I am sure others on the list have better answers to this, but here's my
version:
Sounds to me like you are "stepping on" the system heap on your 5300c.
Systems before X had varying degrees of "protection" that kept other
information from being written to the addresses in RAM which were
reserved for the system - the "system heap." [The UNIX underlying MacOS
X has "protected memory spaces," so it compartments memory spaces for
applications and the OS, so you seldom "step on" the system heap and,
when one app crashes, it doesn't crash the who machine.] When other
information is written to the system heap addresses in RAM, the next
time the system goes looking for what is supposed to be there it doesn't
find it and freezes.
On my 3400c, (MacOS 8.6), with 48mb of RAM it happens all the time when
I try to wake it up. Sometimes, I have to use the reset switch to make
it reboot. System crashes are relatively more common on my PB's, now,
than they were when they were new because, (my theory), apps have become
more memory intensive and so the machines have to go to memory more
often. This causes more "stepping" on the system heap and more crashes.
Also, the more you use a machine, the more it will "step on" the system
heap, because you are writing to and reading from RAM more often.
In my experience, the system heap gets "stepped on" much more often in
9.x than in 8.6. This is one of the reasons I only run 8.6. 8.6 is the
oldest version of the MacOS that will run Flash, so I can live with it.
More RAM would help this, but I am too lazy or cheap to upgrade my 3400c.
The battery recharge indicator in the power strip on my 3400c does what
you describe, too. I don't know why. I never use my PBs on battery
power, they are always plugged in. I would assume it has something to do
with the way the power manager handles the power management.
Doc...
Yersinia wrote:
Greetings fellow Listers,
Here's what feels like a "silly question" to me, and why I ask it. Is it
possible to "overwork" a 5300c?
I ask because last Tuesday the monitor on my G3 died, and I've been using
my 5300c as a temporary replacement until I can get a new monitor for the
G3. The 5300c is running OS 8.6, has 40 megs of RAM (plus VM is enabled)
and the processor is a 603e, 100 MHz. Its INTENDED use, for which it has
served beautifully so far, was simply to be able to go outside and write,
and, if I go out of town, minimal Internet and that primarily email. I do
have full Internet software on it, however -- in addition to my email
client, there's AIM, IRC and iCab, all tested and usable. Now, I know
this temporary setup with the 5300c is NOT going to run as fast and
smooth as my G3/266, OS 9.2.2, 256 megs of RAM, BUT...my poor 5300c seems
to be choking to death under the onslaught of the much heavier usage I've
been giving it of late (many hours at a time, every day, as compared to a
couple hours a day, and not every single day), and I'm wondering if the
following observations mean that I AM pushing it too hard:
1. Normally, if I go away from the computer to do something else (this
applies to both the 5300c and the G3), I put it in sleep mode. Twice
yesterday when I put the 5300c in sleep mode and returned to wake it up,
for the first time it wouldn't wake up by my touching a key. The "nerve
pinch" restart didn't work either -- I had to actually use the restart
button in the back.
2. Today I noticed the battery symbol on "recharge" once, when I haven't
taken the 5300c out and used it on battery juice since the night before
my G3 monitor died. All other times it's been on full, and the control
strip properly indicates all it should, namely: either (a) it's drinking
wall juice, (b) it's recharging the battery, or (c) it's drinking battery
juice.
So what do you all think? As to me, I'm getting sufficiently nervous here
-- enough to have just taken my 190 out of its place of safekeeping and
check its readiness and maybe do an Appletalk transfer of some stuff,
"just in case."
~Yersinia.
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