What's wrong with my Mac??

Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
107
Reaction score
0
Points
16
I've been having some trouble lately and it's really annoying. There are 3 sorts:

First, Safari has been crashing a lot. Granted I've been pushing it hard with 50-plus tabs open, but it's extremely annoying in the middle of research to have all of that vanish because it has a heart attack. It never used to do this, so why now??

Second, Word has been crashing too. I'm working on a document where I have to copy footnotes from one and paste them into another, and it freaks at this. I only had 12 footnotes to do tonight, and it crashed 3 times. I had to keep saving every step of the way.

Third, it's been having some fatal errors. For example, I had some windows open, Word working, and then put on an AVI film. A curtain dropped down across the screen and it said I had to restart. Everything was frozen. Why does it do this?? Also, are these indicators that my Mac is about to explode?
 
C

chas_m

Guest
No details about what kind of Mac, what version of the OS, how much RAM, what's been done (if anything) to correct the issue, whether he has backups, does maintenance, etc.

<long sigh>

Okay. That last item you mentioned is called a kernel panic and that's definitely not good. If you don't have backups, DO THEM NOW. If you do have backups, I'd be inclined to say your hard drive is starting to fail, but there are other possibilities. More information would be really helpful.
 
OP
G
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
107
Reaction score
0
Points
16
2010 Macbook Pro 2.66GHz, Snow Leopard, backups. Done to correct the issue... Like what? I had Apple clean the inside a while ago because I was worried about dust, but there wasn't much.

What more information do you need? I just had Safari crash now. There was very little reason for it, either, I had a single Window open and it crashed.
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 15" core i7 Quad; MBA 13" core i7; multiple Mac Minis; Mint PB 12"
It may be time for some basic maintenance. I tend to use either Cocktail (not free) or OnyX (free). Stay away from the less than reputable utilities. Clearing caches and repairing permissions are always a good first step.
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 15" core i7 Quad; MBA 13" core i7; multiple Mac Minis; Mint PB 12"
Again, this is just a first step. If there is a more serious problem OnyX may not be able to help. You can download OnyX from Macupdate and then simply follow the directions after it is installed.
 
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
756
Reaction score
14
Points
18
Awesome! How do I go about doing those latter things?

Open Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility and go to your hard drive. On the right side you should see a button for verify permissions and repair permissions.

Those things definitely help my Mac to run smoother. Doing that about once every month...
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 15" core i7 Quad; MBA 13" core i7; multiple Mac Minis; Mint PB 12"
Disk Utility is useful but I would still recommend a 'deeper cleaning' with OnyX. (Even a Jag needs occasional maintenance.)
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
4,773
Reaction score
166
Points
63
Location
Central New York
Your Mac's Specs
15in i7 MacBook Pro, 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD, 500GB HD
Open Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility and go to your hard drive. On the right side you should see a button for verify permissions and repair permissions.

Those things definitely help my Mac to run smoother. Doing that about once every month...

Also a good idea to verify disk if having issues. It will tell you if there are any issues with the data structure on the hard drive.
 
OP
G
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
107
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Also a good idea to verify disk if having issues. It will tell you if there are any issues with the data structure on the hard drive.

Great idea... I did exactly this today by stopping by the Apple store in the mall... Turns out my hard drive is dying. They've ordered me a new one, but I have two ginormous things due Tuesday and Wednesday and need to keep my computer until then. I've backed everything up just in case, but am trying to keep it alive just long enough to complete my tasks. Any advice?

The guy at the store said to avoid moving the computer when running at all costs. Should I also avoid putting strain on it (e.g.: opening a lot of windows, etc)?
 
C

chas_m

Guest
If the hard drive is dying, ANYTHING you do involving the hard drive will push it further into failure.

Since you've backed up everything, why not run off the auxilliary drive? This will keep boot drive activity to a minimum. I'm assuming you've made a bootable clone of your drive of course.

If you haven't, get another external drive and do so immediately (you can just restore from the TM drive to the new drive if you made a TM backup) using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner (neither is free but both will do a free clone for the purposes we're talking about here; you can send them money later.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top