[jennefur8675]

I have an iMac 2GB RAM, 2.16 Intel Core Duo, running 10.4.11, 232 GB hard drive space with 180 GB free space. Bought it used last year, has been running awesome up until recently. Spinning rainbow wheel shows its ugly face almost every time I click on something. Its taking longer and longer to get things done on here and I don't know what to do to speed it back up. Can anyone help?

Also, I have Snow Leopard disc here waiting to be installed, but I have had some people tell me that if I install it it may be bad for my system (or may not work at all), since I didn't update it to the version before Snow Leopard first. Any ideas on this?

Thanks!!!!

[Advertisements]

You could carefully backup everything that is important to you: docs/music/videos/programs - time consuming I know - and then do a fresh install. You should not have to upgrade to 10.5 before jumping to 10.6. Are you doing things with older software that has to run in emulation?

How old is the Mac? Is the clock showing any wackiness? Not that it's directly related, but that can indicate the PRAM battery is failing and needs replaced. It is remotely possible that could affect things.

Are you running anything in the "background"? Other processes can slow things down. This discussion at Apple may be helpful: https://discussions....9218506#9218506

[THX1136]

You could carefully backup everything that is important to you: docs/music/videos/programs - time consuming I know - and then do a fresh install. You should not have to upgrade to 10.5 before jumping to 10.6. Are you doing things with older software that has to run in emulation?

How old is the Mac? Is the clock showing any wackiness? Not that it's directly related, but that can indicate the PRAM battery is failing and needs replaced. It is remotely possible that could affect things.

Are you running anything in the "background"? Other processes can slow things down. This discussion at Apple may be helpful: https://discussions....9218506#9218506

[jennefur8675]

Thanks for your reply, but a short while after I posted about this problem, it crashed. I could not get past the white screen with the apple logo. I have had it looked at by a local guy and he said it was the motherboard, $800 fix. Genius bar at Apple said it was most likely the hard drive, $250-300 fix. Any ideas on who might be right? Thanks for your help!

[THX1136]

This may be helpful: https://discussions....105512#15105512

Also, does the Mac make ay noises while the white screen is up? If there are ticking noises it could most definitely be the hard drive. The fact that you said things were slowing down on the Mac would point in that direction. I've lost much of the terminology in my head, but there is a "safe" mode you can start up in. Press the power button. Immediately after hearing the start tone hold down the shift key. Release the sift key when you see the grey screen. This article may be helpful: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

If it is the hard drive - and if you feel confident in your abilities - you could buy and install one on your own. This wold make your cost much lower - just the cost of a new drive (1 TB drives are going for around $125 or so, but the cost is going up due to weather disruptions were most are manufactured). You have most likely lost everything that is on your current HD unfortunately. You will need your original Apple OS disc(s) to boot from so you can re-install the OS. Then the process of putting all the other software back on the drive follows. OWC is a good source of how-to's for this kind of thing as far as hard drive installs. They are at macsales.com

I've also heard of a process that may allow you to retrieve the data on your bad drive. It requires having another working drive already installed and a way to hook up your damaged drive externally. Here's two articles on the subject: http://geeksaresexy....cover-data.html & http://www.datarecov...ery-freeze.html

Hope this helps you out. (and I definitely hope it is just your HD) Best wishes on this one.

[jennefur8675]

Thank you. As I recall, I dont think it made any noise. I haven't used it in a few months now. I tried the shift key start up thing before it totally crashed, but no luck there. I would feel confident installing a hard drive on a laptop or regular desktop, but this is an imac, all in one and I'm reluctant to try to open this thing.

[THX1136]

I would encourage you to check out the "how to" videos at OWC on the installation. They - OWC - are very good in this area and I highly recommend them. It would at least give you a better idea of the level of difficulty you'd be facing. Hope it works out for you.

[jennefur8675]

Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it!! I have been looking for help with this for months. While I have your attention right now, I have a pc laptop that I am having trouble with also, but no one has replied to that one and its been awhile. If you can find that post, could you please see if you have any advice on that one also. If u can't find the post, I will tell u its a toshiba about 3 yrs old, running vista. Every month or so, it begins to freeze and I have to reboot every 5-10 minutes if I want to keep using it. The only"fix" I have found is to reinstall vista. But its only temporary, lasts about a month and then I have to reinstall again. What could the problem be? I would like a real fix instead of just reinstalling. Thank you!!

[THX1136]

From what you describe it sounds like you are being infected by a virus or other malware. With such a huge installed user base Windows is a natural target for folks wanting to disrupt things. I'm more a Mac guy as I've used Macs since 98 or 99. My current Mac - a MDD G4 - runs so well I've kind of lost some of my repair knowledge.

Do you have anti-virus software installed? If not that might be a good investment. What you describe sounds like you get a fresh install and then get infected again. A local guy that I've talked to that works with Windows PC repairs told me that you can pick up malware without even knowing it - and this is from trusted sites where you wouldn't expect it to happen. The virus/worm/trojan/etc. rides in on the back of something and then doesn't manifest itself until much later. So, again, if you do not have anti-virus software installed I would encourage you to get what you can afford and keep it up to date. Hope this gives you a place to start anyway. Best of luck.

[jennefur8675]

I have anti virus, so I don't believe that's it, but I will loook into it further, thank you.