A friend dropped off a huge 2011 iMac and says it has been running really slow and lots of spinning beach balls. Of course no recent backups.

I did a full backup, restarted from backup disk, repaired disk & repaired permission.

What are my next steps?

JPK

I haven't either, since OS X came out. Nary a system related problem on several (about 10) Macs I help with.

I'd suggest adding RAM, maybe an SSD.

---

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2015 03:11PM by GuyGene.

I'm sure others will have more complete suggestions, but:

1. Check how much free disk space. If less than 15 GB free, either free up more space, or get a bigger disk.

2. Check HD SMART status. Download a free utility that reads the SMART status to tell if a drive is failiing

3. Run adware medic (google it) to clear up any hidden malware

4. Create a fresh user login. See if slowness persists

5. Install an SSD to speed up disk bottlenecks

What OS?
How Much RAM
How much disk space used, how much free?
What operations are slow?
Have you looked at Activity Monitor to see what the system is doing?
Have you tried logging out of this user and logging in as a Guest or test user? Does the performance change?
Have you tried doing a Safe Boot (shift key down), and choosing Shut Down when it gets to the login screen, and then restarting?
Have you looked at the Console Logs to see if anything strange is being reported?
As others mentioned, check SMART status with SMART Utility.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2015 03:28PM by GGD.

In priority order, from what others said, and one addition (underlined)

How Much RAM
How much disk space used, how much free?
See what items are set to automatically start when the user logs in, in Accounts.
Have you tried logging out of this user and logging in as a Guest or test user? Does the performance change?
Run adware medic (google it) to clear up any hidden malware.

AFTER you've checked the backup to make sure it's perfect, you could try nuking and paving and reinstalling from backup, but that's a very last resort.

I'm betting on low RAM, or too little free disk space, or something running automatically in background......

FYI
iMac 27" 2011
10.10.5
2.7ghz Intel Core i5
4GB Ram
1 TB hard drive

Activity monitor looks ok nothing out of the ordinary
Drive appears ok according to disk utility
Ran adware medic (now renamed) nothing found

Checking some tests with Techtool
JPK

Check for malware.

I discovered a new one on this main Mac, and I am sure I did not click on anything nefarious.

Could definitely benefit from more RAM.

I just inherited the same machine but with 16GB of RAM as a trade-out for some work I did. The only issue was the HD is failing but the owner didn't want to bother with it and bought a current model 27" iMac.

I have decided to install a 240GB SSD and a new 1TB HD and make them into a homemade Fusion drive. I did it on my other 2011 i7 iMac and it has been great but there I used a 4TB HD plus a 240GB SSD.

Good luck!

Quote
JPK
What are my next steps?

JPK

Id stop wasting your time with all that adware/techtool/permissions crap and just nuke and pave.

As long as you have a backup, who cares.

In my book a "fixed" system is going to "unfix" itself again in no time.

Nuke, pave, start over. You would have been done already...

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Quote
jdc
As long as you have a backup, who cares.

If malware or corrupted files are the problem, you'll be reinstalling those files. . .

/Mr Lynn

---

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Honky-tonk Country and Bluegrass
Founded in 1948 by Pappy Ben Minnich
Saturdays 9am - 11am Eastern
WHRB-FM, Cambridge, MA
Streaming at [www.WHRB.org]
Be there!
The HAH weblog: [hillbillyatharvard.wordpress.com]

Topical weblog: [walkingcreekworld.wordpress.com]

On the river in Saxonville.

Adware Medic is now Malwarebytes for Mac (which is a good - even better - thing).

Download it directly from here: [www.malwarebytes.org]

(the old Adware Medic download will update, but eventually will cease to update with new signatures)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2015 09:46PM by onthedownlow.

Quote
mrlynn
If malware or corrupted files are the problem, you'll be reinstalling those files. . .
/Mr Lynn

Then your not doing it right? Thats not how a nuke and pave should work.

Ugh.

Im sure adware medic or whatever does a fine job at whatever it does, but WTH does everyone here who has an issue with their Mac get this generic advice?

malware! malware! malware! Its like the internet game "first!"

Has anyone actually had their mac display the same symptoms -- slow and tons of beachballs, run adware medic and then all the sudden it runs as good as new? yeah.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Quote
jdc

Quote
mrlynn
If malware or corrupted files are the problem, you'll be reinstalling those files. . .
/Mr Lynn

Then your not doing it right? Thats not how a nuke and pave should work.

Ugh.

Im sure adware medic or whatever does a fine job at whatever it does, but WTH does everyone here who has an issue with their Mac get this generic advice?

malware! malware! malware! Its like the internet game "first!"

Has anyone actually had their mac display the same symptoms -- slow and tons of beachballs, run adware medic and then all the sudden it runs as good as new? yeah.

I had a glitch with my Mac yesterday. Ran adwaremedic, and the machine is quite a bit faster.

Don't understand the rest of the memo, however.

Not trying to be a pain, but Whats a "glitch"?

You ran it, but did it actually find anything? Did you restart... cause that usually fixes 'glitches' and slowdowns.

adware medic reminds me of "rebuild your desktop" from OS 9 or "repair your premissions" from OS X. 99.9% of the times useless.

