User switching freezes briefly on cube animation

Hi there.
My iMac has recently started freezing for a few seconds when switching users. The 3-d cube effect gets half way between users and then pauses for 3-4 seconds before snapping onto the correct user desktop. Everything else works fine. I have 80GB free on HDD. I've run hardware test, repaired permissions, cleared all the caches etc. using Onyx, reset PRAM and NVRAM and am now stumped. Does anyone have any ideas what's going on?
Thanks, Phil.
Message was edited by: Froglet

Thanks for your suggestions. It turns out that the video ram was on it's way out. Another hardware test confirmed it (strangely it didn't register a problem first time round). Totally knackered now, and Apple refuse to do anything about it. I don't think that it's acceptable for a machine that's under 5 years old to fail and be uneconomical to repair, but they say tough luck. I always thought that paying over £1000 for a quality machine would be a good investment. I had intended to keep the machine for the kids to use when I upgrade. I'm pursuing this with UK trading standards and seeking advice from consumer protection groups because I don't think the computer was 'durable' which means it should last for a reasonable length of time.

Similar Messages

  • Mac OS X 10.5.6 Fast User Switching Freezes Screen

    The past two Mac OS X versions (10.5.5 and 10.5.6) result in the screen freezing after initiating Fast User Switching. Version 10.5.4 worked as designed, but 10.5.3 had the same issue. Seems to be video display related. Using a 20" display does not result in the screen freezing. Has anyone else had this issue or have any fix suggestions?

    The past two Mac OS X versions (10.5.5 and 10.5.6) result in the screen freezing after initiating Fast User Switching. Version 10.5.4 worked as designed, but 10.5.3 had the same issue. Seems to be video display related. Using a 20" display does not result in the screen freezing. Has anyone else had this issue or have any fix suggestions?

  • Fast User Switching Freeze

    My wife's Macbook has been having a problem for the past couple of months. If she attempts to switch users (away from my son's account) using the fast user switching, the screen goes blue and just seems to hang there. She usually just forces it to shutdown and restart. She has noticed that she can switch to the login window, then select her account, and all works well.
    Has anyone else experienced this? Any fixes out there? Google has not revealed anything on this.

    Have same problem now with my iMac -- when I had it in the past, it was due to account privilege issues -- if one of the accounts did not have admin privileges, but another did, system was prone to freezing. I suspect permission problems. I'm not sure this is the current problem on my machine; problem does not occur if I log out of one account before switching back to the first account.
    Try making all accounts admin & see what happens...

  • Fast user switching animation not working on new iMac with 10.9.1

    I have a late 2013 iMac with the GeForce GTX 780M, pre-installed with 10.9 and then immediately updated to 10.9.1 out of the box.
    I imported my adminstrator account from an older iMac with Mountain Lion, using Migration Assistant. No problems experienced there whatsoever. I then separately imported a second user account from the same Mountain Lion install. Both accounts are functioning normally.
    However, when I switch between these accounts, the fast user switching animation (rotating cube) does not occur - it just instantly switches screens, without even a fade in/out effect.
    I made sure the display settings on each account are identical down to the last detail, even the same color sync profiles. I also created a fresh 'test' user account with default Mavericks settings, yet switching to that from either of the imported accounts does not have the animation either.
    Any suggestions on how to trouble-shoot this? I have 'Googled' it, but all the refrences are from earlier version of OS X from 2003-2009 and mention things like not having enough graphical processing power - obviously not an issue here.

    I tried (on both user accounts):
    1. Flushing all the caches using Onyx
    2. Deleting the 'com.apple.desktop.plist' files.
    3. Switching each user account to non-standard resolutions and back again.
    The lack of the rotating cube effect is not the worst of it, as about 50% of the time I switch accounts I get an 'empty' desktop in the account I have just switched to, and I can only get the desktop icons to appear again by switching back and forth a few times. Extremely frustrating.
    I am starting to think this is yet another bug in Mavericks or a problem with the graphic drivers for the new GTX 775 / 780 cards.

