In a real mess: Lion/Snow Leopard

Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
Hi all

Hope someone can help me here, as I have got myself in a real mess.

I have been having some real problems of late with my late 2006 iMac running Lion. Been using Lion for about a year and I have had periods of (mostly) smooth running, but have always suffered with some graphics issues (parts of apps missing or see-through).
Yesterday, I decided to do a fresh install of Lion to see if that would help things along, as all my upgrades have been on top of each other (from Tiger onwards) and I had been advised that I may be carrying a lot of old stuff with me, and that a fresh install MIGHT do the trick.

Sadly, the fresh install is dreadful and is almost unusable. I did a full deletion of the hard drive and had a Lion DVD (made from instructions on this forum) and this all went to plan. The problem is, is that the graphics issue is far worse and I get many kernel panics. Also my Time Machine backup (which I have tried to restore my apps from) has restored the apps, but has not included any of the data. iPhoto contains no photos and the same is with iTunes.
If I manually go to the time machine drive (rather than use the interface) I can see all my photos and music, but they will not import into any of the apps, but at least they are still there.

So, I have decided to go back to Snow Leopard to see if it rids me of this graphics issue (which I never had until upgrading) the issue is how do I get my music/photos off the time machine as they are all Lion backups? I presume I will have issues getting them off that into Snow Leopard. I have scoured the internet for help and am at a complete loss.

Please help.

Philip
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Sadly, the fresh install is dreadful and is almost unusable. I did a full deletion of the hard drive and had a Lion DVD (made from instructions on this forum) and this all went to plan. The problem is, is that the graphics issue is far worse and I get many kernel panics.

If you're getting kernel panics...it's very unlikely that it has to do with anything related to what OS version your running. Many many times...kernel panics are due to hardware issues.

- Nick
 
Joined
Oct 31, 2011
Messages
283
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Hi all

Hope someone can help me here, as I have got myself in a real mess.

I have been having some real problems of late with my late 2006 iMac running Lion. Been using Lion for about a year and I have had periods of (mostly) smooth running, but have always suffered with some graphics issues (parts of apps missing or see-through).
Yesterday, I decided to do a fresh install of Lion to see if that would help things along, as all my upgrades have been on top of each other (from Tiger onwards) and I had been advised that I may be carrying a lot of old stuff with me, and that a fresh install MIGHT do the trick.

Sadly, the fresh install is dreadful and is almost unusable. I did a full deletion of the hard drive and had a Lion DVD (made from instructions on this forum) and this all went to plan. The problem is, is that the graphics issue is far worse and I get many kernel panics. Also my Time Machine backup (which I have tried to restore my apps from) has restored the apps, but has not included any of the data. iPhoto contains no photos and the same is with iTunes.
If I manually go to the time machine drive (rather than use the interface) I can see all my photos and music, but they will not import into any of the apps, but at least they are still there.

So, I have decided to go back to Snow Leopard to see if it rids me of this graphics issue (which I never had until upgrading) the issue is how do I get my music/photos off the time machine as they are all Lion backups? I presume I will have issues getting them off that into Snow Leopard. I have scoured the internet for help and am at a complete loss.

Please help.

Philip

Yes you will, you simply will not get them off, iPhoto and iTunes are great but this is the fatal flaw with the system. You will have to export all your photos into a universal format, and same with the music. I keep my raw's and jpegs in there respective format for this reason. My music is also kept in a universal format.
 
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
Hi

I just thought I would provide an update to my situation, in case it helps anyone else.

After I had clean installed Lion and started to suffer worse problems, I shut down the iMac and left it for a couple of hours. On restarting, the iMac was back to normal and was/is much snappier performance wise. I now put this down to overheating, something I had read a few threads about with Lion/iMacs, but had never suffered with (or so I thought).

Also, while leaving my iMac for a couple of hours, I powered up my MacMini which is running Snow Leopard. In S/L I was able to go into Time Machine and retrieve photos & music that were in my Lion backup! So, it's my experience that when you downgrade from Lion to S/L, your music & photos can be retrieve from a Lion TIme Machine backup - no problem. This was one of my main worries and was, in the end, groundless.

After nearly a week of the iMac running great with Lion reinstalled, I decided to use FaceTime last night, in a one hour conversation with a friend. After ten minutes, a white flickering line appeared through the video window across my friend's face. After another ten minutes or so, the same happened to my image in the bottom corner, which my friend noticed at his end. Then both images froze, and the app crashed. Numerous restarts only caused the manic graphics problems that I originally suffered with.

So, the conclusion is that FaceTime is the app to avoid in order to keep my iMac from going crazy. The iMac was hot to the touch when FaceTime running, so it obviously puts too much pressure on resources. We are going to try ooVoo tonight to see if that causes the same issues.

Philip
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
You really should run the Apple Hardware Test. I really doubt FaceTime on its own is the cause of your problems. It does sound like you have failing hardware... quite possibly the graphics card.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
After nearly a week of the iMac running great with Lion reinstalled, I decided to use FaceTime last night, in a one hour conversation with a friend. After ten minutes, a white flickering line appeared through the video window across my friend's face. After another ten minutes or so, the same happened to my image in the bottom corner, which my friend noticed at his end. Then both images froze, and the app crashed. Numerous restarts only caused the manic graphics problems that I originally suffered with.

So, the conclusion is that FaceTime is the app to avoid in order to keep my iMac from going crazy. The iMac was hot to the touch when FaceTime running, so it obviously puts too much pressure on resources. We are going to try ooVoo tonight to see if that causes the same issues.

Since this is a 2006 iMac (6+ years old)...when was the last time it was cleaned? If this problem is heat related...maybe the computer is plugged full of dust & fuzz...and cannot cool itself properly.

