[apeman451]

I have a PowerMac G4 dual running 10.2 with an ATI Radeon 9600 video card with 256 MB VRAM and 2 DVI ports. When I move the mouse cursor around to a certain spot on the screen the cursor disappears and the computer freezes up and I can't even force quit out. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the cursor trying to move over to another display, but I only use this Mac with a single display. There is also a setting called "arrangements" that allows me to move around a smaller box inside what appears to be a screen display. Where ever I put this "box" seems to be the part of the screen that gobbles up my mouse cursor and locks up the machine.
I'm just moving over to the Mac after years on windows XP so I'm still learning, so please be gentle.
Any help you can give me would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks,
apeman451

[pinenuts]

First, the version of the OS you're using is very old. At least 3 years. You should seriously consider getting the latest OS (10.4) and reinstalling. A full format/reinstall may be in order. Remember to back everything up.

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

I had that problem when my old iMac's logic board was dying. It might be that. Try repairing permissions.

Personally I would just buy a new Mac, OS X 10.2 is old and G4's are starting to age.

Originally Posted by pinenuts 

First, the version of the OS you're using is very old. At least 3 years. You should seriously consider getting the latest OS (10.4) and reinstalling. A full format/reinstall may be in order. Remember to back everything up.

Correction: 6 years.

[P]

While I agree that an OS upgrade is in order, there are some other things you can try first. I'd start with going to the ATi control panel and disabling "enable hot plug detection" and enabling "force single display operation" to see if that helps. After that, all the available OS patches and the latest version of the ATi drivers.

[apeman451]

@ P

I use an older version of quark which is supposed to work best with OS 10.2.8, so I'd like to keep that OS.

Where would I find the ATI Control panel exactly? This sounds like it would fix the problems but I don't recall an ATI control panel.

Again, thanks for all your help.

[P]

In System Preferences, if installed. You see, I'm fairly sure that none of the G4s ever came with a 9600, so it has to be an aftermarket card. If you have an aftermarket card, Apple doesn't supply drivers with the OS - not ones that are guaranteed to work, at least. It usually does anyway, because Apple has to support a number of very similar cards, but sometimes there are minor bugs.

If you can't find that control panel, you should download it. ATi's site is wonderfully confusing, but I think that this file should work with your model.

[apeman451]

You guys are awesome. Your advice did the trick. The Mac is working properly now thanks to your help.

Very much aprreciated.