OliOC

Q: Spinning beachball on login with OS X El Capitan

I have an issue on the following machine;

 

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)

2.9 GHz Intel Core i5

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 512 MB

1TB standard Hard Drive

 

The issue is I am unable to login to the machine once it has been sat inactive for a while. I intentionally leave the machine on (as it lives in our office) so it can perform housekeeping tasks etc in the evening. (On a side note perhaps anyone can elaborate if this is beneficial anymore?). It is set to never go to the sleep (only for the display to turn off) and a login password is required after fours hours of inactivity.

 

Each morning I come to the machine and almost every time I click the mouse to wake the screen, things seem very unresponsive. After a few seconds I get the spinning beachball, and it remains seemingly indefinitely (today I left it for an hour).

 

The only option is to hold down the power button.

 

Following this once the machine is turned on it take a good 20 mins or so before things are back to normal as Spotlight is indexing the startup drive.

 

I've got no other peripherals plugged into the machine at all - just an Apple wireless keyboard and mouse.

 

All other machines I have on El Capitan seem to be spot on - just my main computer in the office that is having an issue.

 

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

 

Oli

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 19, 2015 2:51 AM

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Q: Spinning beachball on login with OS X El Capitan

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 19, 2015 1:21 PM in response to OliOC
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Oct 19, 2015 1:21 PM in response to OliOC

    Does the same thing happen if you put the machine to sleep from the Apple menu and try to wake it up?

  • by OliOC,

    OliOC OliOC Oct 19, 2015 1:40 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 1:40 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc,

     

    That's what I thought I'd try this evening - I'll update the topic tomorrow morning once I know.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Oli

  • by OliOC,

    OliOC OliOC Oct 20, 2015 2:23 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 20, 2015 2:23 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc,

     

    So last night I set my machine to sleep - no issues whatsoever this morning when waking it from sleep - I was able to login without issue and everything is very speedy.

     

    So this begs the question - what task is causing the issue (I'm assuming it is a talk that is running and hogging RAM)? Is there any way I can run something to try and work out what it is? Or should I just set my machine to sleep after 4 hours or so of inactivity? Is there any need or advantage any more of leaving your machine on to perform housekeeping tasks?

     

    Many thanks,

     

    Oli

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 20, 2015 5:30 AM in response to OliOC
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Oct 20, 2015 5:30 AM in response to OliOC

    Can you still reproduce the problem? If not, you don't need to do anything.

  • by OliOC,

    OliOC OliOC Oct 21, 2015 2:20 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 21, 2015 2:20 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Hi Linc (or anyone else that might be able to help),

     

    Yesterday I changed the energy preferences so the machine would go to sleep after 3 hours of inactivity.

     

    I've come into work today to find my machine in the same state it would usually be in - black screen with a spinning beachball. Today though I can't see a login screen.

     

    One thing I have noticed (and from memory it is always the case) is there is an email alert notification displayed in the top left. This makes me wonder whether these are the cause of the crash? Or perhaps related to it somehow?

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Feb 10, 2016 7:37 AM in response to OliOC
    Level 10 (207,990 points)
    Applications
    Feb 10, 2016 7:37 AM in response to OliOC

    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.

    Step 1

    For this step, 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.

    In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes.)

    Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Select the BOOT_TIME log message that corresponds to the last boot time when you had the problem. Now clear the search box to reveal all messages. Select the ones logged before the boot, during the time something abnormal was happening. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

    For example, if the system was unresponsive or was failing to shut down for three minutes before you forced a restart, post the messages timestamped within three minutes before the boot time, not after. Please include the BOOT_TIME message at the end of the log extract—not at the beginning.

    If there are long runs of repeated messages, please post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.

    When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

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

    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.

    Step 2

    In the Console window, select

              DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION System Diagnostic Reports

    (not Diagnostic and Usage Messages) from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

              View Show Log List

    from the menu bar.

    There is a disclosure triangle to the left of the list item. If the triangle is pointing to the right, click it so that it points down. You'll see a list of reports. A crash report has a name that begins with the name of the crashed process and ends in ".crash". A panic report has a name that begins with "Kernel" and ends in ".panic". A shutdown stall report has a name that ends in ".shutdownstall". Select the most recent of each, if any. The contents of the report will appear on the right. Use copy and paste to post the entire contents—the text, not a screenshot. It's possible that none of these reports exists.

    I know the report is long, maybe several hundred lines. Please post all of it anyway.

