Re: Strange iMac freezes

[Neil Houghton]

Wow - it is now well over a week of memory testing later - the downside of 
really loading up the RAM is that it takes a hell of a long time to run 
extensive testing!!  It also generates a LOT of heat - I ended up with a fan 
blasting air at the back of the iMac - just to be safe ;o)

 

In the end I used both Rember AND AHT to check various RAM configurations and I 
THINK I have isolated the problem module - luckily one of the 4GB ones. In the 
end, for consistence, I used extensive testing in AHT and in Rember I used 3 
loops.

 

I won't go into all the gory details but, in summary:
With 2x 8GB modules installed:
Rember; all RAM; 3 loop - passed
AHT; extended - Np problems found
With 2x4GB modules installed:
Rember; all RAM; 3 loop - FAIL on 1st pass at "solid bits" - at which point I 
did not bother with AHT to confirm a problem.
With 1x 4GB (A) module installed:
Rember; all RAM; 3 loop - passed
AHT; extended - Np problems found
With 1x 4GB (B) module installed:
Rember; all RAM; 3 loop - passed
AHT; extended - Failed to complete - computer locked - cursor not responding to 
mouse
AHT; extended - 2nd attempt - Failed to complete - computer locked - cursor not 
responding to mouse
With 2x8GB + 1x4GB (A) modules installed:
Rember; all RAM; 3 loop - passed
AHT; extended - Np problems found
 

Since my original testing with AHT and all 4 modules installed had indicated a 
RAM problem (with more than one test), my conclusion is that there is some 
problem with the 1x 4GB (B) module – even though it passed the Rember test this 
would not test the whole RAM. At this point I could have done more extensive 
testing of this module – start up in single user mode – run memtest from 
terminal – but, to be honest, I have had enough of that for the moment and will 
proceed with just the 20GB RAM installed which is passing all Rember and AHT 
tests.

 

Unfortunately, I am not at all sure that the RAM is actually the cause of my 
original crashes.

 

During every RAM configuration the iMac would boot up OK but on my first 
boot-up with the 2x8GB modules installed, I logged in to my main account and 
still had a freeze-up/crash. I then logged in to a bare admin account – at 
which point the Rember test passed. All subsequent Rember testing was done when 
logged in to the admin account. Obviously running AHT does not actually boot 
OSX so user accounts are not relevant.

Currently I am logged into my main account and all is working OK – so far. I am 
happy that there was SOME problem with the original RAM configuration which did 
not show up when booting but was revealed with dedicated memory testing – but I 
am not sure that that is the cause of my original problem.

 

If the original problem resurfaces my next step will be to try the OSX combo 
update.

 

If the problem STILL persists it would possibly indicate that the problem is in 
my user folder – possibly some corrupted file or preference file?

 

In the event of further problems I will report back.

 

One strange thing I found was that the exception to allow Rember to open did 
not “stick”:
Trying to just open Rember gives the message “Rember can’t be opened because it 
is from an unidentified developer.” – which was originally to be expected.
Clicking on the “Open Anyway” button on the security preferences pane just 
opens up the same message.
Finding the app in finder and using a “right-click” open option gives the 
warning ““Rember” is from an unidentified developer. Are you sure you want to 
open it?” but also says “Opening “Rember” will always allow it to run on this 
Mac.”
However, despite opening Rember, it subsequently still does not allow normal 
opening.
 

I would hope not to have to run Rember on a frequent basis! So this is more of 
a niggle than a problem – unless it may be relevant to my original problem??!

 

That’s all for now folks!

 

Cheers

 

 

Neil

 

 

-- 

Neil R. Houghton

Albany, Western Australia

Tel: +61 8 9841 6063

Email: n...@possumology.com

 

 

-Original Message-

From:  on behalf of Neil 
Houghton 

Reply-To: WAMUG 

Date: Thursday, 14 March 2019 at 14:33

To: WAMUG 

Subject: Re: Strange iMac freezes

 

    Hi Daniel,

    

Thanks for the info & suggestions.

