G5 Snow Leopard (10.6.8): stubborn freeze / BBOD / SWOD
Hi Mac-Elves
I'm new here, and really hoping someone can help...
I've been running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on my G5 iMac (20 inch, 2008), and after 7 years of pretty much trouble-free performance, yesterday it finally gave up. I now have the spinning beachball/ pizza thing, and have tried everything I can think of to sort it out - to no avail.
The preamble...
I have been getting the spinning pizza/BBOD increasingly of late. I had cleared a bunch of space on the Hard Drive (35gb free on a 320Gb disc), but had been thinking I might increase the RAM from the current 4Gb to the 6Gb that online posters seem to say my set-up could handle.
I had also been planning to buy another external hard drive, and configure TimeMachine. Full disclosure: I have been foolish, and not done this before.
- about a week ago I installed LittleSnitch.
- a few minutes before it went pear-shaped, I had set up a new WIFI profile, having had to change broadband provider recently (I know this new provider works OK as I'm using it to write this on an old work-related Windows Vista laptop!).
- I ran Ookla Speedtest to see what speed I was getting (not bad: about 14Mb download)
- The speedtest then crashed: I got a message saying that the browser (Waterfox) Flash plugin had crashed
- I noticed that my Waterfox was unresponsive, so hit Command+Option+Esc to open Force Quit Applications
- Watched in horror as for the first time ever, all applications progressively became unresponsive (including Finder) over about 1 minute.
- I did a force-shutdown on the machine, then restarted it.
- It booted up to my usual home screen, and seemed OK. Finder seemed to run, and allow me explore folders; Expose worked, and the hidden dock appeared/disappeared as usual when moused-over, LittleSnitch Network Monitor (top right of screen) seemed to be working. However, the GoogleDrive icon in the top menu bar remained 'preparing to sync', and eventually... spinning pizza/BBOD.
- Also: if I tried to open an application, or even a simple document (eg Text Edit) straight away... spinning pizza/BBOD.
I am not particularly techie, but by pushing through the comfort barrier I think I have narrowed it down to a software problem, by doing the following:
Apple Hardware Test:
I found the relevant utility disc, and ran this by pressing 'D' during start-up.
The very first (quick) test gave me a "4MOT/4/40000003: HDD-13**" message. Stupidly, I forgot to note this full message down at the time, so can't remember the last 2 digits). I've found out that this suggests a Hard-drive fan motor problem.
I then ran 4 extended tests, and 2 more quick ones, hoping to get further clarification. In fact, every time, it reported no issues at all!
???
Disc Utility
I then booted from the Snow Leopard installation disk,(pressed 'C' during start-up) and ran the Disc Utility programme. I verified my main hard disk, and it came back with the recommendation to repair what seemed to be 4 missing files. I ran the repairs and got a 'repairs completed' message.
Tried to then boot from the main Hard Drive - with the same outcome as above (booted to usual home screen, seemed OK, Finder seemed to run, tried to open an application, or even a simple document: spinning pizza/BBOD).
I then booted from the Snow Leopard installation disk again,ran the Disc Utility programme, and verified the Hard Disk Permissions. It came back with the recommendation with quite a few to repair. I Repaired the Disk Permissions, and it seemed to work through all the problems successfully.
The only exception was in relation to one message from the Verify Disc Permissions stage:
"Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been been modified and will not be repaired.
This was the only permission exception that it stated it had not repaired.
I then ran Verify Permissions again, expecting this to be the only issue - but they had all reverted back to the same state as before the repair.
???
Anyway: rebooted from the main hard drive, with the usual problem (booted to usual home screen, seemed OK, Finder seemed to run, tried to open an application, or even a simple document: spinning pizza/BBOD).
Safe Mode
I then tried to boot in Safe Mode (pressed 'Shift' during start-up). Took a while (seems to be ecpected), entered my profile password when asked, and got the standard desktop (minus my usual wallpaper). Click on a folder... and got the spinning pizza/BBOD. Ie, Finder not working properly. NB: up until this stage, I had been getting my own desktop wallpaper; at this stage that disappeared, replace with the default.
'Cleared the 'P-Ram'
I then booted from the Hard Drive holding Command+Option+P+R to (apparently) clear the 'P-Ram': got the expected double boot-up sound, but it made no difference in the end: got the usual desktop (deafulat wallpaper) and after a couple of minutes, the BBOD.
Other info:
I don't currently have access to another Mac, but could probably borrow a Macbook from a friend
I didn't have the G5 configured for remote access, and obviously now am unable to access either Terminal or Console
I am kind of at the limit of my tech knowhow; am not familiar with command line anyway (Used Terminal to force eject discs in the past, but that's it!)
Question: Is there anything more I can realistically do to resolve what appears to be a software problem?
Am assuming that if I can get hold of another Mac, I can connect mine to it in 'target disk mode', route my data through the other onto a new external hard drive, and then reinstall Snow Leopard on mine from the original disks. The upgrade to 10.6.8 then seems to be a free download from Apple.com
I would then seriously consider buying the extra 2GB RAM, to take mine up to 6GB total( 1x2GB and 1 X4GB ), and then upgrade to a newer version of OSX...
I know I've learned the hard way about backing-up... But I'm hoping, if you've read this far, that you might be able to offer some advice - in which case thanks in advance!
G5 spec:
iMac 8.1
(G5, 2008, 20 inch)
OS: Snow Leopard 10.6.8
CPU: Intel Core Duo
CPU speed: 2.66Ghz
L2 CPU cache (shared): 6MB
Boot ROM version: IM81.88Z.00C1.b00.0802091538
RAM:
2 x 1GB RAMs replaced at purhase with the following:
DIMMo/BANK0 2GB 800MHz 256x64M-80F
DIMM1/BANK1 2GB 800MHz 256x64M-80F
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)