Mac G4 sluggish pro tools 5.3 crashes with error message type 11

[jibber99]

Just hoping someone could explain the type 11 errors I'm getting on PT 5.3.crashes and offer some solutions
I've also noticed the computer is very slow to display the contents of any external FireWire drive once you've double clicked it.
Also
The computer freezes up after sitting idle for a few hours...
You have to hold the button down above the optical drive to turn it off
Im in the process of updating my whole PT rig
but I'd still like to keep this system going, it's been absolutely flawless since 2001.
I've identified some problems with Two of the 4 drives connected to this system
which disc warrior cannot fix
Kind of wary of reinstalling system 9 and protools
(Difficult to have someone repair/diagnose a system 9 machine)
Need some advise
Thanks
Jim Calabrese

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by jibber99

Just hoping someone could explain the type 11 errors I'm getting on PT 5.3.crashes and offer some solutions

Have you tried adding the Digidesign extensions to the base Mac OS 9.x extension set and seeing if error type 11 persists?

Originally Posted by jibber99

I've also noticed the computer is very slow to display the contents of any external FireWire drive once you've double clicked it.

That could be related to the FireWire port on your Mac, the FireWire cable, the FireWire port on the drive, or a problem with the disk in the FireWire enclosure.

Originally Posted by jibber99

Also
The computer freezes up after sitting idle for a few hours...
You have to hold the button down above the optical drive to turn it off

Do you have the system configured to sleep? Do you have a screen saver installed? I do not remember the power button being above the optical drive on the G4 towers. Are you sure that is where the button is located?

Originally Posted by jibber99

Im in the process of updating my whole PT rig
but I'd still like to keep this system going, it's been absolutely flawless since 2001.
I've identified some problems with Two of the 4 drives connected to this system
which disc warrior cannot fix

Do you have access to TechTool Pro v3.x? I have seen TechTool Pro repair issues that DiskWarrior cannot repair. Are those two drive the FireWire ones mentioned above?

Originally Posted by jibber99

Kind of wary of reinstalling system 9 and protools
(Difficult to have someone repair/diagnose a system 9 machine)

Do you have an external floppy drive and all of the key disks for authorizations (Pro Tools, plug-is, etc.)? Do you have the original discs that shipped with your G4?

[John_Toolbox]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

I do not remember the power button being above the optical drive on the G4 towers. Are you sure that is where the button is located?

OP must have an MDD G4, they were the last generation of G4 and iirc they are the only case style with the power button above the CD/DVD drive:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._MDD_front.jpg

The computer freezes up after sitting idle for a few hours...
You have to hold the button down above the optical drive to turn it off

I owned a few MDD's back in the day. I remember having one that had a bad memory slot, it did exactly what you are describing unless I removed the DIMM from the bad slot.

As Jonathan said, make sure sleep is disabled. G4's and OS9 do not like sleep.

There is also a small reset button somewhere on the motherboard, I have ressurected a few dead mdd's by unplugging everything and holding this button down for 10 seconds.

The only way to make firewire work well back then was to use external drives that had the Oxford 911 chipset. Good quality cables are also important. I'm not sure if there is a modern day equivalent of oxford 911.

If you dig through the digidesign hardware and software section of this forum, there are a lot of old posts of mine from 2009 and earlier with info about G4's and OS9 that I probably don't remember any more.

[groundcontrol]

Originally Posted by John_Toolbox

....

There is also a small reset button somewhere on the motherboard, I have ressurected a few dead mdd's by unplugging everything and holding this button down for 10 seconds.

....

This is called the PMU (Power Management Unit). There is one on all mac tower mobos (don't know laptops).

(It's usually beside the little watch cell.)