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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Slowed performance
lawnboy34 - Nov 29, 2005 - 12:56 am
Hey there,
I'm running a PowerBook G4 with 512 MB ram and a 80gb hard drive on OS 10.2.8. About a week ago I experienced a pretty scary meltdown when, at startup, my computer refused to recognize my hard drive. After it eventually booted up, I deleted a bunch of data (At the time of the meltdown I had only 1 GB available space), repaired disk permissions, and deleted some user preference files because I had the "file dragging" problem. For a few days my computer ran as well as ever, but now it is beginning to slow again. Opening new applications takes a great deal of time, and sometimes the pizza-wheel will just spin indefinitely. I have about 17 GB available on the hard disk. I've tried DiskRepair (it says 1 volume repaired, 1 volume couldn't be repaired no matter how many times I run it), repairing permissions, Cocktail and MacJanitor -- nothing has been able to solve the problem more than temporarily. Would this be a problem with a fragmented hard disk? Would erasing the hard drive and re-installing Jaguar solve the problem? I'd rather not do this (but I will if I have to), as there are some files on the hard drive I would like to keep until I get a large removable drive in the coming weeks. Any ideas about what else I can try? I just want my old computer back.
Thanks very much!!
Jason
I'm running a PowerBook G4 with 512 MB ram and a 80gb hard drive on OS 10.2.8. About a week ago I experienced a pretty scary meltdown when, at startup, my computer refused to recognize my hard drive. After it eventually booted up, I deleted a bunch of data (At the time of the meltdown I had only 1 GB available space), repaired disk permissions, and deleted some user preference files because I had the "file dragging" problem. For a few days my computer ran as well as ever, but now it is beginning to slow again. Opening new applications takes a great deal of time, and sometimes the pizza-wheel will just spin indefinitely. I have about 17 GB available on the hard disk. I've tried DiskRepair (it says 1 volume repaired, 1 volume couldn't be repaired no matter how many times I run it), repairing permissions, Cocktail and MacJanitor -- nothing has been able to solve the problem more than temporarily. Would this be a problem with a fragmented hard disk? Would erasing the hard drive and re-installing Jaguar solve the problem? I'd rather not do this (but I will if I have to), as there are some files on the hard drive I would like to keep until I get a large removable drive in the coming weeks. Any ideas about what else I can try? I just want my old computer back.
Thanks very much!!
Jason
LovesMacs - Nov 29, 2005 - 1:34 am
Seasons Greetings Jason,
After reading your post the first thing that grabbed my radar was the part where you indicated that 1 volume repaired, 1 volume couldn't be repaired no matter how many times you run it.. meaning Disk Utility.
Which volume is it that cannot be repaired? Do you mean the internal hard drive on the PBook???? Or do you use external drives like Firewire???
Since you are a knowledgeable Mac user and know to run Disk Utility/Cocktail/MacJanitor etc., and your drive is still not working properly, I suggest you back up as much data as possible and do an Erase and Reinstall. I know it's a little time consuming, but it's worth it. But I would only do this if the internal drive doesn't have errors on it and if Disk Utility reports errors as you say, then maybe DiskWarrior or TechToolPro4 might be the answer rather then taking it in for repairs.
I have PBookG4, about 2-1/2 yrs old... and DiskWarrior has saved me THREE times. And TechToolPro4 can repair volumes/directories/drives... in a heartbeat. One other thing you might consider is moving up to Tiger. You said you have 17GB available on the hard disk, that's plenty of drive space for Tiger.
Run Disk Utility from the system CD or DVD that came with your PBook and run First Aid. If First Aid reports errors, please copy and paste the information for yourself and copy and paste the report in your next response here.
Thanks for choosing Macosx.com!
Carolyn :-)
After reading your post the first thing that grabbed my radar was the part where you indicated that 1 volume repaired, 1 volume couldn't be repaired no matter how many times you run it.. meaning Disk Utility.
Which volume is it that cannot be repaired? Do you mean the internal hard drive on the PBook???? Or do you use external drives like Firewire???
