Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

0 points

Macbook Pro Running Slowly and Pinwheeling a lot

I have been having an issue with my macbook pro running very slowly lately. Everything just feels slugglish, and sometimes menus and other programs take a while to respond. I have 4 GB of RAM, and I just feel like things are running too slow for a computer with a Core2Duo and 4 Gigs of RAM. I have snow leopard installed.

Also, the computer came with 2GB, but I upgraded to 4 myself. I did not buy the memory from Apple though, I bought it directly from crucial. Is it possible the memory has gone bad or something. I really don't know what to do.

MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jan 17, 2011 9:14 PM

21 replies

louie

Level 4

2,950 points

Jan 25, 2011 4:21 PM in response to BoyHowdyDoo

BoyHowdyDoo wrote:
No offense.
Using the DVD is a terrible way to see how the system is running as it seeks all the time and any action must first be read by at the most a 16x read speed. Usually an 8x. You'll see the beachball MORE often.

True enough. But usually you can hear the optical drive seeking and know whether the stall is related to the drive seek or not. If you get bad stalls and the drive is silent, I figure there is a problem.

Jan 25, 2011 7:59 PM in response to louie

Rebuilding the directory can usually suss out sectors and malfunctions or at least fail with some indicators. OP should try repairing the disk with Disk Utility while booted from the Mac OS X DVD. If it fails it is usually enough for a drive replacement from Apple.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1782

beeteep12 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2011 8:13 PM in response to beeteep12

I ended up just wiping the computer and repartitioning the drive and reinstalling OS X. Everything seems to be running much better now. I'm not sure what caused the issue, but reinstalling seems to have fixed it.

Jan 26, 2011 12:08 PM in response to beeteep12

If the problem returns, gather failure info and get your HDD replaced. Glad you are back up and speedy.

MR R3X

Level 1

0 points

Jun 14, 2011 3:03 PM in response to louie

HI I am not sure where to post this. I've run into the same issue. Slow macbook pro. I ran the install disk and the disk utility. Reported back with disk error - telling me I should reinstall my os. I have an external drive with enough space to accomodate a back up. I went through the process of reinstalling - backing up user data on the external drive. When I choose the drive I want to back up everything on to and hit ok it tells me there isn't enough space on the drive. I am perplexed - there is ample space on this xternal drive. After doing this I checked my xternal again and tried copying the data over manually - the xternal was then locked - so I found a stream of code ran it on the xternal and was able to unlock the disk. I tried to install the os again - attempting to back up the user data from the mac - again it tells me there isn't enough space on the xternal. I tried partitioning the xternal drive and again the drive locked up - I unlocked it again and tried to install the os again and ran into the same problems. Does the xternal drive need to be entirely clear of data to back up user data from the mac? The drive is functional I use it regularly. Another problem I am having is every once and while the screen goes blue - flickering from blue screen to the desktop on and off intermittently.

I bought the thing privately so I don't have a warranty and I don't really have the money to sink into this thing.

It's barley a year old now from assembly line -

For the amount of money I paid for this thing I really shouldn't be having any issues like this. I have another mac from 8 years ago that still runs just fine - never had any issues with it.

I had the white macbook before this macbook pro and the HD died on it after about a year. I think its getting near the time where I drop my dedication to mac and go with a windows machine.

Stats on my mac:

Processor: 2.66 GHz intel i7

Mem: 4gb 1067 MHz DDR3

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s

Boot ROM Version: MBP61.0057.B0C

SMC Version (system): 1.58f15

Serial Number (system): W8016B3KAGZ

Hardware UUID: 05F49E22-1202-5FB2-A463-C60A7E5219CF

Sudden Motion Sensor:

State: Enabled

Any help would be great!

MR R3X

Level 1

0 points

Jun 14, 2011 3:38 PM in response to MR R3X

I just called apple and I guess the computer is over a year old. My year warranty ran out 57 days ago.

Macbook Pro Running Slowly and Pinwheeling a lot