[OS X TeX] Off topic: system stablitity

[Richard Seguin]

One thing you may try is the hardware test. Insert your install disk,  
shut down, then power up holding down the "D" key. Instead of booting  
into the normal install screen like you would if you had been pressing  
the "C" key, you will get something else. Follow directions on the  
screen that appears. You have the option of running the short test or  
the long test. If the short test doesn't find problems, do the long  
test. The long test does a more thorough job of testing latency  
problems in RAM or the hard disk, but it could run for an hour or two.

Richard Séguin