My slow Mac

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Level 1

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My slow Mac

My Mac desktop computer is about 4 years old. Over the past few months it has began to run slow, and when I try to download anything it reads "mounting failed," in the little download box. Now I was told to take all my pictures and important personal stuff off of the computer, and restore the computer back to its factory settings. Now I am willing to try everything, but do you think restoring it back to its factory settings would help? If it would can you please explain to me how to do that? I have tried everything besides taking it in to the apple store and paying a bunch of money to have it looked at, which I'm trying to avoid. I rather fix it at home if I can. please give me your opinion. Thanks..

iMac, iOS 6

Posted on Nov 16, 2012 9:39 PM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Nov 16, 2012 9:47 PM in response to CaAllDay

Before that, open Disk Utility and verify the drive. If it's OK, format the drive and reinstall OS X

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Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Nov 17, 2012 5:31 AM in response to CaAllDay

First, back up all data immediately, as your boot drive might be failing.

Take these steps when you notice the problem.

Step 1

Launch the Activity Monitor application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Activity Monitor in the icon grid.

Select the CPU tab of the Activity Monitor window.

Select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected.

Click the heading of the % CPU column in the process table to sort the entries by CPU usage. You may have to click it twice to get the highest value at the top. What is it, and what is the process? Also post the values for % User, % System, and % Idle at the bottom of the window.

Select the System Memory tab. What values are shown in the bottom part of the window for Page outs and Swap used?

Next, select the Disk Activity tab. Post the approximate values shown for Reads in/sec and Writes out/sec (not Reads in and Writes out.)

Step 2

You must be logged in as an administrator to carry out this step.

Launch the Console application in the same way as above. Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left.

Post the 50 or so most recent messages in the log — the text, please, not a screenshot.

When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.

Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into a message.

Important: Some personal information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Edit it out before posting.

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Answer 3

CaAllDay Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2012 2:37 PM in response to mende1

How do u format the drive and how do I know if the drive is ok?

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Answer 4

CaAllDay Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2012 3:02 PM in response to Linc Davis

The highest CPU value is 1.0 and it is the activity monitor

The second highest is at 0.8 and its the "pmTool"

% user is 1.51

% system is is fluctuating between 1.00 to .50

% idle is also fluctuating between 97.00-100.00

System memory tab

Page out 0 bytes

Swaps used 0 bytes

Disk activity

Reads in/sec is 0

Writes out/sec 0

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Answer 5

CaAllDay Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2012 3:11 PM in response to Linc Davis

Messages from system log

6/18/10 10:30:23 AM kernel System Wake

6/18/10 10:30:23 AM kernel Previous Sleep Cause: 5

6/18/10 10:30:15 AM configd[34] setting hostname to

6/18/10 10:30:23 AM kernel USB (EHCI):Port 1 on bus 0xfd has remote wakeup from some device

6/18/10 10:30:23 AM kernel Ethernet [AppleYukon2]: Link up on en0, 100-Megabit, Full-duplex, No flow-control, Debug [796d,6c08,0de1,0200,41e1,4000]

6/18/10 10:30:30 AM configd[34] setting hostname to "173-16-111-91.client.mchsi.com"

6/18/10 10:30:47 AM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'US'.

6/18/10 10:30:47 AM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/18/10 10:42:14 AM /usr/sbin/ocspd[1304] starting

6/18/10 10:53:47 AM ntpd[14] time reset +0.834003 s

6/18/10 11:25:52 AM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'X0'.

