[planetfiber]

Hey everybody!

On the last couple of days, I feel that my PB starts up really slow. I timed it a couple of times and the result was: from pressing the button until a fully displayed desktop, 1 minute and 30 seconds (including a 4 digit password that I typed really quick).

I feel that it is too long. But sometimes I have doubts, since I don't really shut it down that often, that it has always been that way, but I don't think so.

Anyway just to give me and idea, can any of you PB users time your startup and post it along with your specs?

And also, if it INDEED is TOO LONG, can any of you give me tips on what might be happening to my PB?

Here are my specs:

PowerBook G4
1.33 Ghz
1.25 Gb RAM (checked out on About this mac and more info - OK status)
OSX 10.4.3
No applications running at login
No EXTRA FONTS
6.5 Gb of free disk space.
No external Hard drives attached

I have already repaired permissions and ran Macjanitor with the same results.

Thanks!

[brahms117]

1.67 GHz AlBook G4
1.5 GB RAM
OS X 10.4.5
75.76 GB available (80 GB capacity)
Startup time: 35 sec

667 GHz TiBook G4
512 MB RAM
OS X 10.3.9
2.9 GB available (30 GB capacity)
Startup time: 65 sec

Yours does seem long, but I don't know what would be causing it. The longest message on my TiBook OS X splash screen is 'waiting for network initialization.' On my AlBook I don't see anything but the progress bar zipping across. What if you disable your password function?

[planetfiber]

Thanks Brahms, I guess it is long, just as had thought.

I upgraded to 10.4.5 and disabled the password function, but still my startup time was 1 minute 20 seconds.

What strikes me the most weird is that it takes around 20 to 22 seconds just to see the apple logo appear on the screen and then another 6 to 8 seconds for the small round "clock thing" to appear below it and start spinning.

I guess I'll keep looking. Thanks for the detailed response.

[JKT]

The initial "long" stage of the boot process is a disk and RAM check. It is possible that you have a disk problem. Boot from your install disks and run Disk Utility to check and repair the disks. Then use the hardware test to see if your hardware passes the checks.

The next longest stage is the network initialisation. Make sure that your preferred network type is at the top of the list in the System Preferences>Network>Show: Network Port Configurations. If it isn't, the OS will be wasting time checking e.g. your Ethernet ports for a connection first even though you are using Airport (or vice versa):



Also, disable any network types you aren't using.

[iREZ]

dont quote me on this, but doesnt a load of stuff on your desktop slow up the boot time as well?

[CorpITGuy]

Originally Posted by iREZ

dont quote me on this, but doesnt a load of stuff on your desktop slow up the boot time as well?

No. It's just another directory. Like the above poster mentioned, the hd/ram check and secondarily network initiailization is the longest part.

Lots of stuff on the desktop is just annoying and sloppy.

[teknopimp]

90 sec. is too long. i have very similar specs and get 45-50 seconds.

[doctorb]

Hmmm, I am also getting some slow times. I just got 1 min 30 sec two times consistently.

I have the last rev of the PB G4
1.67GHz PowerPC G4
1.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM
74.53gb HD with 28.35GB free

Perhaps I should try this disk utility thing.

[Velocity211]

PowerBook G4 1.83GHz OC'd/2GB DDR2 RAM/160GB HDD 5400RPM
38 seconds first time, 39 seconds second time.

[pete]

Originally Posted by doctorb

Hmmm, I am also getting some slow times. I just got 1 min 30 sec two times consistently.

I have the last rev of the PB G4
1.67GHz PowerPC G4
1.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM
74.53gb HD with 28.35GB free

Perhaps I should try this disk utility thing.

I have exactly the same specs, including available hd space and I get 50 seconds until the desktop and icons are there, and another 2-3 seconds for the all the icons on the menu bar to appear.

[planetfiber]

Thanks for all the info.

Thanks JKT, I already changed the network preferences (which were all over the place). I will run the programs from my install disks and post my results.

[planetfiber]

Well, here are my results:

I ran Disk Utility-Verify disk and it turns out my volume needs to be repaired. It said i had a "minor" error. I ran into a little problem there, and here's my post on the OSX forums, in case anybody can help me out here:

I need to repair my boot disc. Only thing is my brother and I updated to Tiger and he went away and so did the install and restore disks.

Can I run Disk Utility from the Panther install and restore DVD to repair my boot disk running Tiger 10.4.5?

Will it cause any trouble? Will it work fine? Or will I have to wait a few days for my brother to send me the disks?

I fear that if I keep using my computer, this "minor" error will become "major".

Thanks for the advice!

[planetfiber]

OK. Back again.

After all of the suggestions on my other thread, I finally can get back with results for THIS problem.

I fixed the "minor" problem in the disk, and now I run verification and the disk presents NO PROBLEM.

So, TIME to startup NOW:

65 seconds!

GREAT IMPROVEMENT!!!

After that 1 minute and 20 seconds, there were a couple of times it went up to 2 minutes.

So I guess the computer is back on track now.

Thanks all of you, and specially JKT. It seems you nailed it!!

pf

[doctorb]

I also did what JKT recommended and ran Disk Utility. I had no errors on my disk but had some permission errors which I fixed. Now my PB is at 55 seconds which I am very happy with! Thanks!

[amazing]

planetfiber: 6.5 GB of free HD space is getting much too tight: that's got to be slowing everything down. Even with all your RAM, the VM scheme and OS X needs room to "breathe." Ten to fifteen percent is the usual recommendation but I0 GB should perhaps be the "minimum" free HD space.