Since you are a knowledgeable Mac user and know to run Disk Utility/Cocktail/MacJanitor etc., and your drive is still not working properly, I suggest you back up as much data as possible and do an Erase and Reinstall. I know it's a little time consuming, but it's worth it. But I would only do this if the internal drive doesn't have errors on it and if Disk Utility reports errors as you say, then maybe DiskWarrior or TechToolPro4 might be the answer rather then taking it in for repairs.
I have PBookG4, about 2-1/2 yrs old... and DiskWarrior has saved me THREE times. And TechToolPro4 can repair volumes/directories/drives... in a heartbeat. One other thing you might consider is moving up to Tiger. You said you have 17GB available on the hard disk, that's plenty of drive space for Tiger.
Run Disk Utility from the system CD or DVD that came with your PBook and run First Aid. If First Aid reports errors, please copy and paste the information for yourself and copy and paste the report in your next response here.
Thanks for choosing Macosx.com!
Carolyn :-)
lawnboy34 - Nov 29, 2005 - 1:58 pm
Carolyn,
Thank you very much for your quick response. I opened DiskUtility from my startup disk, and it showed an icon of my internal hard drive (with my mac HD under it) and my ipod. I selected the Hard Disk icon (74.5 GB toshiba mk80) and hit repair disk...I did this three times, and each time I got the error message "Volume Check failed. 0 HFS volumes repaired. 2 volume could not be repaired. Underlying task reported failure on exit."
I just restarted my Mac and it's working fine, but this is what usually happens. Once I start to open programs it gets bogged down to the point where eventually the pizza wheel spins forever.
Would the erase and re-install perhaps get rid of this error? Or maybe something like the fcyk or PRAM resetting? You mentioned getting Tiger, which I plan to do, but would installing a new OS do anything to help this problem? At this point I'm not sure if this is just my HD getting ready to die, or some sort of preferences error that I haven't uncovered yet. I'm reticent to spend the money on DiskWarrior if I'm not sure it will help. Is there anywhere you can "rent" its service?
Thanks very much for your help
Thank you very much for your quick response. I opened DiskUtility from my startup disk, and it showed an icon of my internal hard drive (with my mac HD under it) and my ipod. I selected the Hard Disk icon (74.5 GB toshiba mk80) and hit repair disk...I did this three times, and each time I got the error message "Volume Check failed. 0 HFS volumes repaired. 2 volume could not be repaired. Underlying task reported failure on exit."
I just restarted my Mac and it's working fine, but this is what usually happens. Once I start to open programs it gets bogged down to the point where eventually the pizza wheel spins forever.
Would the erase and re-install perhaps get rid of this error? Or maybe something like the fcyk or PRAM resetting? You mentioned getting Tiger, which I plan to do, but would installing a new OS do anything to help this problem? At this point I'm not sure if this is just my HD getting ready to die, or some sort of preferences error that I haven't uncovered yet. I'm reticent to spend the money on DiskWarrior if I'm not sure it will help. Is there anywhere you can "rent" its service?
Thanks very much for your help
LovesMacs - Nov 29, 2005 - 9:59 pm
Hello Jason :-)
Ok.. one comment. You indicated you selected the hard disk icon9 Toshiba mk 80... what you want to Verify is the Macintosh HD. Select Macintosh HD in the left panel, not the Toshiba. Then click First Aid and see if the same error pops up. Also, the only time you select the manufacturers name like Toshiba is for the SMART status. After using First Aid on the MacintoshHD, no matter what the report, THEN click Toshiba to highlight it, then look at the bottom of the window to see if it says: SMART Status Verified If it doesn't say Verified, you need to either repair the drive or replace it.
One option... www.alsoft.com They sell DiskWarrior. It can repair volumes and has mine 3 times!
