OS X 10.4.9 Seemingly random crashing - iMac G5

[SpangleyNights]

I don't really know how to describe the problem i'm having, it has only cropped up in the last two weeks or so. Doing general day to day tasks the system will hang (sort of) with no error message and only a reboot will fix it. I think it has something to do with the airport as internet applications seem to be the way of noticing the problem. For example, Mac Messenger will hang and i'll get the beachball. The app will not force quit and I cannot open the Activity Monitor as it just bounces in the dock, never oppening. When moving the cursor to the top right of the menu bar I get the beachball, over the airport, bluetooth and spotlight. All other menu items work other than the so I cannot shut down properly. That coupled with not being able to open any apps, requires a forced shut down. The problem is very intermitent. It used to occur when waking up from a long display sleep, but that seems to be ok now. Any application other than ones that use the net are fine, ie/ VLC will still work and so will iTunes but the only way to get the other apps working is via a restart. I ran the Apple hardware test and had no issues. I don't really understand the console so if anything relevant is needed please tell me.

Sorry if this has been covered before, my searching isn't all that great as I didn't really know the issue.

Regards,

Dan

 

[mad jew]

Well, let's start at the basics. Have you got third party RAM? Would you be confident taking a chip out at a time to test if you have bad RAM? Also, use Disk Utility to verify your drive. Repair if necessary. Do you have plenty of free space available? Do you have any theme changers installed? What apps are you running when this happens? Sorry for all the questions, mate.

 

[SpangleyNights]

The problem occurs with and without 3rd party RAM installed. I'm running Safari, Mac Messenger, iTunes, VLC, Mail, Text Edit. Nothing special, it seems to happen with whatever combination. I'm also using UNO, but didn't have the problem with it for the previous months i've used it. I just ran disk utility and got his.

Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume free block count
(It should be 741918 instead of 741854)
The volume The Pearl HD needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

Does repairing a drive erase it? Or do anything to the information?

Thanks for the help.

 

[mad jew]

Repairing the drive shouldn't erase anything unless something is seriously wrong with your drive, in which case it'd erase itself doing pretty much anything. In other words, repair it as soon as possible, but back up first all the same. It's probably and hopefully unnecessary though.