03-18-2012, 08:26 PM

About a month ago I noticed my iMac 21" (2007, running Snow Leopard) started freezing, nothing would work except the mouse cursor & at times the whole screen would go black except for a light halo around the edge of the screen. Took it to a local Mac repair shop & they couldn't duplicate the problem even though they had it for over a week.

Their advice was to keep the external hard drive I've been using with my Time Machine disconnected. I did so & now for 2 weeks straight, no crashes, freezes or black screen?

Any suggestions or theories on why or how an external hard drive would cause this phenomenon? I'm using a LaCie 500GB external hard drive.

The only reason why I have an external & the only items crucial to me on my Mac is my music (10,000 songs) & my photo's, maybe a resume or 2, but that's it. Should I forgo the external & just upload everything to iCloud or some other website storage company?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

03-18-2012, 08:43 PM

I doubt if the external is causing the problem on its own.

Then first thing I would try is to download the Snow leopard combo update

Why? Well the combo updates (even when your mac is otherwise up to date) often iron out clinches that incremental updates sometimes introduce

Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1

03-18-2012, 10:43 PM

Actually, the external hard drive can cause issues. A friend had her Time Machine drive get corrupted. Every time Time Machine started a backup, her computer would kernel panic. Removed the hard drive and no kernel panics. I was able to repair the drive for her and the issue hasn't returned.

Would be a good idea to check the drive in Disk Utility, just to make sure that it isn't the issue. But it more than likely, from the sounds of your problem, isn't the case.

03-19-2012, 11:35 PM

Thanks for the reply. The guys who were working on my Mac did this as a precautionary measure before I picked my Mac up.

Originally Posted by louishen

I doubt if the external is causing the problem on its own.

Then first thing I would try is to download the Snow leopard combo update

Why? Well the combo updates (even when your mac is otherwise up to date) often iron out clinches that incremental updates sometimes introduce

Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1

03-19-2012, 11:38 PM

Well I'm glad to know that it "may" be the issue. Thanks for the reply I appreciate it. I think I may end up doing the Disk Utility on the external just to be on the safe side & then setup my TM again. I'm going to wait about another 2 weeks. If I get no weird crashes or freezes then I'll hook the External back up & see what happens. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Stretch

Actually, the external hard drive can cause issues. A friend had her Time Machine drive get corrupted. Every time Time Machine started a backup, her computer would kernel panic. Removed the hard drive and no kernel panics. I was able to repair the drive for her and the issue hasn't returned.

Would be a good idea to check the drive in Disk Utility, just to make sure that it isn't the issue. But it more than likely, from the sounds of your problem, isn't the case.