so i finally have a mac
Mar. 2nd, 2006 14:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhaafter all these years of lusting after one, but not being able to justify buying one new, since all of our work was linux or windows related. but some of it is now on macs as well, and i've inherited a little G4 because, well, it has problems, and its owner sloughed it off after not being able to solve them quickly.
the problems consist of random crashes and freezes. i distinguish the two because in some cases it is able to detect that it's about to crash, and asks me to reboot, while in others it just freezes up -- total freezes, which can't be broken out of with any magic key combinations. it does the latter a lot, *sigh* -- a couple of times an hour if i actually use it consistently during that time.
being as i know nothing whatsoever about macs, this is something of an adventure. i have two guesses right off -- memory, and video card problems (which could also be memory, i guess). google helped in finding one other possibility -- extensions, the examination of which i am saving for later. i've acquired a memory tester, and it finds nothing amiss, but of course a running OSX doesn't allow for all memory to be properly examined. but i can't boot into single user mode from which i could do this, and i can't find why not. i've got a root user enabled. but when i press command-s during boot (i wish somebody would be clear about just when i have to press them, and for how long, if that matters), the system either boots up as usual, or freezes right there. i don't think "open firmware" is installed, but just in case i tried pressing command-option-o-f during startup, and it resulted in nothing either.
any ideas from knowledgeable mac users?
the problems consist of random crashes and freezes. i distinguish the two because in some cases it is able to detect that it's about to crash, and asks me to reboot, while in others it just freezes up -- total freezes, which can't be broken out of with any magic key combinations. it does the latter a lot, *sigh* -- a couple of times an hour if i actually use it consistently during that time.
being as i know nothing whatsoever about macs, this is something of an adventure. i have two guesses right off -- memory, and video card problems (which could also be memory, i guess). google helped in finding one other possibility -- extensions, the examination of which i am saving for later. i've acquired a memory tester, and it finds nothing amiss, but of course a running OSX doesn't allow for all memory to be properly examined. but i can't boot into single user mode from which i could do this, and i can't find why not. i've got a root user enabled. but when i press command-s during boot (i wish somebody would be clear about just when i have to press them, and for how long, if that matters), the system either boots up as usual, or freezes right there. i don't think "open firmware" is installed, but just in case i tried pressing command-option-o-f during startup, and it resulted in nothing either.
any ideas from knowledgeable mac users?