iMac 8,1 Slowdown

Question

Level 1

4 points

iMac 8,1 Slowdown

My 2008 iMac 8,1 has 8GB RAM and is running on the ATI Radeon HD 2400 video card. The machine runs pretty much 24/7 unless I have to reboot which I do at least once a day.

It is running Snow Leopard and for whatever reason, after it runs for 5-6 hours, I have to reboot because performance becomes so slow that It's almost unusable. I have tried closing and reopening browsers, apps, clearing browser cache, doing a complete erase and install, restoring from backup and even running the utilities on the Applecare CD which never found anything wrong.

It has been in to the local Apple store twice. Once to monitor performance and run diagnostics (which found nothing) and a second time to replace the Hard Drive which I thought was the problem. Well, it wasn't and I am still having to reboot at least once a day.

Has anyone else experienced this issue and resolved it?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 8GB 20"

Posted on Dec 18, 2012 6:17 AM

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Answer 1

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Dec 18, 2012 7:55 AM in response to RevJoel

Try leaving Activity Monitor open while you use the Mac throughout the day. Take a look at Activity Monitor while the computer is running fine and when it slows down. Maybe you'll see something different there that will be a hint as to whats going on.

Hers a KB article about using Activity Monitor

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1342

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Answer 2

RevJoel Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 18, 2012 10:13 AM in response to SeaPapp

I neglected to mention that I have done that to no avail. Various apps take 100% cpu at different times. Sometimes its Flash (not surprising), iTunes, iCal and others but nothing is consistent.

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Dec 18, 2012 10:26 AM in response to RevJoel

RevJoel wrote:

I neglected to mention that I have done that to no avail. Various apps take 100% cpu at different times. Sometimes its Flash (not surprising), iTunes, iCal and others but nothing is consistent.

This indicates you have issues with those apps that you need to troubleshoot. Can you be specific about which apps are causing problems?

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Answer 4

RevJoel Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 18, 2012 11:26 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks for the reply. As mentioned above, apps such as iCal, iTunes, Firefox, Apple Mail have all sucked the life out of my processor at various times, but nothing is consistent. I cannot say that there is one app that consistently causes a problem.

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Answer 5

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Dec 18, 2012 11:36 AM in response to RevJoel

It's possible you have issues with your user account. Create a new user account (call it TEST ACCOUNT), log into it and then test. If they problems are not present then you know it's specific to your user account. If the issue is still present you may have to do a clean install of OS X and your applications. Before going to something that dramatic you MUST backup you complete system.

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Answer 6

RevJoel Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 18, 2012 12:43 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I may have to try that to see if that resolves it. The challenge is that it's really a band-aid as it doesn't help me pinpoint the issue. Thanks for your help.

Joel

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