iMac psychadelic or blank screen crashes

SebbenHolmgard · SebbenHolmgard #1 (**permalink**)

01-31-2012, 08:52 AM

Hi!

For a few months now my 2008 iMac has crashed without warning. I suddenly get either a totally blank screen or a screen filled with brown or grey stripes. Hard reboot is the only thing that works.

At first I suspected hard drive issues since I recently replaced the old one but system control and onyx says it's fine. Also works fine when I'm doing heavier tasks like logic pro but crashes constantly while writing documents. I've tried using another word processor but with no success.

I'm using a 24" core 2 duo iMac with snow leopard 10.8 installed. Please help. I really can't afford a new computer right now.

madwolfe · madwolfe #2 (**permalink**)

01-31-2012, 09:26 AM

What about the temperature of your computer? It could be that it is overheating, this will often do odd things to the display although as I recall, Mac's have a safety shutoff if it gets too hot so if it isn't shutting down, that may not be your problem. You can download SMC Fan Control if you want and see if there is any correlation between temperature and the crashing.

SebbenHolmgard · SebbenHolmgard #3 (**permalink**)

01-31-2012, 12:30 PM

I had SMC for a while but still had the crashes. Could try again and up the fan speed.

madwolfe · madwolfe #4 (**permalink**)

02-01-2012, 05:10 AM

So there definitely was not a correlation between the temperature and the graphical problems?

SebbenHolmgard · SebbenHolmgard #5 (**permalink**)

02-01-2012, 05:15 AM

well I did notice my mac being hotter than usual arounf the time when the troubles began but I installed smc right away and it didn't seem to stop the crashing. Perhaps I didn't up the fanspeeds as much as I should have. At what tempteratures should I keep the graphics card and all that?

Would temperature related graphical issues crash the whole system though? I once tried to remotely change the song, which kept playing though the screen crashed, when it happened but with no success and keyboard doesn't respond either so it is a systemwide crash.

SebbenHolmgard · SebbenHolmgard #6 (**permalink**)

02-09-2012, 09:12 AM

UPDATE:
I've uppgraded to lion and installed smc fan control. I've only had one crash thus far and that was without the psychadelic patterns, just a regular crash/freeze. Since lion saves all documents it was really all about starting over and picking up where you left off. I hope this will keep up.

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SebbenHolmgard #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 29, 2012 Posts: 9	01-31-2012, 08:52 AM Hi! For a few months now my 2008 iMac has crashed without warning. I suddenly get either a totally blank screen or a screen filled with brown or grey stripes. Hard reboot is the only thing that works. At first I suspected hard drive issues since I recently replaced the old one but system control and onyx says it's fine. Also works fine when I'm doing heavier tasks like logic pro but crashes constantly while writing documents. I've tried using another word processor but with no success. I'm using a 24" core 2 duo iMac with snow leopard 10.8 installed. Please help. I really can't afford a new computer right now.
	QUOTE Thanks

madwolfe #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Nov 24, 2011 Posts: 89 Mac Specs: 20" iMac, Late 2007, 2.4GHz (Dual Core), 1GB RAM, Radeon 2600HD OSX 10.6.8	01-31-2012, 09:26 AM What about the temperature of your computer? It could be that it is overheating, this will often do odd things to the display although as I recall, Mac's have a safety shutoff if it gets too hot so if it isn't shutting down, that may not be your problem. You can download SMC Fan Control if you want and see if there is any correlation between temperature and the crashing.
	QUOTE Thanks

madwolfe #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Nov 24, 2011 Posts: 89 Mac Specs: 20" iMac, Late 2007, 2.4GHz (Dual Core), 1GB RAM, Radeon 2600HD OSX 10.6.8	02-01-2012, 05:10 AM So there definitely was not a correlation between the temperature and the graphical problems?
	QUOTE Thanks

SebbenHolmgard #5 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 29, 2012 Posts: 9	02-01-2012, 05:15 AM well I did notice my mac being hotter than usual arounf the time when the troubles began but I installed smc right away and it didn't seem to stop the crashing. Perhaps I didn't up the fanspeeds as much as I should have. At what tempteratures should I keep the graphics card and all that? Would temperature related graphical issues crash the whole system though? I once tried to remotely change the song, which kept playing though the screen crashed, when it happened but with no success and keyboard doesn't respond either so it is a systemwide crash.
	QUOTE Thanks

SebbenHolmgard #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 29, 2012 Posts: 9	02-09-2012, 09:12 AM UPDATE: I've uppgraded to lion and installed smc fan control. I've only had one crash thus far and that was without the psychadelic patterns, just a regular crash/freeze. Since lion saves all documents it was really all about starting over and picking up where you left off. I hope this will keep up.
	QUOTE Thanks

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