[davidaronson]

Hi. I've got a G5 with a 10.3.9 system, so it's no surprise perhaps that it's slowing down. But when I try to zap it with the PRAM maneuver, the machine just turns on, ignoring the command. Any ideas?

Thanks,
David

[He's dead Jim]

this is nothing to do with resetting pram. but it may help ??
How to reset the SMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)

[P]

Are you using a wireless keyboard, perhaps? That won't work for PRAM resets, at least on most machines.

[Art Vandelay]

If you have an Open Firmware password set, you won't be able to zap the PRAM until you disable it.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by P 

Are you using a wireless keyboard, perhaps? That won't work for PRAM resets, at least on most machines.

Given that Macs haven't had PRAM in the strict sense for years and years, that's not surprising! (No Mac with Bluetooth has "classic" PRAM.)

[besson3c]

To go about this from a different angle, I'd be willing to bet that zapping your PRAM will have absolutely no bearing on your machine's performance. I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

To go about this from a different angle, I'd be willing to bet that zapping your PRAM will have absolutely no bearing on your machine's performance. I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

I was thinking the same thing.

Why was it that you wanted to reset the PRAM to begin with, David?

[P]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Given that Macs haven't had PRAM in the strict sense for years and years, that's not surprising! (No Mac with Bluetooth has "classic" PRAM.)

I know, but holding the magic key combo still does reset some things.

[tooki]

Nothing useful for the things people think it’s useful for. What does help with some specific symptoms is to reset the SMU, which is a different set of button presses. But like repairing permissions, it’s voodoo 99% of the time. People do it because they want to try something and don’t really know where to begin, so they do that.

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by tooki 

Nothing useful for the things people think it’s useful for. What does help with some specific symptoms is to reset the SMU, which is a different set of button presses. But like repairing permissions, it’s voodoo 99% of the time. People do it because they want to try something and don’t really know where to begin, so they do that.

Quoted for truth.

SMU resets and permissions repair are the big things I see people do as voodoo repair before they call me at PUC.

[P]

I know it's voodoo in most cases (it DID help against the flickering screen on the 27" iMacs), but I'm just answering a question.

Repairing permissions is less than useless.

[jmiddel]

David, why don't you try downloading the 10.3.9 combo updater (link below) and applying it. That will clean things up and restore the original speed, pretty much. I had a G5, it ran real well on Leopard. Unfortunately it is hard to find a copy unless you want to pay way above the original price on eBay. Also, how much RAM do you have? Anything less than 2 Gigs will choke your machine.

And yes,folks are right about these 'voodoo' practices, but wasn't there a time when everyone of them was useful, and is it not a tribute to Apple's engineers that they are obsolete now

Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.9

[mkerr64]

how do you reset it with a bluetooth keyboard... i tried using wired but failed in doing so :S