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...*after* I wiped the harddrive and reinstalled the operating system (OS X Tiger). A few weeks ago I borrowed a friend's copy of Final Cut Pro, and installed parts of it. Unfortunately it turned out to merely be the upgrade, so I had none of the original CDs that went with it.
After that, I started noticing serious performance delays. Programs started crashing; first AIM, then Firefox, then Safari, then Mail. I couldn't run more than two programs at a time or the whole thing would lock up. Starting up started taking longer and longer; at one point it was a full 7-9 minutes before the screen went from gray to blue at the very beginning of the process.
Needing to fix things anyway, I dumped all of my data to an external drive. Then I reinstalled the operating system, instructing it to erase the hard disc as it did so.
But the lag, unfortuantely, is still there, and if anything is more pronounced. It takes almost a full 1.5 seconds for the 'File' menu in the Finder to drop down after you click on it. It's slow to the point of being unusable. I haven't had any programs crash on me yet, but I also haven't opened anything more than Safari...and that takes three times as long to load as it used to. Trying to type in the Google search bar at the top yields the rainbow spinner and the crackling noise of hard drive for a full 5-7 seconds.
I repaired the disk permissions with the Disk Utility, no luck.
Does anyone here have any suggestions as to how this problem might be fixed? I think I might need some sort of program to entirely wipe down the harddrive, instead of just having the OS ignore its contents...thoughts?
The help is *very* much appreciated.
PS: My PowerBook is 867 mhz G4, 640 MB of RAM, 60 GB HD. It'll turn three in May 2006.
[ December 26, 2005, 12:37 PM: Message edited by: Kasie H ]
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Have you tried your reinstall off-line? Come to think of it, can you reinstall off-line? or do you automaticly connect with a nearby WiFi network?
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Personally my next step at this point would be to find the most recent version of DiskWarrior and run it. DW isn't perfect, and can sometimes cause problems of its own, but since your data is backed up anyhow, it might be worth letting it have a crack at your drive and seeing if it can fix whatever's going on.
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Yeah, I reinstalled while entirely not connected to the Internet.
Zeugma -- I think I may try that. Someone on a MacAddict forum suggested I might need an entire new harddrive, though... Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I've never had DiskWarrior actually cause harm. Norton on the other hand is Mac's only virus (pretending to be disk repair software).
When you do an install, do you do an archive install or upgrade? Upgrades are notorious for being problematic.
If it is a hard disk problem, first try just "erase and install" when reinstalling the os. If that doesn't help, open Disk Utility when you boot to the install disk (in File menu probably) and zero the drive.
At work we have 300 Macs and we periodically have to do this. Sometimes we do have to get new drives, but not too often.
Also, the most common problem with constant disk drive activity is that your computer is using too much virtual memory. Using Final Cut will certainly use a lot of memory (but it doesn't sound like you actually got it working). Check your RAM to make sure you really have what you think you have. Sometimes one RAM slot fails. In fact, that was a problem many people were having and it was published on MacFixIt.com about a month ago I think.
A restart will usually reset your virtual memory. I have the same problem, and it is made worse by launching lots of apps or apps like FCP.
Anyway, just installing Final Cut wont cause problems unless your disk had problems before hand and doing the install made it worse. I know FCP doesn't install anything that conflicts with anything else, just a bunch of codecs, and the prokit GUI widgets.
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Oh, to check your RAM, go to the Apple menu and select "About This Mac". If it isn't what you think it is, you can click the "More Info" button and it will open System Profiler, and you can click on Memory to see what is in each slot.
There are also other things you can try to see exactly what your hard disk is trying to do, but it would mean using the unix terminal.
I'll open iChat and you can chat me (my AIM is in my profile) if you want to try the Terminal thing.
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Well, Kasie, I'd definitely make sure that it wasn't a software problem (like, I dunno, your disk's directory is messed up) before suspecting the hardware. If the drive is bad, since you have a powerbook, it's not going to be all that easy to replace. So yeah, if you can find and run DiskWarrior, that might be able to tell you something.
If you do end up thinking it might be the drive (which, by the way, any strange noises other than the usual clicking and whirring are usually a big indicator of), I highly recommend this place for out-of-warranty laptop repairs. They've always been really good to us.
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Zeugma -- thanks for the site and the Disk Warrior advice. I gave up on this last night (it was seriously stressing me out...it's Christmas and I'm supposed to be relaxing, but I find it impossible to relax with a broken computer. Anyone else have this problem?)...so I'll be trying most of these solutions today. There are *definitely* weird noises other than the usual clicking and whirring..that's what clued me in to a major problem originially.
