powerbook G4 - new disk - 10.4.11, locks after sleep

Question

powerbook G4 - new disk - 10.4.11, locks after sleep

I love this powerbook.

But it reported disk problmes, so I upgraded to a SSD, and did a clean install of 10.4.11.

It now hangs after returning from sleep.

Some googling revealed lots of posts about similar symptoms, so I've done the reset of authorities, and cleared logs so I can examine any info after getting the box back. Nothing obvious to be seen.

I can now reproduce the failure by either sending it to sleep, or closing the lid (same effect)

On first awaking, the cursor is available, and mouse movements will be recognised - apparently for as long as I want.

On a first attempt to open a program though, the pc hangs, so it is apparently being denied access to 'something'

Could anyone give me some clues as to how best to narow this down?

Before the reload, it was full of stuff, and had been steadily upgraded from 10.3.3 as supplied (its a power PC) and had masses of development tools and stuff on there, ending with a purchased upgrade to 10.4.11.

I'm guessing that either a PTF has been missed, and needs to be applied to 10.4.11, or that hte driver for the disk has a subtle difference and the process of reloading from the hibernation file is hanging up.

I'd appreciate any pointers on better diagnosis, or of course some simpole obvious fix like 'set the furtwangle option to blue'

Thanks all,

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Mar 31, 2013 3:59 AM

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Answer 1

dalstott

Level 4

2,639 points

Mar 31, 2013 3:30 PM in response to Yorkshireman.

Try starting in safe mode to see if a conflicting program is responsible.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455

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Answer 2

Apr 13, 2013 5:32 AM in response to dalstott

Thanks for that.

Some progress here.

If I start in Safe mode it seems to be stable, so its something which is loaded in 'not safe' mode.

There seem to be plenty of logs though, but no overall system log (I'm used to IBM i which is seriously good at telling you what's going on)

I've been looking for some form of startup script, list of services to start, or whatever, so I can incrementally enable them unti lI find the culprit.

I suspect that previously the box had been incrementally updated from its original operating system to 10.4, and the dozens of 'other' apps and updates had taken care of this issue.

So, Thanks for the suggestion - huge help

second question, where do I look for its startup list?

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Answer 3

Apr 13, 2013 5:43 AM in response to Yorkshireman.

Have you tried a PRAM reset?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

After resetting NVRAM or PRAM, you may need to reconfigure your settings for speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and time zone information.

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Answer 4

Apr 13, 2013 5:46 AM in response to Yorkshireman.

Hold on

I've discoverd the /system/library/startup directory

and moved on from there.

There are aliases the disk directory ' .vol' and 'dev' which say ' volume not found' - that suggests to me at any rate that the machine will hang when it encounters it. Is this so, should they be deleted.

Wooaa - down the slope of OSx configuration - new stuff to learn.

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Answer 5

dalstott

Level 4

2,639 points

Apr 13, 2013 8:14 AM in response to Yorkshireman.

I don't have any answers but wish to alert you to a program that may aid you in searching throught the Mac file jungle.

Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X 10.3 (and later). It shows the sizes of files and folders in a special graphical way called "treemaps". It is free and can also show any file in the finder.

http://www.derlien.com/

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