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kevs · Sep 11, 2003, 06:34 PM

I had a thread going about getting the beachball when I click on Safari bookmark toolbar, while I never get that when I do the same thing in Explorer or Netscape.

But I must confess, I get the beachball frequently. I do all the correct maintenance so I assumed that this is just normal -- it's the computer taking a breath of air. Am I right??

thanks!

MAC OS 10.2.6;
G4 DUAL 533 1.12 GB RAM

ambush · 06:47 PM

THe beachballs technically means the application process main thread is stuck in execution code.

Typically it's because of :

kernel problems (sometimes it has to do with peripherals and/or hardware problems) but it's rare

a bug in the Application: the application enters in an infinite loop that's supposed to end but never does; it's stuck.

waiting on a an external resource (like a socket, a network disk etc)

and some other reasons

most likely, it's a bug in Safari and it's not because of your computer...

I'd be interested to know what happens exactly

kevs · Sep 12, 2003, 12:22 AM

Thanks Ambush:
It's simple, I have a lot of folders on the bookmark toolbar and if I click on one of these folders after Safari has been in sleep, or hidden, or re-launched, the beach ball comes up for 10 to 40 seconds. But this never ever happens with Explorer or Netscape.

someone even sent me his bookmark file and it did not help. He also said to delete preferences and run scripts and other maintenance things. Did not help.

I definitely think it's a Safari thing too, because this problem does not exist in those other browsers, but at the same time, others in Safari don't have this problem, and I do see that beachball quite often in various other application and situations -- is that unusual?

Adam Betts · Sep 12, 2003, 12:54 AM

kevs, do you live near beach?

I've been getting the same problem but after moving away from beach, the problem disappeared.

engaged · Sep 12, 2003, 04:53 AM

Originally posted by kevs:
Thanks Ambush:
It's simple, I have a lot of folders on the bookmark toolbar and if I click on one of these folders after Safari has been in sleep, or hidden, or re-launched, the beach ball comes up for 10 to 40 seconds. But this never ever happens with Explorer or Netscape.

someone even sent me his bookmark file and it did not help. He also said to delete preferences and run scripts and other maintenance things. Did not help.

I definitely think it's a Safari thing too, because this problem does not exist in those other browsers, but at the same time, others in Safari don't have this problem, and I do see that beachball quite often in various other application and situations -- is that unusual?

I get the same problem from time to time, and it's normally after my iBook has been asleep. I've started shutting down overnight and when I go out, and it seems to have helped a bit. Haven't got any solutions, but just thought I'd let you know that you aren't alone in this.

Cipher13 · Sep 12, 2003, 05:23 AM

I've found constant beachballing to be the result of a lack of RAM...

gethigh · Sep 12, 2003, 05:27 AM

Originally posted by kevs:

...snip...

I only get a slight delay after the FIRST time I start up Safari and the FIRST time I go to the Bookmarks menu.

Once this occurs the info is stored in a cache in memory (I'm guessing here).

Perhaps you're low on memory and this forces Safari to use the hard disk (Virtual Memory).

I'm just speculating of course.

kevs · Sep 12, 2003, 12:55 PM

I leave near the beach, it's solved a lot of problems, but not this one.

I have a lot of Apple certified memory.

It's good to know I'm not alone, but like I've said, as far as the Safari thing goes, this does not happen ever in Explorer or Netscape, although I do get the beachball lots of other times which is annoying. And it's very annoying to get it in Safari so much, just for clicking on bookmark.

MAC OS 10.2.6;
G4 DUAL 533 1.12 GB RAM

gethigh · Sep 12, 2003, 04:51 PM

Originally posted by kevs:
I leave near the beach, it's solved a lot of problems, but not this one.

I have a lot of Apple certified memory.

It's good to know I'm not alone, but like I've said, as far as the Safari thing goes, this does not happen ever in Explorer or Netscape, although I do get the beachball lots of other times which is annoying. And it's very annoying to get it in Safari so much, just for clicking on bookmark.

