Bizarre Behavior

[Bill Hernandez]

Several months ago I began having random crashes on my iMacG5 PPC OSX  
10.4.x, and after several bouts with checking/repairing permissions,  
repairing the disk, doing installs, re-installs without importing  
preferences, etc., re-format entire drive & install everything  
including applications, new preferences, etc. from scratch I gave up  
and took the computer to the local Apple Store.

They ran their diagnostics, I purchased and ran MemTest for about 4  
hours, removed ram, etc. and the problems persisted.

Finally got Applecare to throw in the towel, and have someone come  
over to install a new logic board. When the service tech guy from  
CompUSA opened up the back of the iMac, he showed me several burned  
diodes, that apparently were the source of the problem, even though  
they did not show up on Apple Store's Diagnostics.

For about a year or more the machine ran great. A couple of months  
ago I began having some very bizarre corruption, primarily issues  
with the dock.

Due to my prior experience with the burned diodes, I focused my  
investigation in that direction. I went back to the Apple Store, a  
day after I had completely re-installed everything again, and they  
could find nothing wrong with the hardware. In fact the machine  
booted from one of their drives just fine.

I gave up, and shelled out $2700 for a new iMacG5 Intel machine.  
Within 3 weeks the new machine began having exactly the same  
problems. This is when I began suspecting some sort of a virus, worm,  
trojan, malware, etc. Something had spread to my new machine. I  
isolated all the computers and began documenting (mostly with screen- 
shots) the problems in order to try to try get some help. Mostly to  
see if anyone else had encountered the bizarre behavior I was  
experiencing, and if they had any solutions.

I was not going to post on this board because I felt it was not  
related to MacPorts, but now for info purposes I thought it might do  
some good, since this forum has some very knowledgeable people. I  
thought perhaps I might get some insights from some of you.

Thanks for any insights or help you might provide.

http://www.mac-specialist.com

Best Regards,

Bill Hernandez
Plano, Texas