    If you don't see any reports listed, but you know there was a crash or panic, you may have chosen Diagnostic and Usage Messages from the log list. Choose DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION instead.

    In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)

    Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report—they're very long and rarely helpful.

    When you post the log extract or the crash report, 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 OliOC,

    OliOC OliOC Feb 10, 2016 6:38 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Feb 10, 2016 6:38 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Sorry to drag up this old topic. I've been having more and more issues and have followed Linc Davis' suggestions. I hope the below info isn't too much - I couldn't quite figure out the ordering of the message logs as the boot time fell in between other logs - this is the order they appeared in.

     

    The log at 13:45:25.000 was the last one before the machine was rebooted at 14:00.

     

    Thank you in advance if anyone can offer any help.

     

    10/02/2016 13:22:15.943 AirPlayXPCHelper[99]: 2016-02-10 01:22:15.942993 PM [APTransportTrafficRegistrar] APTransportTrafficRegistrar: Deregister AirPlay traffic for AWDL at MAC 00:00:00:00:00:00 with target infra non critical PeerIndication=0 err=0

     

    10/02/2016 13:24:33.000 syslogd[43]: ASL Sender Statistics

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.060 UserEventAgent[44]: Failed to send message because the port couldn't be created.

     

    10/02/2016 14:00:57.000 bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1455112857 0

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.061 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Starting automatic backup

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.061 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Destination Time Machine Backup could not be found (url: (null) destinationID: B2722CAD-589D-4A0A-B27D-6D50AFDC147C)

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.063 UserEventAgent[44]: Failed to send message because the port couldn't be created.

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.064 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Backup failed with error 18: The backup disk could not be found.

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.065 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Error -35 while resolving alias to backup target

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.069 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Starting automatic backup

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.070 UserEventAgent[44]: Failed to send message because the port couldn't be created.

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.071 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Destination LaCie rikiki could not be found (url: (null) destinationID: AAF91201-0BB6-4C09-92DC-7F4875010263)

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.072 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Backup failed with error 18: The backup disk could not be found.

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.073 UserEventAgent[44]: Failed to send message because the port couldn't be created.

     

    10/02/2016 13:25:34.077 com.apple.backupd[4434]: Error -35 while resolving alias to backup target

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.390 WindowServer[169]: CGError post_notification(const CGSNotificationType, void *const, const size_t, const bool, const CGSRealTimeDelta, const int, const CGSConnectionID *const, const pid_t): Timed out 1.000 second wait for reply from "EscrowSecurityAlert" for synchronous notification type 102 (kCGSDisplayWillSleep) (CID 0x1bf2b, PID 619)

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.390 WindowServer[169]: CGError post_notification(const CGSNotificationType, void *const, const size_t, const bool, const CGSRealTimeDelta, const int, const CGSConnectionID *const, const pid_t): Timed out 1.000 second wait for reply from "Keychain Circle Notification" for synchronous notification type 102 (kCGSDisplayWillSleep) (CID 0x19613, PID 469)

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.390 WindowServer[169]: CGError post_notification(const CGSNotificationType, void *const, const size_t, const bool, const CGSRealTimeDelta, const int, const CGSConnectionID *const, const pid_t): Timed out 1.000 second wait for reply from "(PID 219)" for synchronous notification type 102 (kCGSDisplayWillSleep) (CID 0x7f03, PID 219)

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.390 WindowServer[169]: CGError post_notification(const CGSNotificationType, void *const, const size_t, const bool, const CGSRealTimeDelta, const int, const CGSConnectionID *const, const pid_t): Timed out 1.000 second wait for reply from "loginwindow" for synchronous notification type 102 (kCGSDisplayWillSleep) (CID 0x7907, PID 94)

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.390 WindowServer[169]: device_generate_desktop_screenshot: authw 0x7f8b8bc71c00(2000), shield 0x7f8b8ba4dc00(2001)

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.390 WindowServer[169]: device_generate_lock_screen_screenshot: authw 0x7f8b8bc71c00(2000)[0, 0, 0, 0] shield 0x7f8b8ba4dc00(2001), dev [2560,1440]

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:16.391 WindowServer[169]: no sleep images for WillPowerOffWithImages

     

    10/02/2016 13:31:25.934 loginwindow[94]: CoreAnimation: warning, deleted thread with uncommitted CATransaction; set CA_DEBUG_TRANSACTIONS=1 in environment to log backtraces.

