Spinning color wheel whenever computer is used after idle for a few minutes

Question

Level 1

8 points

Spinning color wheel whenever computer is used after idle for a few minutes

Whenever I try to use my iMac after it's been idle for a few minutes there is a 3-5 second delay while the color wheel spins. This happens in all programs. I have deleted the plist power settings and all sleep options and processor options have been tried to no avail. The mouse remains responsive and I can move the cursor but whenever I click or try to execute any operations the color wheel appears.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

iMac G5 rev B Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Jan 14, 2006 8:55 AM

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Answer 1

howwow

Level 4

3,541 points

Jan 14, 2006 9:40 AM in response to Mike Mims

The 'spinning wheel' suggest something is processing, possibly in the background; Have you recently installed anything new? Especially 3rd party stuffs?

Try the basic Repair Permission then restart your mac and see if it helps, if not, download some useful utilities like Cocktail and use it to clear all kinds of cache on your system.

Cheers

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Answer 2

Mike Mims Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 14, 2006 10:19 AM in response to howwow

Thanks. I repair permissions regularly and I've used Cocktail and the problem persists. I checked Activity Monitor and other than AM the most processor power being used is 2.4%. Should I try a system reinstall? Will it keep all my settings?

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Answer 3

myhighway

Level 5

7,270 points

Jan 14, 2006 10:43 AM in response to Mike Mims

Mike,
You didn't mention how long this issue has existed. If recently, what changes were made just prior?

Also, how much RAM? and is it all OEM or has third party RAM been added? Have you run Apple Hardware Test? with no-fault results?

Offhand, a reinstall seems a bit of an extreme solution without some additional info first.

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Answer 4

Jan 14, 2006 6:35 PM in response to Mike Mims

Mike, I know you mentioned 3rd party apps, but do you have Norton 10.0? I had problems waking from sleep and that suite is what was causing it. I uninstalled all Norton files and have been clean ever since

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Answer 5

Mike Mims Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 14, 2006 7:55 PM in response to iLoveMyMacBut

Thanks, but no Norton installed. It gets a little stranger; I reinstalled the system software with an archive and save. Now I still get the delay after the computer is idle for a few minutes, but I no longer get the color wheel. Example, if I start iTunes and then wait about 2-3 minutes when I hit play the play button turns blue but it takes several seconds before the song plays. Before I reinstalled I would have the same delay only I would get the color wheel.

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Answer 6

Mike Mims Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 16, 2006 9:44 AM in response to myhighway

Problem solved. After a system re-istall the problem persisted. I reran Cocktail selecting every cache-clearing option and the problem has been solved. The first time I ran Cocktail I ran it with the default settings and the problem persisted. The second time with all options selected it fixed the problem.
Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Mike

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Answer 7

Mike Mims Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 14, 2006 11:43 AM in response to myhighway

I ran the hardware test with no problems. My ram is 1GB oem. It seems I've always had the problem. I have very little 3rd party software (Firefox, Cocktail and Microsoft Office)

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