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About my TiBook...
#15 08/05/09 12:26 AM
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... Is it even worth saving or should I just replace it? I still need help with it.

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #27 08/05/09 01:00 AM
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That really depends on what you want to do, computing-wise.

I think if you just do email, word processing and light web surfing, that computer would be fine. You might consider upgrading it to run OS X Tiger 10.4 for a speed boost, assuming you have enough RAM.

If you need your laptop for applications that use more resources, then I'd recommend you get a new one so you can run OS X Leopard (10.5) or the upcoming Snow Leopard to get the advantages of the new operating systems. You can always keep the TiBook around for something nifty too, like running home automation software.

If your main concern is being able to get help with a computer that old, I think you'll find people can still assist with it. Upgrading to OS X Tiger will help that situation.

Re: About my TiBook...
Rick Deckard #32 08/05/09 01:10 AM
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I've got 256 MB of RAM. I used to use it for Photoshop and Music. We really don't have enough money for a BRAND new one.

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #57 08/05/09 02:03 AM
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OK, gotcha. Looks like you could upgrade that TiBook to 1GB RAM for about $60 (2 x 512MB chips) plus the cost of installation, using prices from Other World Computing for the RAM. If you're at all inclined to do so, you could install the RAM yourself with instructions from Apple's web site. It's relatively easy.

Doing so would greatly speed up your computer and Photoshop, since the TiBook would have to use virtual memory much less often.

Incidentally, what speed is your TiBook, or what is the model number on it?

Re: About my TiBook...
Rick Deckard #61 08/05/09 02:15 AM
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550 mHz (gigabit ethernet)

Last edited by PChaterosx; 08/05/09 02:17 AM.
Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #75 08/05/09 07:04 AM
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In addition to maxing out your RAM (as suggested by Rick Deckard) I urge you, in no uncertain terms, to upgrade your OS to no less than 10.3.9, the final incarnation of Panther (Edit: It was a*major* improvement over Jaguar.); your TiBook will also support OS X 10.4.11, the final incarnation of Tiger, but I'm not certain how well that will run on a 550MHz machine. (In all likelihood, others will advise you.)

Note that Panther comes on CDs, but Tiger, in its inexpensive form, is on DVDs, so you'll need a DVD capable optical drive to install it. (CDs are available, but they tend to be prohibitively expensive.)

Note also that if you buy either OS you want to buy generic, i.e. *black label*, retail install discs; discs with grey labels are machine specific, and unless you are lucky enough to find a set that originally shipped with your *precise* model of Mac you will be throwing your money away.

Next, I suggest that you free up as much space on your HD as you can by off-loading (to an external HD if necessary) stuff, such as music, that takes up a lot of space; together with maxing out your RAM (Edit: Note that Photoshop is a notorious RAM hog!), this will enable your Mac to run better.

And in closing, I'll mention that a new Mac does not have to be all that expensive; a bottom of the line MacBook (Click on Tech Specs to be amazed!) costs only $999 and can be had for less if you buy a refurb *directly from Apple*. (I'd be wary of anything for sale on eBay...too many problems with such stuff have been posted.)

A Mac Mini can be had for only $599, but you'll need a monitor and keyboard.

Hope this helps.

Last edited by artie505; 08/05/09 07:19 AM. Reason: Edits

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: About my TiBook...
artie505 #89 08/05/09 10:31 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
your TiBook will also support OS X 10.4.11, the final incarnation of Tiger, but I'm not certain how well that will run on a 550MHz machine.
If you follow Rick's advice and upgrade to 1 GB RAM, Tiger should run fine. I ran it on my G4 DP 450 (slower processor than your TiBook) and it was very fast.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: About my TiBook...
jchuzi #92 08/05/09 10:42 AM
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Thanks, Jon; I should have remembered your history, having already read it once or twice.

(First time I've ever been, and, likely, the last time I'll ever be, ahead of you in post count. grin )


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #97 08/05/09 12:20 PM
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I was given a tibook with intent of adding it as a machine here for lan parties. Although that never materialized, it's become a good addition to my guest room here as a computer that visiting guests can use while they stay.

Being a tibook, not surprisingly, the last time I tried to open the lid, the left hinge broke. Not a big deal, it's going to sit on that desk with the lid open for the remainder of its life. Works great for web browsing, webmail reading, google maps, and I even set up chicken of the vnc to remote into my mom's imac at her home when she visits.

It's probably about the best use I can imagine for such a machine at this time, given the high odds of hinge failure in any tibook.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: About my TiBook...
Virtual1 #98 08/05/09 12:26 PM
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If you all remember, Mine cannot see the internal HD because something went wrong with OS 9.2 (that it was trying to boot off of) and all it does after the chime is come up with a folder with a flashing question mark and Finder. Since I don't have a disc, Is there any way to make it see the internal HD?

Last edited by PChaterosx; 08/05/09 12:27 PM.
Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #234 08/05/09 09:47 PM
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The flashing question mark issue was one that I used to fix with Disk Warrior on a regular basis with OS 9. It always found small problems with the disk directory if I remember correctly. I've never had that problem with OS X.

I think if you used Disk Warrior on that TiBook it would fix the issue, but you might try giving Alsoft a call and make sure the latest version of DW will boot up and run on it. I believe it will and it's a great utility, but I'd hate to have you buy it and find out it won't do the job due to the age of your setup. You could also find a friend who has a copy and go that route.

