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Late 2007 iMac 20" Freezes completely random.
- Thread starter Naad
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Lion with Snow Leopard Drivers is a no go
Looks like I spoke too soon. I thought the cached files had been deleted, but it seems that the latest SL drivers are not compatible with Lion and iWork. I'm getting the blank pages again. So I guess I will not try the 7.18.18 drivers from 10.7.1 and see if that's any improvement. Otherwise I may consider just downgrading entirely back to SL.
The main reason I upgraded this computer to Lion was so that all my devices and computers could sync address book, calendars and bookmarks,, but this iMac is the least important of those in that aspect.
Looks like I spoke too soon. I thought the cached files had been deleted, but it seems that the latest SL drivers are not compatible with Lion and iWork. I'm getting the blank pages again. So I guess I will not try the 7.18.18 drivers from 10.7.1 and see if that's any improvement. Otherwise I may consider just downgrading entirely back to SL.
The main reason I upgraded this computer to Lion was so that all my devices and computers could sync address book, calendars and bookmarks,, but this iMac is the least important of those in that aspect.
For some reason this freezing problem seems to have went away after upgrading to 10.8. Not sure why.
20:59 up 94 days, 6:02, 5 users, load averages: 1.15 0.89 0.81
Hello guys !
I followed this thread for a long time.. I'm in the same situation as you, my iMac 7,1 2Ghz Core 2 Duo with ATI 2400HD completely freeze when I upgrade highter than 10.6.6. I've tried Lion, Mountain Lion (as suggested Monkeybagel, with hope I did a clean install.. work very great for 15min after the installation, smooth, faster than SL.. but at the first reboot... OMFG.. worth than I ever seen..).. what waste of money..
So now I install (again) SL and after the combo update to 10.6.6.. very boring this situation. I don't really want to tried the kext fix but just to say that, for my case, Mountain Lion was not what I expected..
(Sorry for my english, I'm french !)
I followed this thread for a long time.. I'm in the same situation as you, my iMac 7,1 2Ghz Core 2 Duo with ATI 2400HD completely freeze when I upgrade highter than 10.6.6. I've tried Lion, Mountain Lion (as suggested Monkeybagel, with hope I did a clean install.. work very great for 15min after the installation, smooth, faster than SL.. but at the first reboot... OMFG.. worth than I ever seen..).. what waste of money..
So now I install (again) SL and after the combo update to 10.6.6.. very boring this situation. I don't really want to tried the kext fix but just to say that, for my case, Mountain Lion was not what I expected..
(Sorry for my english, I'm french !)
Your English is rather good. One thing I've discovered is not only replacing the ATI kexts with the older versions, but the IOGraphicsFamily.kext as well. Don't forget, the IOGraphicsFamily.kext gets updated by the latest security updates put out by Apple. So you'll need to replace it with the 10.6.6 version after every Mac OS X update.
Ubuntu works great, not lockups or any other problems. I use it 95% of the time. You just can't view Netflix movies with it.
Fixed freeze but now have no openGL functionality
I have the 2007 iMac and have been having the freezes since 10.6.3 so after following the advice on this thread I updated the system to 10.6.8 and my mac wouldn't boot. After rebooting in safe mode and applying the kext fix suggested here it started up. I've since updated to Mountain lion and applied the kext fix again and the mac no longer freezes but I have no openGL functionality. The 3d software I use will only work when I turn OpenGL off in preferences and when I open system preferences and open the screensaver panel system prefs crashes straight away. I know that this has something to do with OpenGL but I don't know what. Can any more knowledgable person help me to fix this.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
I have the 2007 iMac and have been having the freezes since 10.6.3 so after following the advice on this thread I updated the system to 10.6.8 and my mac wouldn't boot. After rebooting in safe mode and applying the kext fix suggested here it started up. I've since updated to Mountain lion and applied the kext fix again and the mac no longer freezes but I have no openGL functionality. The 3d software I use will only work when I turn OpenGL off in preferences and when I open system preferences and open the screensaver panel system prefs crashes straight away. I know that this has something to do with OpenGL but I don't know what. Can any more knowledgable person help me to fix this.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Hello guys !
