gafyn1
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: iMac (early 2011) unbearably slow - don't know what else to do

Hi, I've been suffering with a slow iMac (27") for a while now and I think it's gradually getting worse.

 

The worst is for about half hour after startup, you can hear the disk working constantly and even opening a new finder window or browser tab seems like a big effort. It does pick up a little after this but simple tasks are still sluggish to say the least compared to my Macbook Air (mid 2011 with half the memory, processor speed/cores of the iMac).

 

So far I have:

 

  • Performed a clean install - was a few months back when running Yosemite. No noticeable difference
  • Upgraded to El Capitan - Currently version 10.11.1
  • Checked my disk space - not even 40% full
  • Run a malware check using ClamXav - picked up just a few phishing emails in junk folder
  • Uninstalled unused and old versions of apps - no difference
  • Disconnected all peripherals except Apple keyboard and trackpad - no difference
  • Disabled file syncing of Google Drive, Dropbox and Creative Cloud - no difference
  • Run first aid in Disk Utility - all good
  • Checked my network connection using speetest.net - Ping 15ms, Download 36.49Mbps, Upload: 9.37Mbps
  • Reset NVRAM and SMC

 

I've been keeping an eye on memory usage using Activity Monitor and the top 3 processes are normally:

 

  1. Any Adobe Creative Cloud app I'm using - can be a few GB, depending on which app and what I'm doing at the time
  2. kernel_task - normally 600MB - 1.2GB
  3. Google Drive - normally 200 - 500MB

 

Apps typically running at the same time (though performance seems the same with just one or many more than listed below):

 

  • Photoshop
  • Chrome
  • Mail
  • iTunes
  • HipChat

 

Peripherals normally connected:

 

  • USB - Apple Numerical Keyboard
  • USB - Wacom Intuos 4 tablet
  • USB - Bose Companion 5 Audio
  • Thunderbolt - Iiyama PL2779Q 27" display
  • BT - Apple Trackpad
  • Apple Time Capsule (wireless)

 

I have run EtreCheck, please see results below:

 

EtreCheck version: 2.6.3 (223)

Report generated 08/11/2015, 11:11

Runtime 2:26

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

 

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

 

Hardware Information: (What does this mean?)

    27" iMac (Early 2011)

    [Click for Technical Specifications]

    [Click for User Guide]

    iMac - model: iMac12,2

    1 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

    8 GB RAM Upgradeable

    [Click for upgrade instructions]

        BANK 0/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

        BANK 1/DIMM0

            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

        BANK 0/DIMM1

            Empty  

        BANK 1/DIMM1

            Empty  

    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

 

Video Information: (What does this mean?)

    AMD Radeon HD 6970M - VRAM: 1024 MB

        iMac 2560 x 1440

        PL2779Q 2560 x 1440 @ 59 Hz

 

System Software: (What does this mean?)

    OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 (15B42) - Time since boot: about one hour

 

Disk Information: (What does this mean?)

    WDC WD1001FALS-403AA0 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

        [redacted] (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (677.70 GB free)

        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

 

    OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H   ()

 

USB Information: (What does this mean?)

    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

    Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

        Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

    Bose Corporation Bose USB Audio

    Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

    Tablet PTK-640

    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

    Apple Card Reader

 

Thunderbolt Information: (What does this mean?)

    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

 

Gatekeeper: (What does this mean?)

    Mac App Store and identified developers

 

Kernel Extensions: (What does this mean?)

        /Library/Extensions

    [not loaded]    com.wacom.kext.ftdi (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

 

        /System/Library/Extensions

    [not loaded]    com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (6.3.11 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

    [not loaded]    net.tunnelblick.tap (2780) [Click for support]

    [not loaded]    net.tunnelblick.tun (2780) [Click for support]

 

Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]

    [failed]    com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a...plist [Click for support]

    [running]    com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist [Click for support]

    [running]    com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist [Click for support]

 

Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist [Click for support]

    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist [Click for support]

    [running]    com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist [Click for support]

    [loaded]    com.adobe.agsservice.plist [Click for support]

    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

 

User Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]

    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

    [failed]    com.lastpass.LastPassHelper.plist [Click for support] [Click for details]

    [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Click for support]

 

User Login Items: (What does this mean?)

