Programs freezing solid

I must look into that geographic location thing.. its interesting the different places we are all in. I have been in NZ many years but am from Melbourne.

The memory thing is something i have been considering. the memory specs showing are correct .. the 1GB in one slot and 256 in the other both with matching parameters , maybe i could get another 1Gb. The more i put in the more trouble i seem to be having but perhaps its coincidental.

I'm not on that computer at the moment but i think son and i chose DDR1 400 PC 3200 something like that but i'll check when next i reacquaint myself with it.

Your comment about the PC 100 thing.... had a look at what was in this ( 10.4) machine while sorting 3 of them out and although there were two sticks in the slots only one registered, the other was a PC 100 322 620, made no impression at all.

Last 3 letters are T8M

When you refer to PC ram not working in macs do you mean just pc designation or Windows PC? My (properly working) computer has 2X PC 133U sticks in it and its fine, the PC 100 that didn't register has an Apple sticker on it.

Of the ones you mention i would only be looking for eMac ones, the others like mac mini and so on don't seem to have the same parameters when i read them on Trade Me. A pattern becomes apparent when you keep reading them.

I do need to eliminate any ram problems but an effort has been made here to be correct with this.

The model i'm on now is PowerMacG4 1Ghz which falls outside the 1.25- 1.42 and i have a feeling that the other one is same but i need to confirm . I am making list of what i need to do when i start it up. Any time soon now... involved in moving house and changing to different work depot.

Sure it will be helpful to clarify the ram situation but at the same time i don't want to focus just on that, i will be surprised if the ram is very unsuitable but then again if it fixes the problem so be it, i still wonder about the wisdom of 10.5 on the Emac but we will cross that bridge no doubt.

As i have said to BDAqua i am making a list of what i need to check when i turn it on, i will get the info regarding model, ram etc and a pic of the activity. I pretty much know the info in my head but we have to be specfic now.

Regarding the brutal ⚠temporary homicide of Finder, i doubt i could do it, nothing would respond so wouldn't have been able to get to Terminal, there was not a scrap of response to anything. when i say frozen i mean stark rigid impassive.

Would you please tell me if Spotlight is disabled can it be reinstated at any stage? I won't disable it yet until we have discussed the other matters.

There are 3 of you trying to help me and i'm grateful, the advice is good but we need to take step at a time. i can't print your answers so i will set up a mailbox for each of you for quick reference......

Stone the crows and pluck a duck i thought we were onto something here. I thought the mac was 1Ghz and if it was only supposed to have 512 sticks in it then i had too much in one slot but i have turned it on and got all the info i need and it turns out to be a 1.42 so that's sort of good but rules out too much memory ? I didn't do anything with it other than read mail, take photos and emailed them to myself so i could be sure they were safely on (this) other computer. I just attached an image and deleted it by mistake. Just before i do it again i'd like to ask about the line- L2 cache per cpu 512- is this anything to do with how much memory should be installed?

I have the screenshot! turned it on but no browsers, read and sent mail, took pictures and got out while i was ahead.

I was thinking it was 1ghz but its 1.42.

Seems to be quiet on the CPU front ? But i have seen it at 100% when it was locked up. You will be able to decipher it. Have just realised you need pics of the other tabs in Activity Monitor, i'll send what i have and hopefully do others tomorrow.

Ok i will increase the memory and yet i did have 1.5 in total-- 1gb and 512 for a short time and had some problems and decided there might be incompatibilty so changed the 512 for a 256 which at least matched the 1gb. I'm pretty sure it locked up a bit at that time too. However i now know where i stand at least with the memory, i'll send some of this to Allan also who seems to have knowledge of the rams and see if all you experts are of a similar mind.

Ok Allan i have a screenshot of the memory in my disturbed computer. I did think the computer was a 1ghz model but its a 1.42. My previous reference to the 256 memory sticks was that when i bought it ( with Leopard installed) it had 2x 256 sticks in it. Fortunately i (and son) have some knowledge and thought this wasn't enough, had we not known it could have ended up more of a mess ( if that's possible). And i really did enjoy the idea i might be able to drive to Oregon or even fly for that matter.

I forgot i took another shot of the monitor, i split the picture cos my name appears all down the middle. It doesn't line up properly but hope you understand. What size do we look at .. Real Memory or Virtual?

That is good news. I didn't know of faulty logic boards until you told me so i was spared that anguish as a possible reason for the problems but its only good luck that my one is ok unless perhaps the faulty ones might not have lasted as long as this one has.

I don't want to use it(fully) until i'm pretty sure we have some answers, i know its only time until it locks up again, it had done it 3 times before i finally contacted the forum and each time i had to disconnect the power, it isn't going to suddenly fix itself, BDAqua has said put in 2gb memory and i will do that when i buy some.

I just want to add that it was handy to read in your previous message that 1Ghz eMacs take only 512 sticks, there are 2x 512 in my 1Ghz machine and its working well but i didn't have much knowledge and some of it is good luck up to this point.

I didn't realise you had made jibes at me, everything seemed ok so i wasn't quick on the uptake. Occasionally i have come across a sarcastic or pompous remark but i don't recall any on this site. Most of us would appreciate proper attempts to help us and if experts don't want to help then its best not to answer.

I rarely come across a mac user where i live and any classes are kilometers away and they try to have an agenda rather than cover any problems so i am stuck. There are a lot of people who can help with Windows but they don't know how to help someone who "hasn't got a real computer".

I find the awards sytem on the Apple site to be a bit annoying, it only allows one "This solved my problem" per thread or so it seems and yet in a situation like mine sometimes more than one thing gets solved along the way but i can't award "solved" points to more than one person. At least that's how it seems