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aglo · Aug 3, 2003, 06:06 PM

I have an iMac G4/700 and I think Mac OS X is painfully slow, nearly unusable. Maybe I need more memory, I only have 128 MB, but the problem is I can't open my computer because I have destroyed one of the screws (by mistake). Any help would be appreciated, both with how I can remove the destroyed screw and with how I can make Mac OS X faster. :-)

sniffer · Aug 3, 2003, 06:15 PM

First of all you definitive need more ram.

Hi I'm Ben · Aug 3, 2003, 06:21 PM

Originally posted by aglo:
I have an iMac G4/700 and I think Mac OS X is painfully slow, nearly unusable. Maybe I need more memory, I only have 128 MB, but the problem is I can't open my computer because I have destroyed one of the screws (by mistake). Any help would be appreciated, both with how I can remove the destroyed screw and with how I can make Mac OS X faster. :-)

little things like Shadowkiller by Unsanity help.

MacNStein · Aug 3, 2003, 06:21 PM

Run, don't walk, to your nearest vendor and get a 512MB stick of RAM. It'll improve your system performance by a factor of 4 or 5, no joke. Your system is slow because you're having to use HD space (swap space) as RAM. Having 640MB of RAM will make a HUGE difference.

Hi I'm Ben · Aug 3, 2003, 06:27 PM

try setting your colors to thousands. It helped on my Cube before I switched the video card.

Brass · Aug 3, 2003, 07:02 PM

More RAM will definitely help, but don't count on it too much. OS X is quite useable on 128MB at 700 MHz - a little slow, but not as slow as you seem to be experiencing (although that's hard to quantify). You might have some other problem as well.

spectre · Aug 3, 2003, 08:24 PM

hah.. it's funny because on my Rev A imac, I accidentally stripped the screw too.

I actually used a tool to cut a line in the screw so that i could unscrew it.. but.. there are plenty of other tools out there that are designed to remove stripped screws. Check out your local hardware/supply store and ask for some help..

and yeah.. you need way more ram in there.

gorgonzola · Aug 3, 2003, 11:05 PM

There's absolutely no question that a 512 stick of RAM will hugely increase the machine's responsiveness. When OS X starts swapping, it gets ugly. Your machine probably starts swapping after 3 minutes of activity or something.

Also, Panther will help once it's out in a few months. 640 MB RAM + Panther should help the machine quite a lot.

aglo · Aug 4, 2003, 12:43 AM

Thanks for your answers. Seems like more RAM is the way to go. But first I have to find some of the tools spectre described - as long as I'm unable to open the computer buying more RAM won't help me... :-/
Anyway, thanks again for the reponse.

::maroma:: · Aug 4, 2003, 01:14 AM

Call a local Mac store with a service center (or maybe even PC service centers), or call a hardware store and ask someone how to get out a screw that is stripped. It's a common thing, I'm sure. There's gotta be a proven way to get it out.

But have that RAM ready for when you do get it open!!

Hi I'm Ben · Aug 4, 2003, 04:23 AM

i took a drill and went straight into the screw with it.

then I just replcaed the damaged screw