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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > 10.3.9 - will it fix my PowerBook !

10.3.9 - will it fix my PowerBook !
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zzarg
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Mar 3, 2005, 01:52 AM
 
so 10.3.9 is now in beta. I really hope it's going to improve matters with my poor old PowerBook.

It used to seem fine at 10.2.x but since I paid for 10.3 it's been getting worse.

Mouse disappearing after sleep
Screen staying blank after sleep
Screen staying blank if an external monitor is removed
Increasing beachball occurrence (especially in Safari)
Random freezes - different apps, different times, only thing that works is the Power Button

I month ago I was thinking of a new 15" PB, then I thought maybe I'd wait until Tiger but at the moment I'm not that impressed with the 'evolution' of OSX in the little details (or build quality of the PowerBook for that matter) - such as comparable VPN support with the WinXP solutions or robust peripheral (external monitor, USB mice etc) support

Looking at the list of fixes promised in 10.3.9 it looks like there are a lot of little tweaks going on, but I wonder how much will be real fix, how much will be stop-gap and how much will actually be fixed in Tiger (and how much will remain an issue)

Fingers crossed 10.3.9 appears, and fixes the robustness glitches, before I get driven back to the PC fold
     
wataru
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Mar 3, 2005, 02:05 AM
 
The behavior you mentioned is not normal. I suggest you reinstall OS X from scratch. I highly doubt 10.3.9 will magically fix any of your problems.
     
Randman
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Mar 3, 2005, 02:05 AM
 
Then go back to the PC fold. Sheesh.


The truth is the vast majority people have had 0 problems with 10.3.8. For those that have, there have been many posts on possible solutions. Have your tried those?

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
zzarg  (op)
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Mar 3, 2005, 03:01 AM
 
wataru: Thanks for the suggestions. I have tried re-installing OSX .... went for 10.3 from scratch (10.2 was more stable but 10.3 works just a little bit better) and dutifully did the service pack thing again. It's weird but the issues with beachball frenzy and disappearing mouse have got worse since 10.3.7 and 10.3.8.... hence hoping 10.3.9 will un-break them at least back to earlier levels (hey, I can hope right ?!) I will try the 'repair permissions / run the combo updater / repair permissions' cycle tonight while watching Lost... I can only hope and keep trying

randman: And folks wonder why the Mac market never makes it above the 3% penetration... perhaps it's the attitude that "OSX is perfect and you're an idiot if you use Windows (or if you have problems with OSX you must be an idiot therefore please use Windows)" that puts people off. I have searched here and other OSX sites and tried pretty much everything suggested (including, as above the OSX10.3 re-install). I've tried getting meaningful help from AppleCentres and Mac geek friends... to no avail. The issues with mouse disappearing and screen issues related to external monitors crop up often - with no solution - even on these forums. the beachball frenzy in Safari... again, multiple posts here (and, as suggested, clearing caches, icons etc helps but not for long) and mention of Safari fixes in the 10.3.9 notes so there is hope. I actually want OSX to work. I want to be able to continue to use my PowerBook which is a great little machine (heck, I still want to upgrade to a 15") but it's hard sometimes - whereas the WinTel alliance never really requires that much emotional investment

There are polls here about how often people see Kernel Panics, there are posts about sleep issues with mice and screens, there are posts about problems with external monitors (especially connection / disconnection when the machine is asleep), there have been issues with stability after sleep since Panther was new and shiny - and most of these posts are from people who know a lot more about OSX than I do. eg: http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...0&pagenumber=1 (up to 10+ pages now - and I've not posted a 'me to' yet or a 'geez, windows is better' because enough people are seeing it for me to be comfortable that I'm not alone !)

If there's no hope of 10.3.9 (along with a kernel update) fixing bugs that are discussed in these very forums, admitted by folks at Apple dealers and seen with varying regularity across the board then why bother releasing it ! And if the underlying product is impossible to fix what exactly is the selling point for 10.4 ?!
( Last edited by zzarg; Mar 3, 2005 at 03:18 AM. )
     
alphasubzero949
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Mar 3, 2005, 05:04 AM
 
See, you have to pay for 10.4 to get the bug fixes from 10.3.x.
     