  • Video freeze with Fast User Switching

    I can't seem to find anything on this specific topic in the forums, but it's plagued me pretty much since I got the i7 iMac a year ago. The problem is this: when I have more than one account logged in via Fast User Switching, the video will freeze on me. Details:
    * by video I mean not the display as a whole, but any video content that is playing -- YouTube, iChat video, etc.
    * only the video freezes. Audio keeps playing.
    * if I close the other user account, video will resume its normal functioning.
    * if I constantly move the window in which the video is playing, it will keep playing.
    * if I switch away from the window and return, the video will play again for a brief second.
    Those last 2 I find especially puzzling, and they lead me to believe that somehow the computer or the video card somehow is "forgetting" that it needs to redraw the video.
    I brought this issue up to a very friendly and helpful Apple rep who suggested zapping the PRAM, which did help for a couple of days but even a restart will do the trick for a while.
    Anybody else seen this issue? Any solutions?

    Same here. Not specific to 10.7.x, had it in 10.5 and 10.6 as well. The problem is made worse when also using Screen Sharing. All video is stalled (audio plays on). Sometimes the video continues when the mouse is moved. The video also continues when the system volume is changed using the keyboard.
    And with all video I mean really all video. Even transitions in the login screen pause until I press the volume keys.
    Usually there is no problem with one specific user, and the stalls can usually be fixed by logging that user out, as if that user somehow "owns" the video of the Mac.
    Very annoying, and I do hope someone has a solution.
    Any specific stuff the other me too's here have installed? I've got Flash Player, Click2Flash, Perian, SizzlingKeys, Flip4Mac for instance.

  • Fast User Switching causing iMovie 09 to hang/freeze

    I recently purchased a new Unibody 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro 15.4"
    My wife uses it to process our home movies in iMovie '09. So I thought it would be swell to utilize Fast User Switching so she could do that with her account when the MacBook was free and wouldn't have to mess with my currently logged in session.
    But it seems iMovie '09 just doesn't like it. Every single time she works in iMovie for awhile, then I Fast Switch back to my logged in session, then she Fast Switches back to hers with the open iMovie ... The iMovie locks up/freezes with the spinning pinwheel of death and has to be Forced Quit. And sometimes it is hung so bad I can't kill it or switch back to my session or anything and I am forced to reboot =\
    Is this a known issue? Anyone else notice this problem? And most importantly is there anything I can do, or is there any update that could be coming down the pipe, that will fix this?
    Thanks.

    have you found anything on this?  I have a Mac mini running two displays... neither USB, and experience this consistently.  not finding many cases on the internet for this - sounds like a rare issue.  suspicious could be linked to video - my two displays are at a pretty high resolution.

  • VMWare Player Freezes on User Switching

    Hello,
      I'm running an AMD-64 X2 based system with 6GB RAM.  Host OS is Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.  Using VMware Player 3.0.1.
    Guest OS is Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit.  Was originally built on an Intel based system, and complained when I switched it to an AMD system, but the image seems to run fine while it's active.
      The problem I'm having is when I leave VMware Player running and somebody performs a Switch User from Windows to switch to another user profile on the same host machine.  The player seems to run OK in the background, but then when I switch back to the original user and attempt to resume working with the virtual machine, the Player seems to be locked up with only a black screen where the guest OS should be visible.
      The only resolution is to use Player to force Power Off the guest OS.  I can then usually wait a bit, start Player, and re-boot the guest OS.
      The issue seems to be related to Windows User Switching on the Host OS while running the guest OS.
      Any thoughts or ideas?
    Thanks,
    Tom

    TallTomD > Any updates out there?  Anybody else experiencing similar issues?
    Count me in!
    Was using an old version and refused to update for a long time because it was working fine!
    Finally, I gave in to security paranoia and updated to the latest version and: BOOM!
    My VM locks-up upon user swithing!
    OS: MS-Vista.
    CPU: AMD-X3
    RAM: 4GB
    Any help on this?