    TimeCamp    Application  (/Applications/TimeCamp.app)

    Google Drive    Application  (/Applications/Google Drive.app)

    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    Application Hidden (/Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Helpers/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

 

Other Apps: (What does this mean?)

    [running]    com.adobe.acc.AdobeDesktopService.15072.1D803662-8762-4D60-B5D0-993252F5FC73

    [running]    com.adobe.accmac.65632

    [running]    com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000003.Google Chrome

    [running]    com.etresoft.EtreCheck.85472

    [running]    com.google.GoogleDrive.52832

    [running]    com.wacom.TabletDriver.14752

    [running]    com.wacom.WacomTouchDriver.14112

 

Internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

    AdobeAAMDetect: Version: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 [Click for support]

    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 19.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 15.009.20077 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 15.009.20077 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

    Flash Player: Version: 19.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

    Default Browser: Version: 601 - SDK 10.11

    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.5.1 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

    nplastpass: Version: 3.1.89 - SDK 10.10 [Click for support]

    WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.6 - SDK 10.9 [Click for support]

 

Safari Extensions: (What does this mean?)

    LastPass

 

3rd Party Preference Panes: (What does this mean?)

    Flash Player  [Click for support]

    WacomTablet  [Click for support]

 

Time Machine: (What does this mean?)

    Mobile backups: OFF

    Auto backup: YES

    Volumes being backed up:

        Gafyn: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 321.64 GB

    Destinations:

        AirPort Disk [Network]

        Total size: 997.71 GB

        Total number of backups: 26

        Oldest backup: 26/05/2015, 06:39

        Last backup: 08/11/2015, 10:30

        Size of backup disk: Adequate

            Backup size 997.71 GB > (Disk used 321.64 GB X 3)

 

Top Processes by CPU: (What does this mean?)

         2%    WindowServer

         1%    Google Chrome Helper(13)

         1%    fontd

         0%    Google Drive

         0%    askpermissiond

 

Top Processes by Memory: (What does this mean?)

    1.59 GB    Google Chrome Helper(13)

    735 MB    kernel_task

    401 MB    Google Drive

    254 MB    Google Chrome

    164 MB    mds_stores

 

Virtual Memory Information: (What does this mean?)

    1.49 GB    Free RAM

    6.50 GB    Used RAM (2.54 GB Cached)

    0 B    Swap Used

 

Diagnostics Information: (What does this mean?)

    Nov 8, 2015, 09:29:20 AM    Self test - passed

 

 

Any help much appreciated.

 

Gafyn

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Nov 8, 2015 3:43 AM

Close
gafyn1

Q: iMac (early 2011) unbearably slow - don't know what else to do

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Nov 8, 2015 7:06 AM in response to gafyn1
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Nov 8, 2015 7:06 AM in response to gafyn1

    When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.  

    These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

              SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

    from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View ▹ Show Log List

    from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

    Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

    Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

    Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

    Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

    Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

    When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

  • by gafyn1,

    gafyn1 gafyn1 Nov 8, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2015 11:11 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks for your reply, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for but I've pasted some lines in around the time the Mac slowed right down. I've tried to be selective and removed most of the repeated lines. I can get another extract just after a reboot if there is nothing obvious here but as I mentioned above, it's sluggish for a while when it's just started up so it might be a little more difficult to keep it concise.

     

    08/11/2015 18:31:43.573 WindowServer[146]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Photoshop CC" after 24.25 seconds [0.04fps] (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds [1.00fps])

     

    08/11/2015 18:31:50.357 SpotlightNetHelper[323]: tcp_connection_tls_session_error_callback_imp 25 __tcp_connection_tls_session_callback_write_block_invoke.434 error 22

     

    08/11/2015 18:31:54.331 secd[304]:  SOSEngineCreateMessage_locked hNsiRez2x8smO4GbqB4ypmhY0L:irjfYv9W0xeDki9E/sM3QYwFxm error in send: Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found" UserInfo={NSDescription=peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found}

    08/11/2015 18:31:54.332 secd[304]:  __SOSCCProcessSyncWithAllPeers_Server_block_invoke sync with all peers failed: Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found" UserInfo={NSDescription=peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found}

     

    08/11/2015 18:32:04.995 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.501) Service tried to register a port for an endpoint declared in its launchd.plist(5): service = com.adobe.Photoshop.1312, endpoint = Cancel Port788

