[mac freak]

Lately, if I run the iTunes visualizer, my machine hard freezes after several seconds. The music keeps playing and I have mouse control, but the OS X clock stops and I lose any actual control over anything. The visualizer itself stops moving as well.

I can't pinpoint exactly when this started, but it's recent -- last month or two.

My machine is a rev. A G5-DP1.8/OS X 10.3.5/1.5GB, running iTunes 4.6.

Any ideas?

[Bi@tch]

Welcome to the club my friend. Although my G5 never froze during the iTunes visualizer, it does freeze randomly every now and then (about once a month). It is especially crash prone when using anything that has to do with OpenGL such as games (especially Warcraft III). It crashes everytime when using the ATI Animusic demo.

There are two very lengthy threads (click here) in the Apple forums on the subject. Both of them have been going on for several months and NO ONE has found a cure yet. People have gotten new motherboards, graphic cards, RAM DIMMS, PMUs and still have the same problems. Others found peace by simply replacing their graphic card.

Try running the visualizer without OpenGL. You could also try a complete format of the boot drive. If you still have problems and your G5 is relatively new, I suggest sending it back to Apple for a fix. I did this six months ago and I think they replaced my PMU. I still get freezes but I don't have time to take my G5 back to Apple every month.

There's hope however. It is possible that the problem is completly unrelated to the G5s. Some people have been getting similar freezes in 10.3 with other kinds of macs. I'm crossing my fingures things will get better with Tiger.

I wish you good luck!

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by Bi@tch:
Welcome to the club my friend. Although my G5 never froze during the iTunes visualizer, it does freeze randomly every now and then (about once a month). It is especially crash prone when using anything that has to do with OpenGL such as games (especially Warcraft III). It crashes everytime when using the ATI Animusic demo.

There are two very lengthy threads (click here) in the Apple forums on the subject. Both of them have been going on for several months and NO ONE has found a cure yet. People have gotten new motherboards, graphic cards, RAM DIMMS, PMUs and still have the same problems. Others found peace by simply replacing their graphic card.

Try running the visualizer without OpenGL. You could also try a complete format of the boot drive. If you still have problems and your G5 is relatively new, I suggest sending it back to Apple for a fix. I did this six months ago and I think they replaced my PMU. I still get freezes but I don't have time to take my G5 back to Apple every month.

There's hope however. It is possible that the problem is completly unrelated to the G5s. Some people have been getting similar freezes in 10.3 with other kinds of macs. I'm crossing my fingures things will get better with Tiger.

I wish you good luck!

I've seen the threads... its really too bad. It must have something to do with some certain component chips/manufacturers on the main logic board. I've never had any such problem on my early rev. A dual 2.0GHz G5.

[Bi@tch]

Originally posted by Cadaver:
I've seen the threads... its really too bad. It must have something to do with some certain component chips/manufacturers on the main logic board. I've never had any such problem on my early rev. A dual 2.0GHz G5.

Like I said though, not only G5s seem to be affected.