10.4 to 10.4.11 Combo Update (PPC) Issues - Will Not Sleep, Etc.

Question

I've been running Panther 10.3.9 successfully for a long time. There are a few programs I'd like to use that require Tiger and I realized that Tiger retail disks were getting hard to come by and expensive, so I decided to buy one when I found it for a decent price.
I installed 10.4 (running repair disk and repair permissions prior) and then ran all the possible updates from Software Update. I did not select them all at once, most of them one at a time, while repairing permissions after each of them. Shortly after, things were not right.
The first thing I noticed was that I could not put the computer to sleep with either the Apple > Sleep or through the settings in Energy Saver. Expose was flakey also, it seemed to work intermittently. The eject button on the keyboard also worked intermittently. Then, with Activity monitor I would see the following items not responding: loginwindow, System Preferences and Disk Utility (not necssarily at the same time, but at one time or another.) I suppose there may have been others issues, but these are just some of the things that I noticed.
Startups, restarts and shutdowns took a long time. However, the progress bar on startups after the grey screen visually moved exceptionally fast and seemed odd.
These issues also occurred in Safe Mode.
An archive and install back to 10.4 produces a perfect running system, none of these problems occur.
Since my initial update attempt, I've tried to update with the manually downloaded 10.4.11 Combo Update (PPC) with the exact same results (no sleep, expose issues, not responding issues, slow startups, restarts and shutdowns, etc.)
I've archived and installed and updated four times - only keyboard, mouse, ethernet cable and apple speakers were attached. I'm currently sticking with 10.4 until I can find something I can do to troubleshoot this issue which may allow me to get a problem free update to 10.4.11.
Note that my computer does lose the date and time settings when powered off and today I ordered a new PRAM battery. Could a dead battery be contributing to my issue, even though 10.4 is fine?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Julie

Answer 1

...only real low level kexts like old drivers for Universal Power Supplies & such, or real Haxies that dig into & change the OS somewhere.
So, if old drivers and haxies might exist, how do I go about finding them? The only program that I have that I think may be considered a haxie is DockExtender 3.1.3, http://www.codetek.com/dockextender/ (stills seems to work.) It was in my startup items when I initially performed the combo update. Since then, only iCal related items are in my startup items. Subsequent update attempts have been ran when DockExtender was not active. Also, is it note worthy that I have a non-system icon for my hard drive?
My feeling so far is that it's the HD or RAM, Tiger is twice as hard on & demanding of both.
My hard drive is a Seagate 200 GB (utilizes only 128 GB) Ultra ATA/100 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache installed around March 2006. It still has a 2 year warranty. Are you speculating that it just may not be suited for Tiger?
My memory consists of three strips of Corsair VS256MB133 G that I installed in February 2008 - these came as a warranty replacements due to a bad strip of another part number that they did not stock any more.
I don't think it's any of the APPs you aren't running.
In terms of my applications, so far I've updated Firefox (uninstalled some incompatible add-ons and themes.) Identified Font Doctor 5.1.2.9 has likely not being compatible, because it quits when selecting a folder to move troubled fonts to when diagnosing. I questioned Extensis Suitcase 10.2.2, but found out that if I trashed the Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS that the font activation errors were resolved. Safari has crashed on me a few times, but it is still version 2.0. It also crashed in 10.3.9, forcing me to use other browsers. Can I update Safari now? Software Update does not show Safari and I don't know if the combo update is the only was to update it. I'm still investigating other applications compatibility, but the true test won't happen until I run the combo update and am able to run my applications on 10.4.11.
If you had a Firewire Drive to Install to & try, that would be great.
I do have an external firewire drive, but it contains a bootable backup of my 10.3.9 system right now. I'd hate to tamper with it at this time, due to my current situation. I can check on borrowing one if necessary. Would this prove out the question regarding the hard drive and since it would be a clean install = no possible haxies or old drivers lingering around. I also have my old internal hard drive that I could use but, this would be the original from this mac and although it worked fine when I removed it, maybe it would not work well with Tiger.
Thanks,
Julie