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philipm

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2003
2
0
My computer is sick. someone came yesterday and put the disk dr. on it
and it has MANY problems which they said were fixed but they're not. My
desktop picture won't stay and then it finally appears... but
everytime I move any icon on the desktop especially the hard drive icon
..
it leaves a shadow/hole where it was. my internet bookmarks won't stay
after i shut down and start back up... and just othere stupid stuff...
It was ok until they came and upped my memory on claris works.. and every since it's been
stupid. any ideas?
 

timbloom

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2002
745
25
What OS and machine are you using? ...I ask because you say you are using ClarisWorks.
 

timbloom

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2002
745
25
My suggestion, get OS 9.2.2, MINIMUM.
Get Appleworks.
Backup all your files.
Erase.
Install 9.2.2 and Appleworks.

The stuff you are using is really out of date. And disk doctor probably is not compatible with it.
 

timbloom

macrumors 6502a
Jan 19, 2002
745
25
You might actually think about just updating to an iMac or something soon. Sounds like an opportune time.
 

KingArthur

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2001
236
0
Marion, Ohio
Re: sick computer

Ok. Here I am, a person using a PM6500, so I can sort of relate with you. Here is what I recomend doing. First of all, you need to find a norton-utilities CD. Version 3.5 will even do as long as you are not using the MacOS Extended format (which is possible if you are using 8.6). If you are using the Extended format, well, not so much luck, you will need one of the new CDs. If you have a CD burner, then just find it on the net and download it. If you download the full CD, then it should already have a system folder on it and you just have to burn it. You then start-up from the CD you have burned, run SystemWorks. Start DiskDoctor and let it run its tests. After telling it to fix all the errors (don't worry about making an undo file, you never need it), run it again. It may find more problems, and if it does, then run it until it finds no more problems. Next, you want to run Speed Disk. This is one of my favorite utilities of all time! Optimize your HD, restart. If you have any further problems, Instant Message me, my AIM SN is KingArthur10 . I can help you troubleshoot from there. I know OS 8.6-9.1 inside, outside, and upsidedown, and have found that you can do almost anything with just a little know-how and NortonUtilities. If you can't find NortonUtilities (or Norton SystemWorks is what the new version is under), give me an IM and I'll walk you through some other things, that although they won't fix it if you have errors in the Catalog B-Tree or Partition, they will at least make the errors more livable. I might also be able to get you a copy of Norton SystemWorks over the net, but no one else ever heard that;).

Let me know how you do. I love troubleshooting! :D

Also, even if you do get SystemWorks and fix everything, I would still recomend getting OS 9.1 or 9.2 b/c they are considerably more stable. I know. I had to put up with OS 8.6 for years and finally, when I got 9.1, it was heaven.



Originally posted by philipm
My computer is sick. someone came yesterday and put the disk dr. on it
and it has MANY problems which they said were fixed but they're not. My
desktop picture won't stay and then it finally appears... but
everytime I move any icon on the desktop especially the hard drive icon
..
it leaves a shadow/hole where it was. my internet bookmarks won't stay
after i shut down and start back up... and just othere stupid stuff...
It was ok until they came and upped my memory on claris works.. and every since it's been
stupid. any ideas?
 

fukuhela

macrumors member
Dec 20, 2001
73
0
Scandinavia
Thumbs up

Nice to see some people take their time helping other people.

I'm thinking about starting an awardshow, where we will honor people who have done something good in/to the Mac-environment.

KingAthur consider yourself nominated. :D
 

KingArthur

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2001
236
0
Marion, Ohio
fukuhela, thanks :)

I know how it is being confused and frusterated b/c the computer is not doing what you want and screwing up, so I figure I like to help in any way I can. I also enjoy the challange. It gives me something to do in my spare time other than homework;). Plus, although I don't work for symantec, I love their Norton SystemWorks and promote it at any time. I have NortonUtilities v3.5 and the new SystemWorks and I must say that they have saved me a dozen or more times and also have sped-up my computer a lot. When you have an old 603ev like I do, you want every boost that you can get!

