I had an instance where things got a little 'funky' on my machine. The way I solved it was to examine what processes were running at the time, and then going on a "sudo kill" spree in the terminal. I tracked it done to my printer setup. It was trying to access a printer that was set up incorrectly causing everything to crash, or bounce on the dock.
If you know something that is not working currently, you can try and eliminate the process by trial and error and then find out what is happening to it to cause it to happen.
What are your crash logs saying? Does it point to any apps/processes?
Another thing that seems to cause a few headaches (though more on Panther it seems) is a corrupted font.
In the nearly two years I have had my machine all the problems have been PEBKAC!! PEBKAC!! PEBKAC!!
I should warn you I am in no way an expert.
Can anybody tell me if there is a process that you should not kill. I am guessing the user logn in process is one to miss. I know you can kill the finder - it pops back up. Any others?
I've had much luck with Jaguar cache cleaner. Also if you have Suitcase and Illustrator running look for adobefntXX.lst files on your computer (where XX is 05, 06, or 07). If over 1MB these files have a nasty habit of bringing your machine to a CRAWL. Search them out and delete them. Just don't touch the adobefnt.db files.
Have you tried restarting from your OS X disc and running Disk Utility from there? If you're only running it from your startup drive, it can only repair permissions, not fix any big problems.
And OS X has been ultra stable for me and i've been using it every day at work since 10.1, and at home since public beta. Sounds like something is wacky with your machine/install/drive/ram (take your pick). Like someone said if repair utilities aren't fixing your issues, you should probably try an Archive and Install and start fresh to narrow it down whether its hardware or software related.
It sounds like something has become corrupt on the disk. The suggestion to do an Archive and Install is good. Even though fsck is reporting the drive and directory structure are OK the contents of some files may be lost. Some preference files might be screwed up. An Archive and Install is the fastest way to clean that all up.
I've also heard that bad fonts will cause weird problems.
Strange network settings may cause some odd problems.
I have to say that OS X has been remarkably stable for me. Safari has been quite good. I don't think I've seen it crash in many months.
well after backing up most of my stauff (just in case!) I did the old archive and install. I then went and added all the system updates I had before - up to 10.2.6.
The good news:
X is faster to boot and definitely feels snappier in use.
Applications are faster to load and while I still get the beachball when selecting 40 or so files in the finder its now for around 10-15scs. (Still not wonderful but a whole lot better)
Office doesn't seem to keep quitting anymore
No Kps in the last 4 days.
The bad news :
Inserting a music cd launches iTunes but Clicking on play still causes iTunes to hang wth the beach ball - this was the case with itunes 3 after the archive and install and also when i subsequantly updated to 4.1. My cd drive is fine - I've watched dvd's copied files. installed software - all ok.
Safari . . .
Safari STILL often quits and disappears for no reason.
And,when I type in apples web site and hit return. the spinning icon spins and the blue bar starts to fill up. suddenly the spinning icon stops and the blue bar is now white yet the page is blank. If i leave the page alone for around 5 -10 minutes suddenly it appears as if it had just loaded!!
Well, it does seem that there were problems with the installation and not the hardware.
Doing an archive and install did nothing to Safari or iTunes. These are both applications independent of the OS.
I'm not sure what to suggest for iTunes. You might try creating a new user and then try playing a CD from iTunes in the new user account. If it plays fine this confirms that it has something to do with the preference files for iTunes. I'll hazard a guess that quitting iTunes then deleting
com.apple.itunes.plist
in the library folder of your home directory then restarting iTunes would reset it.
If you have .Mac then I'd suggest using iSync to copy your bookmarks to .Mac then under the file menu in Safari use the Reset Safari command. Then use iSync to restore your bookmarks. Good idea to separately backup your bookmarks before trying this.
If you don't have .Mac then, as with iTunes, try to run it from the new account. If it works well this clearly points to the preference file as the problem. Move com.apple.safari.plist out of your preference folder then restart Safari. If you find a problem you can always move the preference file back again.
I think it's the RAM that could be your problem. I'd loose that 64MB stick of RAM for starters. RAM is usually happiest if it runs in multiples of itself (64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, etc.) Then I'd be curious to know if the RAM is all the same brand, other specs, etc.
I moved the safari plist out of the prefs folder and when I restarted the mac a number of things happened.
firstly the mac hung in the finder!! It wouldn't restart. so I force quit and relaunched the finder only to have it immediately shut down! when I restarted again all seemed fine - although its now taking a lot longer to startup again.
Safari is quitting very frequently - like every 4-5 minutes. I still have the bizarre windows not loading properly problem.
As for the ram, I took out the 64mb but no improvements here either.
one of the 128 is a samsung
the 64 has kingston on it and the others have Crucial on them
would I be better off just getting Panther? Also, i need my g4 to be dual boot, does panther come with 9? do I have to install 9 first and then a clean panther on top?
