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Beachballing -- hardware or software issue?

Is there a way of telling whether I have software or hardware issues? Performance has seriously degraded since I upgraded to Mojave. Etrecheck suggests that it may be a hardware problem or may be a software issue. If it's software, I am considering doing a clean re-installation. If it's hardware, I may have to buy a new computer. I don't want to go to the trouble of a re-installation if my hardware is failing. On the other hand, I don't want to hand out big bucks for a new iMac if my old one is actually just fine.

Any suggestions?

My iMac is 2014 vintage. I have lots of free disk space and 8 GB of memory.

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.14

Posted on May 19, 2020 1:02 PM

Top-ranking reply

BobHarris

Level 9

55,043 points

Posted on May 19, 2020 3:27 PM

Try booting into Safe mode

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564

This will not load any 3rd party additions, it will load some more conservative Apple drivers (may cause screen flicker), and it will clear some kernel caches (a cache is saved data in a form that can speed up a program, but is totally redundant to the original source, and thus can be safely cleared). Booting into Safe mode is just an experiment, but can frequently eliminate any 3rd party interference, or a cached item out-of-sync with the world. (Verify Safe mode via Applications -> Utilities -> System Information -> Software -> Boot Mode -> Safe vs Normal)

If it is software, this will JUST load macOS software, and no 3rd party stuff.

If you still have beach balls in Safe mode, that would lean towards hardware.

If you want to post the EtreCheck output, someone will most likely look at it and give you their 2 cents.

And then Paste the report as a "Reply" to this thread using an "Additional Text" box.

EtreCheck is a tool that helps Apple Support Community volunteers debug problems without any access to the troubled computers. Debugging problems can be a difficult task even when the machine is in front of you. Attempting it via a discussion forum is extremely difficult. EtreCheck is a great help that regards.

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Beachballing -- hardware or software issue?

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