Carolyn :-)
Ok.. one comment. You indicated you selected the hard disk icon9 Toshiba mk 80... what you want to Verify is the Macintosh HD. Select Macintosh HD in the left panel, not the Toshiba. Then click First Aid and see if the same error pops up. Also, the only time you select the manufacturers name like Toshiba is for the SMART status. After using First Aid on the MacintoshHD, no matter what the report, THEN click Toshiba to highlight it, then look at the bottom of the window to see if it says: SMART Status Verified If it doesn't say Verified, you need to either repair the drive or replace it.
One option... www.alsoft.com They sell DiskWarrior. It can repair volumes and has mine 3 times!
Carolyn :-)
lawnboy34 - Nov 30, 2005 - 1:17 am
Hi Carolyn,
I ran the DiskUtility from the startup disk and got the same result. Also, at the bottom when I select the Toshiba HD, I see no option for "SMART" verified. I only see the following: Disk Description, Connection Bus, Connection Type, Connection ID, Total Capacity, and Write Status.
On another, maybe more interesting, note, I've logged in from another user account and things seem to be working fine. I can't open some applications like Itunes, and "Mail" seems to be quitting unexpectedly (any explanation for this? I've never really used this new account), but I haven't encountered the spinning pizza wheel problem at all. Might this indicate that it's just a big preferences problem afterall? Is there any way that I can save a few preferences, but reset all of the others on my main account? Or any way I can figure out which preferences are messing up? For what it's worth, when I ran "preferential treatment" the other day, it kept freezing when it tried to read/analyze the "system preferences"
What do you think? Thanks again for your continued help!
Jason
I ran the DiskUtility from the startup disk and got the same result. Also, at the bottom when I select the Toshiba HD, I see no option for "SMART" verified. I only see the following: Disk Description, Connection Bus, Connection Type, Connection ID, Total Capacity, and Write Status.
On another, maybe more interesting, note, I've logged in from another user account and things seem to be working fine. I can't open some applications like Itunes, and "Mail" seems to be quitting unexpectedly (any explanation for this? I've never really used this new account), but I haven't encountered the spinning pizza wheel problem at all. Might this indicate that it's just a big preferences problem afterall? Is there any way that I can save a few preferences, but reset all of the others on my main account? Or any way I can figure out which preferences are messing up? For what it's worth, when I ran "preferential treatment" the other day, it kept freezing when it tried to read/analyze the "system preferences"
What do you think? Thanks again for your continued help!
Jason
LovesMacs - Nov 30, 2005 - 1:44 am
HI Jason,
Sounds like using a different account on your Mac is bypassing the preference files in the account you normally use. But you still can't launch iTunes and Mail quits on you. Not good. And by the way, when Mail or iTunes quits unexpectedly, does the dialog box appear asking if you would like to send a report to Apple???? If this happens, always try to send a report. The more feedback we send as Mac users about "bugs", the faster they write a patch to correct it.
Jason, something just occurred to me... locate this file in the account you normally sign on to: com.apple.systempreferences.plist
It should be here: MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences. Look in the Preferences folder for that file. If you can't locate it that way do a search. If you can locate it, drag it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
OK.. in Disk Utility. Launch Disk Utility, highlight Toshiba ...
now, make sure you are using the FIRST AID tab at the top. Run Verify one more time. Now, see if the SMART Status - Verified see if that shows up this time???? Because Disk Utility is the Mac's great utility ever and it has the ability to let you know when you need to repair or replace your internal drive. That's what the SMART Status is for. If it isn't showing this, your drive needs help.
Considering the problems you've experienced, I think this is more then just a Preference file corruption problem, especially since the one volume couldn't be repaired. Even if you use a different account, you are still having problems with certain applications.
You might try DiskWarrior or TechToolPro4.
Carolyn :-)
Sounds like using a different account on your Mac is bypassing the preference files in the account you normally use. But you still can't launch iTunes and Mail quits on you. Not good. And by the way, when Mail or iTunes quits unexpectedly, does the dialog box appear asking if you would like to send a report to Apple???? If this happens, always try to send a report. The more feedback we send as Mac users about "bugs", the faster they write a patch to correct it.
