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Chuck_Adams

Q: My 2007 iMac is starting to act sqirrelly!

My 2007 iMac is not opening up programs that worked a week ago, not reading from my card reader that worked a week ago and taking forever to boot up. Is it my hard drive getting ready to go south on me?? I need someone to walk m

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4), 2007 24" iMac

Posted on Jul 3, 2012 8:05 PM

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Q: My 2007 iMac is starting to act sqirrelly!

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Jul 3, 2012 10:11 PM in response to Chuck_Adams
    Level 10 (123,670 points)
    Jul 3, 2012 10:11 PM in response to Chuck_Adams

    Hello Chucj,

     

    See if the Disk is issuing any S.M.A.R.T errors in Disk Utility...

     

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1896.html

     

    Open Activity Monitor, Show:>All Processes, sort on CPU%, see if anything using too much CPU% when this happens, click on Memory tab, do you have many Pageouts?

     

    Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.

    https://discussions.apple.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-18729098-127219/AMPageouts.jpg

     

    One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...

     

    PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive

     

    Reboot, test again.

     

    If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.

     

    Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.

     

    Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...

     

    /private/var/run/StartupItems

    /Library/StartupItems

    /System/Library/StartupItems

    /System/Library/LaunchDaemons

    /Library/LaunchDaemons