- Nick
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
Agreed with Nick. Your issue sounds like overheating of the Video Chip which would cause the issues you are seeing on the screen. It maybe plugged with dirt like Nick stated. Worth checking for sure.
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
Thanks for all the info.

I will try the hardware diagnostics on the iMac and then will move onto trying to do a clean. I bought my iMac in Jan 2007 (new) and it has never had an internal clean, although it has had a new optical drive (four years ago) and I doubt it would have been cleaned elsewhere then.
I presume that this will be a long fraught job and that the fans will be almost inaccessible, knowing Apple. Would you rate this as being an extremely difficult operation?

Philip
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I presume that this will be a long fraught job and that the fans will be almost inaccessible, knowing Apple. Would you rate this as being an extremely difficult operation?

Don't be so pessimistic...be positive.:) It's also difficult to really estimate how difficult a job is for someone...because "difficulty" is always relative to a persons experience and abilities.

One person may find painting a house to be very difficult...and another person may find it quite easy!:)

Go to ifixit.com...look up your computer model...and choose one of the repair procedures (such as replace hard drive). This procedure will show you how to open up your computer...and then you can decide if it is difficult or not.

Good luck,

- Nick
 
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
It's also difficult to really estimate how difficult a job is for someone...because "difficulty" is always relative to a persons experience and abilities.

Well put. Nice English :)

BTW, did a AHT and got the code 4MOT/1/40000003:HDD

I understand this to mean that the Hard Drive may be failing, although there are no outward signs of this. Could it be that the drive is overheating?

Philip
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
Hi

Just a quick update. After doing the AHT, I cleaned the intake vent above the power inlet on the back of the iMac. I also cleaned the top vent, which looked clear, unlike the inlet. Set the iMac back up and ran it as normal for a while. I then re-tested the iMac (AHT) and it passed with no error messages at all! Could it have been overheating?

I will keep trying the AHT at various times today and post my results.

Philip
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Hi

Just a quick update. After doing the AHT, I cleaned the intake vent above the power inlet on the back of the iMac. I also cleaned the top vent, which looked clear, unlike the inlet. Set the iMac back up and ran it as normal for a while. I then re-tested the iMac (AHT) and it passed with no error messages at all! Could it have been overheating?

To do a proper cleaning you really need to get inside.

- Nick
 
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
To do a proper cleaning you really need to get inside.

I appreciate that, Nick and I know that I will have to give the thing a good clean inside, but I happened to notice that the back intake was rather clogged, so gave it a quick Dyson-ing. Just clearing that seems to have made the iMac run cooler. It's certainly colder to the touch. I will however, take it apart and give it a good clean. Just seemed strange that the error message disappeared after such little correction.

Philip
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
I appreciate that, Nick and I know that I will have to give the thing a good clean inside, but I happened to notice that the back intake was rather clogged, so gave it a quick Dyson-ing. Just clearing that seems to have made the iMac run cooler. It's certainly colder to the touch. I will however, take it apart and give it a good clean. Just seemed strange that the error message disappeared after such little correction.

Did you run the tests I suggested to look for further signs of drive failure?

BTW... I did a quick search on your error code, and a discussion on Apple's forum suggests it may be related to the fan for your HDD, rather than the HDD itself. That would make sense since it'd contribute to the heat buildup.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2119726?start=0&tstart=0
 
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
Did you run the tests I suggested to look for further signs of drive failure?]

Thanks lifeisabeach, I did do the tests and all has come out fine. No errors or bad sectors, no failure reports, nothing. I have also seen the link you provided suggesting that it may be the hard drive fan, but that seems to be ok. As a matter of interest, do you know what lies behind the intake grill on the back of an iMac? Is that where the hard drive or CPU is located or is it just a general conduit for all locations?

I will keep testing and report back.

Thanks

Philip
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
I don't know which exact iMac you have, but you can review the teardown guides here:
iMac Intel - iFixit
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I appreciate that, Nick and I know that I will have to give the thing a good clean inside, but I happened to notice that the back intake was rather clogged, so gave it a quick Dyson-ing. Just clearing that seems to have made the iMac run cooler. It's certainly colder to the touch. I will however, take it apart and give it a good clean. Just seemed strange that the error message disappeared after such little correction.

Philip

In your previous post where you mentioned doing some cleaning...it sounded like you only did some wiping. But in the quote above...you mentioned "Dysoning"...so I'm assuming you used a vacuum cleaner. If you did...then the strong suction might have actually pulled some "crud" out...which may be why the computer is running cooler.

But...in your original post...you mentioned having a 1 hour conversation with Facetime...before the computer started having problems. So this is the sort of test you need to run to determine if the computer is really doing better.

- Nick

p.s. By the way...I really wouldn't recommend using a home vacuum cleaner to clean a computer...for two reasons:

1. Vacuum cleaners can impart a lot of static electricity (which isn't good if you touch something on the computer)...and suddenly discharge it.
2. There are relatively delicate fan/fans inside of computers...and the vacuum from a full-sized home vacuum cleaner can put a lot of stress/sudden stress on it...and make it spin at very high rpm's.

What you should do is just pick out the big chunks with your fingers or tweezers (if there are any big chunks)...then use compressed air (canned air) to blow out the rest of it.
 
OP
Darker Times
Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
151
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
North Yorkshire Coast - England
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 21.5" Core i5 Quad - Mac Mini c2d - iPad Pro - iPhone 11 - ATV3
Yes I should have said that I used a vacuum to clean the vents.

Last night I had a 1.5 hr facetime conversation with a friend with no problems at all. This is a first, as all previous conversations have resulted in kernel panics, graphics problems and numerous restarts. The iMac got quite warm during this period, but not hot. Seems like the rear vent was to blame, if only in part.

Philip
 

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