Mac 10.4 is s-l-o-w

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Ragnes

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My Mac 10.4 has been slow a lot lately. At one point, when I tried to open Mac Word Files, I got the spinning beachball until it stopped and a message said that it wouldn't load because of an error -1712. I looked up that error number and it's because it timed out. Foxfire was also very slow in changing files and when I needed to type something in I might type a few words before I saw letters on the screen. I think after that I restarted it and that seemed to cure the problem for a few hours. Then things started slowing down again. I did some research and checked the Activity Monitor. My Processes and CPU said there was about 95% idle. I quit an application and restarted and again that worked good. But I think there is something else going on that I would like to see if I can correct before it happens again. I'm also wary that at some point, my routine of going to the Activity Monitor, quitting an application and restarting won't work. Does anyone know what else I might check to see how I can get this Mac to working like its old (or new) self and what I might do?
Thanks,
Ragnes
 
What version of Mac OS X 10.4?
What's the uptime?
When did you run maintenance last? E.g. with OnyX?
How much empty space? (total HD space / empty space % )
How much RAM?
 
Giaguara, thanks for asking these questions and helping me to get started resolving this problem.

What version of Mac OS X 10.4?
10.4.11

What's the uptime?
I didn't know what uptime was so I did a search for this term. I now understand it means, How long since the last time I shut it down? That varies. It does work better after I've restarted it.

When did you run maintenance last? E.g. with OnyX?
I just clicked on "Verify Disk Permissions" in the Utilities. I also did this a few days ago. When it was done, the last few lines said the following:

Permissions verification complete
Permissions differ on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi, should be -r--r--r-- , they are -r-xr-xr-x
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

I did not click on "Repair Disk Permissions" because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to.
I have not done any maintenance with OnyX. After doing a search, it looks like I would need to download some software to use it. Do you recommend that I download it? If so, is Macupdate a good site to download it from?


How much empty space? (total HD space / empty space % )
Again, I did a search to find out how to answer this question.
Capacity of 233.44 GB /Available 188.91 GB = 1.23
And if we reverse it for 189/233 = .81

How much RAM?
Again, the research paid off so now I am able to answer that question.
Memory 512 MB 667 MHz RAM

Ragnes
 
512 MB is bare minimum for 10.4.11, so there is your first problem. I'm assuming this is a macbook with 2x256 MB chips installed? You can easily go up to at least 2GB depending on what model macbook you have.
 
Upgrading RAM will make a huge difference (as djackmac said). It is cheap when you take into account the effect it will have in the usability.
Good - you have enough free space. That would be the second common issue for slowness - getting the disk 90 + % full. Ideal is to keep at least 15 % of disk free for its self maintenance.
OnyX does more than just pernission check. It's a good software to use, among the first things I install on any Mac I work with.
When you verify permissions, it will not change anything. So repair permissions is a better option - but in this case, the permissions for that folder aren't the likely reason for slowness. The total amount of RAM is - also MacBook uses part of RAM for graphics, so that leaves 64 MB less for the real RAM use (512 MB - 64 MB for graphics = 448 MB RAM left for the OS itself)
 
djackmac, thanks for the information about 512 MB. This is a desktop computer, not a laptop. Does that make a difference? With more research I found this piece of information that may be relevant. In the system profile >memory it says that I have two memory slots. One is empty and the other has 512 MB. The type is DDR2 SDRAM. The speed is 667 MHz. Status is ok. It looks to me like I could probably somehow buy and install another 512 MB. Can you tell if that is correct? Or do you still think I could get 2 GB total?
Ragnes
 
Gigaura, I did download OnyX and ran the separate parts. I skipped the Verification and Cleaning. You gave me a nice check list in your first list which I will keep for future reference. Now I'll figure out how to get the RAM. Thanks to you, I feel like I've gotten a good computer education this afternoon.
Ragnes
 
Ragnes said:
This is a desktop computer, not a laptop. Does that make a difference? With more research I found this piece of information that may be relevant. In the system profile >memory it says that I have two memory slots. One is empty and the other has 512 MB.

Can you tell if that is correct? Or do you still think I could get 2 GB total?
Ragnes
Click to expand...

I'm sure you could run at least 2 GB, possibly more but we would need more machine specs to figure that out. If its a Mac Mini you might be maxed at 2GB. If its one of the later iMacs you could easily go to 4GB. Without having anymore specs to go on, I'm assuming this machine might max out at 2GB or RAM.
 
Before I go to the Apple Store, I'd like to know how much RAM I'd like to get. Would you be willing to tell me what other specs are needed? The Processor is 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo.
Ragnes
 
Well that still could be either an iMac or a Mac Mini, but regardless 2x1GB chips is going to be the max on either. You may want to go somewhere besides the Apple store because they will charge you an arm and a leg for Apple branded memory when you can get 3rd party RAM for much cheaper that works just as well. Plus I would make sure its an Apple certified shop that installs the RAM especially if its a Mini. I've had many Minis come in our shop where they either couldn't find a shop brave enough to install the RAM or something got broke where someone tried to install the RAM.
 
Bring your serial number with. They can tell hte model from it, and what type RAM will work with it.
(From menu bar, "apple" > About this Mac > you will see Mac OS X Version 10.x.x .. click on that 10.x.x row twice - first you will see build number then serial number)
 
I got two GB of RAM installed this afternoon. I then brought up lots of applications and everything is working at a good speed. Hopefully, it will stay like that. Giaguara and djackmac, thanks for all your help. I think the problem is fixed.
Ragnes
 
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