Flashing icons at Start up

M

mssarafina

Registered
I think my startup disk is full. I turned on my Mac (PowerMac G3 Model M5183), and first I got a question mark and then another picture flashing on an image of an envelope. Then my Mac started.

Is my "startup disk" full? (Capacity 12GB, used 11GB) If I buy and add another hard drive card inside my computer and then transfer some of my stuff onto that, will I fix the problem? I guess I can also purchase an external drive and transfer files. I don't want to delete my old 9 operating system, since I still need it to open some of my older programs.

Also, could this flashing icon be a sign of needing more RAM? I have 4 slots. One slot has 128MB and another has 64MB. I am running MacOS9 and MacOS X.

I learned that there is a Mac store in a neighboring town, but I prefer to go to "my experts" before dragging them into this mess. What do you think?

I guess I’m trying to find out what the start up error messages means.
 
Apple says that when running OS X you should at least keep 10 % of your harddrive's space free - in the case of a 12 GB hd that would therefore be 1.2 GB. Many online sources, however, recommend that you keep at least 20 % free: in your case 2.4 GB. First of all, I'd recommend you delete some stuff - you will definitely feel improved performance.

The problem you describe, however, might be a lot simpler: go to system preferences, then to the startup disk sub-menu: select the OS folder from which you want to start up; that should resolve the issue you described.

patRice
www.tattoo-source.com
www.silverknuckle.com
 
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