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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Freaky stalling problem...

Freaky stalling problem...
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CobraMantis
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: New York, USA
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Nov 5, 2002, 08:45 PM
 
Hrmm...I've been getting a very strange problem lately and am having trouble pinpointing what might be causing it.

I'm running Jaguar on a 700mhz iMac with 640 RAM, and never had this problem (at least never noticed...) before I got Medal of Honor: Allied Assault a few weeks ago. While playing the game, it would crash about every 20 minutes, for no reason in particular (it didn't matter where I was in the game, it even crashed while navigating the menus). I tried turning the settings way down, did nothing.

I noticed that when it crashed, it would first stop refreshing the screen but the sound would continue for a few seconds, then that would eventually stop as well.

The last time this happened (bout an hour ago) I simply left the computer running for a few minutes instead of shutting the power off. Oddly enough, after minutes of simply doing nothing, the game started running again. Turns out my whole system wasn't crashing, it was more like stalling for about 5 minutes. Don't think it's the game that's doing it, cause it's happened while in other apps as well (Internet Explorer, iMovie, some others...occurs MOSTLY in Medal of Honor).

I checked the console messages after it happened in Explorer and MOH:AA, and both times got something like this:
: lookupd[483]: DNSAgent: dns_send_query_server - send failed for (my IP addy)
: last message repeated 2 times
: AppleFileServer: AFPServer::AbnormalATListenerShutDown - clear listener

If anyone has the slightest idea of what might be causing these stalls, please let me know (as I am clueless as to how to go about fixing the problem).

Thanks in advance!
CobraMantis
     
DBursey
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Nov 7, 2002, 11:27 AM
 
Just a thought; are you running File Sharing? If so, try disabling it.
     
tonyibook
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Nov 7, 2002, 04:33 PM
 
I have exactly the same problem when I am playing Wipeout 2097 on my iMac TFT 700MHz. After about 10 minutes the game will stop and the current sound will continue to repeat. What I generally do is press the power switch for a second, then wait for the iMac to sleep, which takes about 10 seconds. When I wake up the iMac I can just carry on playing.

I generally have this problem with Wipeout, but I have also seen it with a few other games. What I want to know is how many other people see this problem? Is it software of hardware? Is my iMac faulty?
     
CobraMantis  (op)
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Nov 7, 2002, 08:59 PM
 
DBursey �
Good thought, but unfortunately turning it off doesn't do anything. I thought that might've had something to do with it, but I guess not =\.

Tony �
Yep, that's what I've been doin. When it happens I hit the power button til it sleeps, then it works ok once it wakes up. I'd also like to see if anyone else has experienced any problems similar to this. Anyone got any ideas about what the cause might be?

Thanks
CobraMantis
     
tonyibook
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Dec 6, 2002, 08:27 AM
 
I have seen a few entries on the Apple iMac discussion site and a possible cause could be the internal CD-RW drive. The problem seems to occur when a CD is in the drive, which is normally when playing a game.

I have switched to using an external firewire DVD drive to see if the problem goes away. It would explain why the iMac doesn't actually crash, it is just waiting for the drive, and going through sleep wakes the drive back up again.

Could it be a problem with the internal CD-RW drive on the base model iMac G4 only?
     
tonyibook
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Dec 10, 2002, 07:12 PM
 
I have been using my external firewire DVD drive whilst playing games for a few days now, instead of my internal CD-RW, and I have yet to see a freeze.

Looks like I will have to send the iMac to be repaired. I wonder if it is just my machine or might it be a common problem on the G4 700MHz CD-RW iMac?
     
   
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