First let me assure you that you have an excellent machine. I have a Dual 450 as well and it is running at the moment 10.3.2 and I have gone through 10.0 with each system and it has never complained about the os and has been problem free for more than three years.
I have however made some very sound decisions at the start. Decision such as removing the original RAM and upgrading to a Gig of RAM with matched 256 MB RAM sticks of quality. Decision such as investing in a second identical 30 GB hard drive. Decision that against Apple's advise I installed OS X and OS 9 on seperate drives. Decision to have a back up firewire external drive.
It also did not cost much. I waited until the 450 DP went out of production and bought it cheap brand new. all the other stuff eventually was bounus.
Now I should also tell you that I am not the cleanest or the most organized person that you have seen. At the moment I have around 300 applications and sometimes multiple versions of the same software running. Still I can not bring this wonderful machine to it's knees. Now let's get to your problem.
Yes there was a hickup with 10.2.8 and the problem was in application of randevous for internet connection. Apple put the upgrade up and one day later it pulled it down again when they found out that they had goofed. it took them two weeks to fix the issue and put the update back again. the problem exists in a .kext file which is a kernel extension for randevous. The hacking fix at that time was to copy the file from 10.2.6 to 10.2.8 and it would solve the issue.
You are now in 10.2.6 so therefore you should not have that problem. The problem is well documented at apple support.
Now what about safari not loading? I suggest that the problem is not mac or OS X and rather the DNS issue with your ISP. Change your DNS numbers and see what happens. It could be as simple as that. If the page loads and takes a while to load it definately means that it takes a while to resolve the resources for the page and I think it has to do with DNS. There are many open DNS servers out there that you can utilize I suggest UUNET 198.6.1.5 and 198.6.1.1 if you can not find others.
I agree whole heart with others in clean installation and fixing permissions from another start up volume. Invest in a good firewire external drive. Back up completely using a freeware such as Carbon Copy Cloner to the external hard drive. Start clean install and start over. If you have a high capacity ipod you can even use your ipod for a complete backup.
Have you checked your computer battery? Sometimes you may think all these problems are caused by some OS failure but it can be as simple as a dead clock battery.
Inserting a music cd launches iTunes but Clicking on play still causes iTunes to hang wth the beach ball - this was the case with itunes 3 after the archive and install and also when i subsequantly updated to 4.1. My cd drive is fine - I've watched dvd's copied files. installed software - all ok.
I had a similar problem. When I would insert a cd it would take forever for the music to start playing. First the beachball, and then the first 10-30 seconds would cut in and out before the cd started playing smoothly. Not long after my computer didn't recognize cds some of the time and eventually it didn't recognize discs at all. Popped in a new cd drive, and all my problems are gone. The original drive died on me slowly and caused all sorts of problems.
Comments
If you know something that is not working currently, you can try and eliminate the process by trial and error and then find out what is happening to it to cause it to happen.
What are your crash logs saying? Does it point to any apps/processes?
Another thing that seems to cause a few headaches (though more on Panther it seems) is a corrupted font.
In the nearly two years I have had my machine all the problems have been PEBKAC!! PEBKAC!! PEBKAC!!
I should warn you I am in no way an expert.
Can anybody tell me if there is a process that you should not kill. I am guessing the user logn in process is one to miss. I know you can kill the finder - it pops back up. Any others?
Originally posted by Kickaha
All *SORTS* of weird things can happen in that case.
Amen to that. When I get below 250MB free, everything hits the fan on my PBG4. External firewire is my friend now.
excuse my ignorance but what is pebkac?
Ie, user error.
And OS X has been ultra stable for me and i've been using it every day at work since 10.1, and at home since public beta. Sounds like something is wacky with your machine/install/drive/ram (take your pick). Like someone said if repair utilities aren't fixing your issues, you should probably try an Archive and Install and start fresh to narrow it down whether its hardware or software related.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Computer.
Ie, user error.
Actually, Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair... you know, like where the user is sitting.
Originally posted by shetline
Actually, Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair... you know, like where the user is sitting.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Heh. CEBKAC. The first C is for Cookies... that's good enough for me.
I've also heard that bad fonts will cause weird problems.
Strange network settings may cause some odd problems.
I have to say that OS X has been remarkably stable for me. Safari has been quite good. I don't think I've seen it crash in many months.
Originally posted by spooky
yep, that's me . . .
This goes beyond PEBKAC, this is the clearest case of Mac karma that I've ever seen.
well after backing up most of my stauff (just in case!) I did the old archive and install. I then went and added all the system updates I had before - up to 10.2.6.
The good news:
X is faster to boot and definitely feels snappier in use.
Applications are faster to load and while I still get the beachball when selecting 40 or so files in the finder its now for around 10-15scs. (Still not wonderful but a whole lot better)
Office doesn't seem to keep quitting anymore
No Kps in the last 4 days.
The bad news :
Inserting a music cd launches iTunes but Clicking on play still causes iTunes to hang wth the beach ball - this was the case with itunes 3 after the archive and install and also when i subsequantly updated to 4.1. My cd drive is fine - I've watched dvd's copied files. installed software - all ok.
