Issues with UI freezing

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Issues with UI freezing

Hello all,

Starting just over a week ago I've been having issues with my iMac's UI freezing. That's the only way I can really describe it, although it's not a total freeze. I can still switch applications by clicking or Command+Tab and even switching Spaces/Desktops works at times, but I can't actually interact with anything. Typing in a window doesn't work, my music stops playing and I often get the pinwheel when I mouse over anything but the Desktop. The strange thing is, my CPU and memory usage during these times seem normal. There's no proccess eating up a lot of either resource. It'll usually start responding again on it's own after a few minutes, only to freeze up again moments later. Sometimes it locks up completely and I have to just hard power off the machine.

The issue started the same day I installed the last security update for Snow Leopard and installed the Cisco AnyConnect client. After it started, I first uninstalled the AnyConnect client, which did help for a few days then the issue came up again. This time I uninstalled Carbonite, another application I had recently installed since I did notice it was causing a fairly high CPU usage. Again this resolve the issue for a few days, but it came up again.

I'm almost positive it is a software issue rather than hardware since I've ran through a full hardware check with no issues found and the issue does not occur when I boot into safe mode. I've tried running the full suite of checks and scripts with OnyX and have also did a full upgrade to Lion (from DVD to avoid freezing while running in the OS) and installed all the updates afterwards and the issue is still persisting. I've gone through the LauchAgents, LauchDaemons and StartupItems directories and nothing really seems amiss. I've also tried reinstalling a lot of the software I know might start up on boot such as the Logitech software for my mouse.

I'm at a complete loss of what to try next. At this point my computer is virtually unusable. It will also quite frequently freeze at the login screen and usually takes me about 5 minutes just to log into my profile.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 28, 2011 4:37 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Oct 28, 2011 4:52 AM in response to Aner-san

Run the hardware test that came with the computer

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081

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Answer 2

Aner-san Author

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Oct 28, 2011 5:07 AM in response to a brody

Did that already. Ran about 5 extended tests with no issues found.

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Oct 28, 2011 5:44 AM in response to Aner-san

Is the machine over 4 years old?

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Answer 4

Oct 28, 2011 5:57 AM in response to Aner-san

I have the exact problem (I mean i don't know what ui is lol) but my mac has constantly had the spinning wheel and freezes since a couple of weeks ago - Even when I type my password to login some times it laggs, spins and just freezes without loading . I too have repaired permissions and ran every script/ scan through onyx...

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Answer 5

Oct 28, 2011 6:28 AM in response to Mcshoebox - Uk rap

UI, or more commonly GUI, pronounced "gooey" is an acronym for Graphical User Interface, i.e. the visual display that makes it possible for you, the User, to understand visually what your computer is doing and to send it coded instructions. A GUI is like all the controls of your car that you, as the driver, can manipulate, and which do mysterious things under the hood and out of sight, enabling your car to function.

If you want to know more about who invented the first GUI etc., see here.

For the whole time I tried to use Lion (about a month) on my MacBook Pro (Nov. 2009), which has 4GB of RAM, I kept getting system freezes exactly like the ones described by the OP (original poster). Those freezes, plus the 27 other issues (yes, I'm keeping a list) I encountered with Lion, eventually drove me back to Snow Leopard, for the foreseeable future until Apple comes up with a version of Lion that's fit to go out the door.

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Answer 6

Frenzi

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Oct 28, 2011 6:33 AM in response to Aner-san

I have no idea if this is related to your issue, but I also experience the pinwheel lockup quite frequently.

What I've noticed in regard to MY problem is that it's directly related to trackpad use. The trackpad seems especially sensitive and certain movements (I've yet to identify which exactly) cause the pinwheel lockup from which it's totally impossible to recover. I'm trying to recreate the issue consistently before I post about movement.

I'm using an i5 15" Macbook Pro running Lion, however I experienced the same issue on Snow Leopard.

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Answer 7

Aner-san Author

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Oct 28, 2011 7:45 AM in response to a brody

The machine is only about a year and half old. As this point, I think my last choice is to run one last backup to time machine, blow away the drive and run a fresh install of Lion to see if that resolves the issue.

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Answer 8

Oct 30, 2011 8:50 AM in response to Frenzi

You know what it is definately related to my issue - now you say that, I remember that it stopped freezing at logon as long as the mouse was on but the trackpad was off - wonder if apple knows about this...

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