24" iMac has started crashing - any ideas?

[ascender]

Just looking for some advice as I've not had any problems like this with a Mac before so I've no idea where to start.

I've got a new 24" iMac which has been running faultlessly for the last few weeks. However, over the last day its started crashing without any seeming pattern to it.

The symptoms are the same. The little spinning beachball timer comes up in whatever application I'm running. Whatever song I'm playing in iTunes continues to play. I can move the mouse around, but can't click on anything. All the keys are non-responsive although the CAPS LOCK light still comes on when the key is pushed.

I've run the techtool program which came with Applecare and it goes OK.

At the moment its running SuperDuper without any problems as I'm making a backup image of the disk. So its strange that I can run that program for as long as it takes, but as soon as I start doing other stuff, it falls over.

Just wondering where to start really as I'm from a PC background and never had a problem with any of my Macs before?

 

[mzd]

did you install the 1.1 update? a number of people are experiencing similar problems after installing that update. i fortunately don't have random crashes, but i also can't shut down or restart. check the iMac Software Update 1.1 thread. some people have had success reverting back to the 1.0 update. that hasn't worked for me though.

 

[kixsand]

Anecdotal evidence I've seen on these forums and experienced first hand suggests that this type of behaviour can be caused by the migration assistant when you set up your new system. Apparently you can bring over a lot of bad mojo(Power PC configured setups and that sort of thing).

I recently had a hard drive issue that forced me to reformat and re-install everything without the aid of the migration assistant and my computer has been solid as a rock ever since.

Just an idea.

Hope it helps.

darren

 

[DreamsPower]

Same of my 20"...

Read my other post, for now I didn't have a freeze 'cause i went back to the 1.0 update. Maybe the 1.1 affects your iMac too, there is a thread with a small "how to". Good luck.

But honestly I also migrated documents and preferences from an iMac G5 PPC so... don't know.

 

[ascender]

Thanks for the link, I'll check that thread out.

 

[devilot]

Closed as per OP's request.