  • Cannot login to secondary accounts; can't fast user switch

    I am on a Macbook, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB hard drive, 10.4.8. Today, I developed a strange problem with logging in. I have auto login set so I log in automatically to my main account, which (thank God) works. However, if I access Fast User Switching to switch to a secondary account I have set up, called Test, the transition starts (the cube rotates) , switching to a solid blue screen...and never goes any further. I cannot seem to find any way to bring up the login screen on startup, either; I must allow my main account to boot up, and then try to switch accounts. If I turn off auto-login, I get the login screen, but login to the other account still fails.
    If I select, instead, the Login Window from the Fast User Switching menu, I get that screen. But when I select an account other than my main account, and try to log in, I get that blank blue screen. I've waited many minutes to see if something will eventually happen, but no go. The only way to get control of my Macbook back is to hold down the power button until it shuts down.
    I have run Tech Tool diagnostics and have repaired permissions (no errors found). I deleted my Test account, and redefined it; I also defined a second test account, one with admin privs and one without. No problem creating the accounts. However, when I try to log in to those accounts, the computer hangs on the blue screen.
    I'm not sure when this problem began because I have not been using my Test account for a couple of weeks. A lot has changed since then.
    Any suggestions, anyone?

    More info: I turned off auto-login, and was able to log in to my test account. Then, I was able to use fast user switching to switch to my main account. I will try again restarting into my main account and see if I can switch to Test. This failed consistently before I posted here. Perhaps the "sense Mac guru" circuit kicked in and cured the problem. I'm about ready to turn in so won't post a follow-up until tomorrow. Right now, I need to use my two accounts to get the job done (a writing job with screen shots of a new unaltered account). Then, I'll go back to trying to see if the problem still exists when I log in to the main account first.

  • Screen has a bluish tint after fast user switching and then warning tone

    Hi all I'm having a bit of a problem that I hope someone can help me with. First the details, I have a MBP bought in late '07 and running Tiger. I was doing full backups using "Backup" and I also had Safari, iTunes, and Word open. I briefly switched to my other account using fast user switching and when I returned to the original account the whole screen had a blue tint to it. Like the color profile was off. This has happened before and a restart usually cures it, I haven't restarted yet but I am fairly certain it will correct the problem this time too. But is there anyway to prevent this? My second question is the one I'm more worried about. It also has happened before but usually when using more CPU intensive applications. When I went to System Preferences and opened up the display preferences in an attempt to correct the previous problem I heard a very loud tone. Like some type of warning tone, it was loud enough that it startled me. I had iTunes playing and after the tone the music got very quiet but relaunching it brought it back to normal. I'm just wondering is this some type of warning tone? Is it something I should be concerned about? Besides the music everything else seemed unaffected, although the previous times that this has happened usually when using handbrake there was noticeable problems after the tone (like applications crashing). All of these problems are gone after the computer is restarted though. Does anyone have any insight on these issues? Thank you.
    -James

    OK I ran TechTool and everything passed except for the volume scan. Then I checked this with Disk Utility and the HD failed for a few minor reasons, like invalid block count. I repaired it using the fsck -fy command in single user mode. The computer seems a little faster now. I don't know if this error is related to the beep in any way, I may try talking to an Apple genius to see if they know. Since it seems like pretty minor errors I'm not too worried about it but it does seem to be happening often. The last time I had this error was when I posted a question here about it which I just checked was on March 1st. So this error happened again after a little more than 2 weeks which seems excessive to me. Any thoughts?

  • Fast User Switching with Mounted Network Drive?

