[MoontaMacman]

Hi
over the last month or so - (since I did the last upgrade to 10.3.3?) - my iMac has got into the habit of closing programmes on me -at first it was only iCab so ifigured the fault was there , then it happened with Safari and Mail too and last night the Finder went on a holiday and refused to restart (Force Quit) for some time --as well as this every now and again the computer sneaks in a complete restart -- disturbing and annoying -- oh yes the most common one is the Internet Connect- I have a 5 hour limit but it often hangs up of its own accord well before the time - I put this one down to the server but perhaps not?

The only new software recently that I know caused trouble was for my Epson 4870 scanner so I now run that off the iBook and transfer scans via ethernet to the iMac-- the iMac seemed incapable of scanning and surfing so I gave up on that idea now the iMac surfs while the iBook scans

Thisi s a one person machine , bought new last December(768 Mb RAM - installed by the Apple seller) and I had to reinstall the OS from day one as it refused to recognise CDs or burn discs --not getting a great feeling of confidence in this particular machine - which is a pity as it is the "purtiest" Mac I have owned - going back to the Powerbook 100 (1991)

Am I just unlucky - does my iMac hate me - is anyone else getting these crashes and restarts- any ideas of anything I can do to rectify the problem?

Ron

[email protected] (take out the garbage to use email)

[discotronic]

When things seem to be going wrong I always check the RAM first. Is the upgrade installed in the user slot or the non-user acessable slot?

[MoontaMacman]

Hi disctronic,

I thought of thst but it was installed bythe techs at an authorised Apple dealership - -am I being naive and too trusting? - I am reluctant to fool around with anything while under warranty - this machine has sat in one spot since new so if anything is loose or poorly seated it has been since day one - nevertheless I'll turn it over when I shut down at end of day and see if I can see- never opened it until now - is there anything in doing so that could invalidate warranty -the dealers are 165 km away - which is a drag just to get someone to go "push" on a chip. I have worked on many older Macs , rebuilt etc but am paranoid about new ones

I believe it is Apple authorised RAM- be rather annoyed if it isn't given the price I paid!
It came with 256 Mb and they added the 512 in the shop service centre before I brought it home

oh yes even iView Pro manages to crash -- that makes just about all my most used software short of Photoshop and iMovie which i have not used a lot lately - been busy archiving 30 years of old negatives and slides -4000 done only ???? to go!

From memory they put the new in the "user" slot- now where is my manual?

thanks
Ron

[discotronic]

If the RAM is in the user slot you won't do anything to invalidate your warranty. If it is in the non-user slot, you would have to take it almost completely apart to get to it. That would definately make your warranty go bye-bye.

Take the RAM out and run it on the 256MB for a day or two. I know that's going to be tough If you don't experience any crashes that would be your problem.

My current iBook is down to 128MB of memory right now. I kept having crashes (complete power shutdowns) and Kernal Panics. I took the RAM out and still got a panic. I figured that it wasn't the memory so I reinstalled it. I kept getting panics. I did a clean install of OSX and still had the panics. I took the RAM out again and finally the panics stopped. I think the KP I got was from something different when the RAM was out. Anyway, I sent the module back and should be getting a replacement in the next couple days. It has been running KP free for about a week now. Come to think of it....everything started around the time I installed 10.3.3. I wonder if there is some kind of firmware update that isn't compatible with certain types of RAM

Let us know what happens.

[MoontaMacman]

thanks again discotronic,
I checked it last night and it seemed very well seated ,no movement at all- today I'll see if it behaves itself and if anything happens I will try your idea of removing the RAM and see how it works without the extra chip in place

Be good if it was just a matter of sending off a small RAM chip for replacement instead of the whole machine being crated and carted to and fro- have you seen the size of these things when boxed up? Just as well I have a station wagon they definitely will not fit in the back seat of most sedans

How do you like the iBook? I was "lucky" enough to have my Powerbook on a build to order when the last iBook was released -- could have spat chips - $1000 less in Aus$ - I have been less than impressed with my Powerbook screen / LCD display it is no-where near the quality of the 17" stand alone or the 15" and 21" I had on my iMacs- it seems very critical of positioning unlike the others I mentioned - if I lived nearer to the dealer I would have taken it back to see if it is an active or passive screen -seriously it is that inferior- to my eyes. I read many reviews in the forum where people praised its screen to the sky which makes me wonder if I am being unrealistic in my expectations for a Powerbook display to be in the same class as a stand alone or integrated screen such as on the iMacs

oh well that is my moan for the day - back to enjoying the good side of the toys - blame it on age
Ron

[MoontaMacman]

OK - 7 pm Tuesday 27th - the iCab collapsed earlier then a bit later - hour or so - Safari crashed out - and finally it did a complete restart while I was sitting across the room - in other words it was on line checking mail etc and it just dropped out to the blue screen then went through a full restart -- so I decided to try removing the 512 Mb RAM in the user slot - I'll let it run for a day or two at least or until it crashes again-- if it doesn't crash I will contact the dealers re the RAM if it does crash still --- back to Apple service?

here's hoping it it just the RAM

Ron

[MoontaMacman]

I removed the 512 Mb RAM entirely and ran it for 2 days on 256 Mb only - not a problem - then I reinstalled it and it dropped out of Safari and iCab the first day but since then--so far- nothing has crashed , dropped out or restarted - I am starting to think it may have only been dirty contacts which through the process of removing and replacing several times came good- -I am on the beginning of my fourth day -about 15 hours per day- and it only had those two minor drop outs--

I contacted the Apple dealer and they were quite helpful and willing to exchange the RAM chip if I believe that is the cause of the problem -- I'll run it a bit longer and see if the problem comes back but so far it looks good

Oh yes I even threw the Epson 4870 scanner at it while surfing and handling iView.Photoshop and iTunes-- just for good measure - it slowed things down but never crashed.Previously all I had to do was start up the scanner and it would fall over

Hard to believe it could have just been dirty contacts- perhaps the installer had greasy fingers-I did buy it about lunch time:-)


at this stage I THINK it is sorted - I'll get back only if it returns to the old problems and then I will definitely get the RAM replaced

Ron

[Detrius]

Originally posted by discotronic:
My current iBook is down to 128MB of memory right now. I kept having crashes (complete power shutdowns) and Kernal Panics. I took the RAM out and still got a panic. I figured that it wasn't the memory so I reinstalled it. I kept getting panics. I did a clean install of OSX and still had the panics. I took the RAM out again and finally the panics stopped. I think the KP I got was from something different when the RAM was out.

Note that anything that is put on the drive while you have bad RAM in the machine could be corrupt. Therefore, most machines with bad RAM also have a corrupt operating system, since people usually reinstall the OS before pulling RAM. Due to this, the crashes usually do NOT go away after pulling the bad RAM. If you have found known bad RAM in your system, you should probably reinstall everything after pulling the RAM. This also applies to logic boards that cause RAM modules to appear bad (as the result is the same--bad data).

[MoontaMacman]

August 16th - just collected the iMac from the Apple dealers--they replaced the logic board.

After weeks of keeping records of problem behaviour and again testing it with and without additional RAM it still crashed (restarted itself) even with the suspect RAM removed - so it was finally diagnosed as a faulty logic board -as far as I know that is all they did- this is the first hour I have had it back on at home so I will live with fingers crossed for a few weeks but hopefully this will see the end of the erratic behaviour up until now

It was replaced under warranty
good to have the big screen back the 12" Powerbook was getting very tiny :-)

Ron