Human -- I did the erase and install for the OS the very first time around, and it failed to fix the problem. I'll go in and try zeroing the drive, maybe that will help.
If not, it's on to DiskWarrior...then to the Apple Store for diagnoses, perhaps...and then maybe to pbparts.com.
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Oh, also -- I can't believe I forgot to mention this.
What prompted my reinstallation of OS X was the complete disappearance of my desktop. I started up the computer, and it ran slow as usual, but the Finder didn't really start up. I could open folders, and all my files were still there, but no icons appeared on the desktop and Expose stopped working.
Does this change anyone's calculus?
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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My powerbook has a hard disk problem too. If it is shocked (like if bumped hard) the hard disk starts whining really loud, like it is spinning off center, and it doesn't quit until I squeeze the case. It has done it probably 5 times now........ I should back up my drive now. Maybe I will actually. And I should check my warranty and send it in... Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Why would you post twice in this thread just to say you hate Macs? It does nothing but show your immaturity.
Posts: 1658 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Kasie, I had another idea. If you just did an install, Tiger will be scanning the whole hard disk building the spotlight search database. If you open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and run "top" (type "top" and press return, press "q" key to quit top) you can get some info on what is going on. Top shows you every process running on your computer. All of the md* processes are spotlight related (md = metadata). Here is mdimport taking between 5-25% of my cpu power:
where the numbers in parenthesis are constantly changing "(1234)" then virtual memory is being too busy. The numbers in paranthesis should ideally be 0. And stay 0 as much as possible. If it is always above 0, you need more RAM.
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Alt: if you get a chance you should give Apple another try. I don't know when you decided not to like them, but they aren't the same company they were in the 90's (assuming that is when you decided to hate them, like most people). We'll still love you if you still don't like them though. Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I tried what you said. mdimport is using 2-3% of CPU right now (I just downloaded all of my archived Gmail, so that's to be expected.)
Mail, however, is acting up, intermittently using 1.1% of CPU and then jumping up as high as 25% and then back down again, back and forth and back and forth. It takes about a second and a half for it to jump back and forth.
This jumping was accompanied by the dreaded cracking sound of the hard drive from before.
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There's no doubt, your hard drive is screwed, and it could cause all these issues. Back up what you can immediately, then look into getting a new one.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Fugu...I think you have the right of it. Thankfully, all of my files are backed up already.
Here's a new problem though -- after I zeroed out the drive, the computer began restarting at relatively normal speeds and even operating at normal speeds. But I started to notice gaps in the rendering -- names of folders in Finder, for example, would be jumbled and unreadable. If you highlight them (click on them), the labels go back to normal; click off and they're scrambled again. Also, sometimes corners of windows will display complete blackness. Some times hiding them and bringing them back fixes this, but not always.
I'm taking it in to the Apple store this afternoon in hopes that they'll be able to help me. Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ahh, hmm. Sounds like there are a couple of different things going on! They aren't allowed to repair laptops at the Apple Stores, they have to send them back to HQ, which can be very pricey if it's no longer under warranty/Applecare... you may want to give that PBparts.com place if it's not under warranty.
My husband says the jumbled folder names is probably due to "a corrupted font cache", but that the black window corners are probably video card-related. Heck of a lot of problems to spring up at once!
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Yeah...only thing is...can I send it to that place for repair? I (a) don't know what's worng with it and (b), even if I did know, I have no idea how to install these components myself. Will pbparts do any of this?
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Hmm, their website doesn't say anything about it, but we've used them for repairs before... just send it to them, they send it back fixed. Maybe they stopped, though?
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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But if you're going to the Apple Store anyhow, it's worth a shot seeing what their people say... just be prepared that they'll want to ship your laptop away for any hardware servicing, and non-warranty Apple repair can get expensive quick.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Thanks for the help, Zeugma -- I spoke to the Apple technicians and they said the hard drive repair (which was their diagnosis) would be $310. We elected to order it from somewhere else.
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Yeah, just replacing the drive on your computer would be $114 + labor and shipping from this other place, so probably less than $200. And the problem with Apple's repair is that, if the original diagnosis is wrong, and you end up needing a new video card instead, I think you're out the money for the drive, too. So I prefer to have a professional diagnose the problem, and thus be responsible for it if it turns out their fix doesn't work. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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