Forgive the breaking of protocol, but I am double posting this: once at the bottom of the 600+ - thread below, called Panther Lock, and once here, so that folks with a freezing Panther Mac may find an answer.
For the past 2+ weeks, I've had my first sweat-producing problem with my G5 2Ghz: Hard Freezing, where the only thing that moves is the mouse, and the only way out is a Hard Restart.
After the longest troubleshooting foray in my 13-year Mac career, I found the fix.
Short answer: it was software (not RAM, not hardware, not USB ports). Zeroing the drive fixed it.
Long answer: below, outlined in the first bug report I ever filed, to the software manufacture. Chances are close to nil that anyone else in this thread uses the same software, but I think that it's encouraging that the fix was software related. Bottom line: installed OSX software can, in fact, cause your G5 to freeze. Period. (I know: duh.)
BUG REPORT
Wednesday, October 20, 3:06PM,
Hello Parliant,
After doing a very thorough testing procedure over the past 2 weeks, we need to report a severe bug in PhoneValet (
http://www.parliant.com/)
We are requesting a response back to this, so we know if it's
1. a known issue;
2. if there are any suggestion for further testing;
Below is thorough documentation (the problem, and the procedure that we followed) --
••• We purchased PhoneValet Message Center on September 3rd, 2004
••• We installed it as soon as we got it, around September 6th.
••• Our system is:
-- G5 2Ghz, purchased new from Apple March 2003
-- OS 10.3.5
-- 2.5 Megs of original Samsung RAM
-- All Apple updates installed (we run the Updater daily)
-- Dual 20" Dell LCDs
-- PhoneValet connected to a Pertech 7 port Hub Master
••• The morning after installing PV (over 2 weeks ago), the screen froze. Only the mouse would move. Nothing was clickable. No keys worked, therefore Force Quitting didn't work. Dock didn't work. The only solution was to do a Hard Restart (holding down the G5 tower's Power button).
••• It's important to note that we had never had a Hard Freeze (as we're calling it) before. Not even once. Also, since installing Panther, we haven't had one kernel panic.
••• Our first thought was that it was a fluke. When we got a second Hard Freeze a few hours later, we immediately suspected keyboard or USB problems, so we switched to another USB hub. When we got a third Hard Freeze later that day, we started doing a huge number of tests. Here is what we did, roughly in the order we did it:
••• Run software diagnostics and maintenance
-- DiskWarrior 3.0.2
-- TechTools Pro 4.0.3 (the longest full suite of repairs available, the one that takes 3 hours)
-- memtest (to check the RAM)
-- Onyx (which includes basic maintenance such as removing caches and running cron scripts)
-- Reset PRAM
We ran the above software numerous times over the course of the last 14 days.
••• RAM:
-- We removed all the RAM, including the original two 256 chips.
-- We replaced first just the 256s. Ran for 2 hours, and got a Hard Freeze.
-- We then replaced it with two 512s. Ran until the next morning, and then a Hard Freeze
-- We then replaced it with the other two 512s. Hard Freeze again the next morning.
•••_New Hard Drive and New OS:
-- Our G5 has an identical internal second drive (7200 rpm 160 gig) that we use for backup, called Drive 2.
-- We zeroed this Drive 2, using Apple's original Panther Disks
-- We installed Panther, and then ran all of the Updates.
••• Newly installed software, carefully chosen:
-- We then installed Office 2004, ran its updates.
-- We installed our printer drivers (all downloaded from each site, to be sure they were latest)
-- We copied over ONLY the Documents folder from the other drive (about 7 Gigs in size)
We then used this Drive 2, and for the first time in 9 days, we were problem free for 24 hours. Then 48 hours. Then on the morning of the 3rd day, we installed PhoneValet. Ten minutes later, we got the Hard Freeze again.
We removed PhoneValet, and the G5 ran all day without a glitch.
That was yesterday. We've been up and running since.
¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸¸,ø º°`°º ø,¸
[END OF LETTER TO PARLIANT]
Amazing experience. Wasted all that time, when I should have suspected the new software. Just loved the PhoneValet so much that I think I was in denial. Also, I just didn't think a piece of sofware could hard freeze the system like this. Man, what a lesson. I would've bet good money that it was RAM, or a video card, or something else other than what it was.
One good thing out of it: it's always a cool thing to do a fresh zero'd install. Everything does feel lighter, zippier. I think my sex life is better, and my car runs smoother, too.
Sure hope this helps someone in this list. I certainly don't think all of these G5 freezes are software related, but I would bet that many are. I don't understand memory leaks, and software that can shut an entire system down like this, but there you go: it happened.
My suggestion: zero your drive, and start fresh.
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