Computer Help Vol. Mac Edition

[mitchellicious]

Alright, so my 2.66ghz iMac keeps crashing and I have no idea why. It's almost 2 years old, but has just started crashing and slowing down recently when Ihave a few apps open. It tends to crash on programs like Safari, Firefox, iTunes and Toast, which it never used to do. The thing used to run like a beast, butjust isn't cutting it anymore.

I had never used the "Repair Disk Permissions" function until a couple weeks ago, and I've used it at least five times since to no avail. Idon't know if it has a virus, I don't even know if it can get a virus? I've tried clearing out some apps and freeing up some hdd space, but Idon't think that has helped. I'm also running a USB external hard drive, and the computer seems to run slower when that is connected.

I have no idea what is wrong and desperately need some help. Please.

PS. I don't wanna see a whole lot of "shoulda bought a pc" responses because I have 2 in other areas of the house and only 1 of those is runningbadly

 

[me4u2night]

How much ram do you have and what operating system are you running.

If its 2 years old, Im guessing you're running at least 10.5 or 10.6. Both OS need 1 gig of ram to run but you may need at least 3 gigs if you'rerunning a bunch of programs. Check to see if any of the ram chips have went bad.

If it keeps acting up do a system restore.

 

[seniosoul]

Originally Posted by Mitchellicious

Alright, so my 2.66ghz iMac keeps crashing and I have no idea why. It's almost 2 years old, but has just started crashing and slowing down recently when I have a few apps open. It tends to crash on programs like Safari, Firefox, iTunes and Toast, which it never used to do. The thing used to run like a beast, but just isn't cutting it anymore.

I had never used the "Repair Disk Permissions" function until a couple weeks ago, and I've used it at least five times since to no avail. I don't know if it has a virus, I don't even know if it can get a virus? I've tried clearing out some apps and freeing up some hdd space, but I don't think that has helped. I'm also running a USB external hard drive, and the computer seems to run slower when that is connected.

I have no idea what is wrong and desperately need some help. Please.

PS. I don't wanna see a whole lot of "shoulda bought a pc" responses because I have 2 in other areas of the house and only 1 of those is running badly

since you mentioned "computer" I'm gonna assume you're using a desktop.
I suggest you take it to a shop and get it checked out.
But I would suggest you replace the power supply.
Take a CAn of air and blow off the motherboard, while the comp is unplugged and powered off..remember no to touch any of the inside components while blowing itwith the air.
tell me how it runs when the EXT. HD is not connected; does it still crash? and does the EXT. HD have its own power cord.

 

[josebronx]

shouldve got a PC

 

[mitchellicious]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got 4gb of ram so that shouldn't be the problem, and I'm running os 10.5 with the latest updates. I'm thinkingabout doing an archive and restore with the os 10.5 disc that came with the mac so that I don't lose any data.

Also the external does run off it's own power supply and copying anything over to it takes quite a while.

I think cleaning it could also be an option, it may have some dust where it shouldn't have.

 

[blondsoccerplyr]

Originally Posted by Mitchellicious

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got 4gb of ram so that shouldn't be the problem, and I'm running os 10.5 with the latest updates. I'm thinking about doing an archive and restore with the os 10.5 disc that came with the mac so that I don't lose any data.

Also the external does run off it's own power supply and copying anything over to it takes quite a while.

I think cleaning it could also be an option, it may have some dust where it shouldn't have.

Use your harddrive to backup all of your files, they upgrade to 10.6 and do a full fresh install.