# My Macintosh Is Ill. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722 "2005-04-17T04:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/1 "2005-04-17T04:22:30Z")
The Stats: Powerbook Titanium G4, 667 mhz. 512 megs. 30 gig HD. Jaguar. In the last week or so, this machine has become rather ill. Incredibly slow, locking up basic functions and software apps. I ran Disk Warrior for Jaguar. Nothing changed. I ran Plus Optimizer ( for OS X 10.1, but still…it worked ). I’m currently running Repair Permissions under First Aid. God this is soooo slow. Here’s my question. In the Windows platform, I can **see** what software is running by hitting the much-vaunted Ctrl+Alt+Del keys. Is there an analogous key sequence for Macs? I fear something is running and slowing me down. I also fear that I may need to re-install Jaguar. This will not break my heart, but I did so about a month ago and it’s been running okay since then. Now, it’s a shambles. Upgrading to Tiger is not an option, I cannot afford the incessant upgrade costs. I may buy Panther, or may stay with Jaguar. ( A totally stable release, from what I can see ). Hmmm. Just occurred to me. What if one of the two RAM chips were failing? Would that cause the severe slow-down? How can I see how much RAM I have? Thoughts? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/2 "2005-04-17T04:31:54Z")
Process viewer will give you and idea of what’s using up the cpu’s time. In 10.1.5 it’s found under Applications:Utilities:ProcessViewer. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/3 "2005-04-17T04:35:13Z")
Thanks, I will look tomorrow morning. I hate to interrupt the Permissions Repair I have running. At this rate, it will run through till the morning… That’s one small but important detail. Thanks! Any other ideas on why it would suddenly have slowed to a crawl? ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/4 "2005-04-17T04:35:51Z")
Apple System Profiler (Applications-Utilities) should show you if your memory is working. Under the hardware bar on the left side of the window there’s a line called memory. That will show you what RAM it’s seeing. Also, you could try either open apple-option-escape or pick Force Quit from the apple menu. That should show you all the programs that are running. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/5 "2005-04-17T09:29:18Z")
One of your install disks should have a hardware test program. I’d run that and see if anything is broken. To me, it does sound like some of your RAM might have failed. That at least would account for the flakiness, if not the slowness. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/6 "2005-04-17T16:37:53Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Upgrading to Tiger is not an option, I cannot afford the incessant upgrade costs. I may buy Panther, or may stay with Jaguar. ( A totally stable release, from what I can see ). What did you mean by this? How is it more expensive to buy Tiger than Panther? I am in nearly the exact same position as you - I have an 800mhz Tibook running Jaguar. I am planning to leapfrog Panther and go straight to Tiger. My new work computer is running Panther - sadly its install disks won’t upgrade the Tibook as they’re “bundled”. So I will buy Tiger in a couple of weeks. I was fine with Jaguar, but upgrading became a priority when Skype arrived. Because Tiger was imminent, I decided to wait a bit longer. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/7 "2005-04-17T20:20:43Z")
Skype?? I am sure the upgrades are roughly the same price. I meant that buying yet another upgrade every year or so becomes pricey. So, I let Panther slide by cause I heard about Tiger over a year ago. I just returned from the Apple Store. The fellow at the Genius Bar feels my Hard Drive has started to die. The machine took a physical hit about 5 days ago. A new HD with labor and Jaguar installed into it will run me just shy of $ 300.00. dammit… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/8 "2005-04-17T23:45:54Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Skype?? > > I am sure the upgrades are roughly the same price. I meant that buying yet another upgrade every year or so becomes pricey. So, I let Panther slide by cause I heard about Tiger over a year ago. > > I just returned from the Apple Store. The fellow at the Genius Bar feels my Hard Drive has started to die. The machine took a physical hit about 5 days ago. A new HD with labor and Jaguar installed into it will run me just shy of $ 300.00. > > dammit… ☹ You can do the HD swap yourself for much cheaper. Find prices for 2.5" hard drives [here](http://dealmac.com/categories/59.html) (40 GB laptop drives are going for less than $80) (I’m assuming that you have the Jaguar system CDs…) You should be able to find a how-to guide for swapping the hard drive at [this](http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/action.lasso?-response=list.faq.lasso&-database=faq.fp3&-layout=FaqList&Faq_Category=PowerBook%20Related&-sortfield=DateSubmitted&-Sortorder=descending&-maxrecords=100&okaytopost=yes&-search) section of [xlr8yourmac.com](http://xlr8yourmac.com) If you don’t find it at that specific page…you should be able to find a guide somewhere at that site. If you take your time…you should be able to swap out the drive for less than $100. The only other concern would be backing up important data. You can use the CDR drive to burn to floppy. On preview…I found another resource for your powerbook > **[667 MHz 15″ PowerBook G4 (VGA)](https://lowendmac.com/2001/15-powerbook-g4-667-mhz-vga/)** > > Just nine months after releasing the first titanium PowerBook, Apple replaced it with two faster models – this is the faster of the two. Both models share the same logic board, but they run t… It links to a step by step guide for EXACTLY what you need. [http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/25.5.0.html](http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/25.5.0.html) It does look like you’ll need a Torx T8 screwdriver that you might be able to pick up at most hardware stores. Now that I saved you $200…would you like my Paypal account? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/9 "2005-04-18T01:51:38Z")
Damn, **Dave** , you’re good. And I wish to god I’d seen this **before** I went to the Apple Store and surrendered my machine and paid a deposit of $ 2,500.00… :eek: I do appreciate the info- how great. I will go to the links and save that info. For the next hard drive that crashes…-deep dramatic sigh-. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/10 "2005-04-18T02:00:51Z")
Torx wrench : $ 4.99 Hard Drive: $ 79.99 Install Disks: Already have Jaguar. Airfare to Des Moines: $ 599.00. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/11 "2005-04-18T02:20:20Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I just returned from the Apple Store. The fellow at the Genius Bar feels my Hard Drive has started to die. The machine took a physical hit about 5 days ago. A new HD with labor and Jaguar installed into it will run me just shy of $ 300.00. > > dammit… ☹ I’m dubious. They _always_ say the hard drive has started to die. Did they actually run diagnostics on it? ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/12 "2005-04-18T02:22:10Z")
PBfixit is a great site! I just replaced my hard drive (iBook G3) using their directions. It was just like I knew what I was doing. The whole thing took me about an hour. Oh yeah, find and print out the screw guide, too if you do it yourself. It’s invaluable for keeping things organized. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-macintosh-is-ill/299722/13 "2005-04-18T02:35:59Z")
Nope. No diagnostics past what I ran. The fellow watched it react, and listened to the Hard Drive as it spun and did it’s incredibly slow task. Believe it or not, I put a lot of stock in people who listen to machines, instead of just using software to diagnose. They will test the HD before they pull it and put in a new one. No way I can be paying for a new HD when they might be slipping me my old one- they are electronically ID’d. I know what my HD is. If they charge me for a new one, A) I get the dead one back, and B) The ID won’t match. And, remember, I did drop the shoulder bag holding the laptop. It took a hell of a hit- possibly skating the read head across the platter, or ( and I think this is it ) slightly dislodging the platter on it’s bearings. -sigh-