Big Mac
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Mar 3, 2005, 05:22 AM
 
The poll that asks about the frequency of kernel panics has thus far shown that people either get them very rarely or never. There is admittedly a huge ongoing thread about random freezes, but for the vast majority of people OS X is rock solid. People who are having problems are the most vocal, while most who have trouble-free experiences are not going to bother posting. The experience you are having with OS X is not normal, and you cannot expect a minor update to cure the underlying cause. You do not have to berate someone for offering a response to your post; no one values your opinions on Mac market share. Your comments frame you as a troll.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
f1000
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Mar 3, 2005, 06:29 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
so 10.3.9 is now in beta. I really hope it's going to improve matters with my poor old PowerBook.

It used to seem fine at 10.2.x but since I paid for 10.3 it's been getting worse.

Mouse disappearing after sleep
Screen staying blank after sleep
Screen staying blank if an external monitor is removed
Increasing beachball occurrence (especially in Safari)
Random freezes - different apps, different times, only thing that works is the Power Button
zzarg, either your computer is broken or you're running some weird hacks/shareware that you haven't told us about.

I haven't experienced any of those problems, so I suggest that you run an extended Hardware Test and post the results here. You might just have glitchy RAM or a flakey hard drive.
     
zzarg  (op)
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Mar 3, 2005, 06:36 AM
 
Originally posted by Big Mac:
The poll that asks about the frequency of kernel panics has thus far shown that people either get them very rarely or never...
that's true - but 49% of people have encountered the issue... that's not a statistical blip (heck, the numbers can be twisted to suit any argument you care to frame... and so much is dependant on how the question and answers are actually worded). The fact that they are infrequent does not, and should not, diminish the fact that there is a fault. Luckily migraines are rare... but does that not mean we shouldn't look for a cure ? Luckily failures in car brakes are few and far between ... but they happen. A kernel fault of other critical OS (or application) failure looses data, productivity and money - or destroys a work of art in the making - admitting they happen and hoping that some recognition of the problem may be working towards a solution is important.

Originally posted by Big Mac:
...You do not have to berate someone for offering a response to your post; no one values your opinions on Mac market share. Your comments frame you as a troll.
well, I'll just live under my happy little bridge then. Of the responses to my post one was helpful, one was not - and they got appropriate responses. If you think my response was berating Randman then there's possibly a level of sensitivity here when people dare to criticise OSX that I wasn't aware of ! Perhaps a warning in the section that by "discussion" we're actually simply meant to slavishly praise the product and rather than (a) share our experiences, (b) compare them to other scenarios and (c) engage in discourse and banter

If you wander through the Kernel panic thread you'll see Randman has been suggesting I'm a billy goat gruff baiter there as well - http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...23#post2429264 - he may take objection to what I say but he's happy to and respond to the comments rather than write them off.

I'm glad no-one cares about my comments on the Mac market share... I am part of that 3%. I am also part of the 90%+ that owns PCs but for choice I use the Mac. Neither of them are perfect - both have different sorts of failings though, which is half the fun. Neither is my car (it uses too much gas), nor my favourite brand of beer (it gives me a headache)

And I suspect that alphasubzero949 has a very good point.... why give away a fix to a problem when you can charge for it ! But either way, someone has to admit the problem exists before it'll get fixed.

I am at least trying anything helpful that people have to suggest to resolve the issue: I've re-installed; I've tried different ways of getting up to date; I've tried swapping out my RAM; I've given the machine back to the Mac dealer to let them play; I don't have any Haxies installed; I regularly repair permissions, clear caches and icons etc... I share my experiences to hopefully add some weight to the issue (and see if anyone has any more suggestions); the guy who got me to switch has the same problems on his machine and can't find a solution on either of them (but we keep trying); I post hopeful wishes for good things in a forthcoming update.... and I get labelled a troll and told to go back to using a Windows machine with my tail between my legs

I suspect that this simple post is rapidly turning into a rather philosophical discussion and getting rather off-topic... but it's fun I love the fact that Apple really does tug at the emotions in a way WinTel rarely does...
     
analogika
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Mar 3, 2005, 06:56 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
It used to seem fine at 10.2.x but since I paid for 10.3 it's been getting worse.

