My computers are constantly crashing with snow leopard especially in Safari. I have tried Firefox also with the same results. Many times the crashes occur when I try to send a photo or attach a .pdf using mail or gmail. Photoshop cs4 also crashes. I once got a message about adobe flash. I have repaired permissions.
I have an IMac (Intel) and a macbook pro (intel). I never had any of these problems with Leopard.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Rhonda

I have an intel MacBook and haven't had any issue of that kind since upgrading. Are you using the most uptodate version of adobe flash? I believe that is one of the programs Terry mentioned that needs to be updated for snow leopard.

When you say "crash" what exactly do you mean? Does the computer freeze up? Do you get the grey screen that tells you to restart? Does it just spontaneously restart?

It would be good to look at the Console log (Utilities/Console and then Show Log list/all messages) to see what is happening at the time the systems dies.

All of a sudden I was getting frequent Kernel Panics (black screen draws down from the top and you have no choice but to reboot). I was also getting random crashes in Mail and Safari.

The Kernel Panics came out of no where. Just all of a sudden 3-5 in one day! Out of the blue!

So I decided to do some investigating and look at the Console logs and try to determine what might be causing these Snow Leopard crashes and especially the frustrating Kernel Panics.

In my glancing at the logs I saw a few things mentioned regularly:
Wacom driver
Growl
VPN

So I actively went out looking for updates to some of the things in my System Prefs that I really never thought about before that day. Sure enough there were updates to just about everything including some things that mentioned Snow Leopard compatibility specifically.

Since I did those updates, I haven't had a single crash since.

So the point of my story here is that while your computer may install Snow Leopard, boot with Snow Leopard and run Snow Leopard OK, random problems and crashes are usually the result of something that needs updating that you may not be thinking about!

As far as the Flash player goes, 10.6.1 supposedly installs the latest version. I had already installed the latest version before 10.6.1 so I can't be sure that it does in fact install it.

When troubleshooting in general I always start with these things:

1) Preferences for the app that's crashing. Try moving/deleting them to see what happens
2) System crashes can be caused by something that starts at Login that you're not even aware is running. Check your Login items to see what's there. Once I found at least 3 very old things that I wasn't even using anymore. They got installed by hardware drives for devices I was no longer using.
3) Check the 3rd party System Preference panes for updates to those items. They are usually listed on the bottom row of the System Prefs window.

The application spontaneously closes, wants to send a report to apple, and asks me if I want to restart. The computer does not shut down. It happens most frequently with safari, firefox, photoshop and mail. I am going to try a few of Terry's suggestions.
Rhonda

quote:

Originally posted by Jack Beckman:
When you say "crash" what exactly do you mean? Does the computer freeze up? Do you get the grey screen that tells you to restart? Does it just spontaneously restart?

It would be good to look at the Console log (Utilities/Console and then Show Log list/all messages) to see what is happening at the time the systems dies.

For application crashes like this, another diagnostic is to create another user account and try the same applications from the new account. Be certain to remove any extra login items from the new account.

If the crashes only happen on your original account, then the problem is usually in your user account Library Preferences or Application Support files.

If the crashes happen on both account, there is a systemic problem. Remedies can vary from /Library/Preferences or /Library/Application Support file deletions to a full Archive and Install.

We look forward to your test results.

OK, that's obviously a different issue than how it initially sounded.

Jim's or Terry's advice is where I'd start. If that doesn't work, you should look to the Console log and see if there's something about the crashing program in there.

I updated adobe flash from the adobe site. So far, so good-

Thanks, guys.

Rhonda

quote:

Originally posted by James R. Cutler:
For application crashes like this, another diagnostic is to create another user account and try the same applications from the new account. Be certain to remove any extra login items from the new account.

If the crashes only happen on your original account, then the problem is usually in your user account Library Preferences or Application Support files.

If the crashes happen on both account, there is a systemic problem. Remedies can vary from /Library/Preferences or /Library/Application Support file deletions to a full Archive and Install.

We look forward to your test results.

I can't make the meeting today. I wonder if this topic came up in the Snow Leopard discussion. Safari quits unexpectedly when uploading pictures in any format. This does not happen every time. I have checked apple discussion forums and this appears to be a big unsolved problem. Thanks for your ideas.
Rhonda

I created a new user account and so far, the crashes do not occur. Now, how do I get my files, contacts, mail, etc. to the new user account? Or, is there another method to remedy this situation? Thanks, as always.
Rhonda

quote:

Originally posted by James R. Cutler:
For application crashes like this, another diagnostic is to create another user account and try the same applications from the new account. Be certain to remove any extra login items from the new account.

If the crashes only happen on your original account, then the problem is usually in your user account Library Preferences or Application Support files.

If the crashes happen on both account, there is a systemic problem. Remedies can vary from /Library/Preferences or /Library/Application Support file deletions to a full Archive and Install.

We look forward to your test results.