Just Switched. Help!

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

Hi, just got my first mac. It is a ibook G4 1.2Ghz 14.1".

1) Battery estimates are not accurate
I noticed doing a full charged in sleep mode gives me less battery power compared to charging it while still running programs. Strange.
2) Sometimes program quits suddenly. So far the programs that have quit on me are: Safari, IE, Netscape, 'Mac Help' in finder, Appleworks, Ms Office
3) sometimes it takes quite awhile for the applications to respond.
10 minutes ago I try searching some help in "Mac Help", I entered the phrase but nothing happens, then this rainbow wheel just pop up for many seconds and the program quits. Now i can't start Mac Help anymore.

Overall, my ibook is not as fast or responsive as the first 2 days I bought it, which was May 20th 2004.

But of course i am still very new to this OS since I have been a PC user all my life.
Hope to find my way around to this problems......

And would appreciate any help from fellow users! Thanks!

Veldek · May 25, 2004

Did you add any RAM in these two days? Could be a bad RAM problem.

elskeptico · May 25, 2004

welcome

Some more info on your system would be helpful. I'm assuming it's running Panther (10.3) since you just bought it. Have you done the Software update since you bought it? Make sure you've got the current updates on everything, especially the OS. Software update is in the Apple menu on the far left. This is really only useable with high speed internet, as the downloads are sometimes huge.

And he's right about the RAM. Any new RAM installed since May 20th?

Familiarize yourself with Disk Utility, in the Applications/Utilities folder. Run a check on the disk and then run repair permissions. I do this periodically and it sometimes helps a lot.

Good luck!

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

Veldek said:
Did you add any RAM in these two days? Could be a bad RAM problem.

I only have 256MB ram now. But I will add additional 512MB ram tomorrow. Apple will be putting in the ram for me.

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

Yup, i did the software update the day i bought it. In fact, the last time i did an update was yesterday, it is security update or something.

I also did repair permissions last night.

The thing is, sometimes the mac is slow. As the Harddisk is soundless, i do not know if there are anything running in the background during the time things are running slow.
But sometimes the speed is ok.

Mord · May 25, 2004

go to system preferences then go to energy saver and choose highest from the settings for the prosessor

krimson · May 25, 2004

is the book hotter in certain places when it's running slow?

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

krimson said:
is the book hotter in certain places when it's running slow?

YES!
I did noticed that. When the ibook is slow, the left side of the ibook palm rest is warmer than usual. At this moment it is rather warm. And I am not even running any other applications except this browser and MSN messenger.

abhishekit · May 25, 2004

with 256 mb ram, its always going to be slow. and as you have repaired permissions, hoefully you wont be having any unexpected quits.there are no useless background processes running at any time. to check what processes are running and taking up how much memory, either open activity monitor, which is in applications-utilities.
or open the terminal, which is also in applications-utilities, then write top, press enter
with activity monitor, you can keep it in dock and have it display your cpu usage, which is pretty useful imo.
i didnot understand ur first point (about battery),

cheers

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

abhishekit said:
with 256 mb ram, its always going to be slow. and as you have repaired permissions, hoefully you wont be having any unexpected quits.there are no useless background processes running at any time. to check what processes are running and taking up how much memory, either open activity monitor, which is in applications-utilities.
or open the terminal, which is also in applications-utilities, then write top, press enter
with activity monitor, you can keep it in dock and have it display your cpu usage, which is pretty useful imo.
i didnot understand ur first point (about battery),

cheers

On the battery issue.
The first 3 times I charged it. I run my ibook until the battery is exhausted and goes to sleep. Then I recharged it during sleep mode. After the recharge, i get only about slightly over 4 hours.
Tonight, i charged the battery while still running my ibook. After the charging, the batter estimated I have 5 hours batter. (it even reported 6 hours in the first 5 minutes).

I thought charging it in sleep mode is always better?

3-22 · May 25, 2004

Hakkinen said:
2) Sometimes program quits suddenly. So far the programs that have quit on me are: Safari, IE, Netscape, 'Mac Help' in finder, Appleworks, Ms Office
3) sometimes it takes quite awhile for the applications to respond.

