iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015) iMac16,2 crashes multiple times per day

Question

David2357 Author

Level 1

4 points

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015) iMac16,2 crashes multiple times per day

What can I do to fix this problem?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 22, 2021 6:18 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,688 points

Jan 22, 2021 10:01 PM in response to David2357

You can save you and us a lot of time and effort if you do the following:

Please navigate to the Mac App Store or navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.

When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again.

For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211

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Answer 2

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,834 points

Jan 22, 2021 6:56 PM in response to David2357

There are many possible causes.

Can you add to the discussion what apps you were using when the crashes occur?

Do you have any anti-virus or so-called "cleaning" apps installed?

Please confirm your macOS version as 10.15

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Answer 3

David2357 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 22, 2021 9:54 PM in response to Allan Jones

I usually have Firefox, Mail, Messages, Terminal, and pwSafe open. Sometimes I have PyCharm, CLion, or WebStorm open. But mostly what I use this iMac for is reading the news, watching Twitch streams, and handling e-mail. If I have an IDE open, this iMac becomes less responsive and I believe there is some disk thrashing due to the limited (8 GB) RAM.

I do not have any anti-virus or cleaning applications installed.

Version: 10.15.7 (19H114)

I have downloaded Big Sur, but I am concerned that it will just make these problems worse as most operating system upgrades usually require more RAM.

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Answer 4

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,688 points

Jan 23, 2021 8:49 AM in response to David2357

I would replace it with one these:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MS8U3SSDT1.0/

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MOTGPWR/

I would not spend money opening it, these machines are very difficult to work on an external SSD will work very well and improve performance substantially.

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Answer 5

David2357 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 23, 2021 11:16 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I was actually checking Best Buy's website for an external USB SSD when I received notification of your reply.

However, I am having difficulty figuring out how to clone my operating system to the new drive. I would hate to have to buy Carbon Copy Clone if I can do it with System Rescue CD.

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Answer 6

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,688 points

Jan 23, 2021 11:22 AM in response to David2357

You can use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the internal HD to the new SSD. I would not recommend one of the BBY solutions, the solution I offered will work and the SSD is pre-formatted to work with your iMac directly out of the box.

You can use the evaluation copy to clone and if you don't already have a backup solution using Carbon Copy Cloner as a backup solution works great and if you already use Time Machine the it's wise to have redundant backups available too!

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Answer 7

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,834 points

Jan 23, 2021 11:44 AM in response to David2357

+1 on Carbon Copy Cloner. I use it because (a) it clones, not copies, the original drive to be bootable, and (b) it prompts you to create the important Recovery partition on the new drive. Most other methods do not mention the recovery partition and you end up not being able to run diagnostics and restore the OS easily.

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