My iMac (2017) runs really slowly after updating to Monterey! I have just updated to 12.2 and remains slow. It’s almost unusable. Is anyone having the same issue? Or has anyone got a fix? It’s on the internal 1Tb HDD, 8mb ram, 1.5 gig graphics, intel chip.
iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.2
Devfish12 wrote:
My iMac (2017) runs really slowly after updating to Monterey! I have just updated to 12.2 and remains slow. It’s almost unusable. Is anyone having the same issue? Or has anyone got a fix? It’s on the internal 1Tb HDD, 8mb ram, 1.5 gig graphics, intel chip.
How much free storage do you have...?
To trouble shoot further you can:
—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.
Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.
In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.
This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.
—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac
This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.
Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus
all known to cause issues on the macOS
Devfish12 wrote:
My iMac (2017) runs really slowly after updating to Monterey! I have just updated to 12.2 and remains slow. It’s almost unusable. Is anyone having the same issue? Or has anyone got a fix? It’s on the internal 1Tb HDD, 8mb ram, 1.5 gig graphics, intel chip.
How much free storage do you have...?
To trouble shoot further you can:
—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.
Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.
In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.
This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.
—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac
This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.
Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus
all known to cause issues on the macOS
Suggest downloading the Application Etrecheck directly from a well Respected ASC Contributor.
The application is free or paid from added features.
Run the application with Full Disc Access ( Security & Privacy - Full Disc Access ).
It will take a Snap Shot - both the hardware and software.
The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information.
Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )
We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.
Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, alter, modify, remove or delete or attempt to do so is an invitation for disaster and may require a Reinstallation of the OS.
This includes AntiVirus, Disk Cleaners, Disk Optimizes, UnInstaller etc.
The The Built in Security is all that is required.
Devfish12 wrote:
It’s on the internal 1Tb HDD
does the mac actually have an HDD? or is it an SSD? if it really is an HDD, it will run glacially slow running monterey. if it's an HDD, the easiest way to speed things up would be to purchase an external SSD and install monterey on it and boot from it.
please see this informative user tip: How to Setup and Use an External SSD as your Startup Disk - User Tip
Thank you for your reply. Please see attached report via Etrecheck. Hope this is helpful. I have no antivirus, disk cleaners, optimisers or uninstaller on the system.
Thanks in advance. By the way, I rebooted as suggested by leroydouglas' post into safe mode and it has somewhat speeded up boot time and system but not to the usual speed.
Hope this helps.
as cheap as they have become, i would get another SSD to run monterey. i have a samsung T7 that i use to run Catalina and it works spectacularly. and as long as the host mac has monterey installed on it, you should have no issues putting monterey on the external SSD using the steps in the above user tip. i tested that about a month ago with a different T7 SSD, and i successfully had monterey running on it.
Performance:
System Load: 2.96 (1 min ago) 3.38 (5 min ago) 1.72 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 11.52 MB/s
File system: 37.18 seconds
Write speed: 62 MB/s
Read speed: 70 MB/s
You have 5400RPM HDD and the read/write is slow.
I am running my Mac from a NVME SSD in an external enclosure connected to a USB3 port on my Mac) and get these speeds which is about 5 times faster than yours
Performance:
System Load: 3.02 (1 min ago) 2.28 (5 min ago) 2.47 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 1.42 MB/s
File system: 25.06 seconds
Write speed: 355 MB/s
Read speed: 359 MB/s
You likey have a thunderbolt post so you can get a fast SSD with enclosure compatible with your Mac's ports.and uses that as your startup disk.
Yur startup disk speed is the only problem I see in the report.
I am using external startup disk because I had to reinstall internally my original Apple SSD in order to upgrade to Monterey and have got around to putting the NVME drive back internally.
Thanks for your response. Yeah I thought the HDD read/write was slow. I do have an external 500gb SSD which I can connect to a thunderbolt port. Do I need to have Monterey installed on both internal HDD and on the external SSD to use the external as a boot drive? I think it would match your speeds if I could. My SSD is sandisk extreme 500gb portable nvme ssd.
Devfish12 wrote:
Do I need to have Monterey installed on both internal HDD and on the external SSD to use the external as a boot drive?
to install monterey on an external, the host mac needs to already have monterey installed because of the firmware needed for the monterey upgrade. but i'm unsure if you could then use the external monterey drive on a mac that hasn't had monterey installed yet.
Thanks for your reply. I will try your suggestions first and get back to you. I have more than 900 Gb free on the hard drive out of 1Tb in total.
thanks!
Yes, it’s an actual internal HDD, lol. I have an external SSD also but it won’t even install on it! It’s got big sur running at full speed.
Did help to speed up boot time and system but not to the usual speed. Thanks for your help.
The tip is very informative and easy to follow. Thank you for your help.
you're welcome.
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