Incredibly slow computer
 

Since crashing my usual Macbook, I've been using my old 17" PowerBook G4 as a temporary. It works fine except that it's incredibly slow. The only thing I do is web surf, eBay/Pelican/craiglist/facebook/news sites/banking/etc...

It has OS X 10.5.8, which I know is old but why would nit not work the way that it used to, with the same OS? I checked for updates and installed them all. When I'm typing this text right now, there is a 1-2 second delay between any keystroke and the text appearing on the screen. Same with any other command, fetching photos and the like.

Any quick-fixes I can try? TIA. :cool:

with you wanting a Harley..you better get used to slow!

:D :D :D...

Could be some garbage slowing it down or a fragmented hard drive or equivalent. Not an expert, but load the program, Disk Utility in the Utilities folder. Select the drive to inspect, then let it run. If it reveals some issues, follow the recommendations. If you have an original install disk, you can reload a fresh version of the OS without losing data.

May be a good time to upgrade. Today, Apple released the new lineup of iMacs.

Sherwood

OS X is pretty good at disk management so fragmentation is really not a huge issue.

Run Activity Monitor, see if you have a process hogging CPU cycles.

Anything steadily above 10%-20% could be the culprit.

OK, thanks. How do I do that?

Also, isn't there some deal where you shut it down and then restart with command key and "R" pressed at same time? I'm going from distant memory...

Activity Monitor is an app, should be in Applications->Utilities

Command+Option+P+R is the reset parameter RAM on boot key combo.

Hold them all on boot up and it'll reboot, I keep them held for at least 2 usually 3 reboots.

Thanks. I found A.M. and it shows Firefox using between 85-95% of all things! :eek::confused:

WTF?

Kill it.

One of the reasons I stopped using it, it's become a bit of a pig.

Denis, I was running OS X 10.5.8 on my Macbook. Picked up an iPhone 5 and couldn't transfer my contacts, photos, etc. over because it does not support iTunes 10.7. Took it to the Genius Bar and they loaded Snow Leopard 10.6.8 for free.

Just tell them you have a new iPhone and need iTunes 10.7. They just started doing this upgrade, must have had a few people complaining that their new Apple products weren't being supported by a 4 year old machine.

Thanks, Scott. just switched to Safari after doing a couple of those reboots and it seems to be running fine now.

Thanks, I have an iPhone 4S and I'm pretty sure that it's the same thing. I.E., won't mate with this computer. :cool:

I'm also running 10.5.8, but on a PowerPC Mac. Maybe it's an Intel thing. I don't see it in my directory.

Sherwood

Holy schit this old thing is running fast now, thanks SM!!

:DSmileWavy

Do a search for it.

Activity Monitor should be there somewhere. May have been moved accidentally.

SM,
While you're on a roll, here's my symptom:

Computer intermittently goes to sleep on its own. Sometimes I can wake it by clicking the mouse or a key. Other times, have to reboot; sometimes multiple times to get the desktop to show and the cursor activated.

Any ideas besides time for a new one?

thanks,
Sherwood
Power Mac G5 Quad core, 2.5 Ghz (circa 2005)
OS 10.5.8

Sounds like a bad LCD inverter.

Do you have an external monitor that you can hook up to make sure it's really going to sleep and it's not just the LCD shutting off?

Inverter boards are cheap, ~$25-40 bucks on fleabay or one of the used Mac sales sites that also sell parts.

1/2 hour to swap out.

Have done a few, common problem on the last gen PPC laptops.

I have one acting as a media server in my downstairs entertainment room. Inverter is bad but does not matter since it's hooked to a 67 in TV screen.

It's a desktop, not a laptop. It's runs two monitors via the DVI connections. Both monitors go dark or freeze when the computer decides to "sleep" or freeze.

Is this easily fixable for a now $250 computer? The retail on this was $3000 back then (2nd owner).

Which model is it specifically?

Does the following help?

Late 2005 Power Mac G5, Quad core, 2.5 Ghz
Currently has (2) 750 Gb ATA HD
What are the primary differences between the "Late 2005" or "Dual Core" Power Mac G5 models? @ EveryMac.com

I forget the "street names"

Sherwood

Out at dinner right now

Have you tried setting it to not sleep.

If yes does it go to "sleep" anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion. Made the adjustments. Will see.

Sherwood

This board rocks.

If it still goes to sleep, freezes or shuts down then check the fan and airflow, make sure it's not getting too hot.

After adjusting the sleep mode to "never", it still exhibits the same symptoms. Fan and air flow are fine. In fact, I've removed the side cover to provide max. air to the fan. I have previously run a status utility program that provides temp. readings in various areas of the computer. Seemed okay at the time. This system has a water-cooling feature, but if there were no abnormal temp. displays, I assume it's operating okay.

Any ideas? Bug in mother board?

Sherwood

Maybe, more likely RAM or the video card.

Recently had an ATI display similar behavior on start up.

Do you have a spare/second computer that you can set up remote access or VNC with?

If the displays go down on the Mac you can remote into it to see if the box is really sleeping or if the card shut off.

I have a couple of spare cards, if one works in your box I'll send out to you to test with.

Gimme a bit to look into it.

"Do you have a spare/second computer that you can set up remote access or VNC with? If the displays go down on the Mac you can remote into it to see if the box is really sleeping or if the card shut off."

I do (have a spare Mac I can use for this purpose). Can you explain how I perform the remote control?

I pulled half of the RAM (Two 1Gb DDR2 SDRAM) before. Will replace the installed set with these and retest.

Thanks for the Apple hand-holding.

K,

Go to System Preferences, hit Sharing, turn on Screen Sharing. Hit the Computer Setting s tab and check off VNC users may control screen with password, and enter a password.

If you want you can Allow Access for only your user account.

Close save changes

On the other computer, while in Finder, hit Command K, browse for the and select other machine and hit Share Screen.

Put in user/pass if needed and now you can control machine 1 from machine 2.

That's one of the ways I interface with my the laptop that I have hooked into one of my media centers.

VNC is great. I have one of my machines set up to be accessed from wherever.

Was on a 7 day cruise over Thanksgiving. Am at the Beach in St Thomas and started getting a barrage of automated system emails, problem with the configuration on one of our products.

Pulled up the VNC app on my iPhone, remoted into the box in my office, made some fixes and went back to my Pina Colada.

Okay. Will try that.

Just to confirm. Once I remotely access no. 1 Mac via no. 2 Mac;

If I can access no. 1 files with no. 1 monitors OFF, then the video card is suspect.

If I cannot access no. 1 with no. 1 monitors OFF, then it's not the video card.

If I cannot access no. 1 with no. 1 monitors OFF and computer frozen, then ............

Those assumptions okay thus far?

Have Porsche stuff to attend to. Will attempt this later. Thanks. Just increased my Mac IQ by alot.

Sherwood

When you remote in you will get #1's dektop showing up on #2's screen.

If 1 is asleep then it will wake up and displays should light up.

If you get in and the displays don't light up suspect video card.

Ok. Thanks for the details.