Exactly.
Maybe heat doesn't change it for you, but that doesn't mean it won't change the issue for someone else. Bad hardware can be finicky like that.
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Late 2007 iMac 20" Freezes completely random.
- Thread starter Naad
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Exactly.
Maybe heat doesn't change it for you, but that doesn't mean it won't change the issue for someone else. Bad hardware can be finicky like that.
Intell,
I'm having this exact issue with a 20" 2007 iMac I just picked up for my sister; didn't start freezing till I upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and even then not until I did the combo update to 10.6.8.
I saw your post with the guilty kexts earlier. How exactly have you married 10.6.8 and 10.6.6, at least as an interim fix? Did you just update to 10.6.8 and then copy over those kexts from 10.6.6?
Trying to get this set up for her sooner than later. Thanks for your work; I hope Apple "rewards" it with a proper solution.
I'm having this exact issue with a 20" 2007 iMac I just picked up for my sister; didn't start freezing till I upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and even then not until I did the combo update to 10.6.8.
I saw your post with the guilty kexts earlier. How exactly have you married 10.6.8 and 10.6.6, at least as an interim fix? Did you just update to 10.6.8 and then copy over those kexts from 10.6.6?
Trying to get this set up for her sooner than later. Thanks for your work; I hope Apple "rewards" it with a proper solution.
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I updated to 10.6.6 and copied the graphics related kexts to a safe place then upgraded to 10.6.8 and installed all of the updates as well. I then use KextWizard to reinstall the 10.6.6 kexts. I've noticed that after each security update I have to reinstall the 10.6.6 kexts.
Maybe some of you remember what these forums were like when the 07 iMacs were first released? They were lit up with posts similar to this from people about them locking up.
Mine used to do it a lot too (I even had Apple exchange the iMac for another, but it was the same). Later OS updates largely cured it, but not completely. It still happens to me on occasion (In OS X and XP).
I think both the GPU itself and the drivers are just weak.. And if it hasn't been possible to fix it completely after nearly 5 years, then I doubt it ever will be fully fixed.
At least in my case, I tolerate it because it is quite infrequent in OS X compared to some of you guys experiences.
Mine used to do it a lot too (I even had Apple exchange the iMac for another, but it was the same). Later OS updates largely cured it, but not completely. It still happens to me on occasion (In OS X and XP).
I think both the GPU itself and the drivers are just weak.. And if it hasn't been possible to fix it completely after nearly 5 years, then I doubt it ever will be fully fixed.
At least in my case, I tolerate it because it is quite infrequent in OS X compared to some of you guys experiences.
That problem was fixed by a EFI firmware update and a video card firmware update. My video card is not eligible for the video card firmware update and I don't think the others having this problem are either as based off the postings of others' video card information posted in this thread.
32-bit kernel
I switched to running the kernel in 32-bit mode about 2 weeks ago. Not fixed, but I've had 2 freezes in 2 weeks as opposed to multiple freezes every day. Has anyone had success with using the working kexts from Snow Leopard with Lion?
I switched to running the kernel in 32-bit mode about 2 weeks ago. Not fixed, but I've had 2 freezes in 2 weeks as opposed to multiple freezes every day. Has anyone had success with using the working kexts from Snow Leopard with Lion?
Newbie question for Intell
Wow am I glad to find this thread. I can't believe I didn't find it sooner.
Late 2007 Intel iMac with ATI 2400HD running 10.6.8 with the exact same freezing problems as described by Intell. After reading your posts I realized my problems started around the time I upgraded to 10.6.8 around mid summer 2011.
Intell, I personally think you have nailed this issue exactly, better than apple geniuses have attempted, or I have found searching on the internet. My iMac worked flawlessly up until that timeframe.
I have taken mine in to the local apple store genius 4 times looking for answers. Each time they run diagnostics and say everything is fine. The last two times I replicated the problem (which didnt occur in safe boot mode while I was there) and they then told me to replace the video card. Since I believed it is somehow a software issue, I have not replaced it. My reasoning is that my iMac works great sometimes for hours but then freezes up to 10 times a day over and over.
