thanks Caarrie, I posted about my specific problem here:

http://hydlaa.com/smf/index.php?topic=34057.0

instead of starting a new topic.  I'll just try the new one and start over from there.

Rather than make a new thread, I will post to this one.  I had PS working some 6 months ago.  I came back to check it out again and downloaded the .4.02 version for Mac.  That was on the 27th Nov.  Seems to launcvh OK but the server has yet to be up since then.  I looked all over the forums for a notice about extended server downtime but didn't see anything.  http://hydlaa.com  shows that the server is offline but that there are 90 players online (?!?).  http://laanx.fragnetics.com/ shows no server status but that (currently) 144 players are on.  I saw lots of posts regarding .4.01 and fixes to XML files etc. but nothing about problems with .4.02

I'm running OS 10.5.5
Dual 3.0 Intel Mac
7GB RAM
Radeon X1900 graphics card.

Also, if I have sound enabled, the background music for the login screen is very choppy and messed up.  Is there a post about any fixes I need to do that I missing?  Or is the server offline for the time being? Thanks!

Well we say rest in peace, but surely his adventures in the underworld are only just beginning...

alright, i don't know what I did, but I just re-copy/pasted the info from caarrie's post into those 2 xml files and now it works fine.  Now if I could just see other player's names when I click on them instead of "unknown"...

YES!  let's have an NPC server status page or add it to the existing page, sinbce it's sparse on content.  I've been stuck waiting for 2 days now and I can't do much until I get to kill some rats.  the NPC server seems to affect new players more than anyone, very frustrating.  I know I know, patience.  I'm trying.  But having a status page fo rthe NPC server would at least ell people what's going on instead of having to search for this thread.