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Jbroad572 · Nov 9, 2003, 04:30 AM

My PB slows down every once in awhile. I might have a lot of apps running and of course with each one open the computer gets slower and it takes longer and lon ger for another ap to open or for an app to be used. Now, that I understand, but once I close all the windows and it's just my desktop and maybe the finder along with Safari open, it's still sluggish. right now nothing is open except Safari and if I switch webpages I get beachballs, if I go to bittorent window I get beachballs. The only way to fix this is by restarting then everything runs good as new. This isn't normal is it?

jewing80 · Nov 9, 2003, 05:49 AM

While I can't speak of the 17" my 1 GHz Ti is the exact opposite. After a fresh reboot everything seems a bit sluggish. After an hour of use the system feels noticeably quicker.

I've actually seen an full 2 point increase in my Xbench score after a day or so of continuous use. This (along with the wonders of "Sleep Mode") has lead me to almost never turn my Powerbook off.

I'm not sure if your situation or mine is more common. Just for reference I am running 10.3 and as for system maintenance I run Cocktail once a week, that's about it.

BlueCat · Nov 9, 2003, 06:18 AM

Originally posted by Jbroad572:
My PB slows down every once in awhile. I might have a lot of apps running and of course with each one open the computer gets slower and it takes longer and lon ger for another ap to open or for an app to be used. Now, that I understand, but once I close all the windows and it's just my desktop and maybe the finder along with Safari open, it's still sluggish. right now nothing is open except Safari and if I switch webpages I get beachballs, if I go to bittorent window I get beachballs. The only way to fix this is by restarting then everything runs good as new. This isn't normal is it?

I really don't think it is normal. I'm the typical type that tends to have more than a dozen things opened at the same time. On my stock PB15 1.25Ghz 512Mb, I do not get the same issue as you. What version of OS are you on? Could you maybe not be on the latest patch of whatever version?

Jbroad572 · Nov 9, 2003, 06:33 AM

Originally posted by BlueCat:
I really don't think it is normal. I'm the typical type that tends to have more than a dozen things opened at the same time. On my stock PB15 1.25Ghz 512Mb, I do not get the same issue as you. What version of OS are you on? Could you maybe not be on the latest patch of whatever version?

Panther, I would hope the latest version. If I recall correctly, I had the same problem before I upgraded.

cambro · Nov 10, 2003, 11:04 AM

Originally posted by jewing80:
...I've actually seen an full 2 point increase in my Xbench score after a day or so of continuous use....

This is not a significant (i.e., meaningful) result. Rerunning X-bench back-to-back will give scores that vary by more than this.

The reason your machine "feels" faster after it has been on a while involves the memory management in X. Reading from the hard disk to RAM is slow, this happens a lot when the computer is first turned on, hence the slowdown initially.

Things in RAM are not freed until they are needed. So, if you launch an app. for the first time, everything must be read from disk into RAM. If you quit and then launch it again, much of what is needed will already be in RAM from the last launch and will therefore not be read from disk...this gives faster launch time.

lsumharper · Nov 10, 2003, 11:30 AM

I am having this exact same issue. The computer becomes unusably slow after closing applications. Very Weird. Any thoughts?

Matthew.

BTW, what printer do you use, could it be my lexmark printer drivers?

Jbroad572 · Nov 10, 2003, 01:14 PM

It seems to me like the memory is used up still??? I open a website and the rainbow circle pops up for a second or 2 until the pictures load on the site, my apps all take a long time to open (several more bounces). Memory Issue maybe??

lsumharper · Nov 10, 2003, 03:08 PM

Same exact problem I am having. Very weird.