Mouse disappearing after sleep
Screen staying blank after sleep
Please remove your HP printer software and drivers, and send back their printer, postage unpaid.

just a hunch.
     
Big Mac
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Mar 3, 2005, 07:25 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
that's true - but 49% of people have encountered the issue... that's not a statistical blip (heck, the numbers can be twisted to suit any argument you care to frame... and so much is dependant on how the question and answers are actually worded). The fact that they are infrequent does not, and should not, diminish the fact that there is a fault. Luckily migraines are rare... but does that not mean we shouldn't look for a cure ? Luckily failures in car brakes are few and far between ... but they happen. A kernel fault of other critical OS (or application) failure looses data, productivity and money - or destroys a work of art in the making - admitting they happen and hoping that some recognition of the problem may be working towards a solution is important.
Sorry to break it to you, but this is not a perfect world, and on occasion, **** happens. Humans are fallible creatures - thus, the products that they produce are fallible as well. Only mission critical systems can boast 100% reliability. You recognize that I am not the only one to label you a troll. If the label fits, shouldn't you admit to wearing it?

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
zzarg  (op)
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Mar 3, 2005, 07:26 AM
 
Originally posted by analogika:
Please remove your HP printer software and drivers, and send back their printer, postage unpaid.

just a hunch.
darn.... I wish it was that easy... no HP Printers here.... in fact, no printer connected to this machine (there is a Lexmark attached to the PC but I move files over to print 'em)

Are the HPs bad with OSX ? They're not that hot with Windows either (I prefer Lexmark for 'little' jobs and Epson for big / high quality stuff)
     
zzarg  (op)
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Mar 3, 2005, 07:32 AM
 
Originally posted by Big Mac:
... You recognize that I am not the only one to label you a troll. If the label fits, shouldn't you admit to wearing it?
2 people call me a troll, the other thousands who post in these forums don't.
By your logic... I'm not a troll because only whingers and trolls complain about stuff here

Still... it's nice to have a label, makes me feel happy.

Sure, nothing is perfect and I'd be stupid to expect it... but biting my head off because I point it out....
     
Twilly Spree
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Mar 3, 2005, 07:33 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
darn.... I wish it was that easy... no HP Printers here.... in fact, no printer connected to this machine (there is a Lexmark attached to the PC but I move files over to print 'em)

Are the HPs bad with OSX ? They're not that hot with Windows either (I prefer Lexmark for 'little' jobs and Epson for big / high quality stuff)
The printers are ok I suppose, but the drivers HP makes for OS X have had the tendancy to break after minor system updates (service packs) causing trouble. This has not been the case with other ink printers. Lasers are not affected.
     
SMacTech
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Mar 3, 2005, 08:34 AM
 
Have you tried creating a new user account and testing it in that account? If you did an Archive and Install and your user account causes these problems, no amount of reinstalling will fix it.

Having installed and maintained 10.3 on over 20 computers, I have not had these issues you are having. That's not to say I haven't seen them occur in other people's Macs. When I did, it was either a hardware problem or a bad user account causing the problem.
     
zzarg  (op)
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Mar 3, 2005, 09:20 AM
 
Originally posted by SMacTech:
Have you tried creating a new user account and testing it in that account? If you did an Archive and Install and your user account causes these problems, no amount of reinstalling will fix it.

Having installed and maintained 10.3 on over 20 computers, I have not had these issues you are having. That's not to say I haven't seen them occur in other people's Macs. When I did, it was either a hardware problem or a bad user account causing the problem.
I will give that a try tomorrow - thanks. I think we did try with a new account early on after the 10.3 re-install (before restoring from the archive). Any idea what goes wrong with the user accounts (fishing for... is there a diagnose/fix tool out there !)
     
msuper69
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Mar 3, 2005, 09:30 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
that's true - but 49% of people have encountered the issue... that's not a statistical blip (heck, the numbers can be twisted to suit any argument you care to frame... and so much is dependant on how the question and answers are actually worded).
...
A poll conducted on a Macnn forum doesn't mean anything more than that some Macnn readers chose to respond. These polls are totally without scientific merit and to draw any conclusions other than that some readers chose to respond is meaningless. It's like a poll on a website where a question like "Do you think (insert name here) is guilty?" is asked.