I followed this thread for a long time.. I'm in the same situation as you, my iMac 7,1 2Ghz Core 2 Duo with ATI 2400HD completely freeze when I upgrade highter than 10.6.6. I've tried Lion, Mountain Lion (as suggested Monkeybagel, with hope I did a clean install.. work very great for 15min after the installation, smooth, faster than SL.. but at the first reboot... OMFG.. worth than I ever seen..).. what waste of money..
So now I install (again) SL and after the combo update to 10.6.6.. very boring this situation. I don't really want to tried the kext fix but just to say that, for my case, Mountain Lion was not what I expected..
(Sorry for my english, I'm french !)
That's strange. Mine still has not hung. I think I even started out on the 10.8 beta and it has been kept up-to-date since then. It still hasn't hung all this time:
23:17 up 110 days, 8:20, 2 users, load averages: 0.54 0.48 0.44
It used to hang like you said - pretty much once per day at least. I don't know what/why it is working now.
random freezing
first a little background:
I am one of those that tried the new kexts only to find it caused my system to fail to start. As a result, I have stayed with the kexts that came with 10.6.8.
I was getting freezes every 10 minutes and was forced to switch to Ubuntu so I could keep using my imac.
A solution:
Recently I moved my unit to another room and tried Snow Leopard again. Suddenly, without apparent reason, it ran all day without incident. I continued to use it for a week with only one freeze.
The only difference between the two locations was that at the new location, no peripherals were connected to it. In the original location, I had a USB scanner and a firewire DVD-RW always connected. I also had a wired ethernet connection at the original location versus wireless at the new location.
I then moved the unit back to my original location, kept it wireless and disconnected the firewire drive, and only connected the USB scanner when needed. Since then I have been using it for a week with only two lock ups (one a freeze and the other a failed wake from sleep.
Conclusion:
I suspect either the ethernet, USB or Firewire drive or combination thereof was contributing to the freezes. Good to be using my Apple OS again. I missed it.
first a little background:
I am one of those that tried the new kexts only to find it caused my system to fail to start. As a result, I have stayed with the kexts that came with 10.6.8.
I was getting freezes every 10 minutes and was forced to switch to Ubuntu so I could keep using my imac.
A solution:
Recently I moved my unit to another room and tried Snow Leopard again. Suddenly, without apparent reason, it ran all day without incident. I continued to use it for a week with only one freeze.
The only difference between the two locations was that at the new location, no peripherals were connected to it. In the original location, I had a USB scanner and a firewire DVD-RW always connected. I also had a wired ethernet connection at the original location versus wireless at the new location.
I then moved the unit back to my original location, kept it wireless and disconnected the firewire drive, and only connected the USB scanner when needed. Since then I have been using it for a week with only two lock ups (one a freeze and the other a failed wake from sleep.
Conclusion:
I suspect either the ethernet, USB or Firewire drive or combination thereof was contributing to the freezes. Good to be using my Apple OS again. I missed it.
A little late to this thread but it has me concerned. I am looking into buying a use 2007 iMac with the 2600 card. Should I stay away? It's for a great price and in great condition...
It is the 2.8ghz 800mhz fsb 24'' iMac.
Am I guaranteed to have freezing issues?
There's really no knowing if you'll get freezing or not. It only appears to effect a small amount of people as Apple has yet to do anything about it. If you do get freezing on it, you can run Leopard or Windows without any problems. Before buying it, ask the seller if it has any freezing problems and ask what OS it's running.
I did some distant tech support for my folk's iMac - 8,1 / 2600HD and floundering at 10.6.8 - Beach balls, could guarantee a bust by simply going to the software update screen. Worked fine for long stretches, then became unusable with beach ball spinning like mad.
I followed the instructions from post #114. Extracted what I could from 10.6.6 combined update, got the remaining kext's from my 10.6.3 install disk, and still managed to get the kernel panics. In the end, I had to reformat and give her the stock 10.6.3 and turned off all software updates. I got it to 10.6.3 at one point, then on updating to 10.6.4, it got stuck and ended up in an unusable state.
It took most of my weekend to try avoiding reformatting, but I failed.
