Spinning beachball upon wakeup from sleep

Question

Spinning beachball upon wakeup from sleep

For about a week now I've been trying to resolve a problem with a spinning beachball upon wakeup of my iMac from sleep. Clicking the mouse or tapping a key on the keyboard will wake up the machine and present me with the login box. After entering my password and hitting enter the cursor turns to the spinning beach ball. The login screen remains displayed with the cursor spinning and nothing will happen until the machine reenters sleep mode. The only way that I can use the computer is if I turn off the power and restart the machine. I've scanned through the forum for similar problems and solutions and tried the following:

1) Apple Hardware Test - both normal and extended tests. No problems reported.

2) Reset SMC by shutting down the machine, unplugging the power cord, waiting a couple of minutes, reattaching the power cord and then restarting.

3) Reset PRAM by holding down command-option-p-r upon restart.

4) Run Disk Utilities to check for directory permission issues. There were some files/directories related to the HP printer that we use that were flagged as having permission issues. Fixed directory permission issues and reran the test where no additional permission issues were found.

5) Verified the boot disk (the 256 GB SSD) - no reports of problems were found.

5) I've inspected the messages in the console (many times over this past week) and there is no indication that anything untoward has occurred. I have a GRAID external disk that I use for Time Machine backups. Typically the backups happen late at night or very early morning. The last messages shown in the console are reports of the completion of backups. The messages log is then empty of messages for many hours - between the completion of backup and the first message logged upon reboot after I've had to power down the machine.

The machine is a mid-2011 27" iMac, 3.4 GHz i7, 16 Gb RAM, 256 GB SSD + 2 TB internal HD, 4 TB GRAID external disk used only for Time Machine backups. The machine came with OSX 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard?) installed when I purchased it, I've upgraded to both Lion and Mountain Lion since so am running OSX 10.8.4 now. I've been using the machine heavily for over two years without even a single hiccup. I've not installed any new software recently so haven't made any significant changes to programs or files. I'm soon going to be very reliant upon my machine for photo editing and uploading after a short break over the summer. Both of our kids are heavily involved in sports and I use my machine extensively for photo editing for club and high school soccer and high school lacrosse. I take and edit several thousand pictures a week (especially during late winter/early spring when both high school soccer and high school lacrosse seasons run concurrently). Our daughter's club soccer season begins this weekend with an out of town tournament. She'll have games for the next 12 to 14 weekends - 2 tournaments on consecutive weekends plus ten regular season games every weekend until mid-November. I have to get the problem with the spinning beach ball at wakeup resolved this week so that the machine is back into working order. I typically edit photos in the evenings after work and perform uploads to my photo hosting site overnight while I'm asleep. I'll leave my photo editing software open and running for days on end because it typically takes me two to three evenings to edit pictures from an individual game.

My fear is that since nothing else has worked that I'll have to reload the OS. Does anyone have any other suggestions that I might try before I take such drastic action?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Aug 19, 2013 6:27 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 19, 2013 9:47 AM in response to drippinDodger

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, or by corruption of certain system caches.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

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Answer 2

Aug 19, 2013 3:05 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Wouldn't you know it? For the first time in over a week I did not experience the spinning beach ball issue when I returned home from work and woke my iMac up from sleep to check email. I'd like to think that through all the tinkering I've done to this thing over the last week or so that something's finally straightened it out. If, and when, the machine fails to come out of sleep and locks up on me again I'll try the safe boot as you suggested. If the machine appears to be stable and is no longer locking up I'll update this discussion as well.

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Answer 3

Aug 19, 2013 8:24 PM in response to drippinDodger

My hopes were not realized. My machine froze upon my second attempt to use the computer this evening. I was able to get past the login screen after waking the machine from sleep. As soon as I popped open Outlook from the dock the cursor turned to the spinning beachball whenever it was over the Outlook window but I was able to click on the desktop to make Finder active and select items from the menu at top left. I then opened Safari from the dock (it was left running as was Outlook) and then the spinning beachball showed up in the Safari window as well. I could move the mouse around the screen but nothing was operational - the cursor remained the spinning beachball no matter where I moved it and I was unable to change to any other program or select any menu items.

I restarted the machine in safe mode. I have be able to wake the machine from sleep several times throughout the evening while still in safe mode - each time without problems. I've even opened up Outlook and printed email attachments - all without issue.

This seems to indicate that the base OS isn't corrupt as I had suspected and may not have to be rebuilt after all. From what I have read in similar threads it appears that perhaps disabling all startup items is the next logical step.

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Answer 4

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 19, 2013 10:29 PM in response to drippinDodger

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.

Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then copy it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Triple-click the line of text below on this page to select it:

kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}' | open -ef

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. You can then close the TextEdit window. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that. No typing is involved in this step.

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

{ sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix\.cron)|org\.(amav|apac|cups|isc|ntp|postf|x)/{print $3}'; echo; sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook; echo; sudo crontab -l; } 2> /dev/null | open -ef

This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which you do have to type. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. Type it carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Heed that warning, but don't post it. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.

