I have a 1GHz titanium G4 Powerbook with 512MB RAM, and in the last couple years or so, it's started to show its age more and more. I see the pinwheel a lot, it runs a bit hotter than I remember, and the fans are noisy. It's been suggested that I clear my hard drive, and re-install the OS. The problem is, my optical drive won't burn anymore, and it doesn't read everything. I can't afford to replace the optical drive right now, but I'd like to be able to make it run a bit more smoothly, like it used to, and I don't want to lose my important stuff. I do have an external HD with enough space for most of the important stuff.
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How can I make my computer run like it did when it was new?
- Thread starter agmetal
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Edit * ye , what OS are you on and is it upto date ?
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Give Onyx a go, it'll run all the maintenance scripts etc , try that before anything else , it's free and easy.
Versions for Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard are available here:
http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html
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Give Onyx a go, it'll run all the maintenance scripts etc , try that before anything else , it's free and easy.
Versions for Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard are available here:
http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html
I would do the following:
1. BACK EVERYTHING UP, or at least the important stuff
2. Repair permissions in Disk Utility (open Disk Utility, select your HD on the left, and hit "repair permissions")
3. Zap your PRAM (hold down command+option+P+R on startup until you hear the chime again)
4. Run maintenance scripts via Onyx (links in above post)
5. Add more RAM-this will make everything noticeable faster
1. BACK EVERYTHING UP, or at least the important stuff
2. Repair permissions in Disk Utility (open Disk Utility, select your HD on the left, and hit "repair permissions")
3. Zap your PRAM (hold down command+option+P+R on startup until you hear the chime again)
4. Run maintenance scripts via Onyx (links in above post)
5. Add more RAM-this will make everything noticeable faster
The problem is, the RAM for the titanium PowerBooks seems to be pretty expensive...over $60 for 512MB.
I got it in September 2003, and I'm pretty sure I started off with Jaguar...whatever was current at the time. I got Panther around when that came out, and the same with Tiger.
I'm running OSX v.10.4.8, and it's been a while since I've run Software Update. I downloaded MainMenu last night, is that similar to Onyx? I ran a couple things on there, but I haven't noticed any improvements. Maybe I need to restart?
What does this mean, exactly?
I'd get it fully up to date via SU before you do anything else ,if I was you.Just because Apple have fixed a ton of bugs etc....
Never used MainMenu so I couldn't say, but I've never had one problem with Onyx , in fact I used it today for an issue and bingo , sorted it! ( btw I run a G3iMac)
Maybe a restart would be an idea, run software update and you'll have to do one anyway.
Onyx has a good rep and does what it says it will, personally I'd go with that over MainMenu .
Makes sense to do all the updates and run Onyx before you go buying RAM etc , RAM wouldn't hurt ( and maybe a faster HD) but lets see what the free stuff does first.
Dude, what about;
www.finallyfast.com
I'm joking, that has to be the most retarded infomercial ever.
www.finallyfast.com
I'm joking, that has to be the most retarded infomercial ever.
I've been using MainMenu for years and, in my opinion, it's better than Onyx. It's small, quick, stays out of your way and best of all it runs a ton of UNIX scripts that maintain your system. Just make sure it clears out your logs, etc. Dig around the preferences to enable them on your batch run.
Superduper will clone your entire drive and make a bootable copy
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
I updated to 10.4.11, bought a can of compressed air and cleaned the dust out of the inside and the fans, restarted, and ran OnyX. The fans are running much more quietly...one is still a bit noisy, but it's a huge improvement over what it was, so far. OnyX says that my startup disk needs to be repaired, so I guess I should do that. Will I need to back up everything before I do that, since I need to start up with the install disk?
While running Disk Utility involves booting up to the install disc, you shouldn't need to backup unless you're planning on doing the reinstall shortly afterward. The two operations are completely separate processes. To run Disk Utility, ignore the installer window after picking English as the main language, go straight to the Utilities menu at the top of the screen, run DU. After you're done you can close DU, go to the Installer menu, then quit, where you can bring up the startup disk settings or just restart the computer.
I re-ran the disk verification utility, and it told me that there was a minor issue with the bit-mapping, so I ran the repair from the install DVD and fixed that. I also reset the PRAM. I guess now I'll just have to give it some time to see if it runs more smoothly than it has the last year or so.
+1 for this. Restart while holding down command+S to boot into single user mode. A screen looking like command prompt will come up. Then type fsck -fy. This will perform a disk check and tell you what is wrong with your HD. When it's done, type reboot and it will restart your comp.
I'm not seeing any real differences yet, after spraying with compressed air, resetting PRAM, running OnyX, repairing permissions, and repairing the disk while booted from the install DVD. Also, the fan is noisy again (it's mainly the one on the right side of the computer).
Considering that you started with OS 10.2, and have not likely defragmented since September 2003, I would recommend you backup your data however you like, and then pop in your 10.4 disc, and Erase the drive with Disk Utility. Then re-install and restore your data.
Plan B: Buy iDefrag and let it run a full defrag overnight.
Plan B: Buy iDefrag and let it run a full defrag overnight.
Like the guy above said do a reinstall of the OS, no need to defrag it though if your rewrite the OS over everything. Do an erase and install
If that doesn't do anything I'd then get some RAM and a faster HD .
Last night, I copied my Applications and Home folders to my external HD, since those contain the vast majority of what I want to keep in the event of a mass data loss. When copying those folders, it said that some files would not be possible to copy due to special permissions. I have no idea what those files would be, though. If I erase my HD and re-install the OS, and then just copy those folders back over, how much software re-installation am I likely to have to deal with?
I take it that the free trial version should be enough?
Also, any ideas on how to make my fan stop being noisy? I've sprayed it with compressed air a good bit, but it's still rattling a lot. If it matters, iStat Pro is telling me that my HD temp. is about 106ºF.
Pretty much any application that you installed using an installer (instead of just dragging to your Applications folder) will need to be reinstalled. The reason for this is that installers sometimes put information in various locations besides just the actual application you see in your Applications folder. Therefore, I would recommend backing up only a list of your applications and maybe some settings, and then downloading/installing all of your applications from scratch. It's a pain, but you'll have all the newest versions and everything will be fresh.