Given all that, and the system cited above, what is the "earliest" version past 10.6.8 that their iMac can use and NOT exhibit this amazingly frustrating problem? I see different versions cited, so I wanted to double check.+
Thanks
I followed the instructions from post #114. Extracted what I could from 10.6.6 combined update, got the remaining kext's from my 10.6.3 install disk, and still managed to get the kernel panics. In the end, I had to reformat and give her the stock 10.6.3 and turned off all software updates. I got it to 10.6.3 at one point, then on updating to 10.6.4, it got stuck and ended up in an unusable state.
It took most of my weekend to try avoiding reformatting, but I failed.
Given all that, and the system cited above, what is the "earliest" version past 10.6.8 that their iMac can use and NOT exhibit this amazingly frustrating problem? I see different versions cited, so I wanted to double check.+
Thanks
I'm on to something new here. I think the crashes have to do with OpenGL. My iMac has the 10.6.6 graphics extensions, but it still crashes on certain OpenGL things mostly Halo. It'll crash every single time I attempt to start Halo. I'm currently trying out some new things I've discovered while digging around in some very old articles from the time this iMac model first had crashing problems.
I think I fixed it. I can now play Halo again. But the problem is how Apple is doing the OpenGL on Snow Leopard. With each 10.6.X update, they update one file. This one file doesn't change with security updates, only the point updates. This one offending file is /usr/libexec/oah/Shims/GLEngine.bundle/GLEngine. For me, I downloaded the 10.6.6 update, no combo needed, and use Pacifist to install that one file. After it's installed reboot. You should now be crash free. This should mitigate the need to replace the graphics kexts, but I haven't done any testing about that. I'm still running the 10.6.6 graphics extensions and the 10.6.6 GLEngine. I do not know if this will work 10.7+ systems or not, try at your own risk. Now, back to Halo.
But the problem is how Apple is doing the OpenGL on Snow Leopard. With each 10.6.X update, they update one file. This one file doesn't change with security updates, only the point updates. This one offending file is /usr/libexec/oah/Shims/GLEngine.bundle/GLEngine. For me, I downloaded the 10.6.6 update, no combo needed, and use Pacifist to install that one file. After it's installed reboot. You should now be crash free. This should mitigate the need to replace the graphics kexts, but I haven't done any testing about that. I'm still running the 10.6.6 graphics extensions and the 10.6.6 GLEngine. I do not know if this will work 10.7+ systems or not, try at your own risk. Now, back to Halo.This sounds like a bad hard drive. Reinstalling won't fix it. Downgrading won't fix it. Upgrading won't fix it. Formatting won't fix it. Installing Windows or Linux won't fix it. Replacing the hard drive is what fixes a bad hard drive.
The stuff everyone else in this thread are complaining about is that they have bad graphics cards but refuse to admit it, and they can get around their problems by installing older, less functional graphics drivers.
The graphics cards are not bad. Even Apple Store's have proclaimed them as not being bad. They don't fail in any version of Windows or Linux and the they work fine in Tiger and Leopard.
Normally, I would agree with you. But since reinstalling 10.6.3, they have not had a single problem. I ran numerous tests on the HD and RAM without having any issues, other than the ill effect of the 10.6.3->10.6.4 blowup.
I"m still looking for what version of OS X past 10.6.8 that will work with this iMac..
Anyone?
Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
FWIW, I am successfully running OS X 10.7.5, using the earlier 10.6.2/10.6.6 kext files. No crashes, problems. Intell sounds like he's onto something cool with the OpenGL file, but for now the kext solution is working great for me.
If you're able to, run Halo version 2.0.4 and try to play it. Chances are, it'll crash before you even get to the start screen.
I totally expect that you're right (I think you have been about everything else so far ;o) I don't have a way to play Halo, unfortunately. I do play a few other games (Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed II) but nothing that would push it the way that I'm sure Halo does.
So, am I right in understanding that if I were to also pull the GLEngine file from the 10.6.6 update, I would be good to go, and wouldn't need to pull the kexts as well? I'm currently in, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode, so I probably won't change anything until I have to, but it's always good to know the truth of the situation.
Thanks!