    I have a headless G4 Cube running 10.5.8 with a 2TB firewire drive plugged in for storage accessable to any of my macs here at home. I can access it fine with my 2 desktops over ethernet and wirelessly. Recently we decided to consolidate our 2 desktops into one using the muliple users feature. Seems to work fine, and both accounts can access the shared drive. They are logging in with the cube's admin credentials, and the shared drive is set to ignore permissions. I have the drive set to mount on login with a startup item in the system login items prefs. As long as I logout before switching users, everything is good.
    The problem arises with Fast User Switching which we'd love to be able to use. I can't figure out how to connect to the drive in one account without the 2nd account then seeing it as a volume without proper permissions, then that account creates a new volume mount for it (which doesn't work with iTunes properly and seems to cause other wierd issues).
    Example: So say 'user1' logs in, mounts the drive 'Jukebox'. everything seems OK so far. 'Jukebox' is on the desktop and iTunes finds the music. Now I fast user switch to 'user2' and there is a 'Jukebox' on the desktop with the red minus icon indicating I don't have permissions to access it. If I then browse the network and mount the drive, I end up with ANOTHER 'Jukebox' on the desktop. BUT iTunes doesn't see it properly. If I look in the /Volumes/ folder with the Terminal, I see a mountpoint for 'Jukebox' (with the owner of 'user1' group 'staff') and now a new mountpoint called 'Jukebox-1' (with the owner of 'user2' group 'staff').
    It seems when you mount a AFP drive, it creates the Volume with the current user and staff group, but switching to another user then can't access that when it sees it in the /Volumes folder. You try to mount again and it creates a NEW mountpoint, names it with a '-1' at the end and you can use that (but iTunes cant).
    So... how does one use a shared drive that you want on BOTH users desktops with Fast User Switching turned on? Is there a way to have the drive mounted BEFORE either user logs in, such that it will be seen as any other local drive (which doesn't have the issue)??
    Or is there some other way I can attach to the network volume in each account on login so both have access to music and videos with full permissions?
    I'm really stumped here after 2 hrs of googling, searching here and trying things.
    TIA

    I've not had any luck with the suggestions in the link either.
    Here's two other approaches I've tried and failed with:
    1. Creating a new share point on the cube itself so that one user can mount it as a different volume. Then the issue is that I still don't have a volume named "Jukebox" available to each user when switching. I DO have access now to the data from both accounts, but under 2 different mount points (volume names) and the xml file for iTunes is hard coded with the path for each mp3 including the "Jukebox" volume name... so no go.
    2. Tried figuring out a way I could script a mounting of the share with the terminal thinking I could then run that shell script at startup. Can't seem to get the sytax right. If I create a directory in /Volumes and mount and afp share to it, it takes on the ownership of root/wheel which I can't access in the finder and can't seem to change.
    BUT I'll keep playing with both these ideas a bit... the first one might be overcome with a bit of logic and the 2nd if I can get the syntax right to mount the share with afp_mount and give it the correct ownership/permissions such that when a user logs in she/he sees the volume on the desktop and has full r/w access to it.
    thanks again. if you offhand know the syntax for that, let me know

  • Randomly changing Display Profiles during user switch

    I keep my MBP Display Profile set to "Color LCD" (which is the default, I think -- System Preferences>Displays>Color>"Color LCD")
    Sometimes, and it seems intermittent and random, when I do a fast user switch from my wife's profile (also set on "Color LCD") to mine, right after the rotation animation finishes, the setting randomly changes to "Generic RGB Profile" and all the colors skew blue. Very annoying.
    Any idea what's causing this? Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Chip

    Hmmm... Well, that seems to be a decent description of the symptoms, although what's happening on my screen is a lot more dramatic than what they describe in the article. Also, I don't believe I'm using a custom color profile.
    I'll try the DMProxy trick and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.
    Chip

  • Fast User Switching Mac OS X 10.5.8

    I just updated my iMac-G5 to OS X 10.5.8 and have noticed that when I use fast user switching, the "rotating cube" becomes stuck between accounts. The desktop does eventually go to the correct account, it's just not as "cool" as it was. Anyone else have this problem? Or is it time to retire the iMac G5?
    Thanks

    Thanks for the reply. I attempted to set up some new user accounts, and now thing are even worse. Before I set up the new user accounts, I deleted some old accounts I no longer needed. I neglected to log out of my other account before trying to switch between the two new accounts. When I attempted to switch to the new user account, the rotating cube got stuck. The new account desktop did show up, but without a menu bar, only the dock, and the icons for my two hard drives. I couldn't switch back to my main account and had to reboot by holding in the power button. Once I had rebooted I attempted to log off of my main account. No login window appeared, only the OS X desktop screen. Again I was forced to reboot by holding down the power button. Once back to my desktop, I checked and repaired permissions. I deleted the two new user accounts, and now when I attempt to switch to the remaining account I have, again, the rotating cube gets stuck and when the new desktop appears for the account, there is no menu bar, only the dock the HD icons. Programs on the dock don't launch either. The dock icons bounce, but that's it. I'm afraid I've done something seriously wrong. Any advice on what might be causing this bizarre behavior?
    Thanks!

