have done the above, and are still seeing random sudden shutdowns, you have largely done the preliminary footwork that you'll need to prove whether your MacBook has this particular problem and not something more common. Then, call AppleCare or visit your Apple Genius to have the machine repaired or replaced. Hopefully, the root cause of this problem will be discovered, disclosed, repaired and prevented. For now, it appears only a fraction of the MacBooks are suffering this fault, but the machine population is still young. Overall, the MacBook is perhaps the finest laptop I've bought from Apple. It will be nice to trust the machine to not lose my work.
BTW - resetting PMU may induce a separate 10.4.7 related bug which results in your MacBook exhibiting a white screen with progressively more numerous vertical color lines during startup. This appears to be fixable by resetting PRAM and then temporarily changing display resolution to something other than the current setting and then back.

thanks for the comprehensive info. i experienced this for the first time today. i bought my macbook the day they were released. the shutdown happenned for me after leaving my computer on overnight with no programs running. about two minutes into web browsing it shutdown. it then shutdown in the middle of restarts. i disattached power cord, external hard drive, dvd burner & ethernet & it powered up and has been working for about 20 minutes since.
this computer has really been a lemon. first my superdrive scratches the **** (just previewed this, i can't believe they sensor the h_ word?) out of discs, then the trackpad button becomes very hard to push. i've been working around those issues using an external dvd burner and mouse, but not sure how to work around sudden shutdowns. i haven't been able to send it in for repairs yet since i bought it cause i needed it's dvd authoring capabilities for a class i was taking, plus i wanted to make sure nothing else went wrong (self fulfilling prophecy?). i was planning on taking it on vacation with me, but guess i better pack my old ibook too (which other than a cd burner which sucked from the start, has been very reliable). i'll send in my macbook when i get back.
anyway, thanks for the info & advice! i'll back up my crucial data now.
white macbook, 2GHz, 1GB ram (factory installed) Mac OS X (10.4.7)
macbook Mac OS X (10.4.6)
macbook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

IMac suddenly shutdown by itself. Average time of work - around 5 min.

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