Macbook Pro Freezing Up

Lately when I open around 3-5 apps with 1 or 2 being pretty demanding, the computer will just freeze. I cant do anything, i cant force quit, i cant close them, nothing.

So I close the lid, put it into sleep mode but when i open it, nothing happens. Its wierd, when i close the lid the light comes on and when i open it the light disappear and its like the computer is turned off.

So, I took out the battery and forced it to shut down. Do you think that hurt the computer at all? What about the freezing issue...would more RAM help solve that problem?

 

How much RAM do you have now?

 

1 GB ram. I think it might be the RAM, because usually when Im multitasking theres only about 200 mb left, sometimes I get down to just 12 mb left.

I guess its true what people have said, Mac computers utilize RAM well.

 

Which processes are you running? Does this always happen when running those exact same processes?
You know you can force shutdown by holding the power button for about 5 seconds.

 

Not really running much..at the moment i have:
-1 safari window*
-finder*
-dashboard*
-messenger*
-itunes
-quicktime
-photobooth
-vlc player *

* means there is a black arrow on the bottom of the icon in the dock

Only 144mb free with this stuff running, is that normal???

Im going by the istat info, memory is as follows:

wired: 104 mb
active: 203 mb
inactive: 577 mb
free: 143 mb

What do they mean ? and is this normal for such a light load ? Yes, these are the same numbers I get everytime I have a load like this.

 

There might be a conflict between the programs themselves. I have notice my photobooth acting weird when in conjunction with other programs - perhaps you can test that idea out. My configuration is the same except I have upgraded to 2gb ram

 

Question, is it going to a black screen? Or are your programs staying on the screen but just completely unresponsive?

 

Those numbers don't look pretty normal to me. I usually run even fewer programs than you but still have less free memory, I use Azureus and it's pretty memory hungry. If I'm not mistaken, the "Inactive" memory is as good as "Free" memory. I believe free memory is completely unused, while inactive memory is that used to cache files, drivers, unused background apps, etc. and so inactive memory can get swapped readily if needed by a new application. Between the amount of memory you have in free and inactive I don't think the amount of memory is the issue.

It might be one of the programs is corrupt or is corrupting the memory. It's strange and I don't think my Mac has completely frozen on me before out of the blue. I have had VLC act up on me many times, like just crashing or hanging, but I can just force quit it. Safari has sometimes hung also, if I've used it for several days without quiting it.

 

Uhm.. those numbers are fine. If you read the Apple docs, Inactive memory is memory which a program has finished using and which other programs can use, but it has not been cleared yet. It's a working cache of previously used data in RAM. 577MB of inactive memory means you've probably opened and closed a bunch of programs that still have their data PHYSICALLY in RAM. Now if another program needed that space, OSX will give it up.

Unfortunately, the problem lies somewhere else. I've only used OSX for a week, so I don't know what could be causing it so I can't really help you out there. What I do know is that it isn't your usage of RAM per se. Easiest way to fix would be to take it to an Apple store and see what they have to say about it. Can't hurt, I guess.

 

The nearest Apple store is in Toronto, I think which is a 2 hour drive. THe programs stay on the screen but are completely unresponsive. Its been fine lately, but it sucks when it happens.

I hope its not a hardware issue, because my whole life is on this computer. When it does freeze up, however, I can still go into dashboard, and i can still minimize all windows into the all view window mode (expose i think?).

Oh well, I dont think its a huge problem as it isnt a regular occurence.

 

Next time it freezes up, press cmd+alt+esc. See if that list states the app causing the freeze.

 

will do, didnt know about that combo. ihave no idea what this command button is used for... is it like another alt button?

 

Command key is the most important key on the mac. Do some research in OS X.

 

There's a big difference between a safari window with 1 tab and a safari with a dozen tabs and pandora running at the same time.

Anyway I MAY have to get an extra 512MB of RAM....I only have 290MB inactive and something like 25MB free, and I'm only running safari and iTunes. Once I ran iDVD and I had to shut down EVERYTHING ELSE and leave the computer alone for the 40 minutes it took to burn a DVD...granted the DVD was an hour long, but still.

 

recently added another 1gb of ram. everything seems slightly snappier (maybe its just psychological), but it hasnt frozen up at all. i opened all apps and it seemed to handle them well.

another question, any macbook pro owners see any fading on their palmrests? my palms get a little warm and sweaty everytime i use the comptuer. Im hoping it wont fade, but if it does, that would suck. i dont like putting any protective layer on it as it detracts from the overall look of it, imho.

 

Er this is a minor problem but when I click "about this mac" under RAM it says "1 GB 0MHz RAM" but when I go to system profiler, it says 667MHz blah blah blah. Anyone know a fix for this that does NOT involve resetting it to factory settings?

 

I have not noticed any fading, however I do most of my typing on an external keyboard, so I may nopt be the best example.

It seems as though this is a problem with the last security update and/or 10.4.9. It is only cosmetic, perhaps Apple will fix it in another update. Here is a way that may help you fix it yourself, just instead of editing the processor type, edit the RAM.
http://macosg.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=49