Spinning beachball during disk First Aid.

Question

Level 1

34 points

Spinning beachball during disk First Aid.

Wondering if someone has experienced this?

I am hoping this isn't a hardware issue = trip to Apple Store and down time for laptop repair.

I had to force power down my 2021 16" MBP because it wasn't shutting down on its own (can't remember exactly what was going on at this point.....I think Finder was being weird after I force quit a First Aid pass on my time capsule drive).

Anyway, holding down the power key until she quits always makes me wonder about file errors being created because OS wasn't allowed to shut down normally.

So....I restarted into the Recovery Partition.....Disk Utility.....and ran (tried to run) First Aid on everything. The small partition that holds the Recovery Partition checked out ok, as did the top level main hard drive ("Apple SSD media...").

However, any attempt to First Aid the Container Disk level, or below that, resulted in a spinning beachball icon within less than a minute and total unresponsiveness (thus, more force shutting down by holding the power button).

With some trepidation, I rebooted and found that the OS booted as usual.

I tried, then, Disk Utility from within the normal MacOS boot environment.

Here, results were a little different. Every single entity ("Apple SSD media…”, APFS container, Macintosh HD, etc.) checked out ok…except for the "Data" partition. "Data" I checked twice and each time it made it as far as checking snapshot 3 (there are 19 snapshots total), during which the progress bar (the blue one that oscillates back and forth) froze and the trackpad became unresponsive (didn’t move screen pointer and even the force feedback “click” of the trackpad stopped). No beachballs.

I once again had to do a force restart.

I have no idea what’s up, but hope this is a glitch in the latest OS version, and not a bad SSD or other physical issue.

This is on a 2021 16" MBP M1 Max currently running latest MacOS (Ventura 13.2.1). The computer has no aftermarket equipment hooked up to it or other peripherals.

Thank you for any thoughts you might have.

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Feb 21, 2023 10:47 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

JoeGarvey

Level 1

40 points

Feb 21, 2023 11:50 PM in response to jrmyeh

Hi. Sorry to hear your experiencing this problem!

It appears that your macOS file system/partition may be potentially corrupted, or macOS just plain isn't functioning correctly. You may need to reinstall macOS, and erase your disk. You may have to be connected to the internet to do this, and it is recommended to be connected to power for the entire procedure.

Firstly, back up everything of importance on your MacBook to an external drive. (recommended to use Time Machine, as it makes the process of restoring your data back to your MacBook easier after reinstallation)

After backing up your data to an external drive, eject the drive in Finder, then, you must boot into Recovery Mode. Shut down your MacBook by pressing the Apple menu , and then choosing "Shut down".

After your MacBook has completely shut down, hold the power button (Touch ID button) on your MacBook and continue holding it until you see "Loading startup options" underneath the Apple logo.

After the disk selection screen appears, choose Options, then click Continue. Choose your volume, then Continue. If prompted, enter your administrator password, then click Continue.

Choose "Disk Utility", then select your drive underneath the Internal section, select Erase on the top right selection bar, then format the drive to APFS. Warning. This CANNOT be undone. Make sure you have backed up everything to an external drive before you do this.

If prompted, enter your Apple ID, then select Erase Mac. Your MacBook may need to restart, after restarting, your MacBook needs to activate, which you need to be connected to the internet for this. You can choose your network from the WiFi menu.

After this, choose Exit to Recovery Utilities, then "Reinstall macOS". Specify the drive that you have just erased, (if there is a Data partition, which there should not be, choose the main drive instead), then allow the installation to complete without closing the lid or powering off the MacBook.

After installation is complete, connect your external drive backup, read through the setup carefully and continue until you have reached the Migration Assistant. From here, you can restore your files back to your MacBook, this may take some time, (as it was for myself), so be patient, grab a snack and check up on your MacBook occasionally. Do not power off or close the lid of your MacBook.

After the setup screen, you should be good to go!

If the problem still persists, it may be a hardware problem.

Hope this helps!

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Answer 2

jrmyeh Author

Level 1

34 points

Feb 22, 2023 6:35 AM in response to JoeGarvey

Thank you, Joe.

Since it seems I'll be going through the unattractively time-consuming hassle of nuking / repopulating my startup drive anyway.....

Is there a better way than the standard Apple diagnostics of hardware checking a SSD inside a Mac laptop?

(I suspect the routine Apple diagnostics, reached via procedure below, is relatively perfunctory.)

Start Apple Diagnostics

Apple silicon

1. Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button as your Mac starts up.
2. Release when you see the startup options window, which includes a gear icon labeled Options.
3. Press Command (⌘)-D on your keyboard.

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Spinning beachball during disk First Aid.

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