Jason, something just occurred to me... locate this file in the account you normally sign on to: com.apple.systempreferences.plist
It should be here: MacintoshHD>Users>Library>Preferences. Look in the Preferences folder for that file. If you can't locate it that way do a search. If you can locate it, drag it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
OK.. in Disk Utility. Launch Disk Utility, highlight Toshiba ...
now, make sure you are using the FIRST AID tab at the top. Run Verify one more time. Now, see if the SMART Status - Verified see if that shows up this time???? Because Disk Utility is the Mac's great utility ever and it has the ability to let you know when you need to repair or replace your internal drive. That's what the SMART Status is for. If it isn't showing this, your drive needs help.
Considering the problems you've experienced, I think this is more then just a Preference file corruption problem, especially since the one volume couldn't be repaired. Even if you use a different account, you are still having problems with certain applications.
You might try DiskWarrior or TechToolPro4.
Carolyn :-)
lawnboy34 - Nov 30, 2005 - 9:27 pm
Hi Carolyn,
I tried trashing that prefs file, and everything went haywire -- my web browsers wouldn't connect to the internet, everything started quitting on me, etc. I transferred my data to my friend's compuer, restarted with the system discs, and hit "erase and re-install". However, the installation process keeps freezing.
Does this mean it's time for a new hard drive? Any recommendations on what model or how I can install it myself without costing me a fortune? I figure that any notebook hard drive will do, but I'm not too knowledgeable about hardware.
Thanks,
Jason
I tried trashing that prefs file, and everything went haywire -- my web browsers wouldn't connect to the internet, everything started quitting on me, etc. I transferred my data to my friend's compuer, restarted with the system discs, and hit "erase and re-install". However, the installation process keeps freezing.
Does this mean it's time for a new hard drive? Any recommendations on what model or how I can install it myself without costing me a fortune? I figure that any notebook hard drive will do, but I'm not too knowledgeable about hardware.
Thanks,
Jason
LovesMacs - Dec 2, 2005 - 12:10 am
Hi Jason,
Sounds like the drive needs replacing for certain. As for replacement, you might try calling 1-800-MY-APPLE. Your PBookG4 has an 80GB drive now... you upgraded from the pre-installed original??? Or did you order it that way???
Get back to me with the exact PBookG4 model you have... here's a link that can help with that in case you aren't certain:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88248
Then it we can go from there to try and determine which make might be the best bet for your PBookG4.
At www.apple.com If you click on the Support tab, then click Portables/Wireless, then click PowerBookG4, you can find FAQ's and Discussions on how to replace a drive yourself. I myself am not that brave. Memory is one thing, a drive is another LOL
Keep me posted... I haven't been much help I'm afraid, but I hope I have at least sent you in the right direction.
Carolyn :-)
Sounds like the drive needs replacing for certain. As for replacement, you might try calling 1-800-MY-APPLE. Your PBookG4 has an 80GB drive now... you upgraded from the pre-installed original??? Or did you order it that way???
Get back to me with the exact PBookG4 model you have... here's a link that can help with that in case you aren't certain:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88248
Then it we can go from there to try and determine which make might be the best bet for your PBookG4.
At www.apple.com If you click on the Support tab, then click Portables/Wireless, then click PowerBookG4, you can find FAQ's and Discussions on how to replace a drive yourself. I myself am not that brave. Memory is one thing, a drive is another LOL
Keep me posted... I haven't been much help I'm afraid, but I hope I have at least sent you in the right direction.
Carolyn :-)
lawnboy34 - Dec 2, 2005 - 10:32 am
Hi Carolyn,
I either have a 15" Powerbook FW 800 or a 1.33/1.5GHz, I'm pretty sure it's the latter. I ordered the computer refurbished from the Apple online store, and it happened to have an 80gb hard drive already installed.
I am thinking about buying a cheaper/smaller hard drive and then storing most of my big data on a larger external harddrive. I was considering buying the Toshiba internal 40gb drive that's featured on newegg.com for $78. Would that work? I'm at school right now, so I think there are some people here who can install it for me. What do you think of this plan? I'll listen to any suggestions you may have.
