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TICKET ARCHIVE -> imac g5 problems
portfoleyo2000 - Feb 24, 2006 - 2:05 pm
I am a mac user for a little over a year, i rely on my mac as tool for image and video editing, cd/dvd burning, internet surfing and checking e-mail. my imac g5 has never let me down compared to my days as a windows user. Lately, however i've been experiencing problems where applications arent responding or just acting sluggish. today i had the safari and mail application opened and both froze up and i had to actually physically power off my mac and restart. is it possible a virus is responsible? is this a common problem? any suggestions would be appreciated. I run ox 10.3.9 on an imac g5 with 1.6ghz and 768 ram
nhmac - Feb 24, 2006 - 2:28 pm
It's extremely unlikely that it is a virus, the only viruses for X I think at this time are proof-of-concept things not found in general use (unless you opened something called latestpics.tar.gz lately), and moreover if I recall they only affect Tiger/10.4, not 10.3.
Have you ever run any utilities on your Mac, such as OnyX? Have you ever repaired your permissions?
Have you ever run any utilities on your Mac, such as OnyX? Have you ever repaired your permissions?
portfoleyo2000 - Feb 24, 2006 - 2:34 pm
no i have never done either of those? are the recommended? thanks for getting back to be by the way
nhmac - Feb 24, 2006 - 2:52 pm
Yes, there are some things you should do when running OS X. Repairing permissions, especially before and after any update of the OS or after installing software, is a very good idea.
Also unless you leave your computer running and awake 24/7, it never gets rid of various invisible cache files and the like. So utilities that will do this when you want to do it are a good idea.
I'd start with Applejack and OnyX, both available from Versiontracker.com and both are freeware. You can only do a through job of cleaning some of the stuff up if you are not running from the OS X boot disk you want to troubleshoot. Applejack solves this problem by working from what's called single-user mode -- you start with the command and S keys held down, and you get a black and white screen that prompts you through maintenance routines. So: get Applejack, install it, then restart in single user mode, type applejack when prompted, follow the prompts to let it run all routines automatically, and it will check your disks, repair permissions, get rid of old cache files, etc. (Your iMac will be reaqlly loud during this because there's no OS running to moderate the fan noise. Don't worry, this will go away when you restart.)
Let me know how it goes and if this helps!
Beverly
Also unless you leave your computer running and awake 24/7, it never gets rid of various invisible cache files and the like. So utilities that will do this when you want to do it are a good idea.
I'd start with Applejack and OnyX, both available from Versiontracker.com and both are freeware. You can only do a through job of cleaning some of the stuff up if you are not running from the OS X boot disk you want to troubleshoot. Applejack solves this problem by working from what's called single-user mode -- you start with the command and S keys held down, and you get a black and white screen that prompts you through maintenance routines. So: get Applejack, install it, then restart in single user mode, type applejack when prompted, follow the prompts to let it run all routines automatically, and it will check your disks, repair permissions, get rid of old cache files, etc. (Your iMac will be reaqlly loud during this because there's no OS running to moderate the fan noise. Don't worry, this will go away when you restart.)
Let me know how it goes and if this helps!
Beverly
portfoleyo2000 - Feb 24, 2006 - 3:42 pm
i do leave my mac running all the time i shut it down maybe once every 3 weeks, i hope this is not a problem, i will download applejack from version tracker, that site has been helpful to me in the past, i will let you know how this works, thanks again for your advice.
portfoleyo2000 - Feb 27, 2006 - 3:21 am
i downloaded applejack and tried running it, it started out fine, i let it run and came back about 3 hours later and it was still running, is this normal? it didn't seem to get far, only to step 2. i shut down the computer during the process.
nhmac - Feb 27, 2006 - 8:58 am
No, definitely not normal! On my iMac G5 Applejack only takes maybe 15 minutes, most of that is step 2 (permissions).
Do you have the install disks for the iMac? You could try booting from the install disk and run Disk Utility from there, check the filesystem and the permissions.
Do you have Applecare on this iMac?
Do you have the install disks for the iMac? You could try booting from the install disk and run Disk Utility from there, check the filesystem and the permissions.