    

I don't think it is a heating problem. I used fan control software for 
quite a while when the original HD failed and I was running from my backup 
clone on an external drive. However when I replaced the HD and installed the 
SSD I used the OWC provided temperature sensor/lead and now the inbuilt system 
temperature control seems to work well. The HD fan seems to run a little faster 
than the original setup (maybe the 3TB Toshiba generates a bit more heat than 
the original 1TB drive) but iStat menus shows all temperatures as normal and 
fans ramping up as required.

    

Previously, on hot days, the internal temperatures did rise enough to get 
the fans speeding up a bit (as expected) but never gave any problems. The 
problems h

Re: Update Office 365

[Severin Crisp]

I followed Daniels suggestion but cleaned out Office with CleanMyMacX first.   
All now seems fine, no updates needed.  We will see when the next Update batch 
arrives.   
Thanks for all the advice!
SeverIn

> On 18 Mar 2019, at 5:33 pm, Neil Houghton  wrote:
> 
> I should also mention that this problem has persisted through several updates 
> of Office and also several updates of the actual Update app.
>  
> From:  > on behalf of Neil 
> Houghton mailto:n...@possumology.com>>
> Reply-To: mailto:wamug@wamug.org.au>>
> Date: Monday, 18 March 2019 at 17:32
> To: mailto:wamug@wamug.org.au>>
> Subject: Re: Update Office 365
>  
> Hi Severin,
>  
> This may or may not be relevant to your situation.
>  
> I have been finding MS AutoUpdate problematic for a while – though I do have 
> a working “workaround”
>  
> I have Office 365 installed on 3 different computers – all are running OSX 
> 10.11.6 – so an older OS than you.
>  
> On one of the computers AutoUpdate works fine. On the other two I have the 
> same problem and it was not immediately apparent exactly what the problem was 
> until I tried updating the apps one at a time (ie uncheck all the apps except 
> one) and carefully watched what happened:
> The app downloads as expected.
> The app installs as expected.
> The app verifies as expected.
> THEN
> The app starts downloading again!
>  
> After digesting this madness, I found that if I quit Autoupdate while it was 
> trying to re-download it and then reopened Auto update it would now recognise 
> that the app was updated and not show that there was any update available. I 
> can then do the same with one of the other apps.
>  
> This is obviously a bit of a pain – but I have more pressing matters to deal 
> with so, for the moment, my update workflow on the 2 problematic computers is:
> I have created an alias to the Microsoft Autoupdate app that is easily 
> accessible.
> I have set Autoupdate to notify me when updates are available but not to 
> update automatically.
> When it is update time I fire up Autoupdate and select one app to update and 
> then quit Autoupdate when it tries to download a second time.
> I then repeat the process for the other four office apps.
> A final launch of Autoupdate now confirms that I am up-to-date.
>  
> Of course, your problem might be completely different and unrelated – but it 
> would be easy to check by manually initiating the update of one app only and 
> carefully watching the process to see where the problem arises.
>  
> HTH
>  
>  
> Cheers
>  
>  
> Neil
>  
>  
> From:  > on behalf of Severin 
> Crisp mailto:sevcr...@westnet.com.au>>
> Reply-To: mailto:wamug@wamug.org.au>>
> Date: Monday, 18 March 2019 at 13:39
> To: WAMUG List mailto:wamug@wamug.org.au>>
> Subject: Update Office 365
>  
> I have High Sierra on a MacBook Air.  I have never before had any trouble  
> with the MSoft updates of Office 365.  The current update (16.23.0) 
> apparently runs, downloads the update bits for Excel, Power Point and Word 
> then halts in the installation - “…unable to download several update 
> segments.  Try again….. It has continued to fail over the last 2 weeks. 
> Suggestions please!  
> Severin Crisp
>  
> 
> Assoc Prof Severin Crisp, FIP, FAIP
> Clarence Estate, 55 Hardie Rd,
> Albany, Western Australia, 6330
> (Home:  15 Thomas St, Mount Clarence,
> Albany, Western Australia, 6330)
> Ph 0484 624 741
> Email: sevcr...@westnet.com.au 
>   
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
>  
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Assoc Prof Severin Crisp, FIP, FAIP
Clarence Estate, 55 Hardie Rd,
Albany, Western Australia, 6330
(Home:  15 Thomas St, Mount Clarence,
Albany, Western Australia, 6330)
Ph 0484 624 741
Email: sevcr...@westnet.com.au
  







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