Apple Mac G4s am I going mad Hee Hee

[Moonkiss]

Although I trained as a Desk top Published on an Apple Mac I have been using a PC and built it myself and have a great deal of knowledge with regards to software and hardware with PCs.

I have 2 G4 Power Macs and relatively a newbie to Macs and their software.

• Power Mac (AGP) 400MHz with a 20gig hard drive and 1gig ram it has a DVD/CD drive and is running (don’t laugh) 9.2. I would like to upgrade the software to Tiger but have been given all sorts of information but need to know for sure how to go about doing this.

This machine was given to me by my best friend who is a Graphic artist and now has a G5.

• Power Mac Quicksilver 800MHz with a 30gig and 120gig hard drives and 512gig ram it has a CD/RW and is Running Tiger 10.4.11 it did not come with any disks.

I am having a few problems with this machine i.e. Tiger software. It runs really well but you can be doing something then the screen darkens and a black box comes up saying you need to reboot your computer so you do as you cannot do anything else other than turn the machine off when you go back in you get your operating software had an error click to send. This happens very often and you can be doing something different each time or even when you are not doing anything just going to get a coffee when you get back the black box is there reboot again. Can anyone help on this one I live in the UK in Cornwall.

 

[tobyg]

On the Quicksilver, the first thing I'd start with is memory and maybe a fresh reload of the OS. I know you don't have any of the software that it came with, but you may have to look into purchasing Tiger for these machines. I'm guessing you can only get it used. You might be able to call Apple and get the original restore discs for the Quicksilver, but I bet that didn't come with Tiger.

But my guess for what you're seeing, which are kernel panics, is either bad ram or something in the OS that's gone crazy

If the machine has multiple sticks of ram, try removing one at a time until you get a stable machine and find the possibly bad stick of ram.

 

[Hrududu]

Typically kernel panics are software related, so I would definitely look into that first. Like Tobyg says, I'd try a fresh install of the OS and if the problem continues, then try removing RAM one stick at a time to see if you eliminate the problem. Also, just remove all the RAM, blow out the slots really well, and re-set them. That could fix the issue too. However, if you don't have access to a Tiger disc right now it can't hurt to try and track down a RAM problem. Once you get your Tiger disc, you can do an install on your 400MHz tower too. Luckily you have a DVD-ROM drive, so that should make things easier (since Tiger is most commonly found on DVD).