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G5 can't do the simplest of tasks

I

iMacZealot

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 11, 2005
2,237
3
My iMac G5 has been-- satisfactory. Sure, the fans get a little loud, and those Intels that my family is surrounding me with do make me a little jealous, but today, it's gone too far.

I got an HV20 for Christmas, which is great because it's my first HD camera and I've wanted one for a while now, and so I recorded just some simple footage of my dog as well as me saying some stuff, and then it was off to Final Cut Pro. Before, with my kiddie cameras, I'd use iMovie to import because Capture Now never worked with them. Today, I decided that I'd use Capture now, and it worked, after reconfiguring Easy Setup.

Over time, I noticed that my G5 finally went off the edge and started blaring and couldn't do the simplest of tasks. I could switch between Spaces and windows and stuff, but, for example, I elected to open the Force Quit window, and it didn't appear for five minutes. That's not an exaggeration.

I decided to close everything and restart, but it played this game with me where the "Are you sure you want to restart? If you do nothing, it'll automatically restart in XX seconds", and I'd of course press Restart, but it wouldn't restart. I had to press on the power button to turn it off, and I had to press it several times again before it would start up again. After booting up, it still is slow, and I couldn't even repair permissions or anything.

What's wrong with it? How can I make it faster? It's been fine until now! What can I do?

Thanks!
 
heatmiser said:
Upgrade to Tiger. Add More RAM. Problems Solved.
Click to expand...

Ha! I upgraded to Leopard back in October, and I've had 1.5GB of RAM for a while now (max is 2 GB).

I don't know where you got the idea I was still using Panther. I bought it with Tiger installed.
 
On a serious note, when you upgraded to Leopard - was it a clean install? It might be worth trying (for poops and giggles) to create a new 10G or so partition on your hard drive, and putting a new Leopard install on it. Fart around on the "clean install" - and if it performs great - ya know what needs to be done.

When was the last time you blew compressed air through the vents too? (hi internal temps can degrade system performance).
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
On a serious note, when you upgraded to Leopard - was it a clean install? It might be worth trying (for poops and giggles) to create a new 10G or so partition on your hard drive, and putting a new Leopard install on it. Fart around on the "clean install" - and if it performs great - ya know what needs to be done.
Click to expand...

Odd that you would mention that. I began to install it that night, but I had to type a paper, so I had to stop the install after about ten minutes, but that clearly was a mistake, and everytime I tried to log back in, it would sit there for about ten seconds before shaking the window and make me try again. I eventually had to just Archive & Install and wait it out, and it worked. I had to write my paper on my mom's shiny new aluminum iMac, but I was so distracted that it didn't come out well.

When was the last time you blew compressed air through the vents too? (hi internal temps can degrade system performance).
Click to expand...

Never. The G5s are notorious for loud fans, but when I last opened it up about eight months ago to install new RAM, I noticed a lot of dust in the fans. I didn't tamper in fear of damaging something, though now that I'm a member of ProCare, I might get that annual checkup thing they have.
 
If you have the space on your HD, try another partition and clean install. Just mute the speakers, and set it up before you go to bed.

I only say compressed (or canned) air, as dust buildup acts as a great insulator, and I know the G5s can throw some serious heat. And that is a super simple / quick thing to do.

It sounds like your install did not go so well, obviously. Personally, I'd try a new one, and if it works great, simply enable file-sharing, drag your stuff over to the new install. Then resize or delete the old partition.
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
If you have the space on your HD, try another partition and clean install. Just mute the speakers, and set it up before you go to bed.
Click to expand...
I have 11 GB left on a 160 GB disk. FCP keeps reverting my scratch disk from my .5TB monster to my internal disk!

I only say compressed (or canned) air, as dust buildup acts as a great insulator, and I know the G5s can throw some serious heat. And that is a super simple / quick thing to do.
Click to expand...
I'll have to look for my can of compressed air (if I have one.)

It sounds like your install did not go so well, obviously. Personally, I'd try a new one, and if it works great, simply enable file-sharing, drag your stuff over to the new install. Then resize or delete the old partition.
Click to expand...
At the end, it was fine, and my G5 has been good for the most part until now.
 
I dunno. If it's a sudden thing... ?

You could always upgrade to Tiger. :wink: :wink:
:D
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
I dunno. If it's a sudden thing... ?

You could always upgrade to Tiger. :wink: :wink:
:D
Click to expand...

Why stop at Tiger? I got my free Puma upgrade in the mail today! ;)

Maybe I'll talk to a Genius. I think I'm going there tomorrow because my dad wants a second opinion about my sister's $1100 PowerBook G4 repair. :eek:
 
yep verify the disk and if it needs a repair boot into the install dvd and open disk util in the utilities menu and repair the disk from there. if it doesnt need a repair try it anyway.
 
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