Freezing iMac

[WinWord10]

My iMac has begun freezing again. It seems to happen when I'm running multiple processes at once and cpu usage is high, however it sometimes happens when I'm running only one program and when I leave it idle. The OS freezes up, however I'm still able to move the cursor. I've tried command option esc, but was unable to reach the force quit menu when the computer was in a frozen state. It's frozen three times in the past two days, and I had to pull the plug each time. This happened a few months ago, before I installed Panther, but upgrading to panther by doing a fresh install seemed to have fixed the problem. I'm running OS 10.3.2. Ideas?

Thanks.
H

 

[DeltaMac]

What have you tried so far (repair permission? delete system and user cache files? Have you tried any disk repair utilities? Have you tried the Apple Hardware Test utility that is on one of the CDs that came with your iMac, to help eliminate hardware problems in the iMac as a cause?) Do you sometimes allow your system to run overnight so the built-in housekeeping routines have a chance to run? These can also be run with the various utilities with maintenance scripts, such as MacJanitor, Onyx, Maintain, and many others that can perform these functions, as well as using the terminal commands directly.

 

[WinWord10]

What have you tried so far (repair permission? delete system and user cache files? Have you tried any disk repair utilities? Have you tried the Apple Hardware Test utility that is on one of the CDs that came with your iMac, to help eliminate hardware problems in the iMac as a cause?) Do you sometimes allow your system to run overnight so the built-in housekeeping routines have a chance to run? These can also be run with the various utilities with maintenance scripts, such as MacJanitor, Onyx, Maintain, and many others that can perform these functions, as well as using the terminal commands directly.

I've repaired the permissions, I've run every script in MacJanitor, and the hardware test utility didn't detect problems. I have not tried disk repair utilities.

 

[chevy]

does that happen when you watch movie ? I've experienced long delays when loading some movie, or when they appear in the preview pane of the column view of the Finder.

 

[WinWord10]

does that happen when you watch movie ? I've experienced long delays when loading some movie, or when they appear in the preview pane of the column view of the Finder.

Nope. I'm not usually watching a movie when it happens. I can't really figure out what's triggering it.

 

[DeltaMac]

How much memory is installed in your system?
Have you tried creating a new user, and use your system with that user, checking to see if problem still exist with a different user??
The similar test would be to move the preferences folder out of your user/Library folder, logout, then log back in. (The OS will create fresh preferences for your user account) Play around with your system with fresh prefs, open multiple apps, try to duplicate the freeze.

 

[WinWord10]

How much memory is installed in your system?
Have you tried creating a new user, and use your system with that user, checking to see if problem still exist with a different user??
The similar test would be to move the preferences folder out of your user/Library folder, logout, then log back in. (The OS will create fresh preferences for your user account) Play around with your system with fresh prefs, open multiple apps, try to duplicate the freeze.

It's a 700 MHz iMac G4 with 640 MB RAM. I ran mac janitor yesterday and no freezes yet =).. i'm hoping that whatever it was is finally resolved. If it freezes again I'll try your suggestion and post my results.

 

[fryke]

And if nothing helps, not even reinstalling: Put it to Apple and let it repair the beast. I see you have a second Mac you can work with while it's away.