iMAC 24 nothing but problems

I purchased a MAC last year and it had been pretty much problem free until recently. I'm running 10.6.6 and have nothing but crashes at the moment, sometimes daily such as Outlook, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox crashing.

Also I get your computer must be powered off and on again, right after booting to the GUI, had this a few times.

Any ideas before I give up and go back to my trusty Windows 7 laptop?

Cheers

marcopolo said:

I purchased a MAC last year and it had been pretty much problem free until recently. I'm running 10.6.6 and have nothing but crashes at the moment, sometimes daily such as Outlook, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox crashing.

Also I get your computer must be powered off and on again, right after booting to the GUI, had this a few times.

Any ideas before I give up and go back to my trusty Windows 7 laptop?

Cheers

Click to expand...

First two things I would try:

1) Verify & Repair Permissions

2) Get something like Disk Warrior and repair any directory issues.

Those two things have always taken care of a majority of performance/crashing issues for me.

I've ran Verify, it failed, so ran repair and that failed.

Haven't tried Disk Warrior as yet

Well, ran the disk utility from the install DVD and said it could not repair so I guess its a backup and reinstall

Try disk warrior thats a great little app for these kind of problems a right little god send !

Is there a free version of it, or is it only available to use if full purchase. I reckon I might have a bad disk all the same but rebuilding can be such a pain.

I think its premium only mate. Sorry....

Looks like a rebuild then.

Have fun mate ! Id recommend Carbon Copy Cloner as an amazin backup tool if you aint already got one.

Luckily most of my stuff is on a WD Passport, just need to export from Outlook 2011.

I'm just worried it's a hard error on the HD, something a restore probably won't rectify.

Click on Disk Utility and check your smart status, if it's "verified" your hard drive is fine.

Yep, verified but why are these issues so hard to repair on a mac, forgive me I'm a Windows techie and these sorts of problems are easily remedied with tools a plenty.

I thought the OS on a MAC was pretty bullet proof.

It is bullett proof ! Disk Warrior would sort it right out ! It just happens sometimes. I've just came from windows to mac little over a year ago, and Ive ran into no more or probably no fewer problems than what I would on a windows PC.

DiskWarrior whilst a first class program is as dear as a new hard drive and your drive is still under warranty. Seagate etc warrant their drives for a three year period. If it is still within the twelve months take it back to the reseller or Genius Bar.

I purchased my MAC from John Lewis, Feb 2010 but it came with a 2 year warranty, so I have that to fall back on if required. I've read the 'verified' is not always that reliable as to whether the drive is ok or not. Seen a few suggestions about SMART utility but wondering whether some sort of backup is worthwhile or not and then a restore as I don't want to be re-writing naff data.

Btw, these are the sort of errors I get in Permission Verify

If you took it back to John Lewis first of all they'd ask if you've rang apple to confirm a fault. If you havent that's what theyd suggest, or they would ring up in store. The first thing they would suggest is a new system install. So give it a shot, back up your data and simply restore the data you need.

Wow backups are not worthwhile ~ they are essential. Get an external drive and use a cloning utility or Time Machine.

Started exporting my Outlook 2011 and it bombs out at 1.7gb, I wonder if this has anything to do with the error I get upon exiting the app.

error: Outlook has encountered a problem and needs to close: you may lose your work

Ran the repair permissions again and it completed without any errors.

There's no way I can start the resto until I've sorted my Outlook problem first, I have the rest on Ext. HD and the all the other apps can simply be reinstalled.

Is there a way to tell how big the Outlook file is?

Ok, Outlook fixed, so that's one thing down. Just wondering what the Disk Utility Warning: SUID is though?