Last year I did a clean install to Leopard and then right to SL 10.6.8 but the issue obviously continued.
So Intell, is it safe to assume your freezing issue has stopped since you have installed the 10.6.6 kexts? Is there any harm with me installing up to 10.6.6 instead of 10.6.8? I ask because I am not familiar with the process of copying kexts as I would need to do.
Lastly I assume the freezing continues with Lion, since anemone states he is running Lion with older kexts to remain stable.
So with all the reporting of this bug to apple, is there any hope that Mountain Lion will fix this issue? I really hope so.
Thanks for your help and reading my story.
Wow am I glad to find this thread. I can't believe I didn't find it sooner.
Late 2007 Intel iMac with ATI 2400HD running 10.6.8 with the exact same freezing problems as described by Intell. After reading your posts I realized my problems started around the time I upgraded to 10.6.8 around mid summer 2011.
Intell, I personally think you have nailed this issue exactly, better than apple geniuses have attempted, or I have found searching on the internet. My iMac worked flawlessly up until that timeframe.
I have taken mine in to the local apple store genius 4 times looking for answers. Each time they run diagnostics and say everything is fine. The last two times I replicated the problem (which didnt occur in safe boot mode while I was there) and they then told me to replace the video card. Since I believed it is somehow a software issue, I have not replaced it. My reasoning is that my iMac works great sometimes for hours but then freezes up to 10 times a day over and over.
Last year I did a clean install to Leopard and then right to SL 10.6.8 but the issue obviously continued.
So Intell, is it safe to assume your freezing issue has stopped since you have installed the 10.6.6 kexts? Is there any harm with me installing up to 10.6.6 instead of 10.6.8? I ask because I am not familiar with the process of copying kexts as I would need to do.
Lastly I assume the freezing continues with Lion, since anemone states he is running Lion with older kexts to remain stable.
So with all the reporting of this bug to apple, is there any hope that Mountain Lion will fix this issue? I really hope so.
Thanks for your help and reading my story.
This is really weird but I had a similar freezing issue on my C2D early 2008 iMac which started sometime under Lion. It only happened while I was running Safari or things that used webkit though.. I switched to Chrome begrudgingly for a few months. This may be totally unrelated to the freezing here as I have no idea what kexts were installed at which points.
The crash continued into ML but has totally stopped happening in the latest ML developer preview running the latest Safari. It was SUCH a frustrating crash and I'm glad to finally see then end of it.
I have a CPU monitor in my menubar and before the freeze a load of HDD access would happen then the CPU load would spike to 100%. Then it'd freeze and have to be hard-shutdown. It did it almost every day when I used Safari! It never left any clues whatsoever in the console logs either.
Just thought it worth mentioning in case people were experiencing different but similar freezes.
The crash continued into ML but has totally stopped happening in the latest ML developer preview running the latest Safari. It was SUCH a frustrating crash and I'm glad to finally see then end of it.
I have a CPU monitor in my menubar and before the freeze a load of HDD access would happen then the CPU load would spike to 100%. Then it'd freeze and have to be hard-shutdown. It did it almost every day when I used Safari! It never left any clues whatsoever in the console logs either.
Just thought it worth mentioning in case people were experiencing different but similar freezes.
The crashing could also happen on an early 2008 iMac or any iMac that has the ATI 2400/2600 video card. I haven't see any reports of crashing on a Mac Pro running 10.6.8 with an ATI 2400/2600 card.
Please note that you should backup your data in the event this makes your system unbootable. While Safe Boot should still work, regular boot may not.
Here's what I did to fix the crashing on my iMac. First download Kext Wizard, Pacifist, and the 10.6.6 combo update. Using Pacifist, extract the following kexts to the desktop by dragging and dropping and selecting "Extract".
These kexts are in the package's manual>SUBaseSystem10.6.6>System>Library>Extensions directory.
