iMac freezes up randomly, 1st core 99% kernel process
2012 iMac 27" Mavericks
Since getting my iMac (refurbished from Apple... I know, I know... but the price was soooo good) I have had a problem with it freezing up randomly. Sometimes it will happen 2-3 times in one day, sometimes not for a week or so. First my browser gets laggy (Chrome or Safari, doesn't matter) and my fan starts racing and then I get the spinning beach ball as my first cpu core spikes to 99% and activity shows a kernel process taking over (is this what's called a Kernel panic?). I am still able to close a few programs in the first 30 seconds or so but then all I can do is move the cursor. I used a shareware temp gauge to check temp (since time-expired) that did not indicate overheating. I asked apple for help but all they could offer was shutting off the computer, unplugging it for 30 seconds, plugging back in and then waiting another 5 seconds to reset the power management chip. I have tried this numerous times with no help. Is this probably hardware or could this be a software issue? I uninstalled Java for a while but that made no difference either. I have about 3 months left before my year is up if I need to bring it in to Apple though the Apple folks have never been able to solve a problem for me before short of charging me to replace a bunch of stuff for many $100s.