ibook g4 very slow

[nady]

Hi all, I only use my ibook g4 for the internet, but even this is slow, like half second delay on the menus etc (FF3 & Safari). I have run Onyx and cleaned it, but it is still the same. it has 640mb memory on tiger with over 3.8gb of free space on the Hard drive.

Any suggestions?

[Giaguara]

How big is your hard drive?

Mac OS X should have always at least 15 % free space, no matter what hard drive size. So if you would have e.g. 20 GB HD, you'd need to keep at least 3 GB free, for 100 GB you'd need 15 GB free and so on.

When there is less than 15 % free space, the Mac will work but be slower, and may have some applications crash occasionally. If the space totally runs out, the Mac will shut down.

So what you would need is

[HD] > [empty space MINIMUM]
20 GB > 3 GB
40 GB > 6 GB
60 GB > 9 GB
80 GB > 12 GB
100 GB > 15 GB
200 GB > 30 GB
500 GB > 75 GB
1 TB > 150 GB ...

[nady]

Morning.

well i have a 40gb drive, well shows 37ish., so i guess my minimum should be 4GB? I have a load of programs i don't use, or licenses moved to my Macbookpro.

I have not deleted them as of yet but will do tonight.

Is there any thing else i can do, is there a disk defrag or something like on windows?

Cheers

[Giaguara]

15 % of that would be more 6 GB.
The maintenance with OnyX is good. Deleting caches with browsers etc can be helpful too (can be done with it). Also run periodic maintenance scripts with it (daily, weekly, and monthly).
Do you have many fonts that you have added to your system or to your user?
Do you have many login items?

[nady]

Yes 6GB, thanks. Startup items, i'll have to check that, is there a standard or minimum items i need in start up? as i have not been on macs for a few years and have forgotten alot

Also this machine may well have loads of fonts a sit was an old Graphic design station that my works had before we all got our lovely macbookpro 17's .

Is there a way of just keeping the standard installed fonts and moving the added ones easily?

many thanks

[Giaguara]

I meant the user specific ones, not system wide - have you set any program to start up when your user logs in?
You could use Font Book, and disable all user added fonts with it. It would have the benefit that we would know if the slowness is coming from the fonts - when there are hundreds or thousands of fonts, the system may be significantly slower. If there is no difference in the speed when using with no user added fonts for e.g. a few hours then we will know it's not the fonts. But they may well be the cause.

[nady]

Yes i see, thanks. I'll take a look later and report back. Thanks for your help.

Cheers

[nady]

Ok, i have 7.5GB free. there were only 179 fonts, but disable most of them with no noticeable difference.

I have repaired all permissions and the volume is at good health.

I remember that there was no lag before i upgraded to FF3, FF2 was very quick, is it just the app?

also some system info:

Mac OS version 10.4.11

933 MHz PowerPC G4
640MB DDR SDRAM (think this is the maximum?)

Machine Model: PowerBook6,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 933 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 640 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.7.7f0

RAM:

DIMM0/BUILT-IN:

Size: 128 MB
Type: Built-in
Speed: Built-in
Status: OK

DIMM1/J31:

Size: 512 MB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC2100U-25330
Status: OK

There are no items int he (System folder) folder
Startup items (System):

IPServices
IFCStart
NetworkTime
Metadata
PrintingServices
SNMP
RemoteDesktopAgent
AppServices
AuthServer
Disks
FibreChannel
NIS
NFS
AppleShare
Apache
CrashReporter

Now the extensions folder is quite packed:

OpenGLRendererATI
OpenGLLibrary
Default Calibrator
LaserWriter 8
LaserWriter 300/LS
QuickTime™ Musical Instruments
QuickTime™ MPEG Extension
QuickDraw™ 3D IR
Printer Share
DCP SerialDMA
MRJ Libraries
Color SW Pro
SOMobjects™ for Mac OS
SLPPlugin
Network Setup Extension
Microsoft Component Library
EnetShimLib
CSW 6000 Series
Microsoft Internet Library
Microsoft Framework
Stuffit Engine™
NBP Plugin
SpeakableItems
SoundSprocketLib
SoundSprocket Filter
Color SW 2500
QuickTime™
Apple Enet
Text Encoding Converter
System Monitor Plugins
USB Device Extension
Time Synchronizer
QuickTime FireWire DV Enabler
QuickTime Extensions
AppleScript
AppleShare
Apple QD3D HW Driver
FBC Indexing Scheduler
USB Software Locator
LDAPPlugin
LDAP Client Library
URL Access
Voices
USBAppleMonitorModule
USB Printer Sharing Extension
Security Policy Module
QuickDraw™ 3D Viewer
QuickDraw™ 3D RAVE
MacinTalk 3
Location Manager Modules
NetSprocketLib
Shared Library Manager
ColorSync Extension
Open Transport ASLM Modules
Multiprocessing
HID Library
Heidelberg CMM
InputSprocket Classic
HTMLRenderingLib
Serial (Built-in)
Security Storage Module
Type 1 Scaler
Macromedia
MacLinkPlus for AppleWorks
QuickDraw™ 3D
Classic RAVE
Find
Sound Manager
FontSync Extension
DrawSprocketLib
Global Guide Files
MS Font Embed Library (PPC)
DNSPlugin
OpenGLEngine
QuickTime™ VR
File Sharing Library
Apple QD3D HW Plug-In
SimpleText Guide
Shared Library Manager PPC
QuickTime FireWire DV Support
ActiveX Controls
Apple Packet Media Access
Printer Descriptions
OpenGLUtility
Color SW 1500
Contextual Menu Extension
About Apple Guide
Apple Guide
Apple Color SW Pro CMM
Internet Config Extension
InputSprocket Extension
Macintosh Guide
MacinTalk Pro
PrintMonitor
PrintingLib
Security Manager
Security Library
Security Cert Module
QuickTime™ PowerPlug
Color Picker
OpenGLRenderer
OpenGLMemory
EM Extension
Find By Content
Open Transport
NSL UI Library
QD3DCustomElements
UDF Volume Access
Speech Recognition
Speech Manager
CarbonLib