  • Windows User Switching to Mac – System Install/Setup Help

    Hi All,
    I’m a (very) long time windows user switching to Mac. I know nothing about Mac’s as in zero zip (I’ve been messing with an iMac for 2 weeks.) Buying a MacBook Pro (spec’s at bottom). I do creative work audio/video/graphics and use a lot of nonstandard peripherals e.g. audio interfaces, RAID, drawing tablets etc. Getting a new system setup is a long and laborious process.
    When I get a new computer here’s my normal process:
    Step 1
    I reinstall windows to get rid of the junk software that’s always added by third parties.
    Update all hardware drivers & software (OS and Auxiliary app’s)
    Tweak Windows OS for my needs
    Make full system backup
    Step 2
    Install all my major app’s e.g. adobe creative suite, audio programs etc.
    Install non-standard peripherals such as audio interfaces, RAIDs etc.
    Make full system backup
    Step 3
    Open up all major app’s and customize e.g. set preferences etc.
    Set-up and test app specific peripherals, tweak as necessary
    Make full system backup
    Step 4
    Install virus software and unimportant apps/hardware. No backup.
    Is this basically what I should do with the mac? What kind of issues might I expect? Are there steps or issues I’m worrying about that don’t apply to the Mac? Finally, is there an equivalent to the windows Blue Screen of Death? Does the system every get so jammed up that a complete wipe out and re-install of OS and software is required?
    I know these are very open questions so I’m only looking for general information.
    Thanks
    Here’s the machine I’m going to buy:
    15” MacBook Pro (Late 2013) | 2.3GHz i7 Quad | 512GB PCIe-Based SSD | 16GB Ram - GeForce GT 750M (2GB)

    Just to clarify the Mac includes anti-virus software and updates with no additional software purchase required?
    Yes. Unlike Windows OS X was designed from its inception to be a secure multiuser operating system incorporating many protections specifically intended to isolate one user's space from another. Each succeeding release has only added more protections, and Apple updates its virus / malware database regularly.
    Third party "anti-virus" products abound, but none of them improve upon anything OS X already includes. Most of them are simply worthless junk. Some will only cause problems, while others are arguably malicious. No one knows more about Macs and how to protect them than the company that builds them.
    Apple is the most famously secretive company since E-Systems, yet the vast majority of Mac related problems reported on this site are the direct result of using ill-conceived products from third party developers claiming unique knowledge of OS X's inner workings. The companies selling them are desperate to assert their continued relevance in a market that is seeing rapid contraction of Windows PCs in favor of iPads - and to a lesser extent, Macs - that have never had the need for their products. Many AV vendors have been reduced to sordid scare tactics as they see their market and revenue stream diminish. Unfortunately, scare tactics work, resulting in widespread misery among Mac users gullible enough to swallow them. That represents a threat all to itself.
    If it were not for Windows' predilection for malicious alteration from viruses and malware we wouldn't be having this discussion.
    Even though I’m doing some heavy lifting e.g. video editing, audio recording (full band), large folders of music files/video clips/animations etc. no system/drive maintenance is required by me or if it is the software to do so is already included?
    Correct. As a professional you may not be satisfied with the bundled apps such as iMovie but Apple has professional video and audio recording apps as well. Even they are not very expensive. You can find out more about them in the Professional Applications forum.
    A Mac needs no third party maintenance utilities. Like "anti-virus" products most of them are worthless also.
    Time Capsule: I thought that was Apples hardware for backup, remote access, streaming etc.
    Yes. The Time Capsule is Apple's combination wireless router and backup device. You can just as easily use any inexpensive hard disk to use in conjunction with Time Machine.
    Time Machine is Apple's backup software and it's included with OS X. You can use either one, or both. You can also use inexpensive commercial "clone" software such as Carbon Copy Cloner. Each one has its advantages, as well as their limitations. In the interest of redundancy I use all of them.
    B&H Photo is a highly reputable vendor, one of the few I recommend.

