iBook G4 random freezing?

[marshmallowsheep]

Hi there.

I am running system 10.4.11 on an iBook G4 (14 inch monitor) and I have recently come across a problem with freezing. I have had the computer for about 3 years with no trouble, but recently it's been freezing in the middle of my work. Everything freezes up -- except the cursor, which I can still move back and forth on the screen, but can't click on anything. I have tried closing the top and waiting for it to go to sleep, then waking it up, but it will alternately A) not go to sleep or B) shut itself down before I can wake it up! I force shut down the computer when it freezes by holding down the power button, then I wait a few minutes and turn it on again. Once it's turned on, everything seems normal. No distorted monitor colors, frozen applications, nothing.

Does anyone know what issue I may be having? It's causing me much stress and the loss of sometimes considerable work. All advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[marshmallowsheep]

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

It also seems to be effected by how much/often the computer moves. I was working with it on my lap and it was doing fine until I tried shifting my position, then it froze. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with how long the computer has been on, either. Also, I'm thinking it could have something to do with the battery...? The battery (albeit an official battery for this make and model of the computer) doesn't seem to fit quite right and I'm wondering if a faulty connection with the battery might do something like this.

Any suggestions? Please? The situation is getting worse!

 

[darock]

It also seems to be effected by how much/often the computer moves.

You Could have a Hard Drive going bad.
I'd make sure you have backups of your data.

Try Booting in Safe boot mode By holding down "Shift" Key at startup (Hold key down for several seconds after you here chime)
Will take longer than normal to Start, Fixing stuff.
Log into your account then Restart your Mac.

I've done this When having troubles and they seem to go away.

but I think your HD is going bad and may need to be replaced.
Check your HD in Disk Utilities and see if it finds trouble.

 

[marshmallowsheep]

I know that holding down the "shift" key while starting up will launch "safe mode", but would you mind telling me how that might help? Will it fix the problem? I'm not even sure what the problem is anymore, but I'm running out of ideas. The computer no longer seems to be effected by whether or not it's plugged into a charger, which suggests my battery guess was mere speculation...

Would launching my computer in "safe mode" help something like this? The freezing problem, I mean. It's not that I doubt you, darock, but I'm worried about making it worse.

PS: I have backed up all my data files in case of a full crash. I'm just hoping and praying it doesn't come to that.