OS 9 running very slow on 400 MHz G4 'Mystic'

Your problem could be related to several things. You have adequate RAM for OS 9, but more would be better. Using Virtual Memory uses your hard drive for additional RAM, when needed. Accessing your hard drive is not near as fast as accessing real RAM.

What version of OS 9 are you using? The last version is 9.2.2.

If you click once on iCab's icon & open Get Info>Memory, is the Preferred Size set for more than the Suggested Size? With iCab open, go to its Preferences & find the Cache window. Clear Cache & see if that makes a difference.

How much free/available space do you have on your hard drive?

Have you run any diagnostics on your hard drive? Like Disk First Aid, DiskWarrior or Norton DiskDoctor?

OS 9 browsers are basically out of date compared to the sophistication of today's web page designs & use of java & flash. Plus most web pages now have a lot of graphics. The web page designers assume that Macs & PCs have processor speeds faster than 1.5GHz, at least Tiger 10.4 & the latest versions of Flash.

However, I have a G3 Wallstreet 300MHz laptop running OS 9.2.2 (& Mozilla browser) that doesn't see to be as slow as you describe.

Suggest you try the Mozilla browser @ http://wamcom.org/latest-131/

 Cheers, Tom 😉

I also think your troubles are memory and disk related.

For best performance, conventional wisdom is to have lots of real RAM and to set Virtual Memory only a little larger than real memory, like 1M larger. When you set Virtual Memory so much higher than real memory, you are asking your Mac to simulate a large physical memory by using your Disk Drive. It is happy to do so, but at a steep price in performance.

In addition, OS 9 pre-allocates memory for each Application, and most Browsers ship with an unrealistic setting of about 10,000 KB, when 50,000 KB or more is needed for reasonable performance.

Use "About This Mac" from the Apple Menu to get a chart of memory use. The outer portion of the bar for each Application indicates its maximum setting, the inner portion represents what it is actually using. If there is no headroom, that generally indicates the Application would run faster with a larger Allocation.

Select the Application Icon (not an Alias) and choose GetInfo from the file menu to increase the Memory Allocation for an individual Application.

Set Virtual Memory to "129."




"It previously had 256 MB of RAM"

If you return the other stick, either turn VM off or set it to "257."





!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!

The B-tree header message indicates some directory corruption on your hard drive. Disk First Aid can't repair this problem. DiskWarrior can probably fix your problem. DiskWarrior by Alsoft
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html You'll need to call Alsoft to get an older version (probably version 2 or 3) of DW that will fix OS 9 problems.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Hi, videoCWK -

Also, what would be the consequences of not fixing it soon? Could the problem get worse?

Directory problems usually get worse over time, sometimes quickly. When that happens, if you're lucky the initial symptoms will be files or programs that fail to open; if you're not lucky, the OS will no longer work.

You should repair it before anything negative happens to the operation of the computer.

Could this be fixed with an OS 9 install disc?

Not exacctly. The only utility available for repair work on the CD is Disk First Aid. Although DFA is smart enough to diagnose such a problem, it does not have the ability to make repairs to the directory.

You could use such a disk to deep wipe (re-initialize and format) the hard drive. This is usually not a fun thing to do, since it fully erases the hard drive. You would first need to back up anything you do not want to lose (unless you already have current backups); deep wipe the drive; then re-install the OS and all programs you need, and copy needed files from their backup archive.

DiskWarrior is a very good utility to have on hand. The latest version of it that boots/runs under OS 9 is v. 2.1.1. It can usually fix this kind of directory damage with no loss of files, leaving your hard drive in the exact same configuration you've become used to.

***

Additional things you can do to improve the speed and responsiveness of OS 9 -

• In the Extensions Manager control panel, disable (uncheck) all extensions for services you do not use. Doing this will reduce the footprint of the OS - all active (checkmarked) extensions are loaded at startup, whether they are needed or not.

For example, if you do not use File Sharing you can disable all extensions related to that service. In case you're not familiar with Extensions Manager's features, you can set up new sets of extensions with names you give them; this allows reasonably rapid switching between sets. Note that a restart is required whenever you make changes to the active set, or change sets.

There is also an additional pane available at the bottom of its window - click the triangle next to "Show Item Information" and that pane will appear; then, whenever you clkick on the name of an item in the list, any additional info about it will be displayed there. This info can help you determine whether you need that item active or not.

• Don't go font crazy. Like extensions, all fonts in the Fonts folder are loaded at startup. Having a ton of fonts in there will slow down the OS.

• Since you have a relatively small amount of RAM in the machine, avoid bells and whistles type utilities, meaning those that affect the look and feel of the machine. These can include items such as BeHierarchic, DefaultFolder, PowerOn Utilities, and others. Though many of those are good and can be useful, they do add to the OS's burden on the CPU, and to RAM consumption.

• Avoid having a picture displayed on the desktop. Best is a single color, not even a pattern.