Used to have a stupid "mac" tech guy that visited us every once in awhile back in the 90's. He sat down and rebuilt the desktop on every ones mac every time he came in, like it was something special. Of course, if there ever *was* a problem with a mac, he would always say "its either a font or the motherboard -- let me call apple right now..." clueless.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

4GB of RAM is not helping the situation. There's a diagnostic tool called EtreCheck that can sometimes point you toward bottlenecks: remnants of MacKeeper, bad antivirus software, etc. Worth a try. If the owner has ever downloaded software from the likes of cnet or softonic, or from torrents, there could be malware or crapware installed. But the skimpy RAM and possibly not having enough free HD space could certainly be the culprit. Regardless of Apple's system requirements, 4GB is not enough for Yosemite to run well. Plenty of reports along those lines in Apple Discusssions.

JPK,

I haven't seen anyone recommend creating a new user account and seeing if the issues affect the machine while logged into it. Definitely a useful tool for troubleshooting issues. If the issue affect the main account _and_ the test account, then it is likely a system-wide problem. If the issue vanishes while logged into the test account, then it's more likely specific to the primary account.

Robert

Quote
Robert M
JPK,

I haven't seen anyone recommend creating a new user account and seeing if the issues affect the machine while logged into it. Definitely a useful tool for troubleshooting issues. If the issue affect the main account _and_ the test account, then it is likely a system-wide problem. If the issue vanishes while logged into the test account, then it's more likely specific to the primary account.

Robert

Quote
GGD
What OS?
How Much RAM
How much disk space used, how much free?
What operations are slow?
Have you looked at Activity Monitor to see what the system is doing?
Have you tried logging out of this user and logging in as a Guest or test user? Does the performance change?
Have you tried doing a Safe Boot (shift key down), and choosing Shut Down when it gets to the login screen, and then restarting?
Have you looked at the Console Logs to see if anything strange is being reported?
As others mentioned, check SMART status with SMART Utility.

Ok.

1. How full is the hard drive?
2. Have you tried creating a new user and seeing if if affects the performance?

After those two, if neither works, you're down to checking the RAM, and after that, nuking the HD, installing the OS from scratch, and reinstalling the apps and docs from your backup.

jdc,

Had an unusual effect where an email via my exchange server would crash Apple Mail.

During that time, my machine felt sluggish too.

Ran adwaremedic, found one new adware. Removed it. The sluggishness fixed.

The issue with Mail was resolved by deleting the toxic email from the exchange server via Outlook (email was wonky but could be read in Outlook).

Apple Mail could then open without crashing.

Glitch(es) resolved. Machine runs fine right now.

Quote
GGD

Quote
Robert M
JPK,

I haven't seen anyone recommend creating a new user account and seeing if the issues affect the machine while logged into it. Definitely a useful tool for troubleshooting issues. If the issue affect the main account _and_ the test account, then it is likely a system-wide problem. If the issue vanishes while logged into the test account, then it's more likely specific to the primary account.

Robert

Quote
GGD
What OS?
How Much RAM
How much disk space used, how much free?
What operations are slow?
Have you looked at Activity Monitor to see what the system is doing?
Have you tried logging out of this user and logging in as a Guest or test user? Does the performance change?
Have you tried doing a Safe Boot (shift key down), and choosing Shut Down when it gets to the login screen, and then restarting?
Have you looked at the Console Logs to see if anything strange is being reported?
As others mentioned, check SMART status with SMART Utility.

give him some slack, he's a new Daddy and probably falling short on sleep

1. Any Mac from mid-2012 or earlier that's running Yosemite will benefit from disabling transparency effects in the Finder. Can get as much as a 20-30% speed boost in the Finder just by going into System Preferences > Accessibility and toggling that setting.

2. Hard drives tend to go in year #4 and beyond. Beachballing is frequently the earliest symptom of a failing hard drive. Do a SMART check with SMART Utilty.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2015 08:56PM by Onamuji.

Space,

Yups! Missed that line. I had to wake up a bit too early yesterday to deal with a tsunami of baby poo and it took its toll on me! - lol!

Robert

Quote
Robert M
Space,

Yups! Missed that line. I had to wake up a bit too early yesterday to deal with a tsunami of baby poo and it took its toll on me! - lol!

Robert

Have you tried doing a complete wipe, and then a clean install of the diaper. But that might just be a temporary fix.

Hope you catch up on sleep.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2015 09:59AM by GGD.

GGD,

I was in the process of doing that when the second and third waves hit. Then it began to rain... Mackenfrackenfrickenfracken!

Robert

Update,

Ran Techtool Pro. Optimized, defragged, etc.

Repaired permissions

Check SMART utility and disk shows OK.

Disabled transparency and a couple of other little tricks.

NO HELP. Lots of spinning beach balls and bouncing icons from the dock. I am returning it to my friend tonight with a full backup on a spare 1TB drive (they never did any backups, so just doing one is a huge good thing). I am also including another drive formatted to DOS in case they want to off load for transfer to a PC.

They have 5 user accounts on this and I only had the PW info for the Admin/Main user. I would have liked to have more time to ad a new user to see if the symptoms followed, but she needs it back whether is is slow or not.

She is a PC girl - and was never a big fan of Macs. Her husband "made her" get the mac and is now thinking of just getting a PC and call it a day.

I have offered to take the iMac off their hands for the right price. I would install a new SSD drive, more ram and do a fresh OS install. I have a feeling this will be a rocket ship then! I would say goodbye to my trusty old Powermac!

JPK

You know, the Apple store will look at it for FREE, just make an appointment. Doesnt matter where they bought it or when or anything.

Sorry, still sticking to my guns -- doing all that other stuff was a waste of your time.

Nuke and pave.

And yes, with a SSD and some more ram its a pretty great mac.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.