older iMac problem

A

artb257

Registered
Hello all...this is my first post...hopefully someone can help me.

The question is actually in regards to my father's computer. It is an older-model iMac (possibly one of the first ones). The only technical information I could dig up is that it runs with OS 9.1 and it has 64 MB of RAM.

Somtime last week he reported that it froze one night after (apparently) getting an error about memory while he was deleting emails. So, when I turned it on, I got a bomb message with the type 10 error and needed to restart with the extensions off. When I did that, it would come back to the desktop, but everything there (icons, etc) were flashing and then it would freeze saying that the "finder application has unexpectedly quit". I was unable to do anything further and the *only* way I could turn the computer off was by physically unplugging it.

Can anyone suggest a diagnosis and a possible remedy for this old machine? I have read (here and elsewhere) that it might be good to do a "clean install" using the original software install CD or, as another (less popular) option, use the "software restore" CD to clean everything out and start anew. Are either of these options a good idea in my situation? Will I be able to bring back old files & programs (email, settings, etc)?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Arthur
 
It sounds like there's some kind of hardware problem. RAM is cheap and relatively easy to install, so perhaps that's a good place to start. 64 MB is really not much anyway. Try to get as much RAM in there as you can. Next to hard drive failures, RAM is the most likely component to "burn out".

It's possible too that the hard drive has failed. It's a mechanical device with a motor and bearing(s) which spin at a constant and high rate of speed. Over time, the hard drive is the most likely component to fail; most computers will go through 2 hard drives within their useful life. The fact that the computer is booting somewhat indicates that it's probably not the hard drive.

The data-structure on the hard drive is another possibility. It may have been damaged by an improper shutdown or sudden power-outtage. It would be a good idea to boot the computer up from a CD that has Disk Utility on it or DiskWarrior (more thorough) and examine/repair any problems with the hard drive data structure.

It's also possible, but less likely that you have a corrupted system. Installing 9.1 again would be okay, but it would be even better to get it upgraded to 9.2.2 (9.1 is kinda crappy). Also check to make sure there are not multiple "System Folders". Operating system versions 9.x and earlier "freak out" if they find more than one system on the same volume. It's okay to have one system folder on each of multiple partitions, but not more than one per partition/volume. So do a find for "Finder" and/or "System" and make sure there are not two of those present.

As always, it would probably be best to back up any important files before doing any of these things.
 
do you have the cds that came with the mac? if you do, try booting from the cd. do that buy turning it on, put the cd in and turn it off again. then turn it on, and as soon as you hear the bong, hold doen the "c" key until you see the welcome to macintosh screen. if you can't get it to boot from the cd, or it does the same thing with the cd as it did with the hard drive, then i'd say ram or motherboard problems. if it seems to run ok, then try opening the hard drive. open & close several folders, moving around in the file system. if it seems to be working right, it may be a bad system. if you are having problems, it may be the hard drive. if you have over 400mb free space on the hard drive, then run the os 9 installer and have it do an archive and install, or it may of called it something else, but it will have an option to rename the old system folder, and install a new one. try that, and reboot. if all seems well, then it was a bad system. if not, then it may need a new hard drive.
 
Thank you so much for the assistance...

I was able to re-install the OS9 (9.1) software with a "clean system re-install" (from one of the original disks) and that seems to have done the trick. We're probably going to add more memory to the machine, as it could use some more of that as well.

If anything else comes up, I'll post more questions...

Thanks again.
Arthur
 
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