my mac keeps putting up a small rainbow coloured spinning disk in place of the mouse pointer & I need help?

Question

using Mac OS X 10.4.8 on a Powerbook G4 laptop. I've got 14.68GB space available.

Answer 1

Give us more info. Did this just recently begin to happen? Has it always done this? Does it do it when you have no programs open?

Let me tell you what will waste your time: defragging. Forget it. Not a Mac issue except in some rare cases of using Final Cut Pro for video editing so forget it. If the issue has suddenly appeared and it is not related to opening some big-a** programs, don't think you need more memory. Well, we all seem to need more memory at one time or another but unless the issue has always been there, not a memory thing.

Try these steps. Boot to the system CD. From the Utilities menu, open Disk Utility. Run the "Repair Disk" option for the hard drive volume(s). Don't do the "Repair Disk Permissions". That's not the cause of this issue so don't mess with that, please don't. Now, at the end of the disk repair, did it find some problem? If so, write it down, word for word. Now, no matter whether it says it repaired it or not, run the repair again. Does it finally say "Appears to be OK"? Quit the Disk Utility and restart. See if the spinning beach ball is history now.

If that doesn't lead to a solution, restart and hold the shift key until the screen show "Mac OS Safe Boot". If you dozed off and didn't see that screen message, restart again and hold shift longer, until you see the "Safe Boot" message. Now see if the spinning rainbow disk shows itself. No? You've got some wacky startup program or extension that interfers with normal function. Open System Preferences > Login. Remove any startup things. Restart and see if the problem is gone.

If that doesn't help, go to System Preferences > Accounts. Create a new user called "test" and during the setup, be careful to change the short name from "test" to something like your name but not exactly the same as your current short name (user folder name). Set it to "allow user to administer the computer". Logout, login as the "test" user. Fixed the issue? You'll need to delete your old user (Mac will make a disk image of the old user so nothing is lost and it will be in a "Deleted Users" folder). Now, go back into the user accounts and rename your "test" user to your name. Next, carefully, step by step, move some of the old files from the old user's disk image to your new user. Don't mess with anything in the Library folder of old user or new user unless you are an expert. That is an accident waiting to happen.

Answer 2

Rainbow Mouse Pointer

Answer 3

That cool, my PC has a white kitten chasing my mouse pointer around.
To change my Pointer appearance I go into my Control Panel and select Mouse. I not sure how a Mac work, but, assume you need to find something about your Mouse, maybe check in your HELP section.
I think below are your answers, if the computer is processing something. PC's the pointer turn into an Hour Glass.
Below "Hopefully" a link to your support and you can find the Manual for your specific Powerbook. You will need Acrobat Reader as the files are PDF.
Mouse settings are in your; "System Preferences".

Answer 4

Hi, that spinning disk is the Mac OS equivalent of the hourglass cursor on Windows. It means that the system is thinking and to wait. You didn't mention how much memory you computer has, but if this is happening often (i.e. every time you open a file, scroll, etc.) or more often than you'd like, you can always expand your memory. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Oh yes, the famous spinning beachball. That just means that the computer is taking its time to process whatever task you set it. Be patient and the beachball will give you back your cursor.

Do you ever turn off your machine? If not, turn it off overnight. That sometimes helps.

If the slowness continues, you may need to defrag the comp. Have you had it for several years and given it a lot of use? Maybe talk to your Mac guru if it persists and becomes annoying.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Your computer's busy doing something..how many programs do you have open? Try closing them all. If you can't find any open applications, try a hard reboot (hit the power button to turn it off and then turn it back on again). If your computer keeps doing that with no applications open, try contacting macintosh support. They're usually very friendly and helpful.

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/