Can I delete my main user account?

A

automan

Registered
Hi,

I am having trouble with my mac, and I am nut sure what is going on. My computer is running funny lately. Whenever I open mail, ical, address book and sometimes safari, i run into trouble. Mail and Address book just freeze imeadiately, they don't even pop up. iCal will open, but crash as soon as I try to use it. Safari is just acting slow and crashes when I try to input data, such as trying to fill in a field to buy something online.

I have created a new user account, and I don't get any of these problems.

I tried pacifist to reinstall mail, ical, and addressbook but it didn't fix the problem.

I just ran a hardware test, and got the following message:

ERROR CODE ***
2MEM/1/4:SODIMMO/J20Standard

I assume this is relating to my ram.

Does anyone know something that can help me out. I am lost and I don't know what to do. Will re-installing osx even help? If the RAM is busted, why don't i get the same problem on the other user accounts?

I have created a new user account, and everything runs perfectly. Is there any way to delete my main account and use a new account instead? I don't want have to completely erase my entire harddrive and re-install osx if I can just delete on user and start fresh.

Any ideas?
 
Your memory error may, or may not be related to the other software problems that you are having. You should check that memory problem out first, as other problems can follow.
We need to know what kind of Mac that you have - be very specific about the model and the processor speed. Use as much detail about your system as you would like.
Typically with that memory error, you can try reseating the memory chip(s) in their slots. You can move the memory to other slots, if they are available. Then, most important, try the same hardware test again. If you get a failure again, with the same memory chip in the same slot, then you should get that memory replaced.
Once your hardware is testing OK, then you can work on your other software problems.
 
Actually the very first thing to try if you suspect RAM problems is reseating your memory chips. They can come loose, depending on your machine, and it's simple to open the case and do this--depending on your machine.

But to answer your question, yes, if you're having no problems with a new account, that is highly significant--and often that's one of the smartest first steps, even before an Archive and (re)Install. Look at your Accounts Preference Pane, in System Preferences. You'll see there are two kinds of Delete User: immediate, or archive it--probably that's the best choice; you may have forgotten to move something over, it may prove valuable in some way. Later on you can always delete it completely.

Give your accounts names. Give your new account full admin rights. When you "delete" your "main" account, the new one will pop up to first place in the Accounts pane.

I would also repair permissions immediately after Account changes.
 
DeltaMac said:
Your memory error may, or may not be related to the other software problems that you are having. You should check that memory problem out first, as other problems can follow.
We need to know what kind of Mac that you have - be very specific about the model and the processor speed. Use as much detail about your system as you would like.
Typically with that memory error, you can try reseating the memory chip(s) in their slots. You can move the memory to other slots, if they are available. Then, most important, try the same hardware test again. If you get a failure again, with the same memory chip in the same slot, then you should get that memory replaced.
Once your hardware is testing OK, then you can work on your other software problems.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I am going to try and reseat the ram and then run the hardware test again.

I am using a 15 inch powerbook G4 100gb, 1.67ghz, 1gb ram - all stock. It is about 13 months old, so I am a little pissed it decided to have problems now.

Any advice for reseating the ram? Just make sure not to shock anything?
 
I reseated the ram in a different slot and it is still doing the same thing. I am doing the hardware test right now.
 
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