Open Kext Wizard and go to its Installation tab. Drop the kexts you extracted from the 10.6.6 combo into Kext Wizard, check the backup box if you want, then click install. When it's done, reboot. If every thing goes well, you shouldn't have anymore crashes. Save the kexts you extracted somewhere. You'll have to reinstall them after every Security Update.
This is a simplified version of what I did. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help. Just remember, redistributing Apple's code (the kexts) without permission is in violation of US copyright laws and is not permitted on MacRumors.
Please note that you should backup your data in the event this makes your system unbootable. While Safe Boot should still work, regular boot may not.
Here's what I did to fix the crashing on my iMac. First download Kext Wizard, Pacifist, and the 10.6.6 combo update. Using Pacifist, extract the following kexts to the desktop by dragging and dropping and selecting "Extract".
Code:
ATI2400Controller.kext
ATI2600Controller.kext
ATIFramebuffer.kext
ATIRadeonX2000.kext
ATISupport.kext
IOGraphicsFamily.kext
IONDRVSupport.kextThese kexts are in the package's manual>SUBaseSystem10.6.6>System>Library>Extensions directory.
Open Kext Wizard and go to its Installation tab. Drop the kexts you extracted from the 10.6.6 combo into Kext Wizard, check the backup box if you want, then click install. When it's done, reboot. If every thing goes well, you shouldn't have anymore crashes. Save the kexts you extracted somewhere. You'll have to reinstall them after every Security Update.
This is a simplified version of what I did. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help. Just remember, redistributing Apple's code (the kexts) without permission is in violation of US copyright laws and is not permitted on MacRumors.
Thanks for the reply Intell, and instructions.
I found out some more info with a really informative thread that people are getting similiar results like Intell to stop the freezes:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2384136?start=1125&tstart=0
People are doing the kext replacing but are saying that 10.6.3 and further is causing the problem and the 10.6.2 kexts are the ones to go with.
On page 21 of that thread a guy posts his fix about the kexts and then later posts instructions here: http://blog.krzysztof-turek.com/apple-imac-8-1-freeze-problem-solution-en/
Also a few are reporting that 10.7.4 is fixing the problem without replacing the kexts, with most saying all versions of Lion become stable with the kext copying back to 10.6.2
I am so happy to know this problem can be fixed and that many others have this problem. I only wish Apple would address it because it seems pretty wide spread. Now I plan to update to Mountain Lion in July and if my freezing cannot be controlled, I will try Lion 10.7.4 with possible kext replacing.
I found out some more info with a really informative thread that people are getting similiar results like Intell to stop the freezes:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2384136?start=1125&tstart=0
People are doing the kext replacing but are saying that 10.6.3 and further is causing the problem and the 10.6.2 kexts are the ones to go with.
On page 21 of that thread a guy posts his fix about the kexts and then later posts instructions here: http://blog.krzysztof-turek.com/apple-imac-8-1-freeze-problem-solution-en/
Also a few are reporting that 10.7.4 is fixing the problem without replacing the kexts, with most saying all versions of Lion become stable with the kext copying back to 10.6.2
I am so happy to know this problem can be fixed and that many others have this problem. I only wish Apple would address it because it seems pretty wide spread. Now I plan to update to Mountain Lion in July and if my freezing cannot be controlled, I will try Lion 10.7.4 with possible kext replacing.
I believe the 10.6.3 and the 10.6.8 problems are the same bug, but effecting different versions of the ATI 2400/2600 cards. I think there are three total versions of the video cards. One got a firmware update shortly after the iMacs were release in mid-2007. This card does not suffer from any of the bugs. The next suffers from the 10.6.3 bug and maybe fixed with 10.7.4. The last is the 10.6.8 bug and what most in this thread have. I do not know if it is fixed in 10.7.4 or Mountain Lion. The card versions have been released throughout the iMac's lifecycle and the age of the iMac does not seem to differentiate which card that iMac may have.