If you want meaningful statistically valid information, a poll would need to be conducted using a much larger and unprejudiced population via proven scientific methods.

Macnn polls are for entertainment purposes only.
     
analogika
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Mar 3, 2005, 10:06 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
darn.... I wish it was that easy... no HP Printers here.... in fact, no printer connected to this machine (there is a Lexmark attached to the PC but I move files over to print 'em)

Are the HPs bad with OSX ?
If you have multiple users (and sometimes if not) under 10.3, the HP bullcrap will shoot down your system when you wake up the machine from sleep. (Black screen, fans on maximum, etc.)

That has, in my experience, not been fixed with the latest driver release.

-s*
     
-Q-
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Mar 3, 2005, 10:22 AM
 
Originally posted by msuper69:


Macnn polls are for entertainment purposes only.
What msuper68 said. At the very best you could use this as a directional idea for a research study, but don't ever put any merit into online polls. They don't represent a true sample of the mac using population and they certainly don't represent 'real life'.
     
littlegreenspud
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Mar 3, 2005, 10:41 AM
 
I have had the 'Blank screen and no response' after waking from sleep three times after updating to 10.3.7. I combo updated to 10.3.8 and (touches wood!) i have not had any since.

I will always update with combo updaters from now on!
     
cpac
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Mar 3, 2005, 10:47 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
Any idea what goes wrong with the user accounts (fishing for... is there a diagnose/fix tool out there !)
No there's no diagnostic tool - it *is* the tool. It tells you whether the instability you're experiencing is related to some files in your home folder - if the new user has no problems, it's a good bet a preference file or a cache or something else in your home folder is corrupt in some way. The fix would be to either migrate yourself to a new user file, or try to find/eliminate the offending corrupt file by looking a crash logs, etc.

------------

Bottom line is, however, 10.3.8 is not itself the source of your problem, as the vast majority of users aren't experiencing the problems you describe. Since that is the case, it is unlikely 10.3.9 is going to fix any of those problems.
cpac
     
JKT
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Mar 3, 2005, 11:33 AM
 
Considering the extreme nature and breadth of issues you are suffering, even after a re-install... have you installed any third-party RAM and if so was it a good brand or not? It seems to me that this is most likely to be a hardware issue (and the most probable culprit would be RAM or a USB peripheral). Assuming the other suggestions don't work, and if you can stomach it, I'd suggest stripping your PB back to the basics (remove any extra RAM you installed etc, and re-install the OS without third party apps/drivers) and then see how it runs.
     
Boondoggle
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Mar 3, 2005, 11:36 AM
 
This is what I would do, assuming the crash logs don't show anything obvious:

reboot in single user mode by holding command-s at boot time.

Type: fsck -y -f at the prompt.

then type "shutdown -r now" when fsck is done.

Log in as an admin and open the terminal and type "sudo diskutil repairPermissions /"

enter your password

this will take a while.

reboot

log in to your normal account. I've you're using an admin account for daily use that was your first mistake.

If the problems persist, I would try creating another account.

If they still persist I would try removing RAM. You might have a bad or loose sim.

If they still persist I would back up all data and try reformatting the drive and installing 10.3 and use the combo updater to update to 10.3.8. Do the repair permissions above before and after installation of all parts.

If you're still having problems after all that, then you've most likely got a wonky hardware component, probably on the motherboard. You will need to take it to a certified apple repair shop.

good luck
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Boondoggle
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Mar 3, 2005, 11:39 AM
 
Originally posted by cpac:
No there's no diagnostic tool - it *is* the tool. It tells you whether the instability you're experiencing is related to some files in your home folder - if the new user has no problems, it's a good bet a preference file or a cache or something else in your home folder is corrupt in some way. The fix would be to either migrate yourself to a new user file, or try to find/eliminate the offending corrupt file by looking a crash logs, etc.

------------

Bottom line is, however, 10.3.8 is not itself the source of your problem, as the vast majority of users aren't experiencing the problems you describe. Since that is the case, it is unlikely 10.3.9 is going to fix any of those problems.

You can safely delete anything in the ~Library/Cashes folder. I've had a few problems with corrupted cashed files.
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Big Mac
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Mar 3, 2005, 12:25 PM
 
You're looking for the word cache, but I have had problems with cash too - having an insufficient amount. . .

