Mac so, so slow

[jose melendez]

About a week ago my Mac suddenly became super, super slow. Like the beachball shows up any time I do anything slow. It's a mid-2012 macbook pro with Yosemite on it. I need more RAM ( I only have 4MB), but that shouldn't explain the sudden change. I did all of the normal advised changes (cleared the desktop, got rid of login items, turned off transparency, etc.) and no improvement. I reinstalled Yosemite. No improvement. I have zapped the PRAM and the SMU. I have repaired disk and disk permissions. I've dumped the caches, turned off spotlight. I've kept activity monitor on as I went about my business, and there's no evidence that anything is using a ton of capacity when it stalls out. I've run the hardware test and no problems were found. It aslso takes forever to boot after restart.

I'd take in to the genius bar or something, but I live in Africa.

Any ideas? I'm probably going to try upgrading to El Capitain, but that is a 24-36 hour process here, so I'm trying to avoid it.

 

[AlNipper49]

It's tough to say but you've changed enough variables on the software/configuration side that I'd begin to concentrate on a hardware issue.

Not definite either way, but I wouldn't upgrade until a more thorough hardware check

 

[jose melendez]

That is depressing. Not even sure where I can get hardware work done without literally leaving the country.

 

[jose melendez]

Anything in console that might provide a clue? What should I look for?

 

[crystalline]

Agreed hardware seems likely.
Don't install el capitan yet- won't fix it and will use memory.
A likely culprit is the RAM. You could order new RAM and try swapping, I believe this model MBP has user swappable RAM.

Try looking in /var/log/system.log
And use Console to see if you get any other messages when the beach ball happens. Also you can try running 'top' in a Terminal ( type: o RET cpu RET to sort by cpu usage) and monitor process CPU and user and system time.

 

[crystalline]

Also I believe this model MBP has a hardware check accessible via boot into recover mode. Hold some key on restart... I can look it up if you can't find it.

Edit: I see you have done some hardware testing. I have seen bad RAM cause problems but pass hardware tests, presumably due to sporadic failures. Look for repeated messages in the logs I mentioned. Also, sometimes the machine can get stuck in a cycle of repeatedly resetting bad e.g. wifi or USB hardware.

Edit2: another cause of this behavior can be apps taking up too much RAM and causing constant swapping. That won't show as user CPU in activity monitor but will give the beach ball. Use activity monitor or top to check resident memory for each application. And upgrading to more RAM is advisable.

 

[jose melendez]

I just ran a program called SMARTUtility that rate me drive as failing, noting problems in reallocated sector count and reallocated event count. No idea what that means though

 

[jose melendez]

Here's what the util gave me

 

[crystalline]

That'll do it. As the drive fails its hardware will mark parts as bad and move data around. Ergo beachball. Backup ASAP if you haven't. No fixing it most likely, need a new drive. Easy for you to buy the drive and swap it.

 

[jose melendez]

Am I correct in reading this as I need to replace my HD? If so, anyone have a recommendation for a good one?

 

[crystalline]

For your sake I hope it totters along until the AFC champ game and super bowl

 

[finnVT]

No recommendation on brands, but, is this mac old enough that it's pre-SSD? My previous macbook was either 2011 or 2012 and didn't come with an SSD, but at some point I removed the DVD drive and added a SSD with an optibay (http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/) enclosure and used that as the boot drive, and it made a WORLD of difference. If you're going to stick it out with this laptop for a while, I strongly recommend replacing with a SSD, or doing the SSD+HD combo if you can live without the DVD drive.

 

[crystalline]

It's been a long time since I bought Mac parts but OWC used to sell reasonable quality stuff. Use this opportunity to get an SSD. They are now fairly cheap, and much faster than spinning disks.

 

[jose melendez]

I need the DVD drive. But I can install an SSD just by replaceing the HD right?

 

[crystalline]

I need the DVD drive. But I can install an SSD just by replaceing the HD right?

Yup

 

[finnVT]

Yes, but it'll have much less disk space.

 

[AlNipper49]

I'm not sure about your model, but probably yes

Another vote for worrying about making sure that you have backups than trying to fix it right now. Given where you are once that drive goes it's probably gone forever.

 

[jose melendez]

I've got everything on Mozy, so I'm safe on that front, but I'll make another backup too.

 

[jose melendez]

So for example, any of these would work? http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/macbook-pro-(13-inch-and-15-inch,-mid-2012)

 

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

So for example, any of these would work? http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/macbook-pro-(13-inch-and-15-inch,-mid-2012)

Crucial is a solid brand, but probably the best bet would be a Samsung 850 Pro, especially for reliability but speed as well.

 

[jose melendez]

Thanks. I've decid to start operating off of an external until the new internal can get here, which will take a while...

 

[jose melendez]

And the 850 pro would work in my computer? Is it easy to install?

 

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

And the 850 pro would work in my computer? Is it easy to install?

yup, very easy. I installed its predecessor (the 840 Pro) in my 2011 Macbook Pro and the fit was perfect, it is lighter and slightly less bulky than the stock HDD but still the same standard size...just unscrew the drive, unplug the connector, and swap it out. With SSDs the one thing to look out for is there might be an issue with enabling TRIM garbage collection in your SSD (which is the case for any non-Apple SSD) but starting with the last Yosemite update Apple allows TRIM to be enabled (prior to this, it was a little complicated, it required an add on program or a command line change in Terminal, and it would have to be redone after every maintenance update for the MacOS). That said you probably wouldn't have to worry about enabling TRIM at all with any of the newer SSD drives (it used to be an issue). Once you get this SSD in there, you will be astonished at how fast your computer is. Bootup will take like 9 seconds. If you can afford it I would recommend upgrading your RAM though if you are at 4gb. You can get by, but you will literally squeak by if you are using Yosemite or beyond. I have 16gb in my machine and between that and the SSD the thing runs just as fast as the newest Macbook Pros out there for everything except graphics intensive gaming (which I don't do).