Anyone with one of the new computers that cannot boot into OS9, there is a way to use SpeedDisk and other applications that require a disk unmount (since SystemWorks requires OS9 right now, it is going to take quite a while to tell you what to do to make it work, but bear with me, it is worth every second when your computer goes on the fritz or files start slowing down). You first must partition your HD into at least two partitions. I would recomend making a smaller partition (say 10GB) and then use the rest for the other Partition. If you have a 60GB+ HD, you may want a 20 and 40GB partition. Now, the smaller partition is designed for the primary operating system and program files. You may wonder why not use the larger partition for this? Well, the larger the partition, the larger the Catalog B-tree. The larger the B-tree, the more the compter has to sort through to find where the file it is looking for is on the HD. Thus, for fastest access of programs and OS performance, I would recomend using a small and a large partition. Anyway, now that you have installed the OS on the small partition, you are going to have to install it again on the larger partition (make sure classic is on both HDs, too). Then, you will have to install SystemWorks on both partitions. Now, to optmize the main system/program partition, just boot from the other, optimize, and boot back to the origional. This partitioning is also a very good method b/c if for some reason something goes screwy on your system partition, you will have a way to still boot your system and transfer anything vital on the faulty partition to the secondary partition and then restore the origional partition. I know all of this seems like a TON of work just to get Norton SystemWorks on the computer, but if you do any multi-media production or downloading of software from the net, you will see the advantage of being able to completely optimize a partition. So many files become fragmented that the computer takes 10x more time jumping from the B-Tree to the file and back just for one file than it should.

I hope that I may have helped anyone who wanted to use a good defrag/disk-fix program but had an OSX only machine.

Is Norton SystemWorks as good as I have made it out to be? Some may say no, but from my 4.5 years of using it on a mac and 3-4 years of using the dos and windows versions or it, I say it is even better than I can tell you. It has saved me many times, and I just can't wait for them to make an OSX bootable CD and maybe also an XP bootable CD (but that isn't likely with Microsoft's new way of requiring data to be moved).
 

macphoria

macrumors 6502a
Nov 29, 2002
594
0
How long have you had your computer? Has your Hard Drive ever been replaced? If you have had that computer and same Hard Drive for more than 5 years, your Hard Drive might be getting old and not spinning as well as it should. If you haven't replaced your Hard Drive in past 5 years, I recommend that you replace it.
 

KingArthur

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2001
236
0
Marion, Ohio
At least with me, my 40GB hard-drive is brand new as of this summer, but defragging still helps a lot. I costomize the defragging to put the entire system folder and all of its contents at the beginning of the drive (right after the stuff that really needs to be first. I then put my archives folder at the end of the drive, my porn folder right before that (yeah, I have some, but don't get prejudgemental), and then my MP3s before that. I also have three partitions: a 1GB system partition, a main partition that is something like 27GB, and a slave partition that is 12GB. Also, I made sure to make the system partition the one that is farthest from the center of the disk. Using Norton System Info tests, you wouldn't believe how much faster files on the outer edge of the disk are read into memory than those on the inner parts.

Anyhoo. My 4GB HD that came with my Mac served me well and is now serving my brother in his performa-cd (I don't remember what number it is). It worked almost as fast the day I got rid of it as it did the day I got it. Well, that is my two cents worth. When it comes to optimizing old computers, I am a wizard (not to sound egotistic). The only thing I don't do is clock-chip and that is b/c I have never done anything like that before and don't want to screw the computer up. See, you can mess the OS up and all you need to do is boot from a boot-cd and fix it or in worst case scenarios- reinstall the system, but if you mess the processor up, you are screwed. My PM6500 is about as maxed out as possible (max RAM, max back-side L2 cache, a USB card, a 40GB HD, and an ethernet card). I have given up on finding more ways to tweak the software. I have done so much that I have even used ResEdit on the system and finder.;)
 
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