Jbroad572 · Nov 10, 2003, 08:56 PM

Are there any geniuses out there that can help us 2 out?
It'd be greatly appreciated

MountainMac · Nov 10, 2003, 09:23 PM

Originally posted by Jbroad572:
but once I close all the windows and it's just my desktop and maybe the finder

Application Menu->Quit

LfGrdMike · Nov 10, 2003, 09:29 PM

It has to do with how panther caches everything on disk. I believe 10.3.1 addresses the issue. Its normal behavior and as long as you run your cron scripts every 3 weeks you should be fine. If I can explain it better I will later.

If you have enough RAM you wont notice it. I have no page outs for example. Although things still get cached so these things are kind of unrelated in a way.

lsumharper · Nov 11, 2003, 07:33 PM

I have jag not panther. What do you mean by clear the cache?

amazing · Nov 11, 2003, 07:55 PM

Originally posted by lsumharper:
I have jag not panther. What do you mean by clear the cache?

You need to download either OnyX or MacJanitor and run the cron scripts and clear the cache(s).

About the original question, regarding a slowdown: That's probably RAM related, namely needing more RAM. How many pageouts do you have when you notice the slowdown? Safari in particular doesn't seem to play nice with RAM. After restarting, be sure to launch Safari last, that seems to help some people.

cucswiz · Nov 11, 2003, 10:20 PM

Originally posted by amazing:
You need to download either OnyX or MacJanitor and run the cron scripts and clear the cache(s).

About the original question, regarding a slowdown: That's probably RAM related, namely needing more RAM. How many pageouts do you have when you notice the slowdown? Safari in particular doesn't seem to play nice with RAM. After restarting, be sure to launch Safari last, that seems to help some people.

How do you figure out number of pageouts?

threestain · Nov 12, 2003, 06:59 AM

I'm having a similar problem too - it seems to have occurred over the last 2 builds of safari - namely odd unexpected quitting and also slow downs at certain sites - could it be active x or java or something?

Also is onyx worth getting?

lsumharper · Nov 12, 2003, 10:07 AM

I downloaded them both, will give it a shot and report back.

Tomster · Nov 12, 2003, 01:39 PM

I recommend the MenuMeters prefpane. It gives percentage of cpu and ram usage without a trip to the terminal, so no top and vm_stat for people new to unix. Sometimes a process goes south and ties up all the resources. This is a way for you to see when something is up. Without it, there is no visual feedback of what is going on aside from sluggish behavior.

Hope it helps.

lsumharper · Nov 13, 2003, 04:21 PM

I think the two tools worked. Can you configure them to run on auto? J-572, what make model do you have. Mine is a Rev a 12" with base ram.

BTW, I am really think it is my Lexmark x73 driver hosing things up though.

xylon · Nov 13, 2003, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by threestain:
I'm having a similar problem too - it seems to have occurred over the last 2 builds of safari - namely odd unexpected quitting and also slow downs at certain sites - could it be active x or java or something?

Also is onyx worth getting?

I've been having the same problems with Safari...and lately it's been picking just the right times to quit to, like say right when I'm turning in an assignment or something. Booo.

Originally posted by lsumharper:
BTW, I am really think it is my Lexmark x73 driver hosing things up though.

Definitely check this out. I have the Lexmark x83 and I found that the damn driver was eating anywhere from 20-40% of my processor when the printer was connected and 40-90% when the thing wasn't! So pissed at it's poor quality. I killed the process and everything jumped back to normal, but now I have to open the Scan Utility in order to get the driver to turn back on when I want to print something. Pain.

dagaz · Nov 13, 2003, 11:03 PM

see next post

dagaz · Nov 13, 2003, 11:04 PM

How do you figure out number of pageouts?

Type top into the Terminal.

What do you mean by clear the cache?

Type sudo sh /etc/weekly. If your computer is not turned on 24/7 and you don't use a third party utility such as MacJanitor, Onyx (my personal fave) or cocktail, type in sudo sh /etc/daily and sudo sh /etc/monthly. There's a space both before and after the sh command.

If the number of pageouts shown in top is huge, (especially if >1000) you will notice a HUGE difference by adding more RAM.