 

[cgori]

Don't try to save money and get an 840 (I believe 850's are fine): http://www.anandtech.com/show/9196/samsung-releases-second-840-evo-fix

(Couperin47 pointed me to that link or one like it, I believe.)

 

[bohous]

I upgraded my RAM and installed Samsung 850 EVO (not PRO) in my 2010 MBP about 6 months ago. It was really easy and its still running like a champ. Here is a thread about the upgrade that might be helpful.

 

[jose melendez]

Awesome. I've got RAM coming already. Thanks for the help. Got my back up completed to an external last night.

 

[Wake's knuckle]

I recently had this problem with an iMac. Macs basically like to operate with a hard drive that's at least ~20% empty. If you fill your hard drive up too much, it slows to a crawl. Try dumping 100 GBs to an external...

 

[crystalline]

I recently had this problem with an iMac. Macs basically like to operate with a hard drive that's at least ~20% empty. If you fill your hard drive up too much, it slows to a crawl. Try dumping 100 GBs to an external...

Have you seen this on multiple machines?

 

[Wake's knuckle]

Have you seen this on multiple machines?

I was googling around to try to figure out what the problem could be and this was one of the suggestions that popped up. Since it was a relatively easy one to test, I gave it a shot. It worked.

 

[crystalline]

Macs basically like to operate with a hard drive that's at least ~20% empty.

This is not my experience and I don't see what might cause this if the hardware is working normally. A few GB of free space should be enough.


I might actually suspect a failing hard drive if things got faster when you created a bunch of free space. Make sure you have backups.

 

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

I recently had this problem with an iMac. Macs basically like to operate with a hard drive that's at least ~20% empty. If you fill your hard drive up too much, it slows to a crawl. Try dumping 100 GBs to an external...

how much RAM did that machine have? Because if it was 4gb, which is a common stock configuration, and I'm not entirely sure about this, Macs are almost always right on the brink of using all 4gb and therefore might be using a swap file (or whatever Mac calls it) so if your hard drive is almost filled then it is likely scrambling to find enough space scattered on the drive to utilize virtual memory.

But there may be another related point too in your comment in that if you are using a SSD, then there is also a need for enough empty space on it because of its garbage collection operation.

 

[jose melendez]

It wasn't the HD space. I dumped a ton the last time it was slow and that improved it. I'm pretty confident it is the hd.

 

[jose melendez]

Ok, here's a complication. Rebooted using my newly cloned external as a startup drive and there's no improvement of any kind. I'm assuming I need to prevent my faulty internal drive from mounting. Does that sound right? If so, how do I do it?

 

[Couperin47]

The Samsung 850s (actually either EVO or the pricier PRO versions) would be an excellent choice, but there are others that would be just as good. SSD sales are constant and the discounts can be great...but Jose what are your options for purchasing considering your current location ?

 

[Couperin47]

Ok, here's a complication. Rebooted using my newly cloned external as a startup drive and there's no improvement of any kind. I'm assuming I need to prevent my faulty internal drive from mounting. Does that sound right? If so, how do I do it?

In most cases nothing short of unplugging the drive will prevent the BIOS from detecting and attempting to boot from what it already 'knows" is the boot drive.

 

[jose melendez]

I

The Samsung 850s (actually either EVO or the pricier PRO versions) would be an excellent choice, but there are others that would be just as good. SSD sales are constant and the discounts can be great...but Jose what are your options for purchasing considering your current location ?

I bought the 850 online, and can get it delivered here, albeit in two to three weeks.

On the other issue, I used Disk Utility to unmount my internal HD and performance seems much, much better.

 

[sox311]

Very topical for me. My Late 2011 MacBook Pro crapped the bed on Friday night. The beachball showed up and stuck while opening Chrome so I hard power cycled it. Up came the "flashing folder with a question mark." I did some trouble shooting using the Disk utility and trying to reinstall from my TimeCapsule. No luck. The MBP could not read/find the hard drive it seemed.

I took it to the genius bar the next morning and they ran a test and said it is either the HD or the cable connecting the HD to the motherboard. They told me it would be an easy self fix and how I could do it myself saving a decent amount of money. Told me to order the cable, replace it and see if that is it, if not order a new HD and restore from my TimeCapsule.

I called around looking for the part to no avail before I ordered it online for $18, will be here tomorrow. I took it in to a Cell Phone computer repair shop I send a lot of my customers to and he broke it open, took out the HD and plugged it in using and external USB connector to the HardDrive. It booted up like a charm! So we concluded it was the cable.

The MBP had been very slow for a long time now, any chance that could have been because of that connector cable?

I was prepared, but my wife wasn't with another kid on the way, to drop $1800 on a new MBP, but decided to try to upgrade my current mac instead. So I ordered 8GB of RAM from Crucial, like you linked above and a bigger SSD. Nice that my wife works for Crucial's parent company, Micron, and the warehouse is about seven miles from my house. I ordered the 8GB RAM, 480 GB SSD, and a 64gb Thumb Drive for $18 I couldn't say no yesterday and it was already delivered today.

I'll get the part tomorrow, install it and see what difference it makes after cleaning up the old HD a bit, backing it up and then installing the RAM and SSD.