iMac freezing up

ValleyGuy · 07-08-2002, 03:28 PM

System:
iMac DV/400MHz Graphite SE
256 MB RAM
Mac OS 10.1.5
Screen resolution: 800x600

This is a friend's system who isn't having much luck with Aquarium running as a screensaver on his system. It works fine for a short period of time and then his iMac locks up. The time 'til the lockup occurs is highly variable, ranging from 17 minutes to approximately 45 minutes. When it locks up, the aquarium is onscreen, but not moving and no mouse clicks or keyboard clicks will exit making a forced restart necessary.

I had him set his energy saver prefs to never to eliminate any possibility of that timed sleep, hard drive sleep or dispaly sleep was causing a bad interaction. It still freezes even with energy saver disabled so this isn't the cause.

I've had him set the number of fish back to 3.. also with no effect... the iMac still froze.

Just out of curiosity, I had him disable the screen saver version and try the Marine Aquarium application. This appears to work without freezing up his iMac. He's had the application running in full screen mode for a couple hours without a problem, far longer than it ever took for the screen saver version to cause a freeze.

---> Any thoughts on what might be occuring that that would make it not work as a screen saver, but work fine as an application?

Also, for reference, with the iMac set to Millions of colors, the frame rate is only 14-15fps at 800x600. is that about all that can be expected? Set at thousands, it's approx 30fps.

Do you think this is a bug in the screensaver version related to the Graphics card in the iMac DV. I first thought it might be an overheating issue, but since the application works, I'd think that pretty much elimiates as a cause since I'd think everything is cranking away just as much to display the aquarium in full screen application mode.

Any thoughts or insight?

JimO'Connor · 07-11-2002, 11:18 AM

This problem shows up primarily on 8 Megabyte video cards. The problem is often elimintated by switching to thousands mode. Anyone experiencing system crashes should e-mail a system description, with particular emphasis on the video card, monitor mode (thousands or millions), app or screen saver version of MA. It is also helpful to give us the build version (0.99.x).

http://www.serenescreen.com/Support/Tech.htm

Thanks.

07-14-2002, 06:34 PM

I'm running a iMac with:

iMac DV/400MHz Graphite SE
384 MB RAM
Mac OS 10.1.5
Screen resolution: 1024x768

I had the same problem with screen saver locking up. I changed from millions to thousands mode and looks that has fixed the problem.

Greg

feldon34 · 07-14-2002, 11:25 PM

No need to state video cards on Titaniums, iBooks, or iMacs. To my knowledge, they have certain video cards based on model.

07-08-2002, 03:28 PM	#1
ValleyGuy Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Studio City, CA Posts: 4	iMac freezing up System: iMac DV/400MHz Graphite SE 256 MB RAM Mac OS 10.1.5 Screen resolution: 800x600 This is a friend's system who isn't having much luck with Aquarium running as a screensaver on his system. It works fine for a short period of time and then his iMac locks up. The time 'til the lockup occurs is highly variable, ranging from 17 minutes to approximately 45 minutes. When it locks up, the aquarium is onscreen, but not moving and no mouse clicks or keyboard clicks will exit making a forced restart necessary. I had him set his energy saver prefs to never to eliminate any possibility of that timed sleep, hard drive sleep or dispaly sleep was causing a bad interaction. It still freezes even with energy saver disabled so this isn't the cause. I've had him set the number of fish back to 3.. also with no effect... the iMac still froze. Just out of curiosity, I had him disable the screen saver version and try the Marine Aquarium application. This appears to work without freezing up his iMac. He's had the application running in full screen mode for a couple hours without a problem, far longer than it ever took for the screen saver version to cause a freeze. ---> Any thoughts on what might be occuring that that would make it not work as a screen saver, but work fine as an application? Also, for reference, with the iMac set to Millions of colors, the frame rate is only 14-15fps at 800x600. is that about all that can be expected? Set at thousands, it's approx 30fps. Do you think this is a bug in the screensaver version related to the Graphics card in the iMac DV. I first thought it might be an overheating issue, but since the application works, I'd think that pretty much elimiates as a cause since I'd think everything is cranking away just as much to display the aquarium in full screen application mode. Any thoughts or insight?

07-11-2002, 11:18 AM	#2
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	This problem shows up primarily on 8 Megabyte video cards. The problem is often elimintated by switching to thousands mode. Anyone experiencing system crashes should e-mail a system description, with particular emphasis on the video card, monitor mode (thousands or millions), app or screen saver version of MA. It is also helpful to give us the build version (0.99.x). http://www.serenescreen.com/Support/Tech.htm Thanks. Jim O'Connor Order N Development

07-14-2002, 11:25 PM	#4
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	No need to state video cards on Titaniums, iBooks, or iMacs. To my knowledge, they have certain video cards based on model. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

07-14-2002, 06:34 PM	#3
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	I'm running a iMac with: iMac DV/400MHz Graphite SE 384 MB RAM Mac OS 10.1.5 Screen resolution: 1024x768 I had the same problem with screen saver locking up. I changed from millions to thousands mode and looks that has fixed the problem. Greg