Sounds like you run a lot of stuff... (3 web browsers?) I have noticed on occasion (crappy) applications will "hang" sometimes on exit and require a force quit. They will, if left alone, quickly chew up memory and/or cpu time in there screwed up state.

The usual culprits I find are IE (when I have to use it) and a solitaire game for me. But on occasion MS Office too. Anyway, while your trying to determine any stability issues I'd avoid Appleworks, netscape, and IE.

Don't know if you know any UNIX, but if you can get to a shell the 'top' util is helpful.

EDIT: Forgot to ask... you said it's not as fast after the first 2 days. What did you change? Did you install something? Tweak a setting?

Also, have you tried a hardware diagnostics with your apple restore CD?

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

3-22 said:
Sounds like you run a lot of stuff... (3 web browsers?) I have noticed on occasion (crappy) applications will "hang" sometimes on exit and require a force quit. They will, if left alone, quickly chew up memory and/or cpu time in there screwed up state.

The usual culprits I find are IE (when I have to use it) and a solitaire game for me. But on occasion MS Office too. Anyway, while your trying to determine any stability issues I'd avoid Appleworks, netscape, and IE.

Don't know if you know any UNIX, but if you can get to a shell the 'top' util is helpful.

Also, have you tried a hardware diagnostics with your apple restore CD?

Well, the reason i have 3 web browsers is because IE and Sahari comes with my ibook. But strange, i thought IE is microsoft? what is it doing here? Will probably put it into trash.
I have Ultimate X solitaire installed. May be thats the culprit too?

I have not tried hardware diagnostics, first time I am hearing it. Will try it when i get back to my office tomorrow morning!

3-22 · May 25, 2004

Hakkinen said:
I thought charging it in sleep mode is always better?

I don't think it matters what state it is in when you charge it. Charging while running the laptop might just take a little longer.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the estimated time remaining... It's a calculated estimate and will vary depending on many factors. Usage, battery age, backlight, hard drive usage, etc. It's just an estimate, a "guess" at that point in time... Take a few runs and average that...

3-22 · May 25, 2004

Hakkinen said:
Well, the reason i have 3 web browsers is because IE and Sahari comes with my ibook. But strange, i thought IE is microsoft? what is it doing here? Will probably put it into trash.
I have Ultimate X solitaire installed. May be thats the culprit too?

I have not tried hardware diagnostics, first time I am hearing it. Will try it when i get back to my office tomorrow morning!

Well I wouldn't delete it just yet, just don't run it if you don't need it. I keep it around for the one web site I need for school that doesn't behave well in safari. You may find something like this as well down the road...

For the hardware test... (this is from memory so I could be wrong)
- Insert Apple Hardware Test CD (it should be on the restore or another disc)
- Reboot system, when it comes back up press and hold the "C" key
- You will see a "loading..." icon you can let go of the key.
- Pick the extended test, and wait...wait.. wait...

blue&whiteman · May 25, 2004

Hakkinen said:
Well, the reason i have 3 web browsers is because IE and Sahari comes with my ibook. But strange, i thought IE is microsoft? what is it doing here? Will probably put it into trash.

microsoft makes lots of software for mac and much of it is good but not ie. firefox or safari are much much better. some mac users try to say they keep ie to test web compatibility.. ie for mac and ie for pc are very different but one similarity is they are both crap. there is no need what so ever to have the mac ie any longer. microgreedy stopped making it for mac anyway because no one used it anymore.

Hakkinen · May 25, 2004

Ok. I appreciate everyone's hellp. Thank you !
Will check with apple tommorrow when they put in the 512mb ram.

wide · May 25, 2004

Hakkinen said:
The thing is, sometimes the mac is slow. As the Harddisk is soundless, i do not know if there are anything running in the background during the time things are running slow.
But sometimes the speed is ok.

Yeah...that's definately an iBook. If I were you, I would return the iBook to Apple and ask for a credit to the store, and use that credit to buy the PowerBook 12-inch. It will be much faster, because it has faster RAM, a faster processor, about the same battery life, and it has a better screen (same resolution and it is TFT + instead of just TFT).

