Failing Hard Drive or Serious SPELL CHECK prob?

[uphype]

When I first start Safari, it takes FOREVER to load Google, my home page, then I type 2-3 letters in the search box and I get the whirly circle and it takes for ever again, then I type a few more letters and the same thing - It finally drops down the anticipated pages I may be looking for... Then throughout the use of Safari or Mail, it continues sporadically. Is this a problem with Mac 10.4.11 because I upgraded from 10.3.9 3 months ago and NEVER had a single issue - I just wanted to play with my new iPod and had to update my system...

HELP!

Could this be a sign of my Hard Drive going out? Are there some apps that I can run to tell what's up? I did a verify and repair permissions but to no help.

 

[ceezy3000]

what are specs, speciafically ram?

 

[uphype]

Thanks

Machine Name: Power Mac G4
Machine Model: PowerMac3,6
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 2 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.4.8f2

 

[frankblundt]

DiskWarrior. it's not cheap, but it will tell you when your drive is borked, and save your data if it is. Although, if you're backed up already, and you have the time, you could format the drive and restore.

Before that though, try making another user account, and see if you get the same issue there - might just be a local preference issue

 

[uphype]

how do I do that? sorry - not too technical

 

[frankblundt]

In System Preferences > Accounts click on the little + button to make a new account, with a username and password.

Log out of your account, log in to the new account, open Safari, so the same stuff you did on the other account... do you get the same problem?

 

[uphype]

It seems my problem has been solved! I'm glad I started a new post! Where do I send the check?



Now - Can I delete the old user or do I have to keep it?

 

[frankblundt]

As long as you've copied anything you might want - documents, music etc into the Shared folder so you can get to it from the other account, you can delete the old one.

but there's no harm really in leaving it there for a bit.

 

[uphype]

Never mind... I am quickly seeing that I cannot access the files I would need to access if I were to use this account. Bummer! I clicked a check box that said something to the effect of, "Allow this user to something something" that I thought was saying I'd be able to go to all my previous files. What to do?

if I moved my old user over to a shared file, would that move everything I have used in the past 5 years?

Will Disk Warrior take care of the "Local Problem"?

 

[frankblundt]

while logged into the old account, move stuff into the Users/Shared folder and you'll be able to get it from the new account.

or you can try deleting preference files in the old user account and see if we can fix it (now that we know it's something in that account's settings that's causing the issue) - probably starting with anything that's in Users/[username]/Library/Spelling/

 

[uphype]

ur awesome - I would like to try that however I am gonna have to crash - What is the best time to catch you here? I have work in 5 hours...

BTW - Does that copy everything or just move it? I only have about 6 gigs of space left and about 60 gigs of data to move.

 

[frankblundt]

Assuming it is to do with the spellchecker of course, which it may not be, given it's hard to see why that would be holding up Safari. Does TextEdit have the same issue? or anything else? Or just Safari and Mail?
Do you have Firefox installed? Does it have the same issue? (might be a network connection problem)

If the plus sign comes up when you're dragging to the Shared folder it will copy it, for most stuff though it won't which means it's moving it

There will be others here who can help, there always are.. about ready for a nice cup of tea before bed myself. Back online in about 12 hours for about 12 hours

 

[uphype]

no - it doesn't do it in Word or any other programs - And mail just slows way down at times... It seems mostly to do with Safari but when it is acting up I notice Mail does too till Safari gets going again.

Thank you for your time.