OS X freezes out of nowhere

Here I am, arguing on other threads that OS X is superior to windows, and I start getting the most bizarre freezes ever. It's not a kernel panic. It happened before once, I don't remember what I was doing that time but i know it was something mundane like this time.

And this time, I was just cleaning my desktops: dragging some files to the trash, moving icons around, and then i came to open finder to move one file to my documents, then the mouse cursor didn't move anymore. The first thing I thought was 'oh, just like last time,' except i had forgotten that last time I had to turn off and restart my computer, and instead, like the previous time, thought that perhaps it's the batteries (my logitech VX is running low on batts). So I started doing everything that I did the previous time i hit this problem: i turned off the mouse and then turned it on, still nothing. I unplugged the USB and then put it back in, still nothing. Then I gave up on the mouse and started using the trackpad. But the trackpad didn't work either, and that's when i remembered that the previous time I had this problem, nothing worked either.

Now since I keep forgetting what's the equivalent of ctrl+alt+dlt in mac, i pressed every combination possible: command+alt+ tab, cmd+cmd+alt+esc, cmd+ctrl+tab, alt+ctrl+esc, and so forth. Again, like last time, nothing. So i pressed the power button, and the window asking me if i want to restart/turn off/etc the laptop opened. But I couldn't select anything, not with the mouse, not with the trackpad, and not with the keyboard. So I had to turn my laptop off.

So <ahem> what the hell is going on?

 

I think its Command Shift Esc.

Did you try a restart? I think its just a fluke.

 

Isn't there an issue with the Logitech MX Revolution causing problems like this? I know you have the VX, but they are very similar and probably have similar drivers. If you have those installed, uninstall them. If that fixes it then you know the issue.

 

no it's not a fluke. A fluke by definition happens once, no?
And how can i restart when neither the keyboard nor the mouse/pad work? The only thing that works is the power button, and that's it.
MX and VX both use the LCC. The LCC used to have a problem that would lead to kernel panics. This would happen when the mouse would stay inactive: it would go to sleep, and when moved OS X would crash. The previous update to the LCC... ummm, I think it was 2.3.something, apparently seemed to fix that issue, but the mouse would take a good 15 seconds before it could operate again every time it was moved from sleep. The last update, 2.4.0, fixed that issue too.

Can the latest issue be the cause of these crashes? Perhaps, but it would seem rather strange. I wasn't doing anything special with the mouse. It didn't wake from sleep, it didn't go to sleep. After working with it for 5 minutes, the OS just froze. Doesn't sound like a bug scenario to me.

 

lol
im pretty sure the key combo is (option alt esc)

 

yeah, the ctrl alt del equiv is opt+apple+esc.

also, are you running 10.5 Leopard? if so the LCC is the problem because it uses Application Program Enhancer (APE) and it is incompatible with leopard. which could be the cause of your freezing

 

Leopard?

I've had a couple of hard freezes, and couple of mouse freezes.

 

No, Tiger.