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What causes iMac to restart?

B

Balthorn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 9, 2016
15
0
I have a late '15 27 inch iMac, 512 SSD, 3.3 i5, M395.

On 2 occassions, the computer has restarted itself spontaneously. Because it has pure SSD, the restarts have been near instant.

The first time was soon after opening it and booting it up the first time after restoring from time machine. As soon as I logged into OS X, the computer did a force restart and bounced me back to the desktop.

The 2nd time was about a week ago, I have had the computer for about 5 months now, but I had a download going and I was playing a game (Elder scrolls online).

I played for about 5 hours and after quitting the game, the computer did a force restart again and put me back to the desktop. Both times, no error message was displayed.

I am very concerned if my computer is defective or if there is something triggering it. Can somebody please advise on the seriousness of this issue, and if there is a way to fix it?

Thank you!
 
Could be an issue with the TM restore. What OS was the TM backup on? If it was an earlier one than the OS shipped on your iMac, that may be the cause.

You can also copy the kernel panic logs for our consideration. Select Finder, click the Go menu and enter /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports then press OK. Anything in there?
 
keysofanxiety said:
Could be an issue with the TM restore. What OS was the TM backup on? If it was an earlier one than the OS shipped on your iMac, that may be the cause.

You can also copy the kernel panic logs for our consideration. Select Finder, click the Go menu and enter /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports then press OK. Anything in there?
Click to expand...
It was originally coming from a 2008 MacBook Pro, but it had been on another 5K iMac before that. I returned that iMac and got this one

nambuccaheadsau said:
It is under warranty so take it back, as hard as it is to handle.

And consider the additional two year AppleCare available before the 1 year since purchase expires.
Click to expand...
Is it an issue that I purchased it through a 3rd party?

Is this a sign that the computer will fail?
 
Sounds to me more like a software glitch. And they can be tricky to find.

Do you use Safari as your browser, and do you by any chance remember if you had any webpages open (or minimized) at the time of the crash. I have experienced that WebGL in Safari can cause a crash, though for me it was freeze.

Also any 3rd party driver or controller could be to blame for this. (Like Logitech software for mouse or keyboard, stuff like that).

Restoring from Time Machine could cause a software glitch. So maybe try and do a manual backup, and then reinstall the Mac from scratch.
 
nambuccaheadsau said:
Depends what you mean by a 'third party'. If it was purchased new and the third party is a recognised Reseller no problem. Even second hand less that a year still no problem. Suggest you go to the warranty checker, enter the serial number and see what Apple has to say about service history and warranty.


https://checkcoverage.apple.com/au/en/
Click to expand...
It was purchased from B&H photo, which is a recognized reseller here in the states.

Machine was purchased new.

Lunder89 said:
Sounds to me more like a software glitch. And they can be tricky to find.

Do you use Safari as your browser, and do you by any chance remember if you had any webpages open (or minimized) at the time of the crash. I have experienced that WebGL in Safari can cause a crash, though for me it was freeze.

Also any 3rd party driver or controller could be to blame for this. (Like Logitech software for mouse or keyboard, stuff like that).

Restoring from Time Machine could cause a software glitch. So maybe try and do a manual backup, and then reinstall the Mac from scratch.
Click to expand...
If it is software, I would be less worried, as that is more correctable.

I use chrome as my browser, I did have the browser open and download running at the time of the crash.

I do use a Logitech mouse and it uses the Logitech gaming software. Not sure if that would be a cause

I might have to try the reinstall. The last crash I experienced was 6 months ago when I booted it for the first time so I am a little concerned why there was so much time between the two, or if it is in fact due to time machine


I also saw the post about the diagnostic reports, I can get those up when I get home.
 
If you have logitech software installed, I am 90% certain that is the cause.
I have had crashes on 3 different Macs, it stopped on all of them, when I stopped installing Logitechs software.
The crashes were also very random on my Macs. Sometimes 2 weeks from crash to crash, and other times as much as 2-3 months.

Chrome shouldn't have a problem with WebGL. I have only experienced the bug in Safari.
 
Try removing the Logitech software and run that way for 2-4 weeks.
See how that does for you.

If you're using a Logitech mouse, be aware that you can use either "USB Overdrive" or "Steermouse" in place of the Logitech software to utilize the extra mouse buttons. I've been running my own Logitech mice like that for years and years now.

Quite frankly, just 2 crashes in six months of ownership isn't too much cause for concern.
As mentioned above, it could very well "just be software".
 
Fishrrman said:
Quite frankly, just 2 crashes in six months of ownership isn't too much cause for concern
Click to expand...
This is what I am really, really hoping.

Historically my Macs haven't had any crashing issues that I can really remember. Otherwise this computer is performing amazingly.

My top concern is I have no way of knowing if this is indicative of a serious issue or not... very stressing
 
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