G5/OS 10.3.3 unstable? My whole machine crashes... Any ideas? How to analyze logs for crash reason?
Michael Levin
processing on it, web and database searches, word processing (with embedded
graphics, Endnote references), some Excel and other calculations, making
PDFs, etc. etc. I was very excited to get a G5 w/ OSX, and have a fast
machine running a multitasking OS where each app would have its own memory
space and couldn't bring the whole OS down as a freeze. So, I recently got a
G5 with 2 fast processors, and 2 Gig of memory. I installed OS 10.3.3, and a
whole bunch of apps (microsoft office, Adobe products, etc.). Now, I'm
finding that it's much less stable than I would have thought. My OS9.2.2 had
to be rebooted once every couple of days. This thing is, if anything, worse!
I see several intermittent phenomena; in order of annoyance:
1) when I double-click on a folder, the window briefly appears, and then
disappears (Finder crash?). Next time, it works fine.
2) some apps hang (spinning color wheel cursor) and I have to force-quit
them.
3) custom folder icons (especially one for an internal hard drive) get
changed to those from another file's custom icon.
4) twice today, an app hung, and then the whole screen went black, and the
computer was unresponsive - I had to reboot it from the power button.
Now, I've repaired permissions, run Alsoft's DiskWarrior, checked hardware
and software with MicroMat Techtool Pro 4, etc. I keep a close watch on the
file system using these tools, and of course make backups. Nevertheless,
this is a huge pain in the behind! I want the machine to work right. What's
with the crashes?? So, my question is: has anyone else had this problem,
and/or knows how to fix it? What about trying to figure out what happened -
which logs should I be looking at to find out what brought the whole thing
to a halt? Are there any apps or tools to monitor or help diagnose this kind
of thing?
Thanks in advance for any ideas...
--
Mike Levin
mlev...@comcast.net
Thomas Reed
<mlev...@comcast.net> wrote:
> I recently got a
> G5 with 2 fast processors, and 2 Gig of memory. I installed OS 10.3.3, and a
> whole bunch of apps (microsoft office, Adobe products, etc.). Now, I'm
> finding that it's much less stable than I would have thought.
What you describe is definitely *not* a normal OS X user experience,
from what I've seen. It is normally rock-solid. Certain apps can
sometimes crash or hang with the spinning cursor, but on the whole this
doesn't happen much for me. Certainly I've never had the whole OS
crash! The only time I ever restart these days is when there is an OS
update that requires it.
One possibility -- there have been issues with RAM and OS X. Certain
third-party chips apparently cause problems, and swapping out for
different RAM has helped others in the past. If you can remove some of
that RAM and see if the problem goes away, then you should be able to
talk to whoever you bought it from and get them to swap the bad RAM for
good RAM.
--
-Thomas
Jason Koesters
it, otherwise my AlBook stays running all of the time. I can't comment
about a G5, sorry.
As to the RAM issue, I ordered a 256MB PC2700 stick from Crucial to add
on to my included 256MB from Apple and it wouldn't work. Actually, this
was the second 256MB stick I had tried, the first being a "Centon" POS
given to me by the store I bought it from. Neither would work
correctly, with the Apple memory installed and without. The Centon
crashing at the login screen, the Crucial crashing about 5 to 10 minutes
after login. Took a closer look at both sticks of RAM (Apple and
Crucial) and noticed that the Hynix included by Apple had 8 parts on it,
where the Crucial had 4. For some reason, my AlBook was being finnicky
about high density memory parts. Called up crucial and received my
256MB with 8 low density parts and it has worked great since. Knock on
wood of course! I'd only seen this once before in an Intel 815E chipset
on a PC. I kind of expected better from Apple, especially on a
relatively current machine.
To that end, you may want to check out the density of the parts on your
sticks of RAM if they were bought third party and mention it to the
company you bought them from in an exchange effort.
Steve B.
after the 10.3.3 update?
Steve = : ^ )
Michael Levin
"Thomas Reed" <thoma...@dont.spam.me> wrote:
> What you describe is definitely *not* a normal OS X user experience,
> from what I've seen. It is normally rock-solid. Certain apps can
> sometimes crash or hang with the spinning cursor, but on the whole this
> doesn't happen much for me. Certainly I've never had the whole OS
> crash! The only time I ever restart these days is when there is an OS
> update that requires it.