If you get it back up and running, definitely get the extra RAM and upgrade to at least OS X Panther or Tiger as artie505 suggests. You'll think you got a new machine with the kick both of those upgrades will add.

Also consider just using Classic if you need OS 9 unless there's a specific reason to boot into it. I bought my original MDD Power Mac so I could dual boot OS 9 and OS X on it, but once I got my feet wet with OS X I never looked back. Classic will run nearly everything you need it to, with the added benefit of keeping you in OS X most of the time and all of the goodness that brings.

Re: About my TiBook...
Rick Deckard #236 08/05/09 09:51 PM
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Can you actually BOOT off of DW?

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #238 08/05/09 09:53 PM
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Can you boot off an OS 9 CD and change your startup disk?


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #239 08/05/09 09:53 PM
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Originally Posted By: PChaterosx
Can you actually BOOT off of DW?


Yes you can!

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #240 08/05/09 09:53 PM
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Yes, provided that there is nothing else wrong with your computer. In fact, you can only use Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory while either booted from the DW CD or from another volume that has DW installed.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: About my TiBook...
Virtual1 #243 08/05/09 09:57 PM
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I dont have any discs...

Re: About my TiBook...
jchuzi #431 08/07/09 07:28 AM
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> Can you actually BOOT off of DW?

>Yes you can!

> Yes, provided that there is nothing else wrong with your computer. In fact, you can only use Disk Warrior to rebuild the directory while either booted from the DW CD or from another (Edit: *bootable*) volume that has DW installed.
(Jon's post edited by Artie)

That "Yes" needs to be qualified...

Since DW 4 was released, changes in the OS X boot procedure have left *all* v4 *discs* unable to boot Macs introduced subsequent to their introduction, the reason being that Apple does not allow even the truncated version of OS X used to boot DW to be d/l'ed, so Alsoft may not offer updates to existing owners.

Owners of such DW discs must either have a separate volume from which to boot or purchase new discs. (I am not aware of any program that enables them to get new discs at a discounted price.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #432 08/07/09 07:44 AM
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> I dont have any discs...

Without *any* discs you are up the proverbial creek!

My advise to you is to plan a course of action that will deliver upgrades in software, hardware, or both, i.e. new discs or new Mac.

In the meantime, have you tried booting your TiBook into Single-user Mode and running fsck? (fsck [a/k/a "Repair Disk"] is not nearly as robust as are DW and its ilk, but it does work sometimes and may successfully address whatever ails your Mac.)

I hope your data are fully backed up.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #538 08/07/09 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted By: PChaterosx
I dont have any discs...
There you just encountered one of, perhaps the greatest, advantage of TechTool Pro, the eDrive. Understandably Micromat neither supports nor condones the practice, but no small number of TTP users have DiskWarrior installed in TTP's eDrive. The eDrive eliminates the common issue with all disk repair utilities, the necessity of a currently bootable CD/DVD, for performing volume structure repairs at the expense of a relatively nominal amount of space on the hard drive.

However, that isn't solving your present problem. Given your lack of a bootable DiskWarrior CD/DVD your best option is probably finding another Mac user with a copy of DiskWarrior, Drive Genius, or TechTool Pro installed. Then you could connect your TIBook to their Mac with a six pin to six pin firewire cable, boot your TIBook into Firewire Target Disk mode by holding the T key during a cold boot. Then you could use the industrial strength volume repair utility on the other Mac to see if it can "fix" your hard drive.

FWIW I strongly concur with the suggestions to upgrade your TIBook with more RAM and a more recent version of OS X. With 1 GB of RAM there is no reason you couldn't run OS X 10.4.11 and have decent performance. I'm not sure I would spend much more than that on a Mac of that generation.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: About my TiBook...
joemikeb #620 08/08/09 07:10 PM
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It won't boot into either Single user on verbose mode and all I have backed up is photoshop. nothing else is important. Sometimes when I turn it on after it does the chime it makes this funny noise that's hard to explain.

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #624 08/08/09 08:20 PM
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Originally Posted By: PChaterosx
Sometimes ... it makes this funny noise that's hard to explain.

Does one of these hard drive noises sound familiar?


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Re: About my TiBook...
alternaut #625 08/08/09 08:27 PM
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Nope not really. It's the original HD and the noise is really loud. It doesn't do it very often though.
and, even more rarely, it doesn't chime and instead beeps 3 times and then the sleep light blinks 4 or 5 times.

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #630 08/08/09 08:58 PM
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You could have bad RAM or a bad logic board. Read Power On Self-Test Beep Definition. Considering that it is a portable and RAM can come loose more easily than in a desktop, remove each RAM module and re-seat it. This may not solve the problem but it's worth a try and it's certainly cheap to do.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: About my TiBook...
jchuzi #633 08/08/09 09:02 PM
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I need to get it to boot first!

Re: About my TiBook...
PChaterosx #644 08/08/09 10:07 PM
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You don't need to get it to boot (that's the whole point). If RAM is loose or defective, or the logic board is bad, the computer may not boot. So, you want to reseat the RAM before attempting to boot. This manual has the instructions. Start on page 7 and read carefully.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
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