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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Os 10.2.8 Lose Video And Computer Responsivness

snoebay - May 17, 2005 - 9:28 pm

Hi; I'm running 10.2.8 on a G3 mt,333 mhz ,512mb ram,12gb scsi hd, on a atto scsi pci card,no other hd's I'm having a unusual problem in that I'll lose my video and all control of the machine.It just stops responding! I have to shut it down with the reset switch,wait five minutes and restart.All is ok after this.This will occur randomly,the last three times it happened when I was burning a cd using toast,printing a photo using adobe photoshop elements and the best one,using sox 4.6 while doing a full optimization! I might add that the hd is a 68 pin adapted to a 50 pin,the display is a lcd windows unit also with a adapter and video memory is at 6mb.A third party os recognized cdrw is also installed.Can anyone help me with this.My gut feeling is that it is a software issue,but I am new to jaguar and I can't be sure
thanks!

Drumhum - May 18, 2005 - 10:00 am

Hi jerry,

I'm Tom and I will be assisting you.

As this problem is "unusual" to you - ie it has just started to happen for no apparent reason - I agree with you it "feels" to be software related. I am assuming your system has worked perfectly in the past.

I would recommend you do the usual things first:

repair permissions (use diskutility: select your system drive and click 'repair permissions)

I would also give the PRAM a zap - restart the computer and hold down alt, apple, P and R keys and release them after you have heard two start-up chimes.

It might also be worth repairing the system and scsi drives by starting up your computer from the original OS disks (jaguar) and selecting diskutility from the menu.

If non of this helps then it could be hardware probs.

Give these remedial cures a go first and then we'll take it from there

let me know how you get on and feel free to ask me if there is any confusion etc.

regards

Tom

Thanks for using macosx.com

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snoebay - May 18, 2005 - 9:16 pm

Hi Tom,

Thanks for taking this problem on.I should have noted on the original post that I had done all of the usual things first time it happened and that I routinely run a full system optimization with Sox 4.6 about every two weeks or so and this is the first sign of any trouble since I switched to OSX about 9 months ago.This machine gets a lot of use, so I try to keep everything neat and tidy.I've also booted up on classic and tried to duplicate the problem but it will not happen.Hope this helps!

Jerry

Drumhum - May 19, 2005 - 7:14 am

Hi jerry,

As I think you appreciate, diagnosing a problem that appears to be random is difficult. I'd be surprised if it was as straight forward as some sort of corruption of the OS. Mac OSX really started to shine with 10.3 and above but this problem sounds like it is related to something other than an OS issue as such.

If this issue is happening on a regular basis (eg couple of times or more a day, if you use the system through out the day) I suggest we test via a process of elimination. Can you work without the scsi drive for a while? If so I suggest you remove the scsi card altogether. If the drive is an internal one, just disconnect the cables including power and remove the atto card.

If the CD burner is firewire I'd be very surprised if this is causing problems but disconnect it anyway. Same for the printer. If there is anything else connected then remove it.

If you can work with the system like this for a while and no crash is occuring then connect one device and see if the problem returns. First reconnect the SCSI stuff.

Contrary to what I said before, due to the way OSX works, it is rare that software causes the computer to freeze completely. A complete computer crash is typically hardware related.

If the computer still crashes with the extra stuff removed at least we'll be one step closer to a diagnosis.

let me know how you get on.

regards
Tom



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snoebay - May 22, 2005 - 10:00 am

Hi Tom:
Found the cure! It was the hard drive! let me explain.I was running a seagate 10,000 rpm server drive in this machine and the cooling it was getting was not enough,it was way too hot.I cloned the old drive over to a new drive and installed it and so far no problems at all.The new hd is running much cooler than before even after a hard workout so I think the problem is resolved.
thanks again for your help

Jerry

Drumhum - May 22, 2005 - 12:52 pm

Hi jerry,

Your solution does make sense. Glad your back on track;-)

regards

Tom

thanks for using macosx.com
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