corrupt OS?
First problem (took months to learn what exactly was wrong), the System password keychain was corrupted. One of the good folks here guided me through that issue.
Next, after being VERY stable for several months, Firefox started crashing a few months ago, insanely frequently. It seemed to start right after an update. It acted a bit like a memory management problem, but I checked the Activity Monitor, and that's not it. Plus Safari does it, too! Sometimes I'll attempt to launch the app and it will crash instantly, sometimes it crashes when the computer is asleep or idle. It will crash on "simple" websites, with several or a few windows open, with no other apps running. Rebooting sometimes seems to help, but not always. I even deleted everything Firefox, and downloaded a fresh, up-to-date version... still crashes.
Initially, when I would use any of my old apps in Classic mode, this would start the instability problem, which would resolve when I rebooted, but the instability got worse, and Firefox or Safari can crash soon after a reboot, no Classic mode involved.
Last week, Office '08 crashed, and I couldn't launch ANY of its apps. I researched this, and learned that deleting the Preferences would fix this, but not in my case: the app starts to launch, then quits. MS technical support suggested some things (including fresh install), but no success (install failed, they've sent me a new disc). They suggested I try to download a free trial version, but an hour into that download, the browser crashed.
Also, one of the widgets in my Dashboard fell off the desktop. It's still in the dock, so I tried (repeatedly) to drag it back to the desktop, but after a few moments, it falls off again and generates an error report. I searched my install discs for a way to reinstall that, or to find the file on the Apple site or with Google, all with no luck. A day later, ALL the widgets fell off the desktop, but I was eventually able to get them back.
I never experienced a corrupted System or other s/w with previous Macs, and I'm still a neophyte with OSX, but I'm now suspicious of this OS as the culprit. Am I on the right track or not???
If I AM on the right track, and I need to reformat and reinstall everything (Geez, how "Windows"!), I'm lost at finding the files to back up. I've sequestered nearly all my data files into one folder, and found the Firefox bookmarks, etc. But I don't know where the Address Book data is, or Mail, or Keychain, or iTunes. Perhaps there's other files and settings I can back up?
(I need to know this info, to back up, anyway... long over due after 8 months! And I'm thinking of upgrading the HD in the iBook to 320G, so will need to know how to do this then.)
You might imagine how frustrating this is, and how much it interferes with productivity! But I'm reluctant to simply reformat, and go through all that entails, if that's not the problem. Any experience with something like this, anyone???
Thanks!!!
iBook 1.42GHz G4 (1.5GB, Superdrive), LaserWriter 360 Select/AsanteTalk, Mac OS X (10.4.11)