Step 3

{ launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'; echo; crontab -l 2> /dev/null; } | open -ef

Step 4

ls -A /e*/{cr,la,mach}* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts .la* 2> /dev/null | open -ef

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.

Step 5

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' | open -ef

Remember, steps 1-5 are all copy-and-paste — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.

You can then quit Terminal.

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Answer 5

Aug 20, 2013 4:53 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks again for the detailed instructions. Here are the outputs from the various commands:

Step 1

TextEdit window is empty.

Step 2

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.google.keystone.daemon

com.adobe.fpsaud

Step 3

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater

com.lytro.Lytro.agent

com.hp.help.tocgenerator

com.google.keystone.system.agent

com.microsoft.SyncServicesAgent

com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae

com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0

Step 4

/Library/Components:

/Library/Extensions:

/Library/Frameworks:

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

Adobe AIR.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

EWSMac.framework

FxPlug.framework

MacFUSE.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

ONCore7.framework

ONDocument7.framework

ONProxySupport7.framework

PluginManager.framework

ProFX.framework

ProMetadataSupport.framework

Snapfish.framework

Tcl.framework

Tk.framework

iLifeFaceRecognition.framework

iLifeKit.framework

iLifePageLayout.framework

iLifeSQLAccess.framework

iLifeSlideshow.framework

iTunesLibrary.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

AdobePDFViewer.plugin

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin

EPPEX Plugin.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

Google Earth Web Plug-in.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

Silverlight.plugin

flashplayer.xpt

iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.google.keystone.agent.plist

com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist

com.lytro.Lytro.agent.plist

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

com.google.keystone.daemon.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Flash Player.prefPane

JavaControlPanel.prefPane

MacFUSE.prefPane

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

/Library/QuickLook:

iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

DesktopVideoOut.component

FCP Uncompressed 422.component

LiveType.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

/Library/Spotlight:

Microsoft Office.mdimporter

iBooksAuthor.mdimporter

iWork.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

HP Trap Monitor

ProTec6b

/etc/mach_init.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

Library/Fonts:

Library/Input Methods:

.localized

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.5C5EC812-C6A5-4F4B-81B0-ABE 7880579E9.plist

com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-current_user@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist

com.microsoft.LaunchAgent.SyncServicesAgent.plist

Library/PreferencePanes:

Step 5

CPULed, iTunesHelper, Microsoft Database Daemon, ElementsAutoAnalyzer, HP Product Research, HPEventHandler

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 20, 2013 7:29 AM in response to drippinDodger

You have several third-party system modifications and login items, any of which might be causing the problem. But I'm not convinced that any of them is at fault, because the problem seems to be intermittent. The culprit might be an application that you launch after you log in.

To test that theory, log out, then log in as usual but don't do anything else. Test. If you still get the beachball on wake, do as follows.

The next time you have the problem, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.

Launch the Console 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 Console in the icon grid.

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. If you don't see that menu, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar.

Scroll back in the log to the time you noted above. Select any messages timestamped from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).

When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.

Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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Answer 7

Aug 20, 2013 3:36 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc,

As I mentioned in my original posting I have looked at the console numerous times over the last week (always with "All Messages" displayed). I indicated that whenever I've had the problems with the spinning beachball that there have been no messages whatsoever in the logs from the time that the last backup completed (which was usually very late at night or very early in the morning) and the first entry shown when I've had to power down and restart the machine. There is typically a multi-hour gap between the last message entry and the initial boot time message. I've gone back through the logs and this is apparently the time when I had first experienced the spinning beachball condition:

8/14/13 12:21:35.682 AM com.apple.backupd[5914]: 2.54 GB required (including padding), 140.6 GB available

8/14/13 12:21:39.602 AM com.apple.backupd[5914]: Copied 514 files (21 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.

8/14/13 12:21:40.830 AM com.apple.backupd[5914]: Copied 536 files (21 KB) from volume Macintosh HD 2.

8/14/13 12:21:41.070 AM com.apple.backupd[5914]: Created new backup: 2013-08-14-002140

8/14/13 12:21:42.311 AM com.apple.backupd[5914]: Starting post-backup thinning

8/14/13 6:49:55.000 AM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1376480995 0

As you can see, there's a 6 1/2 hour gap where no messages appear. Then, when returning home from work on the very same day there were similar conditions. A backup of files had occured after I had rebooted the machine and then left for work. There were hours of inactivity between the time when the machine went into sleep mode while I was away and when I had attempted to login again later in the day:

8/14/13 7:53:19.368 AM com.apple.backupd[773]: Finished scan

8/14/13 7:53:20.152 AM com.apple.backupd[773]: Found 460 files (57.5 MB) needing backup

8/14/13 7:53:21.320 AM com.apple.backupd[773]: 2.61 GB required (including padding), 140.6 GB available

8/14/13 7:27:40.000 PM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1376526460 0

That same day there was an 11 1/2 hour gap between the time that I had rebooted the machine in the morning and attempted to use it again later that evening.