MAC OS 10.2.6;
G4 DUAL 533 1.12 GB RAM

Well that's plenty of RAM. But as I said before this "beachball effect" only happens to me the very first time I open Safari after a reboot or startup. And even then it doesn't last up to a minute like you pointed out.

I have a ton of bookmarks myself. It's all unorganized so I have just a fat list of bookmarks.

Three possible solutions:
1) Organize your bookmarks by taking the unncessary "fat" into folders, or take them out of the Bookmarks menu altogether.
2) Get a program like Cocktail or OnyX and run all the optimization processes. Prebind, fix permissions, delete cache, maintanence scripts, etc.
3) Get Diskwarrior and rebuild the desktop.

Good luck.

kevs · Sep 12, 2003, 11:52 PM

thanks,
yes I just got Onyx, and use disc warrior. BTW, maybe I'm paranoid, but when you are done with Onyx, how do you know it really did what is was supposed to do?

With me, I get the beachball even after bringing Safari up from sleep. But again, here is the key thing: It does not happen with Explorer or Netscape. That is the crucial thing.

I can live with it. I really like the built in Spellcheck and the automatic log in. For not those two things, I would go back to Explorer.

gethigh · Sep 13, 2003, 03:08 AM

Originally posted by kevs:
thanks,
yes I just got Onyx, and use disc warrior. BTW, maybe I'm paranoid, but when you are done with Onyx, how do you know it really did what is was supposed to do?

With me, I get the beachball even after bringing Safari up from sleep. But again, here is the key thing: It does not happen with Explorer or Netscape. That is the crucial thing.

I can live with it. I really like the built in Spellcheck and the automatic log in. For not those two things, I would go back to Explorer.

You can't really tell what OnyX does. You'll have to trust it

.

The thing of it is: Explorer and Netscape are expected not to get bog down with bookmarks. Here's my theory on why:
Have you noticed that both Netscape and Explorer do not display special ICONS for each website. For example, the generic blue globe for some and the special icons for others.

So that's why as far as reasons go why IE and Netscape do it faster. But it still doesn't explain why you got such a slowdown from Safari.

The only other option is messing with the bookmarks folder itself. I don't know if OnyX has it, but Cocktail has an option to "clear" these bookmark ICONS in Safari (IIRC).

kevs · Sep 13, 2003, 12:22 PM

get high:
that's pretty intersting. You should know, I just learned this, those icons are called "Favicons" I'm thinking of making one myself. I think they totally cool and I like Safari more for supporting them.

Are you sure they are the culprit?

gethigh · Sep 13, 2003, 05:23 PM

Originally posted by kevs:
get high:
that's pretty intersting. You should know, I just learned this, those icons are called "Favicons" I'm thinking of making one myself. I think they totally cool and I like Safari more for supporting them.

Are you sure they are the culprit?

Well I'm not 100% sure but I have a pretty good idea that they're the reason.

I get the same "lag" when I go through submenus of folders/disks that I put in the dock. Of course, this only happens the first time I boot in. Once these icons are stored in memory, the lag goes away.

Here's a pic:

This is why I suspect "favicons."

kevs · Sep 13, 2003, 10:43 PM

That's very interesting, and yet I like favicons.

By the way, is there any special technique into inserting screen shots, as well as links to a website, on a letter to a forum such as this, I've always wanted to know.

phobos · Sep 13, 2003, 11:35 PM

deleted

gethigh · Sep 13, 2003, 11:37 PM

Originally posted by kevs:
That's very interesting, and yet I like favicons.

By the way, is there any special technique into inserting screen shots, as well as links to a website, on a letter to a forum such as this, I've always wanted to know.

This:

http://forums.macnn.com/misc.php?action=bbcode

will tell you how to insert links and images. If you're used to HTML it should seem familiar to you.

As for putting personal and custom images (like the screenshot I posted above), you're going to have to have access to a server or webspace (you can't use geocities though and I don't know if tripod or any other free website/space is compatible with external access).