iMac 27" freezes

[MarinRacic]

I am having huge problems with my brand new iMac 27" and ArchiCAD 14.

At least 2-3 times per day ArchiCAD 14 freezes in a way that the whole system does not respond. The cursor moves on the screen as I move the mouse, but the keyboard doesn't respond nor I can click on anything. The music in iTunes continues to play, but there is no way to force quit AC and continue working. The only thing I can do is to shut iMac down using power button and start it up again. It happens ONLY WHEN I'M USING THE 3D WINDOW.

I browsed the web and found an old article (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/03/new_imacs_plagued_by_interface_freezing_issues.html) which pretty much sums up the symptoms I get.

AC14 is build 3269 INT version; OS X is 10.6.4 with all the updates installed. iMac is a quadcore 2.93 GHz i7, standard 4 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD 5750 video card. I bought it a month ago.

I've tried all the usual tricks: repairing permissions, running daily/weekly/monthly scripts... but nothing helps.

Any ideas?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Marin,

Does this happen if nothing else (e.g., iTunes) is running - only AC?

Are there any messages in your console logs after you restart?

Have you tried different OpenGL acceleration/etc options for AC? (Sounds like an OpenGL issue with the ATI card - but of course Apple has released updates that are supposed to have fixed that.)

If nothing helps above, you might try installing the developer tools off your installation DVD and run the OpenGL Profiler applet to see if it logs anything weird, as this user did with older hardware:
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t%3C/t-692800.html

Good luck,
Karl

PS I've been thinking of getting a 5770 or 5870 to upgrade my Mac Pro, but think I'll pass until I hear how you resolve your problem.

[Ralph Wessel]

MarinRacic wrote:
I am having huge problems with my brand new iMac 27" and ArchiCAD 14.

This sounds like a possible hardware problem, but I can't rule out a low-level driver failure. Have you installed any 3rd party drivers for peripherals?

A single application shouldn't be able to drag down the entire system. Normally, you would simply force a hung application to quit and then carry on. The fact that the whole OS is crippled suggests something low-level, e.g. RAM failure.

[Anonymous]

Hi !

I'm a new user on this forum and French speaking, so please excuse my mistakes !!!

I'm confronted to similar slow down and freezing feelings using Archicad 14 on a new imac 27'

OS X is 10.6.4 with all the updates installed. iMac is a quadcore 2.93 GHz i7, standard 4 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD 5750 video card

I search on this forum and others for several days in a desperate quest ... but no solutions...

I even got problems on a small project file, with only one picture and 1 line !!! (2D plan windows realy slow when zooming at 28%)...

The only solution I got for the moment is turning back to Archicad 13 which with I get no problems for the moment... but what's the point yo buy Archicad 14 when you can't use it... snif..

please help !

[MarinRacic]

I forgot to follow-up... Anyway, it seems it was a video card driver problem. It went away with subsequent OS X update (10.6.6 if I remember correctly). Highly annoying to buy a new computer and being frustrated with such an issue...