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
chabig
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Mar 3, 2005, 12:59 PM
 
Remove any third party system enhancements that rely on Unsanity's APE.
     
Millennium
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Mar 3, 2005, 01:14 PM
 
You mention that your PowerBook is very old. How old is it? If you don't remember the exact age, then what model is it? If nothing else, what's the speed of the chip?

There have been some problems with the older models, where the motherboards begin to fail after about 2-2.5 years. My own PBG4 had this issue. Software upgrades didn't fix it; the only thing which worked was replacing the motherboard. That'll run you about $600 if you pay a professional to do it for you; you can cut it to about half that if you buy a motherboard and do it yourself. Doing it yourself, though, isn't easy, and by getting someone else to do it you can usually get your money back if that doesn't solve the problem.

The real question is: is this worth it to you? $600 goes an awfully long way towards a new machine. I chose to replace the motherboard, but that's certainly not the only option you have.
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Mar 3, 2005, 02:04 PM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
randman: And folks wonder why the Mac market never makes it above the 3% penetration... perhaps it's the attitude that "OSX is perfect and you're an idiot if you use Windows (or if you have problems with OSX you must be an idiot therefore please use Windows)" that puts people off.

Wait, what 3%? I thought it was less than 2%...
     
Boondoggle
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Mar 3, 2005, 03:30 PM
 
Originally posted by Big Mac:
You're looking for the word cache, but I have had problems with cash too - having an insufficient amount. . .
You can say that again...

I'm always spelling that incorrectly for some reason.
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zzarg  (op)
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Mar 3, 2005, 05:37 PM
 
Reinstall frenzy last night. Not even got Office back on before I stayed playing (creating a new user from scratch this time, no restore - as before, my default users isn't admin)

The only USB device is a Microsoft trackball, and the only firewire device is my iPod

Has been really well behaved this morning bar a couple of 30 second beachballs in Safari - mostly when bouncing between a couple of tabs both with forms on... the first occurred with the (Apple certified and dealer installed) RAM in place, the second after I removed it and restarted. It's now back in again.

Then I started iTunes and had that running in the background... and got a couple more of the beachballs in quick succession. Killed iTunes and it's been behaving itself since.

Reinstalled some apps - Office, gmail status, and BluePhoneElite.. and it's still okay apart from the iTunes/Safari combination

I'll keep adding things back slowly and playing and see if I can find consistent scenarios.

Hopefully then next OSX install I do will be 10.4 !

BTW... I usually use OnyX to run the regular maint tasks... is there anything else / better I should use ?
     
Millennium
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Mar 3, 2005, 06:05 PM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
BTW... I usually use OnyX to run the regular maint tasks... is there anything else / better I should use ?
If you use fink, you might want to try anacron. It works completely in the background, so you can basically install it and forget it. The big disadvantage is that their is no GUI for installing or configuring it; it needs no configuration but a GUI installer would be nice.
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Boondoggle
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Mar 3, 2005, 06:21 PM
 
Originally posted by Millennium:
If you use fink, you might want to try anacron. It works completely in the background, so you can basically install it and forget it. The big disadvantage is that their is no GUI for installing or configuring it; it needs no configuration but a GUI installer would be nice.
Or you can edit your chrontab file to run the maintenance during the day, or leave the machine on overnight once in a while, or do it manually from the terminal:

sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly
sudo periodic monthly


to edit the chrontab see:

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/ma...minal_one.html

bottom of the page
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Boondoggle
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Mar 3, 2005, 06:23 PM
 
I just thought of something, is it possible you've got the processor clocked down?

check your energy saver prefs.

bd
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zzarg  (op)
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Mar 4, 2005, 01:52 AM
 
Originally posted by Boondoggle:
I just thought of something, is it possible you've got the processor clocked down?

check your energy saver prefs.

bd
set to max.... I need every cycle available when VirtualPC is running - that's part of the reason I'm thinking of a 15" 1.67Mhz machine !
     
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Mar 4, 2005, 03:31 AM
 
I appologize for some of the forum members... it seems some don't realize that having problems sucks, until they have them themselves. I hope you get things figured out.
     
