Why would my MBP Login Boot-up slow down?

Question

Level 1

9 points

Why would my MBP Login Boot-up slow down?

Hi friends,

I have noticed that the login of my 2011 MBP is beginning to take longer and longer. The boot chord sounds right away, then its 32-34 seconds of the gray screen with the apple and the spinning wheel, and lately it's been going to a blue screen for 10-15 seconds before going to my desktop picture, which then takes about the same amount of time if not longer for the desktop items and everything else to load. I've done all the apple software updates, I've looked at the list of login start-ups that I have and removed the unnecessary ones. I've checked the HD using Disk Utility and the SMART status is fine, I used CCleaner to try to clean up some things, and while that gave me more HD space, it didn't help with the speed of the login. Can anyone help me?

Thank you for your time!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5

Posted on Feb 6, 2013 6:03 PM

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Answer 1

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Feb 6, 2013 6:07 PM in response to mhazuka

It is very difficult to offer troubleshooting suggestions when the "os version" you are using is unknown as each os has their own troubleshooting solutions.

How large is your hard drive and how much hard drive space do you have left?

Is your ram maxed out?

Have you repaired permissions and restarted your computer?

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Answer 2

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 6, 2013 6:22 PM in response to CMCSK

I am 98% sure that I am using Snow Leopard vs. 10.6.8, as Lion came out just after I was given this computer.

My HD is 320 GB, I have 17.68 GB available.

How do I know or how do I tell if my RAM is maxed out?

I have yet to repair permissions, in part because I don't know what this means or what this will do. I did a data transfer from my old computer, a 2005(?) MBP, and I know that some of the music folders and things I have had to manually go and change the permissions using the "Get Info" panel, but I guess I've been afraid to do it out of fear of losing files or being unable to access/open them.

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Answer 3

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Feb 6, 2013 6:29 PM in response to mhazuka

My HD is 320 GB, I have 17.68 GB available.

You are running out of hard drive space. You should never let your hard drive get to where you have only 10-15% of space left.

Have you emptied your trash?

Seven ways to free up drive space Where did my Disk Space go?

Slimming your hard drive

Seven ways to free up drive space

OmniDiskSweeper is a free utility that checks HD space.

FreeSpace cost $1 or is a free utility that checks HD space.

SpaceControl is a free utility that checks HD space.

FreeSpace cost $.99 - FreeSpace shows you how much space is available on all local, connected, and network drives with a single click.

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Answer 4

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 6, 2013 6:45 PM in response to CMCSK

Yes, the trash is emptied.

I do a lot of web design and video editing, so a lot of the storage has gone to that. I also still have yet to clear out some of the things from the data transfer from the old computer to the new computer.

This might be a silly question but if you are basically running the computer on empty, is that very bad for the computer? I guess the comparison that comes to mind is gas in a car, if you run out of gas or fumes eventually it's just going to stall. This is actually the most HD space I've had on my comp in a while, there have been a few points where one of the Adobe programs I use took up all the HD space and I was down to single digit MB while it was trying to save a file.

If I got more HD space, would that really speed up the login time? or is that a separate issue altogether? I guess I don't know if I really see a connection between the two...?

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Answer 5

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 6, 2013 7:10 PM in response to mhazuka

I don't know if you can see this very well....but that's the break-down of it...

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Answer 6

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 6, 2013 7:11 PM in response to mhazuka

If you click on the pic it gives you a really good view of it....I don't know if it is helpful or not...?

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Answer 7

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Feb 6, 2013 7:20 PM in response to mhazuka

If I got more HD space, would that really speed up the login time?

Yes as well as purchasing a larger hard drive and burning your larger files onto discs.

This might be a silly question but if you are basically running the computer on empty, is that very bad for the computer?

Yes. Eventually you will not be able to turn it on because you will have not have enough room - storage space to run the os. Much less your software.

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Answer 8

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Feb 6, 2013 7:26 PM in response to mhazuka

mhazuka wrote:

If you click on the pic it gives you a really good view of it....I don't know if it is helpful or not...?

The first 5 items you need to burn onto a disc until your purchase a larger hard drive.

Quicktime Player 50GB?

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Answer 9

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 6, 2013 7:37 PM in response to CMCSK

Ha!!!! The QuickTime 50GBs is from the web design/video editing projects, and video tutorials for those projects. 🙂

I do actually have a 500 GB External HD, I just need to make some more room on that.

So you think that if I move those 5 things to the External HD that the computer will a) be in the "safe zone" as far as having available HD space and b) not be so sluggish in the boot up?

The only thing with moving the iTunes music is then I won't have access to the music, then...right? I don't have the External HD connected to my computer all the time...

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Answer 10

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Feb 6, 2013 8:12 PM in response to mhazuka

So you think that if I move those 5 things to the External HD that the computer will a) be in the "safe zone" as far as having available HD space and b) not be so sluggish in the boot up?

Most definitely!!!! You'll free up 200+GB of space! You should also do the following -

Disconnect all peripherals from your computer.

Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.

Select your language.

Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.

Select Disk Utility.

Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.

Click Repair Disk.

Restart your computer when done.

Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963 and restart your computer.

If you have diskwarrior, run that to.

The only thing with moving the iTunes music is then I won't have access to the music, then...right? I don't have the External HD connected to my computer all the time...

You can burn your music onto a dvd or an iPod if you have one or move it to a free online storage service. Check with your isp for starters to see if they offer free storage space for their customers.

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Answer 11

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 6, 2013 8:46 PM in response to CMCSK

Most definitely!!!! You'll free up 200+GB of space! You should also do the following -

Disconnect all peripherals from your computer.

Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.

Select your language.

Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.

Select Disk Utility.

Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.

Click Repair Disk.

Restart your computer when done.

Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963 and restart your computer.

If you have diskwarrior, run that to.

I had already ran the Disk Utility before I posted the first question, and it verified the HD and said that it was fine. What needs to be repaired?

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Answer 12

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Feb 6, 2013 9:17 PM in response to mhazuka

Ok. You didn't say that you ran it from your install disc. However, you did wanted to know how to repair permissions which I did provided a link with instructions. Have you done that yet?

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Answer 13

mhazuka Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 7, 2013 8:00 PM in response to CMCSK

I didn't run the Disk Utility from the install disc, I simply went into it, clicked verify disk, and everything was okay. There is nothing to repair, at least from the results that I saw.

Is repairing the permissions something that absolutely needs to be done? Again, my fear there is that something will be deleted or that I will lose access to a folder or to a file is needed.

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