>
> One possibility -- there have been issues with RAM and OS X. Certain
> third-party chips apparently cause problems, and swapping out for
> different RAM has helped others in the past. If you can remove some of
> that RAM and see if the problem goes away, then you should be able to
> talk to whoever you bought it from and get them to swap the bad RAM for
> good RAM.
Sigh... I got the RAM from Apple, installed at the factory. Pulling it out
and waiting for a crash is going to be a pain in the ass... But I guess I'll
have to try it.
--
Mike Levin
mlev...@comcast.net
Michael Levin
"Mathue" <mathu/e...@spymac.com> wrote:
> In article <BC8E304C.130A3%mlev...@comcast.net>, Michael Levin
> <mlev...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> I use a Mac in my office as the hub of a biology lab - I do graphics
>> processing on it, web and database searches, word processing (with embedded
>> graphics, Endnote references), some Excel and other calculations, making
>> PDFs, etc. etc. I was very excited to get a G5 w/ OSX, and have a fast
>> machine running a multitasking OS where each app would have its own memory
>> space and couldn't bring the whole OS down as a freeze. So, I recently got a
>> G5 with 2 fast processors, and 2 Gig of memory. I installed OS 10.3.3, and a
>
> Did you use the built-in software update feature or did you download
> the stand-alone installer for 10.3.3?
I did it through software update. Is that bad?
--
Mike Levin
mlev...@comcast.net
Michael Levin
5nlac.3587$%h.3...@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com, "Jason Koesters"
<no....@post.ng> wrote:
> I agree, about the only time I ever reboot is for updates that require
> it, otherwise my AlBook stays running all of the time. I can't comment
> about a G5, sorry.
>
> As to the RAM issue, I ordered a 256MB PC2700 stick from Crucial to add
> on to my included 256MB from Apple and it wouldn't work. Actually, this
> was the second 256MB stick I had tried, the first being a "Centon" POS
> given to me by the store I bought it from. Neither would work
> correctly, with the Apple memory installed and without. The Centon
> crashing at the login screen, the Crucial crashing about 5 to 10 minutes
> after login. Took a closer look at both sticks of RAM (Apple and
> Crucial) and noticed that the Hynix included by Apple had 8 parts on it,
> where the Crucial had 4. For some reason, my AlBook was being finnicky
> about high density memory parts. Called up crucial and received my
> 256MB with 8 low density parts and it has worked great since. Knock on
> wood of course! I'd only seen this once before in an Intel 815E chipset
> on a PC. I kind of expected better from Apple, especially on a
> relatively current machine.
>
> To that end, you may want to check out the density of the parts on your
> sticks of RAM if they were bought third party and mention it to the
> company you bought them from in an exchange effort.
My RAM came from the Apple factory, presumably - I didn't put it in myself.
Is it still likely to be bad (i.e., should I go through the pain of pulling
them one by one and waiting for a crash)?
----
Mike Levin
mlev...@comcast.net
Mark Davis
<mlev...@comcast.net> wrote:
> My RAM came from the Apple factory, presumably - I didn't put it in myself.
> Is it still likely to be bad (i.e., should I go through the pain of pulling
> them one by one and waiting for a crash)?
I would. This is exactly what happened when I bought my G4 P-Mac and I
traced it to bad RAM.
--
Mark Davis
San Angelo, TX
Thomas Reed
<mlev...@comcast.net> wrote:
> > Did you use the built-in software update feature or did you download
> > the stand-alone installer for 10.3.3?
>
> I did it through software update. Is that bad?
I have installed *every* updater this way. Never had a problem.
--
-Thomas
Scott Ellsworth
Michael Levin <mlev...@comcast.net> wrote:
I second Thomas' response - I have not had a kernel panic 10.2.0.
Look on the bright side - the way you describe it behaving, a crash
should show up within a day, and likely within an hour or so, which
should make isolating a bad ram stick pretty easy. If you have only one
stick in there, I might call applecare. This really sounds like
hardware.
If you want to save some time, you could try installing the 10.3.3
update again, as it does not take that long - certainly less time than a
full OS reinstall, but hardware seems to be the culprit.
Scott