Power Mac G5: update on noise issues; interface freezes

Update on noise issues We've covered noise issues with the Power Mac G5 over the past few months, and last week we covered a service memo Apple has issue to resellers/service providers noting the option of replacing a Power Mac G5's power supply. Macworld UK reports on a similar memo issued to resellers in the UK which also notes a couple suggested workarounds (previously noted here on MacFixIt): grounding the power supply and changing Energy Saver settings to Automatic or Reduced Processor Performance.

Interface freezes MacFixIt reader Chris Gauch reports an issue, noted in an Apple Discussions thread, where Mac OS X's GUI becomes largely unresponsive:

"I work with G5s on a daily basis, dual 1.8s, 2.0s, etc., all running ATi Radeon 9600 or 9800 GPUs. All of these G5s occasionally freeze (the user interface is no longer usable, yet the mouse pointer can move freely and the system is still accessible via SSH on the network, and can be rebooted that way). Many of the G5 systems FIRST exhibited the UI freeze during the software update process, after a fresh, clean install of Panther (10.3.2), as I always partition out the larger drives and therefore reinstall the Mac OS from the software restore CDs.

"I spoke with an upper-level tech at Apple the other night and he did confirm that Apple was aware of the issue and that it was software related, specifically to the OS. That was the most detailed info I could get from the Apple tech. According to others in that Apple Discussions thread (above), the window manager appears to be the main culprit, although it is hard to confirm due to the intermittent nature of the UI freezing (some go for weeks without freezing, others go for just minutes or hours -- mine are completely random)."

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