     

    08/11/2015 18:32:39.322 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x1000000a.dynamiclinkmanager[818]) Service exited due to signal: Abort trap: 6

     

    08/11/2015 18:32:39.550 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.ReportCrash[823]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.ReportCrash

     

    08/11/2015 18:32:40.607 CloudKeychainProxy[314]:  __39-[UbiqitousKVSProxy doSyncWithAllPeers]_block_invoke_2 <UBK-s-pC---> syncWithAllPeers (null), rescheduling timer

     

    08/11/2015 18:32:40.663 CEPHtmlEngine[814]: Internals of CFAllocator not known; out-of-memory failures via CFAllocator will not result in termination. http://crbug.com/45650

    08/11/2015 18:32:40.663 CEPHtmlEngine[817]: Internals of CFAllocator not known; out-of-memory failures via CFAllocator will not result in termination. http://crbug.com/45650

    08/11/2015 18:32:46.355 CEPHtmlEngine Helper[826]: Internals of CFAllocator not known; out-of-memory failures via CFAllocator will not result in termination. http://crbug.com/45650

    08/11/2015 18:32:46.357 CEPHtmlEngine Helper[825]: Internals of CFAllocator not known; out-of-memory failures via CFAllocator will not result in termination. http://crbug.com/45650

    08/11/2015 18:32:51.719 CEPHtmlEngine Helper[826]: The function ‘CGFontSetShouldUseMulticache’ is obsolete and will be removed in an upcoming update. Unfortunately, this application, or a library it uses, is using this obsolete function, and is thereby contributing to an overall degradation of system performance.

     

    08/11/2015 18:33:12.169 ReportCrash[823]: Saved crash report for dynamiclinkmanager[822] version 8.0.0 (8.0.0.0) to /Users/Username/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/dynamiclinkmanager_2015-11-08-18 3312_Usernames-iMac.crash

    08/11/2015 18:33:12.169 ReportCrash[823]: Saved crash report for dynamiclinkmanager[818] version 8.0.0 (8.0.0.0) to /Users/Username/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/dynamiclinkmanager_2015-11-08-18 3312-1_Usernames-iMac.crash

    08/11/2015 18:33:12.169 ReportCrash[823]: Saved crash report for dynamiclinkmanager[821] version 8.0.0 (8.0.0.0) to /Users/Username/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/dynamiclinkmanager_2015-11-08-18 3312-2_Usernames-iMac.crash

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Nov 8, 2015 11:20 AM in response to gafyn1
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Nov 8, 2015 11:20 AM in response to gafyn1

    There may be other issues, but a component of "Creative Cloud" (namely, "dynamiclinkmanager") is crashing repeatedly. I suggest you refer to Adobe Support or its user forums for help with that problem.

  • by gafyn1,

    gafyn1 gafyn1 Nov 9, 2015 2:19 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 9, 2015 2:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks, I think the 'dynamiclinkmanager' problem is solved now but still slow. I've picked out a few more lines from the log since startup, where the Mac is consistently slow. The lines I've highlighted in bold seem to repeat over and over

     

    09/11/2015 21:52:38.896 Google Chrome Helper[487]: CGAffineTransformInvert: singular matrix.

     

     

    09/11/2015 21:52:51.501 secd[279]:  SOSEngineCreateMessage_locked hNsiRez2x8smO4GbqB4ypmhY0L:irjfYv9W0xeDki9E/sM3QYwFxm error in send: Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found" UserInfo={NSDescription=peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found}

    09/11/2015 21:52:51.502 secd[279]:  __SOSCCProcessSyncWithAllPeers_Server_block_invoke sync with all peers failed: Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found" UserInfo={NSDescription=peer: zxrAELaHsdLzGg5iTsyIpeIJia not found}

    09/11/2015 21:52:52.151 CloudKeychainProxy[288]:  __39-[UbiqitousKVSProxy doSyncWithAllPeers]_block_invoke_2 <UB--s-pC---> syncWithAllPeers (null), rescheduling timer

     

    09/11/2015 21:57:04.382 FinderSyncAPIExtension[504]: The Finder version 1.0 is not supported by Google Drive!

