Mac v9.7 hang/crash after dialling in radios/Altimeter

[GregK]

Hello all - newb here. 

Thrilled to find the airfield I'll be pursuing my PPL at, as well as a Piper PA28 (the plane they teach in) for me to "practise at home" on.  Wonderfully surprised my DP2.5G5 with 4GB RAM and running Leopard will run this (tweaked settings to get a frame rate of ~21fps...will install a better video card over the xmas break- a friend gave me the one he used in his gamer days with at least 4x the memory); however, since I started tuning the COM radio to the Tower frequency, I've found that I have to hard boot the machine to undo the hang/beachball thats been resulting.  Also, I have the METAR options engaged for weather/altimeter...are these two things in conflict?

Do I need to revisit my config, is there a setting I've messed up or that I've overlooked?  do I need a plug-in of some sort?  am I not acknowledging the radio call of foxtrot/golf/uniform with a "mic key" keystroke and getting grounded?  I'm just trying to fly circuits here... I'm trying to get in the habit/routine of 1hr/day.

 

Frustrated.  Please help. 

Thanks! -gk