iMac Freeze Up

I'm not even sure that's what I would call it. I purchased a new iMac 24" in late December after I got fed up with the Windows thing and I haven't looked back. So far my new toy hasn't even burped....until this small issue that just started about 4-5 days ago.

I'll best try to describe what is happening. I leave my computer on 24/7 and have it go into sleep mode which is also password protected for initial logon. After it has been idle for a long time (which I will estimate at hours) and I move the mouse to wake it up, I will automatically type in my password, where sometimes I don't give it a chance to display the password prompt. Also, on occasion, it will occur when I just move the mouse and what happens is a blank screen which is the Aurora desktop image but when it gets to that state, I can't seem to get it to clear without powering it off and restarting.

On the Windows, it would probably be CTL-ALT-DELETE and remove it from the Task Manager but I don't even know if Mac has anything equal to that.

So I'm hoping someone can give me some recommendations on how to clear.

If additional information is needed, please let me know.

Thanks in Advance
Frank Lauri

Does it do it if you log in as Admin, or create a whole new user ID from scratch? I'm wondering if something in your user setting has become corrupted?

Here is an update....I haven't tried to log on for about 2 hours and when I moved the mouse to take it out of sleep mode, it just stayed on that Aurora screen and nothing. When it goes to that mode, there aren't even any screen icons or the Dock visible....

So that leads me to think it is something else besides a logon issue.

Frank Lauri

Can you try to bypass the login screen by choosing automatic login in account preferences? Then seeing when you wake up from sleep will the screen also go to the aurora mode. If so, there may be a system error for the sleep mode.

Start by downloading one of the free maintenance programs (like Onyx) and have it do some basic maintenance. If that doesn't help, we'll see where to go next.

[edit] Another thing to try is to see if it only happens when you use the mouse to wake up your iMac. Try just pressing the shift key to wake it up and see if it behaves the same way.