[TheZee]

I want to reset my PRAM and the Power Manager. I know how to do it i want to know if performing these two tasks will mess up my system in any way. Like, will reseting the PRAM erase any important data? Will reseting the Power Manager do more harm than good?
Recently, my iBook began freezing up. Not the screen itself but whenever I went to open an application the appliction would load to a certain point then just spin that wait cursor until I finally had to force quit it. First it was Safari then it spread to most of my apps. When I did a memory check it reported that mostly all of my RAM memory was used up. I resorted to performing an archive and install. I have just comleted the process and things are better but my Mac still struggles to open certain apps or navigate to files. Trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Peace out . . .

[pat++]

Resetting the PRAM and Power Manager will not help. And No, it doesn't erase any important data or do any harm.

[TheZee]

It won't huh. Darn. What does resetting the PRAM and the Power Manager actually do ??? When is it a good time to perform such a task ??? Peace out . . .

[Ji Eun]

i had similar symptoms and after many months finally realized it was bad RAM. the hynix 512 stick that came with my BTO ibook progressively worsened about 6 months after purchase, but i had no idea it was the RAM's fault till after the 1 year warranty was up, and no applecare. do NOT trust apple's hardware test CD, it never diagnosed my bad RAM. instead remove the supplemental stick beneath the airmac plate under the keyboard and see if your problems persist. i worked on my old 12" 800 with 128mb RAM for about three days, slow as hell but no weird system glitches. to be extra sure you should back up your files and do an ERASE and INSTALL with just the onboard RAM as the (potentially) bad supplemental RAM may have corrupted your current install.

[TheZee]

Many thanks for sharing your experience. You know, what is crazy too, when I try to run Apple Hardware test all that comes up is fragmented blocks of red, grey and black and then on the lefthand side of the screen is the interface but it is all smashed together, completely undecipherable. Any ideas what that could be a symptom of ??? I ran a program called memtest and so far it has said that my memory is good. However, I have my suspicions. I want to get at the root of the issue because if it is defective RAM then I will return it to the store I purchased it from approximately 6 months ago. I have heard that the best way to run a memory test is to boot into the system in single user mode. Any clues on how to actually do that ??? Thought I'd give it a try. I have been trying to back up my files but for some reason now, every time I go to burn the data onto a disk I get an error message -3 and -50 which also says that the data cannot be burned. Doesn't give any other details. Then I am forced to eject the disk. COnsequently loosing any of the data that I had just backed up. Quited frustrating considering how dam long it takes to backUp data. Any suggestions on a good thrid party app for backingUp files and folders ??? Peace out . . .

[Ji Eun]

if you can afford it, buy an external drive and back up to that. then it's just a matter of dragging and dropping, no 3rd party software needed, and it's damned fast once you know where all your key files are located; i.e. - / library / application support etc etc etc.

[TheZee]

I definitely agree with your advice to purchase an external HD to store my backed up data. Finances are kinda tight right now though. You wouldn't happen to know of any good reaonably priced external HDs for sale do you ??? I was wondering if refurbished or used ones are sold. Any suggestions ??? Thanks !!! Peace out . . .