  • PowerBook w/23"ACD loses "turning cube" animation.

    I have a 12" G4 PB hooked to a 23" ACD and also like the set up very much. However, today I noticed that I lose the "turning cube" animation when switching between accounts when I make the 23" my primary screen (so that it has "File, Edit" etc across the top).
    I phoned Apple and was told the animation wouldn't work when I hooked up the larger screen (it works fine on the PB when I unplug the big screen). The apple tech didn't seem to think there were enough of us hooking up PBs to big screens to even put it into the suggestion box. The accounts do switch properly but I think the animation would be a nice touch especially after spending the additional dough on the big screen.
    Wondering if others have noticed that the animation doesn't work on their set up as well?

    Thomas,
    The reason it won't work is because the video chip in the 12" PowerBook isn't powerful enough to handle those kinds of animations on a display with a huge resolution like the 23" Cinema Display.
    If the Apple rep were to put anything in the "suggestion box", it would not be "enable fancy cube animation on 12" PowerBook/23" ACD combos", but "add more powerful graphics chip to 12" PowerBook".
    And since specifications tend to improve over time, eventually there will come a day when advanced effects are possible in combinations like yours.
    When you chose the 12" PowerBook, you sacrified some minor conveniences and features for the extra mobility and lightness of the form factor... Just the way it is, sorry.
    Either way, glad to know you don't seem to have any other issues with your 23" ACD.

  • Sharing one iTunes Library with Fast User Switching

    Last year, I started using one MacBook Pro for Office use and Personal Home use, by creating two user accounts on it, and enabling Fast User Switching. I did this when I gave up using two separate desktops macs.
    Now I have two rather similar music libraries, taking up too much hard drive space. Once I enabled Music Sharing in my Office iTunes Library, I realized that I could gain access to that Office Music Library when I am on my Personal Home User account. Since my Library on my Office account is the most complete, can I eliminate the iTunes Library on my Personal Home User account, to save hard drive space?
    If so, how should I do this?
    MBPro17, Pbk17 G4 1.67, Pbk G4 12 1.5, iMac G4, various G4&G5's   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   Airport Extreme & Express

    Glen
    Since my Library on my Office account is the most
    complete, can I eliminate the iTunes Library on my
    Personal Home User account, to save hard drive
    space?
    Yes.
    If so, how should I do this?
    Move the iTunes folder in Home/Music on the Personal
    Home User Account to the desktop.
    Launch iTunes. Unable to locate a library file, it
    will create a new one, empty one in a new iTunes
    folder at Home/Music.
    Connect to your shared library as usual. If
    everything is working as expected, trash the iTunes
    folder on your desktop.
    Regards
    TD
    My iTunes was created under an admin. user profile that I would like to delete. I created a second profile also with admin privlages but I want to delete the first because I messed up the shortname on the profile. So, if I delete this first profile, will I lose all of my music? Will I lose access to the music?

Maybe you are looking for

  • Why is my bluetooth speaker connected but sound only comes out of the computer speakers?

    My bluetooth speaker (JBL Charge 2) is shown as "connected in the blu tooth section of the task bar. I have also gone to system preferences and the speakers are also shown to be connected and chosen as the main speakers. However, no sound comes out o

  • A blob column in xml

    Hi, I have a blob column in some table. It is for example an jpg image. The size is more than 32k (for example size:152287 with dbms_lob.getlength) How can I get this column in a xml document because I want to use the xml file for importing in a diff

  • DPM 2012 with Remote SQL

    hi all, I am trying to install DPM 2012 beta on a hyper-v VM that has 4 GB of RAM and 4 Procs. I am trying not to install SQL on the same VM, and instead use a SQL that we have on the network. it's running windows server 2008 R2 and server server 200

  • [SOLVED]Log files getting LARGE

    I ran a pacman -Syu for the first time in several months yesterday, and my computer has become almost useless due the fact that everything.log, kernel.log and messages.log gets extremely large (3.8 GB) after a while, causing / to become 100% full. I'

  • How to truncate  schema1 table from schema 2 -URGENT

    Hi all Please tell me is there any grant like that regards