Safari . . .
Safari STILL often quits and disappears for no reason.
And,when I type in apples web site and hit return. the spinning icon spins and the blue bar starts to fill up. suddenly the spinning icon stops and the blue bar is now white yet the page is blank. If i leave the page alone for around 5 -10 minutes suddenly it appears as if it had just loaded!!
any ideas guys?
Doing an archive and install did nothing to Safari or iTunes. These are both applications independent of the OS.
I'm not sure what to suggest for iTunes. You might try creating a new user and then try playing a CD from iTunes in the new user account. If it plays fine this confirms that it has something to do with the preference files for iTunes. I'll hazard a guess that quitting iTunes then deleting
com.apple.itunes.plist
in the library folder of your home directory then restarting iTunes would reset it.
If you have .Mac then I'd suggest using iSync to copy your bookmarks to .Mac then under the file menu in Safari use the Reset Safari command. Then use iSync to restore your bookmarks. Good idea to separately backup your bookmarks before trying this.
If you don't have .Mac then, as with iTunes, try to run it from the new account. If it works well this clearly points to the preference file as the problem. Move com.apple.safari.plist out of your preference folder then restart Safari. If you find a problem you can always move the preference file back again.
Hope this helps.
here's the latest:
I moved the safari plist out of the prefs folder and when I restarted the mac a number of things happened.
firstly the mac hung in the finder!! It wouldn't restart. so I force quit and relaunched the finder only to have it immediately shut down! when I restarted again all seemed fine - although its now taking a lot longer to startup again.
Safari is quitting very frequently - like every 4-5 minutes. I still have the bizarre windows not loading properly problem.
As for the ram, I took out the 64mb but no improvements here either.
one of the 128 is a samsung
the 64 has kingston on it and the others have Crucial on them
would I be better off just getting Panther? Also, i need my g4 to be dual boot, does panther come with 9? do I have to install 9 first and then a clean panther on top?
First let me assure you that you have an excellent machine. I have a Dual 450 as well and it is running at the moment 10.3.2 and I have gone through 10.0 with each system and it has never complained about the os and has been problem free for more than three years.
I have however made some very sound decisions at the start. Decision such as removing the original RAM and upgrading to a Gig of RAM with matched 256 MB RAM sticks of quality. Decision such as investing in a second identical 30 GB hard drive. Decision that against Apple's advise I installed OS X and OS 9 on seperate drives. Decision to have a back up firewire external drive.
It also did not cost much. I waited until the 450 DP went out of production and bought it cheap brand new. all the other stuff eventually was bounus.
Now I should also tell you that I am not the cleanest or the most organized person that you have seen. At the moment I have around 300 applications and sometimes multiple versions of the same software running. Still I can not bring this wonderful machine to it's knees. Now let's get to your problem.
Yes there was a hickup with 10.2.8 and the problem was in application of randevous for internet connection. Apple put the upgrade up and one day later it pulled it down again when they found out that they had goofed. it took them two weeks to fix the issue and put the update back again. the problem exists in a .kext file which is a kernel extension for randevous. The hacking fix at that time was to copy the file from 10.2.6 to 10.2.8 and it would solve the issue.
You are now in 10.2.6 so therefore you should not have that problem. The problem is well documented at apple support.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...bo_10_2_8.html
Now what about safari not loading? I suggest that the problem is not mac or OS X and rather the DNS issue with your ISP. Change your DNS numbers and see what happens. It could be as simple as that. If the page loads and takes a while to load it definately means that it takes a while to resolve the resources for the page and I think it has to do with DNS. There are many open DNS servers out there that you can utilize I suggest UUNET 198.6.1.5 and 198.6.1.1 if you can not find others.
I agree whole heart with others in clean installation and fixing permissions from another start up volume. Invest in a good firewire external drive. Back up completely using a freeware such as Carbon Copy Cloner to the external hard drive. Start clean install and start over. If you have a high capacity ipod you can even use your ipod for a complete backup.
You do not have to be a geek to enjoy OS X.
Goodluck
Jay
Originally posted by spooky
Inserting a music cd launches iTunes but Clicking on play still causes iTunes to hang wth the beach ball - this was the case with itunes 3 after the archive and install and also when i subsequantly updated to 4.1. My cd drive is fine - I've watched dvd's copied files. installed software - all ok.
I had a similar problem. When I would insert a cd it would take forever for the music to start playing. First the beachball, and then the first 10-30 seconds would cut in and out before the cd started playing smoothly. Not long after my computer didn't recognize cds some of the time and eventually it didn't recognize discs at all. Popped in a new cd drive, and all my problems are gone. The original drive died on me slowly and caused all sorts of problems.
Originally posted by Scott
Safari crashes all the time. So at the very least subtract that from your trouble shooting because Safari has problems all it's own.
And your punctuation has problems of its own.