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TICKET ARCHIVE -> iBook freezing up!

G3User - Feb 23, 2006 - 7:50 pm

Greetings macosx,

I'm having trouble with my iBook G4. I run osX 10.3.9 Past day or so, it freezes up when i start an application ( don't know if it freezes when i just leave it idle). I reinstalled the operating system from the install disc.


I ran disc utility/verify disk and repair disk several times (repair several times). Each time it tells me that Mac HD appears to be okay.

I tried to verify and repair permissions, but it gets stuck in the middle of it, and gives me an error message saying it cannot communicate with something (i forget what).

I have backed up important files, would you recommend i erase the hard drive and start clean? Or do you not think that is it.

I have one stick of additional ram and an airport, but the ram in installed more than a year ago, and the airport six months ago. no new hardware installed, no changes that i know of. I restart; it freezes up in short order.

What to do?


Thank you very much!

Zeniq - Feb 23, 2006 - 8:05 pm

Have you installed any new applications lately? If so, that could be the problem. If not, i would say a clean install would be the next step to take. If that still doesn't solve the problem, i would be inclined to say memory could be the problem, though it's not likely to be the issue if the current stick has only been in there a year.

In any case, try the clean install, and if that doesn't solve the problem, please send another message!

Zeniq

G3User - Feb 24, 2006 - 3:07 am

Hey Zeniq. How are you? Thanks for the response! Um, one thing i did... i put in my Tiger CD, and from that i was able to fix permissions (whether or not that means anything). I'm thinking maybe i should just erase the hard drive and install Tiger. You think? Downstairs i have a lot of crucial stuff on my desktop, but this ibook i only use for web stuff and my fiction. The fiction is crucial (i'm about to start the process of publishing a book), but easy to back up. I've got stuff backed up, so i think i'll just erase the HD, and start clean. Do you see anything wrong with this? Thanks so much!


Christopher

Zeniq - Feb 24, 2006 - 9:47 am

Not at all. If you have everything backed up, wiping/reinstalling could be the best way to go.

About why you could repair permissions from the CD, I have no idea why. Thats something I've never run into. I imagine there was some file permission conflict that wasn't an issue when not booted off that hard drive.

Anyway, go ahead with the wipe/install.

G3User - Feb 25, 2006 - 3:40 pm

Hey Zeniq. When booting from my Tiger CD, i was able to repair permissions. It's still freezing though, often on startup! Then the screen is just blue. Do you think i should try taking out the third party ram? Do they sometimes go bad, even after a year? Thanks,



Christopher

Zeniq - Feb 25, 2006 - 3:59 pm

Yes, RAM can go bad after a while. I just encountered that in a system i repaired two days ago (It kept rebooting itself, RAM was the problem). Go ahead and pull the third party RAM and see if that solves the problem.

Cheers,
Zeniq

G3User - Feb 26, 2006 - 11:53 am

Hey Zeniq. How are you? So, i removed the ram. Functioned for a little while then started freezing up again. Then, i did a clean install from the Tiger CD (erases hard drive option). It's freezing up now even at the registration/welcome section from Mac os X!

Any ideas of anything else to try? I don't know what else to do. Thank you Zeniq.

Zeniq - Feb 26, 2006 - 4:04 pm

hmm. If it's not the memory and it's not the install, i honestly don't know what else to say. Maybe the hard drive. Boot back into the install disk and run the disk utility from there, check the hard drive. See how that comes up, and i'll try to find out what else the problem could be. Sorry for teh inconvenience.

Zeniq

G3User - Feb 26, 2006 - 8:11 pm

Thanks a lot, Z. Appreciate all your help. I'm running all disk utilities again. If there was something wrong with the hard drive, would Disk First Aid possibly not show it? Or it probably would? It comes up saying Okay. Could it be the "Logic Board", or something like that? (I have no idea what a Logic or mother board is).


Thanks again.

Zeniq - Feb 28, 2006 - 8:15 pm

Affirmative. If a disk had a problem that is beyond The Disk Utility's ability to check for then it would not show up as a problem. However, i can confidently say that the issue does not lie with the logic board; If it ran fine with this install version at one time, then the Logic board is not the problem.

Zeniq

G3User - Mar 7, 2006 - 9:35 pm

Hey Zeniq! I brought it to Yes Computers, a mac shop, and they believe it is the ram on the logic board. Does that sound plausible to you? I think what i might do then: buy from the apple special deals a similar 14" ibook. At least i can transfer the ram. Thanks so much for all your help.

Zeniq - Mar 7, 2006 - 11:06 pm

That definately sounds logical to me. Sorry, i feel like i didn't help that much, especially since you had to take it to someone to diagnose the problem. Thanks for bearing with me!

Zeniq