Crashing Macs

[angel_benet]

Before I begin, let me start by saying that I am truly a Mac lover. We started out with an Apple LC II and now I am still in love with my iMac.

When friends ask me why I use a Mac, I tell them simply: it makes everything simpler. So they ask me the usual questions, and I tell them all the usual Mac lover answers- except for one.

"Is it true it never crashes?"

Hard core mac lovers will always say, Never. They will say that their OS has never crashed.

But I just want to be honest. They also crash. I mean, just go over to the Apple website's discussion boards and you'll see.

It's quite true that it seldom crashes, but in my own experience, it has crashed several times. And to be perfectly honest, I have a PC running Windows XP that runs Windows only apps, and there was one time that my Mac was crashing more than the PC. OF course I was able to fix the problem but the point is, a lot of Mac enthusiasts exagerrate by saying the Mac never crashes when it truth, it does, although very seldom.

Just my thought.s

[jdawg]

True. There are simply some who purport themselves to be Mac evangelists that resort to these kinds of statements. However, one thing I've noticed though is that the stability of the OS is impacted a lot by 3rd party software that we install. When I compare the performance of my 'book when it was fairly new and now that it's 'skinned' and installed with a lot of 3rd party apps, the system was way more stable before than it is now. But since I can't live without these 3rd party apps (i.e. Sidetrack, Quicksilver, Konfabulator, Menu Meters), I just live with the crashes. My most often crash is a spinning beach ball whenever you mouse over the dock. CMD + Tab stops working as well and force quitting all apps and restarting finder doesn't help either. No other choice but to do a hard restart.

I'm thankful though that the following has never happened to me yet on my Mac:
1) Kernel Panic
2) Crashes that impact productivity (i.e. losing a spreadsheet or a word doc before getting the chance to save it)

[jsaure]

Before owning a Mac, I thought 'kernel panic' meant KFC running out of drumsticks. My Mac has never crashed while my XP has been very stable save for one previous virus that hasn't resurfaced so far. Maybe I'm a compulsive software updater who refuses to install unproven 3rd-party apps, I don't know.

Mac enthusiasts who exaggerate the Mac's stability were most likely traumatized by their previous experience with older, clunkier versions of Windows <shudder>. Like someone who had been stranded in a Korean car and would never buy one again regardless of how dramatically they have improved.

Windows is getting better but Macs will always be a step ahead.

[ajbatac]

angel_benet, I guess this all depends on what software are installed. To some extent, hardware failures are some reasons why OSX crashes.

For me, yeah, Safari Crashed more than twice already. But never the OS.

[bok]

I love the OS but I'm amazed that such a 'modern' OS could be brought down by using a simple 'old school' dialup modem.

I hope this problem disappears in Tiger.

[angel_benet]

i remember it really clearly. i was working on my imac at home and my friend was right beside me working on her windoze xp equipped laptop. we were working on the same exact things. and at one point, i was browsing a site using internet explorer and boom- i got the time bomb error, forcing my mac to restart.

it was a pretty awkward situation, but then i said, "I never said it was perfect."

thank God for mozilla.

[peter_ob]

Time Bomb? You using pre OSX?

[Myles]

I think getting a beachball doesn't mean the OS crashed already, if you are patient enough to wait, the spinning beachball will eventually turn back into an arrow. Getting a kernel panic - now that's an OS crash. Correct me if I'm wrong Mac gurus.

[angel_benet]

at the time it happened, yes, i was using 9.2.

if you get a spinning beach ball, it just means the mac is working double time. getting a time bomb- that's something else.

in fact, i think that getting the time bomb on pre os x is equivalent to the blue screen of death on windoze.

[Mxzylplyk]

I definitely agree with Myles.
The spinning beachball happens to me sometime it even becomes unresponsive without the beachball, but I always assume its because I'm doing too many things and not having enough RAM. Eventually it goes back to normal, you just have to wait awhile.

So for clarity, what is your definition of Mac OS X crashing?

Originally posted by Myles
I think getting a beachball doesn't mean the OS crashed already, if you are patient enough to wait, the spinning beachball will eventually turn back into an arrow. Getting a kernel panic - now that's an OS crash. Correct me if I'm wrong Mac gurus.

[Edited on 1-29-2005 by Mxzylplyk]