How I fixed my problems with a X1600 card
I know you guys are talking about something slightly different but I'll just let you know what I did. I was reading around here about using older drivers/kext. My comp is a Macbook Pro 1,2 running the X1600 card. After I created a second partition and installed Tiger yesterday I noticed I didn't have anymore issues with graphics (but now of course I don't have many games to run since nothing runs on Tiger anymore). So my solution was to copy "ATIRadeon.kext" from my Tiger install to my SL install (it was missing??)(10.4.11 to 10.6.8) and this seems to have fixed everything (along with doing the Terminal commands outlined in the link above).
So my suggestion would be to find the install disks that came with your mac, use pacifist to poke around and see what drivers might be missing, and put those in your current install. Hope this helps, I have been frustrated with my ATI for years and I'm glad to say I can play more games at a respectable fps/resolution.
ps. I uploaded the kext if anyone is interested.
pps. At the risk of the site I linked going down in the future I have also attached a pdf of the site.
I know you guys are talking about something slightly different but I'll just let you know what I did. I was reading around here about using older drivers/kext. My comp is a Macbook Pro 1,2 running the X1600 card. After I created a second partition and installed Tiger yesterday I noticed I didn't have anymore issues with graphics (but now of course I don't have many games to run since nothing runs on Tiger anymore). So my solution was to copy "ATIRadeon.kext" from my Tiger install to my SL install (it was missing??)(10.4.11 to 10.6.8) and this seems to have fixed everything (along with doing the Terminal commands outlined in the link above).
So my suggestion would be to find the install disks that came with your mac, use pacifist to poke around and see what drivers might be missing, and put those in your current install. Hope this helps, I have been frustrated with my ATI for years and I'm glad to say I can play more games at a respectable fps/resolution.
ps. I uploaded the kext if anyone is interested.
pps. At the risk of the site I linked going down in the future I have also attached a pdf of the site.
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Putting Tiger drivers in an installation of Snow Leopard is not a good idea. It will cause instability and other unpleasant problems. Snow Leopard doesn't even have an ATIRadeon.kext to replace it with. All that is doing is introducing old obsolete code to a system. I strongly suggest not to ever do that on any Mac OS X machine. Even when using Lion kexts in Mountain Lion, it can cause instability. Furthermore, none of the effected iMacs in this thread have a X1600 card.
It was my hard drive
I had been searching this and other forums looking for the answer to my iMac problems. I too was having the sleep/freeze issue, it seemed to work ok as long as it was continually used. If it went to sleep it would wake up with the spinning beach ball over an open but unresponsive window. The clock time was stale, showing minutes or hours ago (when it froze presumably). Then it started to do it randomly while working, it didnt matter what application I was using and there didnt seem to be any pattern. Nothing would get it un-stuck except a hard restart. This problem only started a few weeks ago and the first time I noticed was when trying to sync a 10 minute video from the iPhone camera. My first clue that it may be the hard drive was when one of those restarts showed the folder with the question mark, it couldnt find a startup disc (btw, this only happened once). Other symptoms including corrupted MS entourage mailbox needing fixing, suddenly not knowing it had a Time Machine back up disk, very slow startup and slow application launch.
I decided to risk the price of a new hard drive and the daunting looking procedure to install it. It wasnt as bad as it looked and seems to have totally cured my problem, I couldnt get by more than twenty minutes without a hangup and now it has gone flawlessly a week since surgery.
iMac is a mid 2007 20 inch running Lion
I had been searching this and other forums looking for the answer to my iMac problems. I too was having the sleep/freeze issue, it seemed to work ok as long as it was continually used. If it went to sleep it would wake up with the spinning beach ball over an open but unresponsive window. The clock time was stale, showing minutes or hours ago (when it froze presumably). Then it started to do it randomly while working, it didnt matter what application I was using and there didnt seem to be any pattern. Nothing would get it un-stuck except a hard restart. This problem only started a few weeks ago and the first time I noticed was when trying to sync a 10 minute video from the iPhone camera. My first clue that it may be the hard drive was when one of those restarts showed the folder with the question mark, it couldnt find a startup disc (btw, this only happened once). Other symptoms including corrupted MS entourage mailbox needing fixing, suddenly not knowing it had a Time Machine back up disk, very slow startup and slow application launch.