    09/11/2015 21:57:04.415 FinderSyncAPIExtension[504]: Failed to connect (colorGridView) outlet from (NSApplication) to (NSColorPickerGridView): missing setter or instance variable

    09/11/2015 21:57:04.415 FinderSyncAPIExtension[504]: Failed to connect (view) outlet from (NSApplication) to (NSColorPickerGridView): missing setter or instance variable

     

    09/11/2015 21:57:08.803 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.501) Service "com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000007.AppleSpell" tried to hijack endpoint "en (Apple)_OpenStep" from owner: com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000005.AppleSpell

     

    09/11/2015 21:57:23.463 AppleSpell[452]: *** -[NSMachPort handlePortMessage:]: dropping incoming DO message because the connection is invalid

     

    09/11/2015 21:58:37.190 QuickLookSatellite[508]: Invalid Connection ID 0

    09/11/2015 21:58:37.204 QuickLookSatellite[508]: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.

     

    09/11/2015 21:58:38.423 sandboxd[134]: ([281]) bird(281) deny file-read-data /Applications/Adobe After Effects CC 2015/Plug-ins/MAXON CINEWARE AE/(CINEWARE Support)/lite/CINEMA 4D Lite.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/CINEMA 4D.qlgenerator

     

    09/11/2015 21:58:40.593 secd[279]:  securityd_xpc_dictionary_handler cloudd[312] copy_matching Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-50 "query missing class name" (paramErr: error in user parameter list) UserInfo={NSDescription=query missing class name}

    09/11/2015 21:58:40.593 cloudd[312]:  SecOSStatusWith error:[-50] Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-50 "query missing class name" (paramErr: error in user parameter list) UserInfo={NSDescription=query missing class name}

     

    09/11/2015 22:14:38.490 mds[60]: (DiskStore.Error:1417) Unexpected file  dev:16777217 storeDev:16777217 mode:41ed hint:13298053 oid:13298053 ino:13299469 fsEvents:0 /Users/Username/Library/com.apple.nsurlsessiond/E8C9768780A371F36651AB699D884E8 81706B377/37E0E446903B8767281609ACDB696C3577D5BE3D -- /Users/Username/Library/com.apple.nsurlsessiond/E8C9768780A371F36651AB699D884E8 81706B377/37E0E446903B8767281609ACDB696C3577D5BE3D

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Nov 9, 2015 4:08 PM in response to gafyn1
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Nov 9, 2015 4:08 PM in response to gafyn1

    A

    Please sign out of iCloud in its preference pane and see whether there's any change. No data will be removed from the servers, and you can retrieve it by signing back in. That said, you should always have a current archive of the data for safety's sake, even if you don't sign out.

    If you use iCloud Keychain, when you sign back in to iCloud follow one of the procedures described in this support article to set it up on an additional device.

    B

    Remove "Google Drive" and test.

  • by MichelPM,

    MichelPM MichelPM Nov 9, 2015 4:27 PM in response to gafyn1
    Level 6 (14,226 points)
    iPad
    Nov 9, 2015 4:27 PM in response to gafyn1

    Try ditching ALL Googlewares. They are ALL a serious resource hogs on the OS X system.

    The additional benefit is that you'll stop Google from mining your data when you surf the web


    https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95319?hl=en


    https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375081?hl=en


    If you do not like Apple's Safari web browser, download, install and try Mozilla FireFox, instead.


    http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox


    The current, up-to-date version of FireFox is fully compatible with OS X and is regularly updated by the great developers of the Mozilla group.


    I have, also, stopped using the Google search engine regularly (due to Google's privacy policies or lack thereof) and I now use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine.

  • by gafyn1,

    gafyn1 gafyn1 Nov 15, 2015 1:31 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 1:31 PM in response to Linc Davis

    I think I've seen some improvement on startup since removing Google Drive and disabling iCloud Keychain. However, I haven't had the opportunity to test performance properly yet. I hope to do so this week and will post an update when I do.

     

    Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

  • by gafyn1,

    gafyn1 gafyn1 Nov 15, 2015 1:39 PM in response to MichelPM
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 1:39 PM in response to MichelPM

    @MichelPM, thanks for your response. I have no issues with Safari, I will trial going back to it this week to see if it makes a difference. As I just mentioned, I think there has been a slight improvement on startup by removing Drive. Unfortunately I can't ditch it altogether because we use it in work but I can probably do without the app installed on this particular machine.