Randman
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Mar 4, 2005, 03:48 AM
 
Originally posted by Superchicken:
I appologize for some of the forum members... it seems some don't realize that having problems sucks, until they have them themselves. I hope you get things figured out.
That's a stupid comment.

People are offering lots of help and suggestions. But zaarg's recent litanty of posts have been trolling and bashing Macs and OSX. Everyone's had problems at some time or another no matter what OS. But just because you're having problems, doesn't give you the right to troll recklessly and to have people tolerate it.

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
Boondoggle
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Mar 4, 2005, 08:08 AM
 
Originally posted by zzarg:
set to max.... I need every cycle available when VirtualPC is running - that's part of the reason I'm thinking of a 15" 1.67Mhz machine !
sounds like you need faster hardware. If you really need to run VPC a lot I think you'll be happier with a G5 though if you can sacrifice the portability.
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tuqqer
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Mar 4, 2005, 09:10 AM
 
Then go back to the PC fold. Sheesh.
What a rude, rude thing to say. A humble suggestion: work on your communications skills. It'll help in life.
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Randman
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Mar 4, 2005, 09:19 AM
 
My communication skills are exemplary, I assure you. My response, had you been following matters, was in response to an overall theme of responses from the original poster, in this thread and another, complaining of matters and saying he was going to go back to the PC fold.

In my humble estimation, that was the rudeness as the post happened in a public forum soliciting advice for a problem then becoming increasingly obstinate when informed that the majority of Mac users do no share his myopic view of computing nor have they experienced the depth of his current problem.

But I do thank you for your unsolicited suggestion on ways to hone and enhance my non-verbal skills. I shall endeavor to improve those said skills.
( Last edited by Randman; Mar 4, 2005 at 11:57 AM. )

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wataru
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Mar 4, 2005, 11:41 AM
 
Originally posted by Randman:
My response was in response to responses

myoptic

unsolictated
If you're going to try to talk fancy, maybe you should do a couple rough drafts first.

Originally posted by Millennium:
If you use fink, you might want to try anacron. It works completely in the background, so you can basically install it and forget it. The big disadvantage is that their is no GUI for installing or configuring it; it needs no configuration but a GUI installer would be nice.
There is also a non-fink package available here.
     
Randman
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Mar 4, 2005, 11:55 AM
 
Originally posted by wataru:
If you're going to try to talk fancy, maybe you should do a couple rough drafts first..
That's what I get for typing that message on Firefox. Safari has spellcheck.

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wataru
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Mar 4, 2005, 12:05 PM
 
Originally posted by Randman:
That's what I get for typing that message on Firefox. Safari has spellcheck.
If you need it, then by all means, go for it.
     
Randman
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Mar 4, 2005, 12:18 PM
 
Actually I said that part (though I was on FF) just to tweak you. I did correct the spelling. That's what I get for posting and heading out of the office at the same time. Still, the meaning was there (which was take thing with a grain of salt).

But seriously, does FF have spellcheck? On both platforms?

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CubeWannaB
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Mar 4, 2005, 01:13 PM
 
I have encountered and tested the powerbook issues related to external displays and sleeping. The discussion forums on apple.com have threads on the issue and it does seem that they will be fixed in 10.3.9.

To all of you complaining that the problems are related to HP drivers and so on, I'd guess that you were the same people confabulating excuses for the lookupd/DNS issues in 10.3.6.

If OS X was bug free then there would be no need for revisions beyond 10.3.0. STFU unless you know what you are talking about.
     
Turnpike
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Mar 4, 2005, 01:32 PM
 
Just to clarify, people here don't get upset when you ask for help. They don't mind admitting there are problems that need fixing on occasion. What they do mind is when a post is "I've got this problem and it really sucks and oh my god it's so horrible I'm going to start using windows again because windows never has problems like this"

Which, unfortunately, is what a lot of people do. They are lured to Macs thinking they are perfect or are completely stable, or don't need any maintenance... when they find out there is a problem, they get upset that they paid a premium for something that is better, but it turns out that "better" is still pretty horrible when things are broken.

The second mistake was making a big deal out of it... if somebody makes a snide comment about your trolling statements in your post and you really didn't mean to troll, say "I wasn't meaning to troll, I was frustrated and I didn't mean it to sound like that." Done. Problem solved, everybody moves on.


