Weird issues opening files

[tranp]

I downloaded a torrent file, then when i proceed to run it (mp3's), everything (hard drive access) seems sluggish, it would take forever to respond to commands and doing anything in the finder was a joke. I then shut down the ibook, waited a bit then turned it on again. Everything seemed to be normal then i moved it to place it on my desk and it became sluggish again?

[kim jong il]

I am not sure if this is the same thing but I have noticed, especially with video, avis, divx etc, that when you click on the file concerned (and it opens up the in the next column/whatever with a big icon and some file details) if the files are incomplete or corrupt the machine WILL die in the bum while it tries to either render a small preview movie or make sense of the audio track in question.
I find it very helpful having menu meters installed as major slow downs usually involve the CPU being maxed out. Without something to tell you it IS maxed you have to use guess work which is fine if you have a good idea that this may be the case but no good at all if you don't.

PS sorry if this does not make complete sense. If you have no idea what I am talking about i'll try again and include a screen shot to illustrate the points I have made.

cheers, kim

[TAK]

*cough* I hope you are not doing anything illegal :P.

[tranp]

It's odd, things seem to be alright now but i've noticed a significant slowdown at some points after installing the two most recent security updates. I updated the airport software in SU this morning and well, the install took forever, the HD optimisation took much much longer then it should, all i heard were occasional hdd reads. i've never noticed this before that. i'm running 10.3.8. Once, I booted up the machine and it would just not read the hdd at all, or very very occasionally. I booted it up again and it was fine?!

I ran the Apple hardware test CD that came with the ibook and it reported no problems at all. I'm thinking about wiping the drive and starting over.

[kim jong il]

Originally posted by tranp@Mar 27 2005, 02:53 PM
It's odd, things seem to be alright now but i've noticed a significant slowdown at some points after installing the two most recent security updates. I updated the airport software in SU this morning and well, the install took forever, the HD optimisation took much much longer then it should, all i heard were occasional hdd reads. i've never noticed this before that. i'm running 10.3.8. Once, I booted up the machine and it would just not read the hdd at all, or very very occasionally. I booted it up again and it was fine?!

I ran the Apple hardware test CD that came with the ibook and it reported no problems at all. I'm thinking about wiping the drive and starting over.

It does sound odd and consequently I have some further questions. When you say the install took forever, what exactly do you mean? Likewise how long did the HD optimization actually take?

The HD optimization does not necessarily involve the HD thrashing away madly (it is not optimization as a PC user would understand it e.g defragmentation etc). My belief about what it is actually going on is that the installer is updating the prebinding. What this does is create a list of all the file segments, libraries, where they reside and what needs to be loaded when a particular application is launched (not a perfect definition but this is basically what it is doing).

When, upon startup, your machine did not access the hard drive, what did it actually do? Did you power the machine down before the installers you were running had finished? If you did this is probably not a good idea as things will/may not launch correctly.

Finally, repairing permissions is usually considered a good habit to get into especially if you are mucking around with multiple installs or are having installation issues.

I am sure that there is something here that I meant to address here but can't for the life of me think what it might be. I have to dash off to work now but have a think about what I have discussed and get back to us.

Cheers, kim

[Currawong]

First question - did the torrent file open a program, or did nothing happen?

Second, have you tried opening Disk Utility and running the "Repair Permissions" function? That might fix some of your issues.

Third: have you run Activity monitor to see if anything is hogging RAM or CPU? Is your hard disk very full?

By the way, going to rename and move this topic for clarity

[tranp]

Yep, tried all that already...

The drive just keeps on seeking, then stopping, then seeking again etc (very fast cycle)

Sometimes, it will read as it normally would. It's during those seeking times that it does nothing it appears. I guess it will need to be replaced.