[wfisher]

My iBook G4 was starting to get slow and apps started to crash a lot so I decided to reformat. I reformatted the drive (with zero all data) and reinstalled 10.3. I then applied all the new software updates, loaded my backed-up data and starting using the computer as before. Even after a new install, apps like Mail, iTunes, iChat and especially Safari continually crash. They crash at least twice an hour, usually safari. This doesn't happen nearly as often on an iMac I have.

At first I thought it was software, apparently not. Maybe it is bad RAM (I bought cheap RAM), yet both Apple Hardware Test and TTP4 say the RAM is fine. TTP4 in fact reports everything fine! I've repaired permissions, zapped PRAM, reset the nvram in open firmware, reset PMU and done all the tests I can. Still, apps crash too frequently. The only possibility I see is maybe I got a corrupt install CD but that seems highly unlikely.

The problem would be much easier if it were a specific application crashing but it's a few and I can't find anything online with such a problem. Any ideas? Thanks.


-Will Fisher

[wadesworld]

Sounds like bad RAM is definitely the most likely culprit.

Wade

[larkost]

Note: Computers are not RAM testers. They have never been and will never make good ones. There are commercial RAM testers that are made to do this. Software RAM testers will only catch the worst of offenders, and leave most of the major problems unchecked.

[Detrius]

Neither AHT nor TTP are extensive RAM testers. There is a program that is not publicly available called Apple Service Diagnostics that does a REALLY good job of testing RAM. Talk to the people at your local Apple Authorized Repair Center. They can run the test for you. If the problem turns out to be the third party RAM (or software), don't expect it to be covered under Apple's warranty.