Computer doing frequent freezes

Question

Level 1

43 points

Computer doing frequent freezes

My MP 5,1 10.13.6 w/dual monitors has been freezing a number of times recently. In Safari or Pages I will click on something and just get a spinning technicolor wheel. It will last maybe 30 sec to 1 min. I have not timed any intervals. Sometimes I am unable to do anything. I am unable to click on a button in any other app. I frequently have 3 to 5 apps active. Other times I can move the cursor to another app and have control but not on the frozen app. I opened Activity monitor and found that sometimes it reports that Pages or Safari as not responding. Also I do not see that any unexpected app is using resources. This has gone on for several days now but was never a problem before.

Mac Pro, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 28, 2021 4:27 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

Level 10

125,141 points

Jun 30, 2021 9:57 AM in response to Bob1177

Bob1177 wrote:

Thanks for the help. The read write errors are pretty much what I expected. The other two questions were the important ones. Should I do a clean install of OS and then migrate from the failing drive or restore from Time Machine? Less important how does this affect the future functioning of my two Time Machine backups?

From my previous reply: If it’s your OS boot device, I’d usually swap the hardware, then install a fresh copy of macOS, and then use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to migrate in the content.

This sequence to avoid any latent corruptions in macOS, as latent corruptions in user files tend to be somewhat more isolated and less broadly damaging. A latent corruption in some part of macOS can be a Bad Day. A corrupt user file, less so. And with user file backups, directly recoverable.

Time Machine backups can be “inherited”. This sequence is analogous to moving to a new Mac. Or you can archive these existing Time Machine backups and start over, of course. Your call. Details > If your new Mac inherits your backup history - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,177 points

Jun 28, 2021 4:52 PM in response to Bob1177

Maybe we can find clues...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info.

https://www.etrecheck.com/

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report if you capture the URL while there…

https://pastebin.com/

Whew, they've changed pastebin & made it harder, but after pasting in, click Create new paste button, then Embed button, then copy the URL...

The important part of the above is...

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/KuvnghqA

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...

Reply

Answer 3

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

43 points

Jun 29, 2021 1:14 PM in response to Bob1177

It appears I have now really messed things up. I was running First Aide on Disk Utility to see what it told me about my drives. I got a report on two drives, the first report I sent you, but it failed on a drive on which I had installed Catalina. I then checked my 3TB Time Machine drive. It ran for a long time and didn't appear to do anything. Unlike for the other drives nothing was showing up in the window for a long time so I thought it was frozen and I used Force Quit to stop the process. My backup drive no longer appears in a Finder window and its name is dimmed in Disk Utility. I tried clicking on Mount but that failed. Have I messed it up royally? I do have a second backup on an external drive.

Reply

Answer 4

Jun 29, 2021 2:30 PM in response to Bob1177

Failing hard disk, per EtreCheck. https://pastebin.com/embed_js/XvtNAuPk

Get your data off it, and replace it at your earliest convenience.

Falling hard disks can show as slowdowns, beachballs, app and system crashes and hangs, and eventually inaccessibility.

Reply

Answer 5

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

43 points

Jun 29, 2021 3:22 PM in response to MrHoffman

The failing drive is an SSD. I have installed a 1TB Hard Drive in one bay. Should I erase that drive and do a recovery from Time Machine? I have 2 backups. One on an internal drive and one on an external drive. Do I have to install the OS first?

Reply

Answer 6

Jun 29, 2021 3:35 PM in response to Bob1177

Local policy here is that any storage device that tosses visible errors and/or fails diagnostics gets replaced.

If it’s your OS boot device, I’d usually swap the hardware, then install a fresh copy of macOS, and then use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant to migrate in the content.

Reply

Answer 7

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

43 points

Jun 30, 2021 8:15 AM in response to MrHoffman

Is there likely bad data on the boot SSD? Any bad data would probably also be on both Time Machine backups. I think you are saying install a new drive first and install a new OS 10.13.6. Should I migrate data from the failing drive or restore from the Time Machine backup? Will the internal Time Machine then just continue it's backup function? Will my external Time Machine successfully continue its backup functions? I am currently seeing notices that "Backup Failed".

Reply

Answer 8

Jun 30, 2021 8:44 AM in response to Bob1177

Locally? If the SSD is tossing errors, the SSD gets tossed. I do not trust a storage device that is reporting errors. I expect failing hardware to corrupt data on read and on write, to lose some or all data, and to quite possibly to just stop working entirely. Failing data on read messes up backups, among other messes. I expect failing hardware to fail.

Reply

Answer 9

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

43 points

Jun 30, 2021 9:32 AM in response to MrHoffman

Thanks for the help. The read write errors are pretty much what I expected. The other two questions were the important ones. Should I do a clean install of OS and then migrate from the failing drive or restore from Time Machine? Less important how does this affect the future functioning of my two Time Machine backups?

Reply

Answer 10

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

43 points

Jul 1, 2021 9:14 AM in response to Bob1177

Yesterday I erased a 1TB hard drive and installed High Sierra on a 2nd PacPro. I then removed the failing SSD from my main MacPro and inserted the hard drive with the fresh OS. There are a total of 4 installed drives in it. The other 3 hard drives are a spare drive, one a drive with Catalina and the third is 3TB backup drive. During setup i chose to migrate data from my internal Time Machine backup. It took over 12 hours that ended after I went to bed. Last night we had a power interruption of undetermined duration. When I went to the computer this morning I was faced with one blank white screen, a dark 2nd screen and no response to the keyboard. I touched the power button and it immediately turned off. I finally got it to boot to the new main drive. However none of my applications, data files or computer settings were installed. I enteed enter Time Machine and discovered that there was no history before 2:40 PM yesterday. What happened? Is it simply not recognizing my backup disk? Did I loose my backup files?

Reply

Answer 11

Bob1177 Author

Level 1

43 points

Jul 5, 2021 12:26 PM in response to Bob1177

An Apple tech thinks that the power failure damaged my internal backup. Fortunately I have an external drive backup that I only mount from time to time.. It is a number of days older than my internal backup that seems to be corrupted. Just to be safe I would like to make a copy of my external drive before I attempt to migrate the data to my MacPro. What would be the safest way to make a copy? If I plug it in to the MP with the problems is there any possibility that I cold corrupt the backup on the external drive?

Reply