Hey guys! Recently my Mac was running quite slow - I had removed a decent amount of unnecessary items and feed up space. I have booted up in safe mode / did the first aid - all clear however when I turn the Mac on, my log in screen had a gray panel with a small section of the actual screen.
(It’s takes about 20 mins to turn on..)
MacOs Mojave: 10.14.3
If you're still encountering this issue then I suggest doing two things to gather additional information that might help us troubleshoot your issue:
1) Download Etresoft and upload a copy of the report so others can help determine if there are items on your system that need attention.
2) Assuming you don't have any malware, and you have freed up sufficient space on your hard drive, then I suggest performing a more in depth review of your hard drive's SMART (Self-monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Tool) logs using one of the tools that are available. Here are a couple of options that can be used in the demo mode to view the logs. See if they report any issues.
https://www.volitans-software.com/apps/smart-utility/
https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx
Have you checked for malware with a tool like Malwarebytes? You indicated that you removed a lot of unnecessary items? Were any of them apps or other files that were causing issues with your iMac? What types of files were they?
Have you tried creating a new user account to see if the issue persists? I realize you tried booting into Safe mode and ran Disk First Aid.
How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support
If you don't have a current backup of your data, now is the time to make one. I learned the hard way several years ago and now always have more than one backup of important files.
If you're still encountering this issue then I suggest doing two things to gather additional information that might help us troubleshoot your issue:
1) Download Etresoft and upload a copy of the report so others can help determine if there are items on your system that need attention.
2) Assuming you don't have any malware, and you have freed up sufficient space on your hard drive, then I suggest performing a more in depth review of your hard drive's SMART (Self-monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Tool) logs using one of the tools that are available. Here are a couple of options that can be used in the demo mode to view the logs. See if they report any issues.
https://www.volitans-software.com/apps/smart-utility/
https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx
Have you checked for malware with a tool like Malwarebytes? You indicated that you removed a lot of unnecessary items? Were any of them apps or other files that were causing issues with your iMac? What types of files were they?
Have you tried creating a new user account to see if the issue persists? I realize you tried booting into Safe mode and ran Disk First Aid.
How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support
If you don't have a current backup of your data, now is the time to make one. I learned the hard way several years ago and now always have more than one backup of important files.
I had removed a decent amount of unnecessary items and feed up space.
How did you go about removing the unnecessary items? Did you use any "cleaning" apps?
Copy and paste the results into your reply.
Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.
Use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply:
Also assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:
Thank you for all the information ProbsRus/Old Toad!
I did clean stuff up using malwarebytes after I had cleared the files off.
I spoke to an apple tech and we went through a few more things but they ended up saying that it might be a software issue and I was to erase and reinstall the macOs.
I repeated Ted a few steps justincase it would sort it out before I go to Warsaw everything and it started working like normal.
It has been running smooth since.
If i experience it againg I will definitely go through you responses again.
Thank you for your help!
Mac running slow / gray login screen
