10.3.9 problem

Depending on which early non-FireWire iBook G3 build you have can affect

how the System will function. The issue may be due to insufficient RAM, or

lack of 'free' or unused hard disk drive space (for virtual memory use by OS X)

or both. The early iBook may have a base RAM on the board of either 32 or 64

MB, and by adding an upgrade RAM chip (1-PC66 3.3v 144-pin SO-DIMM) to

the upgrade slot, the total could then be either 544 or 576MB.

And if the original capacity hard disk drive is still installed, which could be 3.2

or 6.0 GB, that also can limit performance with Panther 10.3.9.

What processor version does your iBook have: a 300 or 366MHz CPU?

These numbers all can affect performance and to some extent the graphics

and system limits can have results that are poorer than expected.

In my early iBook G3, I turned off Screen Saver altogether, even though mine

had 576MB RAM, and I had the later version iBook w/FireWire; so it later

could run Tiger 10.4.11, which the early model you have cannot. The screen

saver settings such as Flurry and other animations would freeze it up.

Without knowing the specifications for your early iBook build, what else that

may be helpful to try & do, is limited and speculative. A larger capacity hard

disk drive may be helpful, though there is a low ceiling on the size it can use.

Given the tiny capacities of original equipment were paltry by today's ideas,

and small graphics specs, Panther 10.3.9 would be a burden in a base iBook

without the RAM at maximum capacity and at least a 20GB HDD, with plenty

of free hard disk drive space for virtual memory for the OS X and applications.

Sorry to not be of much help...! 😐

A big consideration is disk space. If your hard drive is over 85% full you will run into lagging. If you switch back and forth to Mac OS 9, permissions can get strayed and need to be repaired when you return to Mac OS X. If you have a large number of photos in iPhoto that can also slow down the screen saver.

Games should be rated for your Graphics Processor unit. 4MB of VRAM is all that you have on that machine. And all you have is 800 x 600 resolution, which few games actually support.

And the WiFi is 802.11b which is insecure, not to mention limited to 11 Mbps. If you use WiFi, get an ethernet/wifi bridge instead of using the airport card if one was installed.

Upgrade to 576MB of RAM using iBook SE RAM. Do not buy RAM that says it is just 144-pin PC66 SO-DIMM. It has to say iBook SE. http://www.macsales.com/http://www.crucial.com/ and http://www.datamem.com/ all sell by model name lifetime warranty RAM.

Make sure your time setting connects to the internet to get the current time, as it is likely the capacitor is too old to maintain its own time.

Most specs including those I mentioned that are relevant to your inquiry,

are listed in pages such as this one at Everymac.com about the iBook:

•iBook G3/366 SE (Original/Clamshell) Specs (M7716LL/A, PowerBook2.1, M2453)

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/specs/ibook_se.html

The RAM chips should be most specific to the iBook model, the SE, to be sure.

Another source of information, among several online, is a download application

from http://mactracker.ca that shows almost every Mac made & upgrade specs.

Also, if you look up parts by correct computer nomenclature, several sites that

sell them will have details in the pages where you can match part to product.

OWC macsales, powerbookmedic, and others have an assortment; and if you

have questions, many of the good ones have people who know their stuff. They

also can help you better if you know yours, too and re-read what's been written.

If your computer has the 366MHz processor, it should be the SE. This would be

the model just prior to the one with FireWire that was build next in line. The first

iBook was 300MHz, yours would be second if it has no FireWire, & is 366MHz.

See specs:

•Apple iBook Specs (All iBook Technical Specs - G3 through G4) everymac.com

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/index-ibook.html

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

edited

The screen savers with moving images rely on graphic memory

and that is not affected by standard system RAM, it is fixed as

a permanent item on the logic board with graphics module.

A few later build more recent models (MacBook, example)

have a GPU that shares main system RAM, to an extent.

{Given the low end of these, reluctant to say it has a GPU in

the modern sense of how much better graphics is processed

in much later hardware than the earliest iBook G3 colors.}

So that may not help much. I used to keep the screensavers

turned off, since some of them tended to freeze-up the Mac.

Even now, with my few PPC G4 models, I do not use them.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Yes, so long as it is either manufacturer installed RAM, or RAM from OWC http://www.macsales.com/http://www.datamem.com/ or http://www.crucial.com/

Any others are suspect. So are ValueRAM suspect. Be careful not to damage the memory slot clips as they can be fragile and to use static electricity wristband properly.