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jouster

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 21, 2002
1,469
621
Connecticut
I want to stay within Rower_CPU's guidelines, but I can't seem to get the search to work...this may be due to the Starbucks I'm in, though I can't think why. So here goes:

Computer: TiBook rev. A, 400MHz, 1GB RAM, 40 GB HD. HD is new (two or three months). RAM is ~ 1 yr old, third party.

OS: Problem persists under both 10.3.7 and a reinstall of 10.2.8 (!)

Software: No haxies of any description. Usual apps: Office, AW, iLife stuff. A few old games. Lots of documents. You get the idea.

Symptoms: TiBook hangs at random during use. Despite testing by waiting for several hours, it does not come back. First reboot thereafter does not work: process starts, but the little spinning grey circle-thing halts and degrades, with weird random pixels and swirls. I can't get a screenshot, obviously, as the computer is not then operative. Note that this happens EVERY time I try to wake the computer.

Actions taken: Reset the Open Firmware numerous times. No effect. Zapped the PRAM; ditto. Reinstalled OS, as noted above. Checked Firmware version is latest available. Repaired permissions; ditto.

Actions I could take (but don't want to if people here think they would be pointless!): Swap out the HD for an older one. Remove third party RAM.

Trouble is, the computer is old: 4 or 5 years iirc. I doubt if it'd be realistic to get it repaired. I checked, and a similar TiBook will get ~$700-800 on ebay. I'm sure repairs would be more. Applecare is not an option. I have Jaguar and Panther shrink wrap, but nowhere does there seem to be a hardware test app, as some other forums recommend. I don't know of any share/freeware apps that would hardware test.

I'd REALLY like to resurrect this; it was pretty much faultless for a long time. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

:(

Update: Techtools lite shows nothing wrong. However, I booted into OS 9 last night and it has been fine ever since. How is this possible? If it is an OS X issue, surely there MUST be a connection to Hardware? Or else why would my recent fresh install of both Jaguar and Panther yield the same problems?

Sidenote: OS 9 is kinda horrible but it absolutely flies on a 400 MHz computer. I'd forgotten what it was like not to have to wait half an hour for things like window resizing.


Edited for dumbass formatting errors.
 
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