Desktop continually crashing

tcasper · 07-14-2008, 08:23 PM

The deskop on my mac os 10.4.11 has crashed 3 times within a years period. We've re-installed all applications and plug-ins and added a gig of memory. Any idea's on what could be the problem?

sinclair_tm · 07-14-2008, 11:09 PM

What do you mean by crash? And what Mac do you have? What does it do when it crashes? And have you had to reinstall everything each time?

tcasper · 07-17-2008, 06:31 PM

Crash meaning nothing but the date and time in the top right hand corner come up when logging on and just a blue screen that you can do absolutly nothing in. Everything on the desktop will be gone and there is no access to servers or the hard drive. Heres the info on the mac:
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08

And yes we've had to reinstall each time.

sinclair_tm · 07-18-2008, 10:37 PM

Okay, something is blowing the Finder away. I have had this happen once, and a reinstall was the only fix, and it never happened again. But I was messing with system files when it happened. Is it completely random, or is it after you do an update, install something new, or any other common factors that you might think of. Like did it start after you added that gig of RAM? And it was two 512 mb sticks, right?

macthorough · 07-20-2008, 04:13 AM

Have you had to reinstall the OS X every time or just the applications? It seems like you may have a bad login item or startup item which are not installed when you do a reinstallation of the OS. When ever finder hangs or become nonresponsive boot into safemode clear all startup items and login items and reboot.

Follow this article for booting into safemode http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

Here are the locations of startup and login items

Click on the Apple Menu> System Preferences> Accounts (select account logged in as)>Login Items (to view the login items I believe you have click on the house in the accounts preference pane)

In Finder Move the contents of these files to the trash:

Library/StartupItems

System/Library/StartupItems

User/Library/StartupItems (If there)

Periodically check these locations for startup items and remove them, you do not need to have startup items or login items.
==============================
If you want to isolate the issue to the ram put the apple RAM in and see if you still get the problem. By apple RAM I mean the RAM that apple put in the computer (RAM not from a service provider or a friend). Very few RAM manufacturers have RAM that's quality is equal to the ram Apple endorses.

07-14-2008, 08:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
tcasper Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2 OS: mac os 10.4.11	Desktop continually crashing The deskop on my mac os 10.4.11 has crashed 3 times within a years period. We've re-installed all applications and plug-ins and added a gig of memory. Any idea's on what could be the problem?

07-17-2008, 06:31 PM	#3 (permalink)
tcasper Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2 OS: mac os 10.4.11	Re: Desktop continually crashing Crash meaning nothing but the date and time in the top right hand corner come up when logging on and just a blue screen that you can do absolutly nothing in. Everything on the desktop will be gone and there is no access to servers or the hard drive. Heres the info on the mac: Hardware Overview: Model Name: Mac Pro Model Identifier: MacPro1,1 Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz Number Of Processors: 2 Total Number Of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB Memory: 4 GB Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08 And yes we've had to reinstall each time.

07-20-2008, 04:13 AM	#5 (permalink)
macthorough Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 203 OS: WIN XP PRO	Re: Desktop continually crashing Have you had to reinstall the OS X every time or just the applications? It seems like you may have a bad login item or startup item which are not installed when you do a reinstallation of the OS. When ever finder hangs or become nonresponsive boot into safemode clear all startup items and login items and reboot. Follow this article for booting into safemode http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455 Here are the locations of startup and login items Click on the Apple Menu> System Preferences> Accounts (select account logged in as)>Login Items (to view the login items I believe you have click on the house in the accounts preference pane) In Finder Move the contents of these files to the trash: Library/StartupItems System/Library/StartupItems User/Library/StartupItems (If there) Periodically check these locations for startup items and remove them, you do not need to have startup items or login items. ============================== If you want to isolate the issue to the ram put the apple RAM in and see if you still get the problem. By apple RAM I mean the RAM that apple put in the computer (RAM not from a service provider or a friend). Very few RAM manufacturers have RAM that's quality is equal to the ram Apple endorses.