Mac Spectrum
Is Leopard Killing My PowerBook?
- 2011.07.19 - Tip Jar
Follow Simon Royal on Twitter.
Popularity: 
Short link: http://bit.ly/pYg1rw
I have been running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on my 500 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 for a few months, and it ran very well, but the last week it has developed serious problems, and I am beginning to wonder if they are related to running Leopard.
At the bottom of my last article Is Tiger or Leopard Better for Sub-867 MHz G4 Macs?, I touched on the subject of heat.
Titanium PowerBook G4
First generation PowerBook G4s suffered from excessive heat, especially the 400 MHz models, and even under supported operating systems. The 500 MHz version seemed less so, but under Leopard it ran very hot.
A few days ago, mine would not wake from sleep, so I force shut it down. On reboot, it beeped three times, indicating bad RAM, but replacing it made no difference. I zapped the PRAM (hold Cmd-Opt-P-R at startup), and got it going again, but it kept hanging.
I rebooted into OS X 10.4 Tiger, and it did the same. Over the next couple of days I got it to run for a few hours before it would hang again. Now it is hit or miss whether it boots or beeps.
Running it with the bottom casing off, I can feel the chips underneath getting very warm but stable. Putting the base back on, it becomes very hot and hangs.
Is this caused through too much pressure on the hardware? Is it running too hot? Or is the sheer fact of using a 10-year-old Mac for my main everyday Mac just too much?
I wouldn't normally post such an open-ended article, but after so
much info about putting unsupported operating systems on older
hardware, I thought I ought to share this too.
Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed
Recent articles by Simon Royal
- Apple May No Longer Support Your Older Mac, but Microsoft Will, 2012.05.11. Believe it or not, Windows 7 and 8 can run nicely on Macs than can't run OS X 10.7 or 10.8 at all.
- 1998: The iMac Saves Apple, 2012.05.04. Its specs were pedestrian, but the color, lack of standard Mac ports, and missing floppy drew a lot of attention.
- Apple Should Make Older Mac OS Versions Free, 2012.05.03. It can cost more for a copy of the Mac OS than you paid for an old Mac you want to put it on.
- More in the Mac Spectrum index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Unitron Mac512, introduced 1985. Unauthorized Brazilian clone of the Mac 512K.
- May 24 in LEM history: 99: Mac sales up, iMac sales down? - 01: Speeding up digital photography - 02: The Internet, research, and plagiarism - 04: NewerTech TiBook battery - Optical mice from Contour - 06: Power Mac today or Intel tomorrow? - 07: G5: Apple's last fling with PowerPC - G3: From 233 MHz to 1.1 GHz
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Lion and the End of Bootable OS X Installers, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 2012.05.23. Mac OS X Lion is only available as an upgrade from Snow Leopard. Is this the end of bootable installers from Apple?
- Mac Pro on the Way Out or Changing with the Times?, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 2012.05.22. No other desktop Mac offers a wide range of expansion options, but is that enough reason for Apple to keep the behemoth powerhouse Mac Pro around?
- iPhone 3D: Stereo Photography and 3D Movies for the Rest of Us, Anne Onymus, The Rumor Mill, 2012.05.22. Until now, stereo photography and 3D movies required expensive dedicated equipment. With the iPhone 3D, Apple will make it available to the masses.
- iPad 2 'Feels Like an Upgrade' from New iPad, Samsung Tops Apple in Smartphone Market, and More, iOS News Review, 2012.05.21. Also Apple to maintain tablet dominance, working in portrait mode, Wozniak would like to see end of walled garden, and more.
- MacBook Airs Top Ultrabooks, Boost MacBook Performance, MacBook Pro Update in June?, and More, The 'Book Review, 2012.05.21. Also Retina displays available now but costly, USB 3 expected in next MacBook rev, hybrid drives an affordable alternative to SSDs, and more.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals
- Best MacBook Air Deals
- Best iPad Deals
- Best Mac OS X 10.6, iLife, and iWork Deals
- Best iPod classic Deals
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals
- Best iBook G4 Deals
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact
Follow
Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac
on Facebook
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ
Affiliates
Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay
