Spinning Pinwheel of Death

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Level 1

40 points

Spinning Pinwheel of Death

I recently upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard (currently running 10.6.8). Ever since the upgrade the performance has become spotty at best. Some days it works just fine but most others I constantly get the spinning pinwheel and it takes forever to open an application or even a web page. I've repaired the permissions several times and sometimes that seems to work for a time but then it eventually goes back to the pinwheel.

I have an intel-based iMac with 4 GB of RAM.

Any ideas or sugge

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 4 GB RAM

Posted on Apr 2, 2013 4:01 AM

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Answer 1

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Apr 2, 2013 5:26 AM in response to Jon Bodin

Seethis FAQ on the spinning pinwheel.

Look at System Preferences at the bottom of the window for non-Apple software and make sure it's updated to be a version that runs under OS X 10.6. Same thing on your login items, ensure they are updated, if needed.

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Answer 2

Jon Bodin Author

Level 1

40 points

Apr 7, 2013 5:35 AM in response to BGreg

I checked the non-Apple software on System Preferences and everything was up to date. This morning when I tried to open Safari the screen started 'blinking' and the Safari window flickered big to small continuously. Also there was a 'clicking' sound coming from mouse that coincided with the flickering. I powered off and on and the screen continued the flickering and mouse clicking.

Any ideas to what the problem is (hardware?)?

Thanks!

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Answer 3

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Apr 7, 2013 5:42 AM in response to Jon Bodin

If you do a safe boot (hold shift key down when booting, will take longer than a normal boot) do you have the same symptoms? If possible, run the Apple hardware test. Run the extended test, which can take over an hour.

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Answer 4

Jon Bodin Author

Level 1

40 points

Apr 7, 2013 6:05 AM in response to BGreg

I receive the same flickering in Safe Mode. I tried the Apple Hardware test but the computer will shut down before before it completes the startup. When I try to start it up in Safe Mode now, it shuts down once it gets into the Grey screen with the Apple logo and the status bar on the bottom starts.

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