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Level 1

14 points

Spinning Beachball Continues

It's a 21.5" mid 2011 iMac running High Sierra 10.13.6.

What happens:

Since doing a number of "fixes" - changing out RAM, more than half of hard disk storage remains, Disk Repair (showed okay), Reset PRAM, Safe mode, re-installing High Sierra - I've tried all I can think of.

It now boots properly (regular speed) to login screen where the beachball will sometimes appear and other times let me login but appear as soon as I try to do something - except once!!

This happened a few hours ago. Logged in, no beachball. I plugged in an external drive and it made a complete time machine backup. Wow, couldn't believe it. However, once finished and I tried to open a program - spinning beachball - and that's all I get again when I turn off and reboot.

I'm thinking it must be hardware - perhaps hard drive failing to load things fast enough (although disk repair showed it as okay). Weired that it was okay that one time to do the backup.

I guess I'm wondering if it is worth it to try reformatting and going that route - but if it is other hardware causing it, that could just be a waste of time. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

Posted on Sep 21, 2021 11:31 PM

Best reply

Jack-19

Level 8

45,694 points

Posted on Sep 22, 2021 3:49 AM

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.

I believe we need to proceed with an EtreCheck report. EtreCheck is a useful App to diagnose and identify issues, both hardware and software. It is trusted by many users. Please follow the steps outlined below:

Navigate to: https://etrecheck.com and get the free version of EtreCheckPro.
Download it. It is a free and trusted app. It is often recommended here on Apple Support Communities.
Open EtreCheck, and before running the report, be sure to check “Allow full Drive Access” at the bottom of the EtreCheckPro window.
Run the report, and put it in a post, as seen here: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211. We will then examine the report for issues in your Mac.

Jack

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Spinning Beachball Continues

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