OS 10.3.9 - No web

ebackhus · 01-25-2007, 09:08 AM

My co-worker has an iBook G4 933Mhz 640MB RAM that won't play on the web. She has Safari 1.3.2, IE (5.2 Mac) and FireFox (Version unknown) and all exhibit one particular problem: they crash the iBook. Safari will work for about a minute before the system goes down and displays a grey box that tells you to restart. Other Internet applications, such as Yahoo! Messenger, work perfectly. I couldn't get a Firefox version because the browser'd crash the system before I could get to that info.

Ideas?

Yes, I've updated it with the latest security patches.

ArturoYee · 01-25-2007, 11:49 AM

Have you tried to create a new account/user and see if Safari works in that account?

ebackhus · 01-25-2007, 12:12 PM

I haven't, but I'll give that a try and see how it works. Thanks for the suggestion. :)

Ok... I tried it and it still died on me. No grey box, just a straight lockup.

sinclair_tm · 01-25-2007, 12:21 PM

wow, eb, sounds bad. ok, have you repaired permissions? what does the error logs say? are they all trying to go to the same site on launch?

ebackhus · 01-25-2007, 12:32 PM

I don't know what the permissions are? :3 I've yet to examine the error log as she didn't bring the AC block (no idea why...) but I'll try to get that ASAP. I'm off Friday-Sunday so I likely won't see the machine until next week.

They are trying to visit www.yahoo.com upon startup, but I've tried other sites and get the same result.

sinclair_tm · 01-25-2007, 12:43 PM

ok, this is going to be tuff running only on battery. in the utilities folder in the apps folder is disk utility. open that, then select the boot drive in the left collum. now in the right side click on the 1st aid tab. toward the bottom of that window will be some buttons that say varify and repair permissions and disk. click on the repair permissions button and let it work its way throught the hard drive. make sure that no other apps are running. speaking of which, are there any other apps running when she tryies to launch the browsers?

ebackhus · 01-25-2007, 01:05 PM

OK, it's scanning and it's found quite a few variations. I just hope there's enough juice left to finish this...

ebackhus · 01-25-2007, 01:15 PM

Yo.

Didn't fix it. Still crashes when firing up FF and nothing else is working quite right yet. I'm suggesting a restore of the OS for this machine.

sinclair_tm · 01-25-2007, 04:34 PM

well, there is one other thing to do before wipeing the drive, and thats trashing the pref files. wait till i get home, and on my mac to figure out where they are. but if you feel up to it, the pref files most of the time live in the folder <username>/library/preferences, and all the files for a given app will most of the time have the apps name in the file name (ie safari's i think is com.apple.safari). make sure the app is closed, drag the file to the trash, and then relaunch the app. this will force the app to rewrite the pref file. if this doesn't help, and resetting safari didn't work, than a reformat may be the thing. i'd still like to know what the error log says. in the utility folder, open the app console, and poke around in there until you find safari's error log, and see if you can tell what its doing before dieing.

ebackhus · 01-26-2007, 12:45 AM

I'm at home right now so I don't have the Mac in front of me. One of the more recent updates on it was for Java. Have you heard of it having any effect on browsers? All three cause problems so it's gotta be rooted there.

Heh, and people say IE's integration with Windows is problematic.

Thanks for the help you've provided thus far, Sinc. I really do appreciate having your guidance as I haven't really worked on a Mac since OS 7.1 was popular.

sinclair_tm · 01-26-2007, 12:03 PM

well, ie is way out of date for os x, ms is even telling people to use safari. as for the java update, how was it run, throught apple's system updater, or by a seperate java updater?

ebackhus · 01-26-2007, 12:42 PM

She doesn't even use IE, it's just... there. The Java update was done using the OX Updater.

ArturoYee · 01-26-2007, 01:08 PM

I think the iBook has a firewire port - if it does and you have access to a firewire drive, you can clone the drive and repair the clone and see if that solves the problem. It is easy to boot to the clone drive.

I've restored several Macs (due to corrupted files and bad hard drives) - It worked in every case.

I use Carbon Copy Cloner as the cloning utility.

01-25-2007, 09:08 AM	#1 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	OS 10.3.9 - No web My co-worker has an iBook G4 933Mhz 640MB RAM that won't play on the web. She has Safari 1.3.2, IE (5.2 Mac) and FireFox (Version unknown) and all exhibit one particular problem: they crash the iBook. Safari will work for about a minute before the system goes down and displays a grey box that tells you to restart. Other Internet applications, such as Yahoo! Messenger, work perfectly. I couldn't get a Firefox version because the browser'd crash the system before I could get to that info. Ideas? Yes, I've updated it with the latest security patches. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-25-2007, 11:49 AM	#2 (permalink)
ArturoYee Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 134 OS: XP Home, OS X 10.5 MacBook	Create a new account? Have you tried to create a new account/user and see if Safari works in that account?

01-25-2007, 12:12 PM	#3 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	I haven't, but I'll give that a try and see how it works. Thanks for the suggestion. :) Ok... I tried it and it still died on me. No grey box, just a straight lockup. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-25-2007, 12:32 PM	#5 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	I don't know what the permissions are? :3 I've yet to examine the error log as she didn't bring the AC block (no idea why...) but I'll try to get that ASAP. I'm off Friday-Sunday so I likely won't see the machine until next week. They are trying to visit www.yahoo.com upon startup, but I've tried other sites and get the same result. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses. Last edited by ebackhus; 01-25-2007 at 12:33 PM.

01-25-2007, 01:05 PM	#7 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	OK, it's scanning and it's found quite a few variations. I just hope there's enough juice left to finish this... __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-25-2007, 01:15 PM	#8 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	Yo. Didn't fix it. Still crashes when firing up FF and nothing else is working quite right yet. I'm suggesting a restore of the OS for this machine. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-26-2007, 12:45 AM	#10 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	I'm at home right now so I don't have the Mac in front of me. One of the more recent updates on it was for Java. Have you heard of it having any effect on browsers? All three cause problems so it's gotta be rooted there. Heh, and people say IE's integration with Windows is problematic. Thanks for the help you've provided thus far, Sinc. I really do appreciate having your guidance as I haven't really worked on a Mac since OS 7.1 was popular. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-26-2007, 12:42 PM	#12 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,313 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	She doesn't even use IE, it's just... there. The Java update was done using the OX Updater. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

01-26-2007, 01:08 PM	#13 (permalink)
ArturoYee Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 134 OS: XP Home, OS X 10.5 MacBook	I think the iBook has a firewire port - if it does and you have access to a firewire drive, you can clone the drive and repair the clone and see if that solves the problem. It is easy to boot to the clone drive. I've restored several Macs (due to corrupted files and bad hard drives) - It worked in every case. I use Carbon Copy Cloner as the cloning utility.