Post by: Paddy on July 28, 2003, 09:20:29 AM
He is running OS 8.6, has 512MB of RAM, hadn't installed anything new that he could remember... (the most recent thing was QuickTime 6, which he says he installed in May, long before the crashes started) and now it's crashing all the time. He's done a clean install, though admits he moved some of the preferences back, we've run TechTool and Diskwarrior on it, I've told him to zap the PRAM and rebuild the desktop. I've also suggested that he dump the "usual suspects" in the preferences folder (finder etc.) but he hasn't done that yet.
The really strange thing - it starts up sometimes and says "The finder has unexpectedly quit" - but then goes on to start up properly and he uses it for a while and then it crashes. The crashes don't happen consistently with one program or doing one particular thing. He uses Framemaker, Word, & MatLab mostly.
I've asked him why he doesn't just switch to the OS 9 partition, since all his programs will work under 9...but he's stubborn and wants to get OS 8.6 back up and running without crashing.
Anyone have any bright ideas? He doesn't have any external devices attached either, other than a USB XLR8 mouse he's had for eons.
Post by: kelly on July 28, 2003, 09:45:02 AM
http://www.apcmag.com/apc/apcmag.nsf/EA67F...A25692F001AD853
Post by: Paddy on July 28, 2003, 10:29:34 AM
I sent Richard the Alsoft link for FOND fixer - it's here, in case anyone else needs it:
http://www.alsoft.com/AskAl/download.html
I've been living in OS X (and Windoze 98 & XP) more often than the classic OS these days. Our OS 9 machines have been running along like tops - the kids haven't needed my help, so the brain cells get overwritten!
Gotta get my significant other into the 21st century...though it may take a new Powerbook and a major investment in MatLab's OS X compatible version to do it (almost as costly as the Powerbook, BTW). Not any time soon, I fear.
Post by: ljocampo on July 29, 2003, 02:45:19 AM
The first thing I'd do is boot up in safe mode. Hold down the shift key turning off all third party extensions. If it doesn't crash like it was, you know it's a third party extension. If is still crashes then I'd suspect a corrupted FONT or system preference.
Post by: Bernie on July 30, 2003, 08:44:45 AM
Post by: ljocampo on July 30, 2003, 03:49:00 PM
I have never owned a PC, but Apple does consider booting with extensions off the "safe mode." B)