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Stupid spinning rainbow- maintenance??

I have a Mac less than 1 year old. Everytime I try to do ANYTHING I get that dang rainbow. Then I get.... not responding. It doesn't matter what I'm trying to do, whether it's getting online, using LR, half the time I can't even do OPTION, COMMAND, ESCAPE to even close it out.


I thought maybe I had a virus but from researching on the forums, it doesn't appear that Mac's get them. So how do I fix this? Do I need to run a DISK REPAIR or something like that? I've never done it before. I got my Mac this past October so is there maintenance that I need to do to keep it running smooth. A program I need to have to do this. I'm just frustrated & PO'd


Thanks so much for ANY help anyone can give me.




My computer info:

MAC OS X10.8.4

Processor 3.4 ghz intel corn i7

Memory 16gb


Storage 1.58 tb free of 2Tb

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Aug 3, 2013 8:18 AM

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4 replies

Aug 3, 2013 9:42 AM in response to LLDesigns

Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.


Run Disk Utility/Repair Permissions (Applications/Utility Folder). Run until it reports no errors. If there is a recurring error, see the article on what permission errors can be ignored.


Disk Utility


Disk Utility Repair Permissions You Can Safely Ignore


General Maintenance Recommendations


Maintenance Quick Assist



Maintaining Mac OS


To get to the Recovery Mode hold down command - R during a restart.


Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.


Isolating an issue by using another user account


If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application uninstaller. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.


Safe Mode


Safe Mode - About

Aug 4, 2013 8:56 AM in response to LLDesigns

After backing up and repairing the disk, boot into Safe Mode and see how it runs. If you don't run into the same problems in safe mode, you have some third-party software that is not compatible with Mountain Lion.

If that is the case, we can help you figure out what it is.


If that is not the case, then I would suspect some problem with the hard drive.

Stupid spinning rainbow- maintenance??

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