     

    10/02/2016 13:34:33.000 syslogd[43]: ASL Sender Statistics

     

    10/02/2016 13:45:25.000 syslogd[43]: ASL Sender Statistics

  • by MJ,

    MJ MJ Apr 27, 2016 8:52 AM in response to OliOC
    Level 1 (132 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 27, 2016 8:52 AM in response to OliOC

    My iMac suffers a very similar problem. I can log in fine after a power cycle, but logging in after a sleep/wake cycle is impossible. The login screen appears, but the spinning beachball shows up and login is prevented (keyboard input is ignored). I need to hold the power button in to forcefully power it down. When I power up, I can log in just fine.

     

    After using the iMac for a while, before it sleeps, the beachball will periodically appear for no apparent reason, freezing the iMac and making it unusable for ~10 minutes...if I am patient enough to wait 10 minutes. Then the beachball goes away and behavior is normal for a while.

     

    I am pretty good at troubleshooting but I don't even know were to begin.

     

    I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be related to Time Machine, but that might be a red herring.

     

    This iMac has been running flawlessly for years and has been running well under El Capitan for months. No new software installed recently.

     

    Any suggested path for troubleshooting? Is this a known issue with a fix?

     

    It is an old but high-end iMac running 10.11.4.

     

    Specs:

     

    Late 2009 27-inch iMac

    2.8 GHz i7

    12 GB RAM

  • by MJ,

    MJ MJ May 2, 2016 3:55 PM in response to MJ
    Level 1 (132 points)
    Desktops
    May 2, 2016 3:55 PM in response to MJ

    Looks like in my case the issue is a failing HDD.

     

    Deeper diagnostics are being run at an authorized service center, but I think that is the issue.

     

    I'll post back here by May 15, 2016 IFF I am wrong.

  • by MJ,

    MJ MJ May 6, 2016 5:46 PM in response to MJ
    Level 1 (132 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2016 5:46 PM in response to MJ

    Well, I'm posting anyway. I was right. The HDD was dying, and then it died horribly.

     

    A new drive (SSD) is now installed and everything works great. Time Machine restored everything, almost like magic.

     

    It is comforting to have first-hand proof that Time Machine really works after a catastrophic startup disk failure.

  • by esantano,

    esantano esantano Jun 13, 2016 4:37 PM in response to OliOC
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 13, 2016 4:37 PM in response to OliOC

    6/13/16 4:58:11.000 PM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1465858691 0

    6/13/16 4:26:10.634 PM mDNSResponder[93]:  39: Could not write data to client PID[1736](backupd) because of error - aborting connection

     

    No .crash, .panic, .shutdownstall reports

     

    Thank you.

  • by slylabs13,

    slylabs13 slylabs13 Jul 22, 2016 9:15 AM in response to OliOC
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 22, 2016 9:15 AM in response to OliOC

    Same problem. Was using Yosemite, computer became slow, switched to another computer, replaced drive with SSD, installed fresh El Capitan, Migrated old drive, everything works but if I get email alerts while the computer is in screen saver, then when I go to dismiss the screen saver I beach ball with all the notifications visible. New SSD so let's not talk about bad HD's here. This is a bug.

  • by spinningstill,

    spinningstill spinningstill Aug 4, 2016 4:52 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 4, 2016 4:52 PM in response to Linc Davis

    My machine is doing the same thing after wake.  iMac late 2015.  I tried it from a manual sleep and it wakes ok, but when I return to it, after it sleeps on its own, it takes some time (Beach Ball).  I did the console gander and found a "cannot connect to an NSApplication."  I don't see a "boot_time" listing.

  • by Malkovitch,

    Malkovitch Malkovitch Sep 13, 2016 8:47 AM in response to spinningstill
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 13, 2016 8:47 AM in response to spinningstill

    Hello to all,

    I have the same problem, with the following details. The problem is on a MacBook Pro 2011, with El Capitan 10.11.6.

     

    1) The problem appeared after I applied the last security update, that was a few days ago. Before that, everything worked perfectly well.

    2) Upon starting the MacBook goes to the point where I enter my password. The password is accepted and the wheel starts spinning. I must force quit.

     

    I've tried the following actions to no avail:

    1) Resetting the NVRAM

    2) A safe boot

    3) Running Disk Utility in Recovery Mode

    4) File system consistency check restarting while holding Command+S

     

    Can someone help ? Thank you