thank you so much you all have been so kind to me..I am currently using a computer that my daughter purchaced the other day becaue our mac is down....i appericate you sending me the pic of the cube...since our only printer is hooked to the mac i was unable to print anything...Jocelyn is currently trying to erase her games from the harddrive..and i will go to see if i can purchace a battery..in the morning...now that stan is gone i am so greatful for his readers b eing so willing to help me with my computer <br>I knew there was something special about the mac world<br>thanks so much<br>liz<br>liz<br><br>

Good luck with getting it working again, Liz. If you can find an inexpensive external hard drive, you could put Jocelyn's games on that to save space. <br><br>

Take the battery out of the cube before you go, and take it with you to make sure you get the right one. They're usually purple and green.<br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

Make sure to let us know how things work out for you. <br><br>

no luck...i didnt realize that here in charlottetown we dont have a radio shack so i was not able to find a new battery as of yet... question tho...how come the curser sometimes turns into a spinning rainbow and takes a long time to stop...and could it be possible that there is a timmer set some where for it to shut down after about 4 min everytime<br><br>

The SBBOD (Spinning BeachBall of Death) means the machine is having to wait for stuff to be written to and from virtual memory on the hard drive (it could also be an indication that the hard drive is going bad). The shut down could be related to the PRAM battery being nearly dead or a failing power supply. Also, a failing hard drive might cause random shut downs, but that is not likely. I'm assuming that you do not have diagnostic programs on CD or DVD to try. Is there anyone nearby who would know Mac-ology?<br><br>

Even though everyone has jumped on the battery I will be the naysayer and go straight to Occam's razor. The simplest solution might be right. Occam's Part II is "Try the simple first, it is less of a pain." (The battery is the last thing I would check.)<br><br>Your problem might be caused by:<br><br>1) Your hard drive is full<br>2) You have too many applications running.<br>3) Or 1+2.<br><br>a) Find a way to click on your hard drive. Then go into the menu and find under File, "Get Info". It will tell you stuff about your hard drive. As yoyo said, the important numbers are how much of your drive is used and how much is available.<br>I bet you need to start deleting. Those games, delete those games.<br><br>But start with a complete computer restart to make sure you do not have ten programs running. Sometimes it is hard to tell. If in doubt. Unplug from the wall. Then start again.<br><br>

I'll go along with what poly says. I suspect the hard drive is too full. It's very important you let us know the details. <br><br>click on your hard drive icon then press the "apple" key and the "i" key at the same time. A box will pop up that has the info we need.<br><br>

You can also Control-click on the hard drive icon on your desktop. That will bring up a menu from which you can select "Get Info."<br><br>

A full hard drive is my first guess also, but the random shut downs bother me.<br><br>