mac 0SX v. 10.2.8 running slow and erratic

about maybe a week and a half ago, I downloaded iTunes 4.5. After I did this, the computer started to get really slow and freeze up a lot. Hangs also occured, and I had to force quit a great deal. However, it really wasn't that bad, even though starting up took a long time. Then, I downloaded a radio station off of the internet and things got really bad. Everything kept freezing up, especially internet explorer, iChat, and Appleworks. I couldn't even get on to Appleworks most of the time. Then one day, the whole computer froze and I shut it off. I started it back up again, only to have the computer beep at me. Then I tried starting it up again, and the blinking question mark appeared. then the next time i started it up, it finally booted up, only to be really slow and erratic. the weird thing about this is that the problems aren't consistent-sometimes the computer is messed up and sometimes it isn't. We finally did Software Restore, and although the computer seems to be slow at times, it is better than before. anyone have any clue what's going on?

Couple of things

1. Repair permissions
Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
Select the Macintosh HD and click Repair Permissions

2. File System check
Restart the computer holding down the Apple + S keys until you see a bunch of Unix mumbo jumbo pop up
Type in "/sbin/fsck -y" without the quote marks and hit enter
If it does any repairs run the test again
When it says the HD is OK type in "reboot" (again no quote marks) and hit enter

hmm..

Well, I tried that, but it didn't work. Yesterday, I called AppleCare Support and the man I was talking to said that my iMac probably has a bad memory chip or Logicboard. Can someone explain to me what this means?

The logic board is the board where all things connect together
This is something if it needs to be replaced Apple will have to do

Bad memory chip is something you can fix yourself just buy getting a new chip and popping it in the place of teh old one

trpnmonkey41 said:

The logic board is the board where all things connect together
This is something if it needs to be replaced Apple will have to do

Bad memory chip is something you can fix yourself just buy getting a new chip and popping it in the place of teh old one

Click to expand...

yeah..we're gonna take it down to the Mac Store in a few weeks. hopefully it will hold up by then.


Also, sometimes my iMac makes these weird "eeee" computing noises(like it sounds like one of those old-school computers when they try and figure a math problem out). Anyone have any clue what that could be?