Mac OS X 10.4: Freezes during shutdown or startup, fixes
One of the most commonly reported significant issues with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is a freeze at startup or during shutdown. In most cases, only selecting a shutdown or restart through the Finder causes problems -- forcing a restart or shutdown through the Terminal does not exhibit the problematic behavior.
There are a number of potential culprits for this issue.
ResourcesDisconnect external devices, check for problematic drivers In some cases, an errant external FireWire drive or another device can cause these issues -- particularly at startup.
In the case of external storage devices, issues can often be resolved by temporarily disconnecting the drive, restarting the Mac then re-connecting the drive once the startup process is complete, and obtaining applying updated firmware (check the manufacturer's Web site).
In other cases, the drivers linked to problematic devices can cause startup or shutdown problems.
For instance, Apple's structural changes to the way that Mac OS X handles audio and audio-based applications (Core Audio) has rendered some devices in conflict normal system routines. Removing, or downgrading device drivers can sometimes resolve these issues.
One reader describes a startup/shutdown issue that was resolved by removing the drivers for his M-Audio devices:
"I identified as responsible (after doing an archive and install installation) the package of drivers m-audio revolution 1.4 for m-audio 7.1 revolution. With these installed, my Mac wouldn't restart or shutdown. Without them, or uninstalling them, the problems are completely solved (but I've no audio card anymore.)
"Re-installing the old m-audio driver (1.2.9) allows normal system functioning (mac shutdowns and restarts) but surround sound is not working well, driver update absolutely needed.
the Tiger Upgrade. I tried everything but even in "Safe" mode it would crash.
I finally ran "Cocktail" (They have a new version out for Tiger), deleted system
caches and this cured my PB shutdown problems. Just to be thorough I ran some
other clean up operations with Cocktail and the Ti is running fine once again.
Hope this helps someone out there!
Anyway, I didn't find relief until I checked Allume's website for help in a problem I had installing Stuffit Expander. When I saw that Stuffit could not be installed on a UFS disk (which I had made the mistake of formatting, despite the clear warning in the pre-install README to install OS X on OS X Extended files system instead), I ran a <b>third</b> clean install - this time remembering to format the hard drive as OS X Extended. Since then - four days and counting - Tiger has started up properly every time so far (and Stuffit loaded just fine, if you were curious).
I've got two G5s and neither of them has ever shut down or restarted
properly - from the day both of them arrived brand new! I've just got used
to it. The worst thing is when other people use them, "shut them down" and
then I find when I come back a week later that the fan has been in overdrive
sounding like a jet flying over trying to cool the processor - which is doing
quite what I do not know. Amazinly both machines are otherwise healthy.
none of the causes and solutions seem to apply to my situation. I have a
PowerBook G4 running Tiger and ever since I installed that OS I have not been
able to shutdown or restart my computer without eventually having to push the
power button to get it to turn off. It seems to do everything until the last part--
the shutdown part. My dock disappears, my desktop folders disappear but then
it freezes. I have no external devices of any kind attached to my computer and
still I have been unable to solve the problem. I bought a book about Tiger and it
also failed to offer any solutions. I'd love to know if anyone can tell me what to
do to be able to shut down my computer normally.
Thanks,
Barb
My computer freezes when I try to restart my Dual 2.0 G5. I have read the
forums and:
Uninstalled Norton Firewall, Anti Virus, M-Audio, disconnected my External
LaCie DVD Dual Layer, disconnected my two 500 GB LaCie that started to
behave strangely after Tiger and freeze my computer a few seconds now and
then (mostly now).
I have fixed permissions, checked disks etc
I have tried to add a new user and restart/shutdown from there
But nothing works! I just see my back ground screen and after a while it goes
to sleep mode (wich I also removed and nothing happens)
(I have re installed 10.4 on an external disk and from there it is possible to
restart/shutdown. But then nothing is installed)
I love AND hate Tiger now!
ps. I see that some say it is possible to restart/shutdown computer from
terminal, what command is that?
have tried nearly everything. What can I do and what is going on?
- by gregorytga July 1, 2007 2:33 AM PDT
- Well this was the culprit for my G5, I had installed the 1.4.1 drivers but it requires a full deinstall and reinstall. I'm not sure why it happened but I never was able to make the connection why my main install of OS X appeared to be dying.
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