Random Freezes After Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update
19-May, 2009
Well, crap. I updated my MacBook Pro to Mac OS X 10.5.7 (a monster download) and now I’m experiencing random freezes, something that is quite rare in the Mac world. Repair disk permissions? Remove possibly corrupt preference files? Stay tuned for possible fixes…
Today I will try the installation steps outlined by barjohng to perform the 10.5.7 update on my MacBook Pro. I did the same on my 13″ MacBook a few days ago. The key, apparently, is step #4; hold down the Shift key until the computer has completely booted up and disk activity has stopped, then install the update. Hang on to your butts…
Update: 29-May, 2009
Today, my MacBook Pro froze again. Every time it has froze, it’s been attached to a docking station. Thinking that the problem might be related to my wireless BlueTooth mouse and keyboard, I opened the laptop and, to my surprise, the laptop keyboard and trackpad worked! BlueTooth keyboard and mouse do nothing after the freeze, but I was able to use the laptop keyboard and trackpad to turn off BlueTooth and turn it on again. After that my BlueTooth mouse and keyboard were usable again. This whole time I thought it was the UI that froze and not just my input devices. Weird.
Update: 22-May, 2009
The amount of people affected by the “10.5.7 freezing issue” continues to grow (see link above). I have tried everything that has been suggested in the Leopard Apple Discussion forum and then some. The fix? I’m going to have to use Time Machine to roll back to 10.5.6 until Apple gets their business together. Yuck.
25-May, 2009 at 9:29 am
I had this problem as soon as the update was complete, but it has resolved, so far, by repairing disk permissions in ‘disk utility’
26-May, 2009 at 7:30 am
@sebastian I’m glad repairing permissions worked for you. Unfortunately, the freezing continued after I had a go. I will run 10.5.6 until this mess is resolved.
15-Jun, 2009 at 11:39 pm
unfortunately, i have the same issues with 10.5.7
the most annoying part is that i have no backup of 10.5.6 and i’m thinking now to reinstall the whole system…
any updates, though ?
17-Jun, 2009 at 3:02 pm
@grey I rolled back my 13″ MacBook to 10.5.6 several weeks ago, but decided to try the steps outlined by barjohng. Stay tuned…
29-Jul, 2009 at 8:37 am
I’ve tried everything, including going back to the CDROMs and then going forwards to 10.5.5, reseting perms, all the voodoo with the enthernet controller, making sure not to have any background processes running while install updates (shift-key while logging in), resetting PRAM, installing smcFanControl to jack the fan rate up to try to prevent overheating…
Its the same symptoms which is the second sleep it gives me the spinning wheel and then requires a hard reboot.
When is Apple going to figure out what is actually going on and publish a fix? There’s several people at work with identical symptoms, so I can’t believe that Apple doesn’t have broken laptops internally…
29-Jul, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I spoke too soon! BT now completely disappeared. Nothing I have read and tried has worked..
6-Aug, 2009 at 9:37 am
10.5.8 is out…
from surfing the initial reports it doesn’t look optimistic…
8-Aug, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I’m definitely waiting until the dust settles before installing 10.5.8. I’ll probably just wait until Snow Leopard comes out and do a clean install. I’m also tempted to slap Linux on a cheap laptop and have a go with the whole open-source thang again. It’s been 5 years since I’ve used Linux.
10-Aug, 2009 at 4:55 am
I took the leap to 10.5.8
It doesn’t look like it solved my 10.5.7 spinning-wheel freeze issues. It also seems that I’ve got the new 10.5.8 problem where the wireless doesn’t work if you are on battery power:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20090807102957215
I admin about 2,000 linux servers at work. Recently I discovered that the VM from 2.6.0 through 2.6.27 has a fundamentally stupid architecture for servers:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=160033
Computers all just suck.
26-Aug, 2009 at 8:52 am
I had the freezing problem with 10.5.7, so I rolled back to 10.5.6. none of the fixes worked. I tried everything I could think of and everything that was posted on the internet. reformatted, installed 10.5.6, repair permissions, start in safe mode, install 10.5.7 (then later the same thing for 10.5.8), try smcfancontrol, etc… nothing worked. 10.5.8 is the same boat. I even tried the latest (the final retail) build of snow leopard and it’s even in there!
I have a 17″ unibody macbook pro from early 2009 (february)
Another person in my office has 10.5.7 running on her 17 inch unibody macbook pro purchased in june and does not have freezing issues. I’m not sure if her computer came with it pre-installed and included discs at 10.5.7 (mine came with 10.5.6)
I’ve got an appointment at the apple store this evening, here’s hoping something can be done. I have a clean install of mac os x 10.5.6 updated to 10.5.8 with no third party software installed at all and it is still freezy. Hopefully they can do something.
18-Nov, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Any update? I’ve got an iMac (purchased April 2008), and have all these symptoms. It’s running 10.5.8. Was just considering if Snow Leopard upgrade would fix, but sounds like it won’t. I’ve reset SMC. Reset PRAM. Very frustrating. Spoke w/Apple tech support … act like they’ve never heard of this problem, and give me a “schedule” to use when changing the batteries in my mouse and keyboard! (turn off mac, turn off keyboard, change low batteries, turn on keyboard, turn on mac).
Any one w/any good leads?
9-Dec, 2009 at 12:00 pm
@Nate I would try backing up your entire drive with Super Duper! or Time Machine and try a “clean” install of Snow Leopard (10.6.2). You could then use Migration Assistant to move all of your preference files and personal data over. I would suggest installing all your apps again since Snow Leopard is natively 64-bit. I no longer have these issues with 10.6.2.
3-Jan, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I have the same problem. I went in to disk utility, and erased the os, then reinstalled with the disk. It works if you don’t update. Until they fix it. Do that by holding option as it starts up with the install disk in. Then click English, and options. There is a section where it says erase and install os. Do that.
6-Jan, 2010 at 4:59 am
Ended up having an “internal hard drive failure”. Apple was going to replace for $370. I put up a stink and they waived $80 of labor. Just couldn’t stomach paying them for something that should not have broken so soon. Bought a Western Digital 750GB HD from Newegg.com for $80, and w/the help of some Youtube tutorials, installed the other day. First time inside an Apple computer, but the instructions were pretty good.
If I got over my head, the BestBuy Geek Squad would have installed it for $50.