iMac not quite right (2.16ghz white)

[iVersa]

I bought a second hand 20" 2.16ghz white imac from ebay and have since upgraded it to 3gb of ram and put a fresh install of 10.5 on it.

Earlier I put a 1.5gb file into the trash and 'emptied trash' and nothing happened, then when trying to open the trash or put something else into it i got a message saying I could not because 'trash is being emptied' but nothing was actually happening and stayed like that for about 20 minutes - I did a restart.... now after the restart I can't open the trash or empty it?

Ive just tried to open utilities and I get a message "The application “Finder” cannot be launched. -600"

Plus none of my icons are showing on the desktop!?

Also various other things have happened..

For instance, after awaking it from sleep if I do or click anything within about 10 seconds it freezes, also the clock doesn't change to the current time etc for about 10 seconds... (so basically it takes about 10 seconds to actually 'wake up' even though the display turns on, its still stuck on the image it had when I put it to sleep)

A few times now while watching movies the film will just stop and i'll get the rainbow wheel and quicktime not responding...

The other day finder froze up and the only way to sort it out was to turn the machine off...

My internet gets very slow sometimes (which never normally happens) but as soon as I close transmission it goes back to normal.... (probably not related but still)

And just various rainbow wheels and freezes now and again


This isn't really a giant problem but I have owned 4 previous macs and they all ran pretty much perfectly, so this is just a little annoying...

Is there any possible reason for this? is it worth me reinstalling os x?

Is this something to do with leopard?

Im very particular with my macs and always run permissions etc..

Please help, its a lovely machine but just doesn't run as smoothly as I'd expect

 

[iVersa]

ok I just tried another restart and it froze up so after holding the power button down and turning back on again everything is ok..

but still, surely this isn't normal... or acceptable?

 

[iVersa]

Oh FFS!!!

So the two photoshop files I have been working on all day, one says 'not a valid photoshop file' and the other opens into this fuzzy mess of corrupted green.

Its corrupted my whole days work

Dear or dear

 

[iVersa]

Is no one brave nor knowledgeable enough to reply!?

 

[tuxtpenguin]

I had an issue similar to this, and it turned out to be a bad RAM stick. Try taking them out one at a time and seeing if the performance issues go away.

 

[madmaxmedia]

I think no one else has any good ideas, unfortunately.

Since you installed 10.5 fresh onto the machine, RAM would be the next suspect. As the last poster suggested, I would take out 1 stick at a time or swap out the RAM entirely if you have any other sticks, and see what happens.

This shouldn't have anything to do with Leopard, people haven't been having the kinds of problems you're seeing.

 

[iVersa]

Thanks for reading my giant thread guys.

I shall try the ram, I have a 2gb stick from crucial in there plus 2x1gb sticks from apple (one spare) so I can try all three separately.

I'll let you know what happens, thanks guy.

PS- just for your interest, I rang applecare and we spoke for a while and I ended asking if I could get some Tiger disks - they wanted £99 for them!!! thats more than leopard retails for

 

[Dartholomew]

That doesn't sound typical of a RAM problem to me, maybe more of a system-file corruption issue. Have you tried backing up your files and doing a clean install?

 

[iVersa]

That doesn't sound typical of a RAM problem to me, maybe more of a system-file corruption issue. Have you tried backing up your files and doing a clean install?

Ive only just done a clean install of leopard about 2 weeks ago, I'd really rather not go through the hassle of doing it again unless thats my last option.

I ran fsck and then permissions and it seems to be ok thus far, will try moving the ram about tonight but it's hard to tell as the problems only occur now and then.

 

[Dartholomew]

Other potential issues:

1. Overheating? Sometimes causes random-seeming errors and failed functions. Notice any abnormal heat from the case?

2. What does the activity monitor tell you about CPU/RAM usage? Some (but not all) of your problems sound indicative of a pegged 100% CPU?

Both are kind of long shots, just throwing them out there in case.

 

[justperry]

Did You have any problems before you emptied the trash?
If not then its most likely there's nothing wrong(hardware)with your Mac.
What you can do is not doing a reinstall but install over the existing OS.
You won't lose anything this way.
Try reparing your disk with diskwarrior first,then look again what happens.

Cheers Perry

 

[iVersa]

Thought i'd update you guys.

A few hours after replying to this thread my imac just cut out and pretty much died. Tried turning it back on and all that happens was the sleep light lit up, no chime, no display etc.

Buggered!

Apple are collecting it tomorrow for a repair