As for the actual issue... if reinstalling doesn't fix anything, sad to say it is probably a hardware issue. As was mentioned above, lots of pbooks were having motherboard problems after a time. There's really not a lot that Joe WalMart can do to fix this. Hopefully it will be something else, otherwise you might be looking at a bad motherboard, which is generally expensive (I'm assuming you don't have applecare/warranty since you said it was an old book). If the problem is only with certain tasks, perhaps you can find some job for the computer that doesn't use these tasks.

If you are using VPC, as stated above, you'll probably want all the power you can get. I have a dual 1.8 G5 and VPC performance isn't... well, it just isn't worth it unless you NEED to run a Windows-only program. If performance was acceptable on your old machine though, it will only get better with a newer machine.

Good luck, and hopefully you'll find a solution that is easily solvable once you know what to do.
     
analogika
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Mar 4, 2005, 04:25 PM
 
Originally posted by CubeWannaB:
To all of you complaining that the problems are related to HP drivers and so on, I'd guess that you were the same people confabulating excuses for the lookupd/DNS issues in 10.3.6.
Huh?

You mean that HP's pipedaemon ISN'T the cause of crashes after sleep, even when these crashes can be reliably avoided by killing the daemon before putting the machine to sleep?

     
CubeWannaB
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Mar 4, 2005, 05:26 PM
 
Originally posted by analogika:
Huh?

You mean that HP's pipedaemon ISN'T the cause of crashes after sleep, even when these crashes can be reliably avoided by killing the daemon before putting the machine to sleep?

These powerbook crashes and problems are unrelated.

But I'd also like to point out: there is no circumstance under which an OS should crash due to a poorly made piece of software. The software itself should crash while the OS continues to run.
     
King Bob On The Cob
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Mar 4, 2005, 05:55 PM
 
Originally posted by CubeWannaB:
These powerbook crashes and problems are unrelated.

But I'd also like to point out: there is no circumstance under which an OS should crash due to a poorly made piece of software. The software itself should crash while the OS continues to run.
Printer Drivers if not written for the new CUPS system can run down pretty deep in the system (sometimes have direct access to the Kernel I/O layer). If they go bad, even if they don't take out the kernel itself, can cause you to loose alot of things. (Mouse input, Keyboard, GUI responsiveness, ect) Meaning you will have to kill the system to get it back in working order again.
     
analogika
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Mar 4, 2005, 05:55 PM
 
Originally posted by CubeWannaB:
These powerbook crashes and problems are unrelated.

But I'd also like to point out: there is no circumstance under which an OS should crash due to a poorly made piece of software. The software itself should crash while the OS continues to run.
yes, that would be wonderful.

Unfortunately, it is not the case.

Also, as far as kernel extensions are concerned (such as printer drivers), there is currently, to my knowledge, no way to proof a system against driver-induced crashes, since they *must* be loaded into the system stack.

Yes, these Powerbook crashes and problems are unrelated to HP software. That's fairly certain, since he doesn't actually have any HP software installed.

God forbid I offer troubleshooting assistance based on past experience with partially similar symptoms, and - heavens above! - even do so somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
     
wataru
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Mar 4, 2005, 07:13 PM
 
Originally posted by Randman:
Actually I said that part (though I was on FF) just to tweak you. I did correct the spelling. That's what I get for posting and heading out of the office at the same time. Still, the meaning was there (which was take thing with a grain of salt).

But seriously, does FF have spellcheck? On both platforms?
I know you said that just to tweak me, but if you need spellchecking that badly then you probably should use a different browser. Or just use the Spellbound extension. As with the vast majority of Firefox extensions, this one works not on both platforms, but on all platforms (from link: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, OS/2, and FreeBSD).
     
CubeWannaB
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Mar 4, 2005, 07:30 PM
 
Originally posted by analogika:
Also, as far as kernel extensions are concerned (such as printer drivers), there is currently, to my knowledge, no way to proof a system against driver-induced crashes, since they *must* be loaded into the system stack.
It is my understanding that this is only a problem with monolithic kernels, not microkernels such as Mach, which OS X uses.
     
 
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