Laggy iBook

S

Sapphyre

Registered
My iBook (purchased in September of 2002) has recently become incredibly laggy... if I'm using one program, then click on another program in the dock (one that is already open), it can take 20 or 30 seconds of spinning colour wheel before it will actually fully display the program and allow me to use it. Netscape in particular is quite a problem... it will often take more than 30 seconds of colour wheel for me to switch tabs, or for it to acknowledge that I have clicked on a link. Usually after using a single program for awhile it will settle down and work properly... but it's a real pain if I'm trying to use, say, a text editor and my email at the same time. Does anybody have any idea why my computer would be doing this and what I can do to fix it? I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks :)
 
I'm not sure how to do that.... I went to Applications >> Utilities >> Disk Utility and clicked on the First Aid tab.... it says this: "Disk First Aid cannot verify or repair the startup disk or repair a write-protected disk, a CD-ROM, or a disk with open files. The startup disk was verified, and repaired if necessary, at boot time. In order to repair or verify the startup disk, please boot from the Mac OS X Install CD and verify the disk using Disk Utility from the Installer Apple Menu." . The only volume I have is the "Macintosh HD" one that was there when I bought the computer and when I click on it, the Stop, Verify and Repair buttons are greyed out.... I take it that means that Macintosh HD is the startup disk... (?)

Will booting from the Install CD (if I can figure out how to use that :S ) cause me to lose anything?
 
I'm using version 10.1.5 with the RAM and space that the computer came with.... 128 Mb RAM and 20 Gb hard drive, about 12 Gb are still available.
 
wow, get an extra $100 worth of ram and you will see a massive improvement
even with that little ram you shouldnt be having problems like that though...

you can boot from the install cd without any problems (just put it in and hold c down during a reboot) then run the disc utility from the menu instead, as long as you dont do a clean install all your data will be fine
 
Sapphyre said:
I take it that means that Macintosh HD is the startup disk... (?)

Will booting from the Install CD (if I can figure out how to use that :S ) cause me to lose anything?
Click to expand...
That means Macintosh HD is the startup drive. That is the way Apple sets them up at the factory.

To use the Install CD to run Disk Utility:
  1. Boot from the install CD by holding down the "C" key when you boot the system
  2. When the Installer appears on the screen, go to Installer on the menu bar at the top of the screen and select Disk Utility
  3. The Installer will disappear and Disk Utility will launch.
  4. Select your hard drive in the left hand pane of the Disk Utility window
  5. Under the right hand pane of the Disk Utility window click on Repair Disk
  6. If Repair Disk reports errors that it has corrected, run Repair Disk again until no errors are reported. This may take four or five or even more passes
  7. When you are finished with Disk Utility press Command+Q to quit and you will be returned to Installer. Press Command=Q again to quit the Installer and let your iBook boot normally. It should boot back to Macintosh HD
  8. If there are unrepairable errors, and there may well be some since Disk Utility is not a particularly "robust" tool, you will need to get something like Drive 10 1.1.5, DiskWarrior 3, or TechTool Pro 4.0.2 to effect repairs on your drive.
This will not cause any damage to your hard drive or the files on it. In fact this will hopefully repair any damage that exists in the file system.

Another thing you can do that very likely will improve your system performance is get either the shareware Cocktail or the freeware Onyx and run their full suite of clean up routines. You might also gain a lot of additional hard drive space from doing that as well. I run Cocktail on my iBook every week or so as a part of a regular system maintenance routine.
 
If you want to repair the disk, then use Disk Utility while booted from your install disk #1.

To repair permissions, you need to use
Disk Utility while booted from your HDD.
 
g/re/p : How do I repair permissions, exactly?

perfessor101 : Is there any place that you (or anyone!) knows of from which I can download a version of Cocktail or Onyx that will actually work with 10.1.5? Or another program that I could use that is actually compatible with my OS? Everything I am finding says I need at least 10.2 to use it...
 
Sapphyre said:
perfessor101 : Is there any place that you (or anyone!) knows of from which I can download a version of Cocktail or Onyx that will actually work with 10.1.5? Or another program that I could use that is actually compatible with my OS? Everything I am finding says I need at least 10.2 to use it...
Click to expand...
Oops, I missed your reference to 10.1. and that is a problem.

While I concur with others that more RAM would do wonders for your performance. I would have to recommend that if you have to make a choice to spend your money on Panther. You will get a noticeable performance boost from Panther. It really is faster and more efficient than any of the predecessor versions of OS X. Not only that but it will open you up to a much wider range of applications and utilities, all of which are superior to anything available in 10.1. Even the Apple apps are a LOT better.
 
Sapphyre said:
g/re/p : How do I repair permissions, exactly?
Use Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities.
Click on the First Aid tab, choose the volume you have OS X installed on, and click Repair Disk Permissions.

One other thing you can try is to start up in single user mode (reboot and hold down the command-s keys after the startup sound) and 5 sets of tests will run - then you will get one of two messages:

>> if it reads "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK", then type exit at the prompt to proceed to the normal login screen and desktop.

>> If it reads "File system was modified" , you need to type fsck -y at the prompt to rerun the tests - keep typing fsck -y until you get the "disk appears to be OK" message and then type exit.

I would also suggest upgrading to Panther, or in the very least to Jaguar.
Click to expand...
 
g/re/p said:
Use Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately that does not work in 10.1 so Sapphyre will have to upgrade before using Disk Utility to repair permissions. There is a Repair Permissions utility that can be downloaded from here. It works only with OS X 10.1.5.
 
You should still be able to repair permissions (the two buttons on the left of the Disk Utility, not the two buttons on the right which will be grayed out) without booting up with a start up or install disk.

And, you might consider using a browser other than netscape. Yuck! Safari is probably going to be much faster, and you might be able to import your favorites from Netscape into it.

Also, if you have a lot of programs open at once on your 128MB RAM iBook, you are going to see speed issues; especially if any of those programs are memory hogs like Entourage or a graphics program like Photoshop or InDesign.
 
perfessor101 said:
Unfortunately that does not work in 10.1 so Sapphyre will have to upgrade before using Disk Utility to repair permissions. There is a Repair Permissions utility that can be downloaded from here. It works only with OS X 10.1.5.
Click to expand...
Been quite a while since i was in 10.1 - thanks for the heads up!


The 10.1 to 10.1.5 update is at:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=122011

Important Information:
This update can be used only to update from Mac OS X 10.1, Mac OS 10.1.1, or Mac OS X 10.1.2. If you are updating from Mac OS X 10.1.3 or Mac OS 10.1.4, you need the Mac OS X Update 10.1.5.

"If updating from Mac OS X 10.1, you must install Security Update 7-18-02 for v10.1 prior to installing this update, see https://depot.info.apple.com/security7-18v10.1/
 
Sapphyre,

Definitely consider upping your memory to at least 512 MB AND getting a copy of Panther (10.3). Be sure to update (free) Panther to 10.3.4 right away.

If you want to get by with less $, going to 256 megs and Jaguar (10.2) will improve your computing experience tremendously! Jaguar significantly reduced the spinning beachball of death. If you do, be sure to update (free) Jag to 10.2.8.

Doug
 
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