Powerbook 1GHz G4 start-up problems and sluggish

[colin]

Has anyone any ideas of why my Powerbook hangs on start-up. When it occassionally does start-up it is sloooow. Sometimes opens files slow and then goes fast suddenly.

Have reinstalled system from 10.3.9 to 10.2.7. Just the same. Have run Norton 8, first aid , checked permissions. Slow from external firewire drive too.
Could it be the motherboard?

Ideas really welcomed. Thanks

 

[Ric]

Hi Colin and Welcome !

Can I just check have you 'downgraded' and gone back to 10.2.7 ?

What version are you on now ? How much memory do you have ? How much free hard drive space do you have ?

regards

Ric

 

[colin]

Hi Ric

Have gone back to 10.2.7. Memory 256. 10Gb available on 40Gb drive.

Today it has managed to start up from system disc automatically. It had hung with blank ( dark grey) screen and when I inserted disc to it started up from orginal disc 10.2.7 disc. I have attached firewire to save files, and copying onto this takes ages : 4M file 2 minutes, 150M hour or so.....

Another thing that I've noticed is that the clock resets itself to 1970 all the time.

Norton corrected quite a few things. If I can find the Norton report would that help.

Thanks for getting back so fast.

 

[Ric]

Hi there Colin,

once you have backed up I would suggest either wiping the drive and reinstalling or if you are not happy with that then, do an Archive and Install. If possible go to the highest System software you can !

Once that's done you will have a nice fresh system to play with.

Next (or first) get rid of Nortons, OS X and Nortons don't play nice at all !

The clock reseting to 1970 normally means that your internal battery is 'flat'.

See here for a list of part numbers http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86181

The only thing that strikes me is that your memory could definately do with a bit more...maybe add an extra 1 GB. Not sure of what your Mac can take, some of the G4 PowerBook's have 1 slot some have 2.

Make sure that the internal drive is selected as the StartUp Disk in the System Preferences...if the PRAM battery has died then this is one of the things that the Mac 'forgets' as well as the date...this may be the cause of the the slow startup procedure.

regards

Ric

 

[Kyomii]

Did you do a clean install or an archive and install? A clean install would be much more beneficial. Have you checked your startup items to see if there is anything in there causing the slowdown?

I would think though, from what you say, that your battery need replacing as Ric has suggested.

 

[colin]

In case it helps anyone else I had it repaired. Remembered I had a two year guarantee from John Lewis, and they fitted a new Hard Drive and HD cable. Than ks for your heklp.

 

[UncleDick]

so i just stumbled acrossed this forum because my 17" powerbook is also sluggish and seems to be operating at high speeds almost constantly. so i googled and found you guys. anyway, i do have the same problems. not so bad i guess as far as not booting up. i usually put my screen to sleep by shutting it, but when i do reboot, it does take way too long. i'm just curious, you guys are seriously telling me all this could have to do with a battery!?!?!? that would be great if that's the case, but just seems odd. its been obvious to me my battery is dying because i'll get anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes of browse time in safari on a full charge before it goes completely dead. i took a look at my activity monitor. i have quicktime, ichat, preview, and itunes open, but only using safari, and it's eating up 90% of my cpu under diisk activity. is that normal? i have my battery setting for better performance. another thing, i just woke up and had noticed i left my laptop on and plugged in all night, and the hard drive was working like crazy, and still is. that another sign of a bad battery? my neighbor works for apple and will be exchanging my battery for me, if that's all i need to do, sweet. otherwise, i'll take any suggestions.

 

[colin]

On another Powerbook 1GHz G4 I had an unexpected complete disc failure and had backed up most important stuff. Important to do that just in case it isn't the battery. The Travelsar drives seem to last about 4/5 years. Also had one go in an iBook.

If the drive is failing, as mine did, the machine seems to constantly try to read, or re-read I guess, and this will gobble up battery power. Using the activity monitor in utilties proved this to me before I got mine fixed.

Hope this helps.

 

[UncleDick]

definitely helped colin. thanks a lot for the recommendation. it's much appreciated. there was a while where my drive would just start grinding randomly, so you mentioning that for sure makes plenty sense. thanks again.

 

[Chipbutty]

Hi
I have had a PowerBook G4 for some time now and only recently it has started to hang on start up. The status bar gets to the point where there's only a millimeter left before full start up and that is where it hangs. Is my hard Drive full ?
Thanks

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Hi
I have had a PowerBook G4 for some time now and only recently it has started to hang on start up. The status bar gets to the point where there's only a millimeter left before full start up and that is where it hangs. Is my hard Drive full ?
Thanks

Hi Chipbutty and welcome to the forums.

There's some info on the Apple website about how to resolve startup issues and here's the link:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

If you can't get to your Desktop then it's highly advisable to find someone with another Firewire capable Mac and connect using Firewire Target Disk Mode so you can back up all your important files ... I can't stress the importance of this backing up enough ...

 

[Chipbutty]

I tried it in Target Disk mode and used Disk Utilities to check the hard drive.
All seems to be ok so I didn't back up it up. restarted and still the same.

 

[Chipbutty]

Hello ?