Do you have Applecare on this iMac?
portfoleyo2000 - Feb 27, 2006 - 11:15 am
I have my install disks, i tried running the disc utility from my applications/utilities folder and it started varifying permissions, then it stopped and said it lost connection with the disc management. i tried this twice, i didnt launch the disc utility from the install disc, i am unsure how to do this. no applecare anymore, it ran out.
nhmac - Feb 27, 2006 - 12:56 pm
Too late for this time, but Applecare can be a pretty good investment and will cover your machine for 3 years; you have to buy it before the original 1 year warranty runs out, though.
Anyway, to run disk utility from the install disk, boot from the install disk, and then go to the menu at the top of the screen after it boots, from there you can run disk utility. Also the disks probably include Apple Hardware Test (should say somewhere on the face of the DVD, maybe something like "AHT version___)", and in these circumstances that's the first thing I'd suggest you run, if you have it.
--Beverly
Anyway, to run disk utility from the install disk, boot from the install disk, and then go to the menu at the top of the screen after it boots, from there you can run disk utility. Also the disks probably include Apple Hardware Test (should say somewhere on the face of the DVD, maybe something like "AHT version___)", and in these circumstances that's the first thing I'd suggest you run, if you have it.
--Beverly
portfoleyo2000 - Feb 27, 2006 - 3:56 pm
Hi Beverly, after searching the internet for the disc utility problem i was experiencing, other people were saying they had the same problem. someone wrote they called apple and had a solution. i had to remove some of my itunes receipts and place them on my desktop before running the disc utility. i did this and it finally worked, i was able to varify and repair any permissions. at this time i'm not sure if this helped. all i know is this weekend was rough on my mac. quicktime, safari and mail were not responding or just quitting on their own. that is something i'm used to on pc/windows. my imac is my buisness tool, online radio source and web browser so i hate to be without it. so i hope that did the trick. do you reccomend using the disc utility over applejack? perhaps the itunes receipts were holding up applejack as well? anyway i'd like to thank you for your advice and responses to my dilemma. It was very much appreciated. Take care.
Dan
Dan
nhmac - Feb 27, 2006 - 5:17 pm
I'm pretty sure the disk check that Applejack runs is the same as what Disk Utility (DU) runs; just be aware that you can't do a thorough job of repairing permissions while you are running OS X, so for best results you want to be using Applejack, or DU from the system disk. Also Applejack does some things (the last several tasks) that DU does not. It's a good idea to run Applejack or OnyX periodically to do those maintenance tasks. And especially: before and after doing any system update, it's a very good idea to repair the permissions.
About those iTunes files, I had heard something about that issue but hadn't gotten as far as thinking that might be what the trouble was here. Good job tracking that down!
I am also very dependent on my Macs, which is why I volunteer here -- I completely understand about one's personal and professional life grinding to a halt when the system is down! I fortunately haven't had any issues lately such as what you've experienced, but when stuff happens like this at least the Mac web seems to be pretty good about putting the info out there. I generally wait a few weeks before updating anything to new versions, so that I can check around and see if there have been any issues with an update. My personal preference is not to let Software Update run unless I manually turn it on, as I've seen other folks having problems from automatically updating things. These habits of mine may or may not be responsible for my not having many issues with my Macs, but you might want to consider whether they would work for you.
Hoping everything runs smoothly from now on for you!
--Beverly
About those iTunes files, I had heard something about that issue but hadn't gotten as far as thinking that might be what the trouble was here. Good job tracking that down!
I am also very dependent on my Macs, which is why I volunteer here -- I completely understand about one's personal and professional life grinding to a halt when the system is down! I fortunately haven't had any issues lately such as what you've experienced, but when stuff happens like this at least the Mac web seems to be pretty good about putting the info out there. I generally wait a few weeks before updating anything to new versions, so that I can check around and see if there have been any issues with an update. My personal preference is not to let Software Update run unless I manually turn it on, as I've seen other folks having problems from automatically updating things. These habits of mine may or may not be responsible for my not having many issues with my Macs, but you might want to consider whether they would work for you.
Hoping everything runs smoothly from now on for you!
--Beverly
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