Thanks again very much for your help, it's comforting to know that there's someone out there listening and walking me through this process.
I either have a 15" Powerbook FW 800 or a 1.33/1.5GHz, I'm pretty sure it's the latter. I ordered the computer refurbished from the Apple online store, and it happened to have an 80gb hard drive already installed.
I am thinking about buying a cheaper/smaller hard drive and then storing most of my big data on a larger external harddrive. I was considering buying the Toshiba internal 40gb drive that's featured on newegg.com for $78. Would that work? I'm at school right now, so I think there are some people here who can install it for me. What do you think of this plan? I'll listen to any suggestions you may have.
Thanks again very much for your help, it's comforting to know that there's someone out there listening and walking me through this process.
LovesMacs - Dec 3, 2005 - 12:48 am
HI Jason,
I'm so glad I can help... at least try. I do listen and I'm more then happy to guide you through the process. I didn't realize you were a student and anything I can do to help in the field of education, I'm here for you.
Ok... my PBookG4 1Ghz has the: Model TOSHIBA MK4025GAS internal drive. And so far so good with it... time will tell.
Ok... I went to Newegg.com and found this page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x=17&Go.y=28
Is that the correct page in newegg.com? Is it the 3rd Toshiba drive listed... $78 ??? Is that the correct one you are referring to? If so, it looks like the real deal to me, but without being able to virtually see your PowerBook myself under the hood so to speak... you might want to get more opinions first. I think you are ok with this drive from newegg.com as far as compatibility goes. As far as advice goes... try www.macworld.com www.macfixit.com www.maccentral.com www.machome.com All of those Mac sites have information or discussion forums that you can peruse... just do a Search for replacing an internal hard drive on a PBookG4... might be some tips and insight available.
Jason, do you have an Apple Store anywhere near you??? Or one at least close enough to call for advice? The people who run their Genius Bars are usually very good at this. Here's the link to Apple Stores nationwide just in case: You can also call 1-800-MY-APPLE
http://www.apple.com/retail/
Also, if you aren't aware of it, and iPod can be enabled as an external hard drive. I have a 3rd generation w/dock 20GB(Firewire) and 13GB of mine is photos and files and backup software udpates so I don't have to RE-download them in case my PBook gets sick. Just a thought!
Keep me posted on how it's all going... I'm anxious to hear back from you!
Carolyn :-)
I'm so glad I can help... at least try. I do listen and I'm more then happy to guide you through the process. I didn't realize you were a student and anything I can do to help in the field of education, I'm here for you.
Ok... my PBookG4 1Ghz has the: Model TOSHIBA MK4025GAS internal drive. And so far so good with it... time will tell.
Ok... I went to Newegg.com and found this page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x=17&Go.y=28
Is that the correct page in newegg.com? Is it the 3rd Toshiba drive listed... $78 ??? Is that the correct one you are referring to? If so, it looks like the real deal to me, but without being able to virtually see your PowerBook myself under the hood so to speak... you might want to get more opinions first. I think you are ok with this drive from newegg.com as far as compatibility goes. As far as advice goes... try www.macworld.com www.macfixit.com www.maccentral.com www.machome.com All of those Mac sites have information or discussion forums that you can peruse... just do a Search for replacing an internal hard drive on a PBookG4... might be some tips and insight available.
Jason, do you have an Apple Store anywhere near you??? Or one at least close enough to call for advice? The people who run their Genius Bars are usually very good at this. Here's the link to Apple Stores nationwide just in case: You can also call 1-800-MY-APPLE
http://www.apple.com/retail/
Also, if you aren't aware of it, and iPod can be enabled as an external hard drive. I have a 3rd generation w/dock 20GB(Firewire) and 13GB of mine is photos and files and backup software udpates so I don't have to RE-download them in case my PBook gets sick. Just a thought!
Keep me posted on how it's all going... I'm anxious to hear back from you!
Carolyn :-)
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