6/18/10 11:25:53 AM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/18/10 11:25:54 AM kernel System Sleep

6/18/10 11:29:20 AM kernel Wake reason = EHC1 EHC2

6/18/10 11:29:20 AM kernel System Wake

6/18/10 11:29:20 AM kernel Previous Sleep Cause: 5

6/18/10 11:29:12 AM configd[34] setting hostname to

6/18/10 11:29:20 AM kernel USB (EHCI):Port 1 on bus 0xfd has remote wakeup from some device

6/18/10 11:29:20 AM kernel Ethernet [AppleYukon2]: Link up on en0, 100-Megabit, Full-duplex, No flow-control, Debug [796d,6c08,0de1,0200,41e1,4000]

6/18/10 11:29:27 AM configd[34] setting hostname to "173-16-111-91.client.mchsi.com"

6/18/10 11:29:45 AM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'US'.

6/18/10 11:29:45 AM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/18/10 11:40:01 AM ntpd[14] time reset +0.588376 s

6/18/10 11:53:23 AM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'X0'.

6/18/10 11:53:23 AM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/18/10 11:53:26 AM kernel System Sleep

6/18/10 12:50:49 PM kernel Wake reason = EHC1 EHC2

6/18/10 12:50:49 PM kernel System Wake

6/18/10 12:50:49 PM kernel Previous Sleep Cause: 5

6/18/10 12:50:41 PM configd[34] setting hostname to "gina-ortizs-imac.local"

6/18/10 12:50:49 PM kernel USB (EHCI):Port 1 on bus 0xfd has remote wakeup from some device

6/18/10 12:50:49 PM kernel Ethernet [AppleYukon2]: Link up on en0, 100-Megabit, Full-duplex, No flow-control, Debug [796d,6c08,0de1,0200,41e1,4000]

6/18/10 12:50:49 PM configd[34] setting hostname to "173-16-111-91.client.mchsi.com"

6/18/10 12:51:13 PM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'US'.

6/18/10 12:51:13 PM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/18/10 1:11:55 PM ntpd[14] time reset +1.150778 s

6/18/10 1:56:28 PM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'X0'.

6/18/10 1:56:29 PM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/18/10 1:56:30 PM kernel System Sleep

6/19/10 11:38:45 AM kernel Wake reason = EHC1 EHC2

6/19/10 11:38:45 AM kernel System Wake

6/19/10 11:38:45 AM kernel Previous Sleep Cause: 5

6/19/10 11:38:37 AM configd[34] setting hostname to "gina-ortizs-imac.local"

6/19/10 11:38:45 AM kernel USB (EHCI):Port 1 on bus 0xfd has remote wakeup from some device

6/19/10 11:38:45 AM kernel Ethernet [AppleYukon2]: Link up on en0, 100-Megabit, Full-duplex, No flow-control, Debug [796d,6c08,0de1,0200,41e1,4000]

6/19/10 11:38:46 AM configd[34] setting hostname to "173-16-111-91.client.mchsi.com"

6/19/10 11:39:10 AM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'US'.

6/19/10 11:39:10 AM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/19/10 11:58:14 AM kernel en1: 802.11d country code set to 'X0'.

6/19/10 11:58:14 AM kernel en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165 40 48 56 64 104 112 120 128 136 153 161 36 44 52 60

6/19/10 11:58:16 AM kernel System Sleep

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Nov 17, 2012 9:42 PM in response to CaAllDay

Those log messages are dated June 2010. Set the clock in the Date & Time preference pane.

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Answer 7

CaAllDay Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 18, 2012 9:13 AM in response to Linc Davis

I cant figure it out... My date and time on my computer is fine is there another date and time that I need to set?

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Answer 8

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Nov 18, 2012 9:30 AM in response to CaAllDay

What is your OS X version? I should have asked that first.

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Answer 9

CaAllDay Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 18, 2012 2:05 PM in response to Linc Davis

10.5.8

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Nov 18, 2012 2:10 PM in response to CaAllDay

I can't be of much help with that because I've forgotten most of what I knew about it. If the clock setting is correct, then your log hasn't been working for more than two years. All I can suggest is to reinstall the OS, which I think in that version had to be an archive & install. I'll ask that moderators to move this thread to the 10.5 discussion area, where you might get a better answer.

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