Power PC G4 - slower to boot since 10.4.9 update (Afraid to update Macbook)

Question

Hi Everyone,
Just updated my Power PC at work, and now after three re-boots, and after fixing the permissions, my Mac takes longer to boot (almost 45 seconds longer).
I have a new Macbook at home, I am afraid to update it to 10.4.9. I am hearing way to many horror stories on what the update does (fan running all the time, slower boot-ups, eject key not working, running hotter than normal, etc.)
Will it hurt not to update my MacBook? It runs perfect now, and I just do not need the hassle of anything going wrong because of an update to the operating system.
Thanks

Answer 1

It's starting to sound that way sadly
However, if you've invested in utilities like Disk Warrior, pop in that CD and allow to check your HDD. It might reveal directory structure corruption that's beyond fsck's (i.e. Disk Utility) ability to detect and resolve.
Also please check into my suggestion about verifiation of SMART hard drive diagnostics (in my previous post).
Another helpful utility if TechTool Pro. It can run advanced diagnostics on much of your hardware to ensure it's functioning normally, including a full sector verification of your hard drive(s). I've discovered bad disk blocks from this type of test in this past.
How much RAM do you have installed? If you have more than 1 stick of RAM, please try removing the one closest to the CPU, slide the others down the line, and keep an eye on things. If you have defective/marginal RAM, the OS might be corrupting itself in memory, leading to all kinds of potential problems. Memtest is a great tool to test RAM, but it recommends 5 passes which can take hours to complete: http://www.memtestosx.org/
If it comes down to simply being a corrupt OS X installation, one option you have is Archive and Install, which is a process Apple developed to allow users to make a best-effort at reinstalling the OS with minimal impact to already installed applications and user files: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Though doubtful, you might have an outdated version of Sonnet Cache installed (last release was April 2006, which includes support for OS X 10.4): http://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/osxupgradesw.html
Bear in mind I didn't look too deeply into Sonnet's information on this software and your processor. So I'm not sure if your processor even uses the Cache software or not. But if it does, you might want to try upgrading/reinstalling to the latest release. I'd be surprised if this fixed your problem, given how long you've probably been running 10.4.x
Good luck, keep us posted on your progress!