The RAM is also a problem, but a friend of mine has an iBook G3 800 MHZ with 256 MB of RAM and it can run GarageBand, UT2003, MoH:AA, Safari, and Halo: Combat Evolved without that much trouble (not at the same time, of course).

I would say your computer is defective. I would take it into Apple ASAP--I think that's always the best decision.

abhishekit · May 25, 2004

wide said:
Yeah...that's definately an iBook. If I were you, I would return the iBook to Apple and ask for a credit to the store, and use that credit to buy the PowerBook 12-inch. It will be much faster, because it has faster RAM, a faster processor, about the same battery life, and it has a better screen (same resolution and it is TFT + instead of just TFT).

wow!!! really?? duh....i guess people who buy an ibook, dont lack this secret info u provided , but just cash...

locopano · May 25, 2004

Hakkinen said:
Hi, just got my first mac. It is a ibook G4 1.2Ghz 14.1".

1) Battery estimates are not accurate
I noticed doing a full charged in sleep mode gives me less battery power compared to charging it while still running programs. Strange.
2) Sometimes program quits suddenly. So far the programs that have quit on me are: Safari, IE, Netscape, 'Mac Help' in finder, Appleworks, Ms Office
3) sometimes it takes quite awhile for the applications to respond.
10 minutes ago I try searching some help in "Mac Help", I entered the phrase but nothing happens, then this rainbow wheel just pop up for many seconds and the program quits. Now i can't start Mac Help anymore.

Overall, my ibook is not as fast or responsive as the first 2 days I bought it, which was May 20th 2004.

And would appreciate any help from fellow users! Thanks!

I had the same problems on my powerbook just recently,

Battery was only showing a ful charge of under 3 hours, its was going slow, help wasnt working and all the rest of it.

I think it was all the updates.... cos after i installed the security update my mac started playing up big time... stuff started downloading and then hiding itself the comp was running really slow..

I just erased and re-installed a fresh copy of OSX ( so erased my whole HDD) now the battery time is back upto normal around 4 hours..

and it runs fine..

also limewire and msn mewssenger were crashing at the start.. now that i have erased and re-installed its no problem

7on · May 25, 2004

Don't worry about the poor performance in Help. I've never had good performance in Help.

dragula53 · May 25, 2004

stuff

It is an ibook 1.2. it can't have come with anything other than panther.

the battery life in the menubar has never been very accurate.

put more ram in..

repair permissions

update prebinding.

download onyx from http://www.macupdate.com, to do those tasks.

if, after you have done those, your ibook is still running like crap, be concerned.

that's my opinion.

meeps

kylos · May 25, 2004

Your hd is under the left handrest, so thats what's heating your computer. Would you describe the heat as uncomfortable or just toasty warm? Also, your system does sound like it is having problems, but most of the apps you mentioned are not the most reliable. If you can describe more precisely how it is behaving it will be easier to determine what the cause is. But the hanging you describe is definitely not appropriate for the machine you're using. It might be any number of things. More detail would help to isolate the problem.

Also, to the ibook basher, these machines run fine. My ibook ran much better than hakkinen's at only 500 mhz and with 384 MB of ram running Panther. Since upgrading the hd and maxing out the ram it's much better. I would suggest hakkinen get more ram, but he certainly doesn't need a powerbook. This is a machine with problems, but none of them are related to the model itself.

blue&whiteman · May 25, 2004

7on said:
Don't worry about the poor performance in Help. I've never had good performance in Help.

my cpu is only a G4/500 yet help is nice and snappy for me. anything I click on is there to view almost instantaneous. maybe its because I don't run many haxies. do you? i'm on panther btw.

Marble · May 25, 2004

If applications are not responsive for a couple of seconds after being activated, it is possible that you are experiencing the absolutely-normal "put hard drive to sleep when inactive" option in Energy Saver, if it is enabled. It sometimes takes a little time for us portable users' slower 4200rpm (or in the newer PB's case, maybe 5400rpm) hard drives to spin up after being slept (to save power).

This option is conspicuous and can be disabled in Energy Saver, though you might want to keep it set so that when you switch to battery power, this option is enabled.

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