Internet crashes G5 PPC

[dazcaz]

My son has a 1.6Ghz PPC G5.
Most of the time it runs flawlessly, but when using the internet it crashes.
Everything just stops. Nothing changes visually, but the mouse pointer stops and the only way to put things right is to press and hold the power button to power down and restart.
This happens regardless of what browser is being run.

This used to happen when it was my machine, but as it was rarely used on the net it didn't trouble me that often. Now my son has it, it's really becoming a pain.

It's running 10.4.11 with all updates.
This is a new install as I formatted the drive to give him a clean machine.
It had this problem before the fresh install too.

I have searched the net but can't find this exact problem anywhere.

Any ideas, as it's driving my son crazy.
TIA

Darren

 

[hughvane]

"When using the internet". There are two possibilities related to that, i) hardware and/or ii) software. Dealing with the first - what brand/model/type of modem/router is being used, and have you tried a different one?

Cymry am byth! ...... Hugh

 

[dazcaz]

I'm connected via a US robotics wireless router to a Cable modem.
It even happens when I connect to the net using my mobile phone and 3G connection.

The whole machine freezes. Everything stops working. Keyboard shortcuts do nothing. The only option to do anything is to power down and re-start.

I've noticed that certain websites seem to be worse, but the problem seems to happen when scrolling through messages, so forums and facebook show the problem a lot more, but it does also freeze up on other pages too.

Any ides???

 

[hughvane]

There's nothing in your reply that makes me say "a-ha, there's your problem", but I'm inclined to think it's either the router or the modem. That is supported to some extent by your reporting that "most of the time it runs flawlessly....", and by that I take it to mean when you're not connected to the internet.

Suggestions:
1. try a plain cable connection directly to the modem, cut out the wireless router,
2. try a different modem, one borrowed from a friend maybe, in both wired and wireless modes.

 

[dazcaz]

It freezes even when connected to my mobile phone, which connects to the 3G network, totally bypassing the router and the modem.

Why would the router/modem cause the machine to crash? It doesn't lose the internet connection, it totally crashes. I can't do anything but turn it off.

Our G4 eMac and Mac Mini have no problems when connected via the same router and modem.
There are no problems when browsing the network. At first I thought that it might be due to the D-link wi-fi adapter, but tests have shown that I can browse the network for ages and nothing goes wrong. I can stream music endlessly. Even Spotify and last FM have no issues, and these use the internet connection.
It's only when surfing the net that my son gets the problem, and this regardless of browser.

I hope this helps spread some light on the issue.

 

[hughvane]

Okay, thanks for the added detail of what's happening. Time to turn attention to software and the OS. Next thought is settings in SysPrefs.

Take a look at Sharing and see what is accessible. It might help to take a screenshot and post it here. If you'd rather not, just list what's checked.

Next is SysPrefs > Network > Built-in Ethernet > Proxies. That last one can play merry scratch with access to the internet, but causing a crash/freeze would be unusual.

 

[dazcaz]

I think that I might have solved the problem. It's been nearly 2 hours and the machine hasn't crashed.
Here's what I did.
I went into disc utilities, highlighted the hard drive and then set it off verifying disc permissions.
A load of errors were thrown back, nearly all of them Java related. I then set the machine off repairing these permissions and now all seems OK.

I got to thinking it was a java issue a while back. I couldn't understand why programs that used the net, Spotify, Last FM etc were perfectly OK, but browsers caused a crash. Even Opera had the problem.
This got me thinking that it must be something that only the browsers would use, and the two things that sprung to mind were Quicktime and Java. It turns out that Java may have been the culprit.

I have no idea what "permissions" are or what they do, but now that they are repaired all seems OK. I'm typing this on the machine that had the issue, and all seems fine.
Fingers crossed

Darren

 

[dazcaz]

@£$%&*%$!!!!!!
Ignore that last post
Ironically, as I logged out of the Mac-forums web site, the machine crashed!
At least it was OK for nearly two hours, which is a huge improvement over previous web browsing efforts
Oh well, there's still tomorrow

Darren

 

[harryb2448]

Ahh well dazcaxz maybe you will be stuck in the forums for eternity, unable to leave.................................

 

[dazcaz]

Just like in "Hotel California" I can log out any time I like, but I just can't ever leave

 

[dazcaz]

Right, I think I'm getting closer.
Plug-ins.
I have removed a few plug-ins for the "internet plug-ins" folders.
I have put them in another folder for safe keeping.
It seems that I I had a "Shockwave" plug-in and a "Flash" plug-in.
The shockwave one is put there by Tiger on installation apparently, but being of the older format, it's not removed by the installation of a modern version of Flash.
Before I removed this I was getting the pinwheel of doom, but even this was an improvement on the complete locking up of the G5

Further testing will be needed, but over an hour and rapid web page changes, You Tube videos and other sites that made the crash happen and all is OK... Am I speaking too soon again? I'll find out tomorrow evening. My son has gone to bed, so I can't play until after work tomorrow

Fingers crossed.

Darren

 

[hughvane]

Good to read of the progress being made.

Modern Flash animations will stall, and as you've discovered, crash a computer. Make sure you have the latest Flash plug-in (I think it's currently Version 10) from Adobe. Shockwave is the movie cousin of Flash. Go to Adobe's web site to learn which version(s) you should have.

Make sure too that you use the Uninstaller from Adobe to remove older versions of their software.

 

[dazcaz]

I downloaded the uninstaller from Adobe at the same time as I downloaded the latest version. After the installation, I also repaired permissions.
All the drivers I have removed have been put in a safe place, just in case they need to go back for some reason.

Flash animations are working OK and You Tube videos are playing well.
Java scripts appear to be running without problem.

I should know if all is OK when I return from work in about 12 hours time