I decided to risk the price of a new hard drive and the daunting looking procedure to install it. It wasnt as bad as it looked and seems to have totally cured my problem, I couldnt get by more than twenty minutes without a hangup and now it has gone flawlessly a week since surgery.
iMac is a mid 2007 20 inch running Lion
Just a status update on the issue with "my" (well, sister's, but you know how IT duties go) 20" 2007 iMac's freezing. I believe it is a 2400 graphics card (no suffixes).
Again, fine with 10.5.x. Installed 10.6 and combo updated to 10.6.8. Tons of freezing. Reinstalled 10.6 and seemingly fine over several days (could have tested longer). Combo updated to 10.6.6 and left it for a few days, but just before I thought it must be alright it froze twice in a row. So, based on other posts it would seem that this version of the card might be stable with the kexts from 10.6.3. The next step is to reinstall 10.6.3 and long term test it before going to 10.6.8 and using kext wizard.
As a side, I sure love Snow Leopard's ability to reinstall the OS without touching a user account. This is my first exposure to it (I have an aging eMac, and then skipped right on to a newer iMac with Lion... mixed feelings; I digress).
Question and clarification: has anyone found that 10.7.4 or even 10.8 (as of today) has decisively solved this freezing issue?
Thanks.
Again, fine with 10.5.x. Installed 10.6 and combo updated to 10.6.8. Tons of freezing. Reinstalled 10.6 and seemingly fine over several days (could have tested longer). Combo updated to 10.6.6 and left it for a few days, but just before I thought it must be alright it froze twice in a row. So, based on other posts it would seem that this version of the card might be stable with the kexts from 10.6.3. The next step is to reinstall 10.6.3 and long term test it before going to 10.6.8 and using kext wizard.
As a side, I sure love Snow Leopard's ability to reinstall the OS without touching a user account. This is my first exposure to it (I have an aging eMac, and then skipped right on to a newer iMac with Lion... mixed feelings; I digress).
Question and clarification: has anyone found that 10.7.4 or even 10.8 (as of today) has decisively solved this freezing issue?
Thanks.
A few people find that the 10.6.3 kexts fixes the problem. Myself and most others find that the 10.6.6 ones do. Some people have reported that 10.7.4 has fixed the problem and others reported that it still causes problems. See post 114 for which kexts to replace.
I am missing IOGraphicsFamily.kext and IONDRVSupport.kext :\ Used the download you'd provided.
Those two kexts are in only in the Snow Leopard installation media. And they are the two that I suspect the most for causing the freezing. If you have a retail 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 disc, they'll both work. You can even extract them from a Mac's Snow Leopard Restore disc as long as the version is 10.6.0 through 10.6.6.
I confirmed that the computer has the 2400HD. I upgraded to 10.6.8 and did the kext wizard replace with the 3 recommended From 10.6.2 on the linked site (atiframebuffer, atisupport, ati2400controller) and got a kernel panic on boot.
I reinstalled the OS as safe boot would also panic (not inspiring), upgraded to 10.6.8, and tried the kext wizard replace with the full list that Intell listed above, with all extracted with Pacifist from 10.6.2 except the IO kexts from 10.6.0. Kernel panic again on restart; same panic when safe boot is attempted.
I'm currently reinstalling the OS again, but not sure what to try now: just the IOGraphicFamily and IONDRVSupport by themselves from 10.6.0 into 10.6.8? Perhaps I am missing something? Any feedback would be great. Thanks everybody.
I reinstalled the OS as safe boot would also panic (not inspiring), upgraded to 10.6.8, and tried the kext wizard replace with the full list that Intell listed above, with all extracted with Pacifist from 10.6.2 except the IO kexts from 10.6.0. Kernel panic again on restart; same panic when safe boot is attempted.
I'm currently reinstalling the OS again, but not sure what to try now: just the IOGraphicFamily and IONDRVSupport by themselves from 10.6.0 into 10.6.8? Perhaps I am missing something? Any feedback would be great. Thanks everybody.