Then again the very next morning I had the same issue with the machine freezing:

8/14/13 8:31:59.701 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Will copy (Zero KB) from Macintosh HD

8/14/13 8:31:59.705 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: Found 13 files (Zero KB) needing backup

8/14/13 8:31:59.705 PM com.apple.backupd[758]: 2.81 GB required (including padding), 140.25 GB available

8/15/13 7:04:27.000 AM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1376568267 0

I can find nearly daily examples of the same type of console entries from the day that the machine began misbehaving. As you can see, there is nothing that gives me any indication of what the problem might be or when it might have happened.

Early this morning, when I restarted the machine from safe mode and into normal user mode (with the external hard drive still disconnected) in order to execute and report the results of the UNIX commands you suggested I intentionally closed all running applications so that the only thing shown open on the dock was Finder. The machine woke from sleep with no issues this afternoon.

As I had mentioned, I've had this machine for over two years now and have not had a single issue with it since it was put into service. I have always left Outlook and Safari open and running at all times. Frequently Lightroom would also be open for days on end, and occasionally I'd have Parallels Desktop running as well if I happened to have needed to use a Windows program (usually Quicken). I'll continue to explicitly close all applications before allowing the computer to enter sleep if that will allow the machine to run more stably - but at the expense of convenience. I really would like to get to the bottom of the spinning beachball problem but it seems like it's going to be a difficult problem to diagnose and resolve.

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Answer 8

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 20, 2013 3:56 PM in response to drippinDodger

If this is not a hardware problem, then it's caused by one or more of the applications you launch after logging in. Finding out which one (if any) is a process of elimination.

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Answer 9

Aug 20, 2013 4:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

It certainly may be a process of elimination. I believe it's going to be diffuclt though as my usage model of this machine hasn't changed in several months. The only thing that I can think of that was recently installed on the machine was a Microsoft Office patch update. Do you know if there's an installation log somewhere or a means of rolling back to the previous version of an install of a particular application to help narrow down the hunt for the offending program?

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 20, 2013 4:24 PM in response to drippinDodger

Not all application updates or installations would appear in any log. I suggest a binary search. Launch half your applications and test. If you don't reproduce the problem, quit those and launch the other half. If you fail to isolate the problem that way, it's caused by hardware or, less likely, by system corruption.

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Answer 11

Aug 20, 2013 4:37 PM in response to drippinDodger

This is peculiar. Not more than a minute after I had entered my most recent response my machine froze. I had both Outlook and Safari open and shown on the screen at the same time with Outlook in the background and overlapped by the Safari window. A new email had arrived and I clicked on the Outlook window to bring it to the foreground. The cursor turned to a spinning beachball but when I moved it outside of the Outlook window it returned to a normal pointer. I then clicked on the Safari window and the cursor turned to a spinning beach ball again. I noticed that when I clicked on either the Outlook window or the Safari window that the menu bar at the top left of the screen changed so that only the Apple logo in extreme left was shown. If I clicked on the desktop the Finder menu appeared but when I attempted to click on a menu entry none of the menus would expand. If I moved the cursor to the dock then it changed from a spinning beachball to a normal pointer. I could click on items in the dock but none of the applications would start up. I tried clicking on the Applications folder as well but it did not expand. I had wanted to try opening the process monitor or the console to see if either showed anything interesting.

Upon reboot I did find something rather interesting, a backup process had just completed:

8/20/13 6:11:14.065 PM com.apple.backupd[956]: Copied 16767 files (34.86 GB) from volume Macintosh HD.

8/20/13 6:11:21.137 PM com.apple.backupd[956]: Copied 16800 files (34.86 GB) from volume Macintosh HD 2.

8/20/13 6:11:21.218 PM com.apple.backupd[956]: Using file event preflight for Macintosh HD

8/20/13 6:11:21.309 PM com.apple.backupd[956]: Will copy (874 KB) from Macintosh HD

8/20/13 6:11:21.313 PM com.apple.backupd[956]: Found 64 files (874 KB) needing backup

8/20/13 6:11:21.313 PM com.apple.backupd[956]: 2.81 GB required (including padding), 70.8 GB available

8/20/13 6:20:43.000 PM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1377040843 0

I'm not sure why so much data was copied from the disks on the iMac to the external drive. The external drive is really churning at the moment but there is no indication that a backup is running when I look at the Time Machine menu at the top right corner of the screen or any messages in the Console stating that a backup is underway.

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Answer 12

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 20, 2013 5:02 PM in response to drippinDodger

Disconnect the external drive and test.

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Answer 13

Aug 21, 2013 5:22 PM in response to Linc Davis

I've experienced no spinning beachball cursors, no hangs coming out of sleep, or nothing else unusual since disabling Time Machine and disconnecting the external disk.

It certainly seems that the problem was related to the external disk and/or Time Machine. I would certainly still like to continue to use the external disk for backups. I wonder if I could just erase all existing backup data from the external disk and let Time Machine start fresh as if nothing had ever been backed up before?

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Answer 14

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Aug 21, 2013 5:39 PM in response to drippinDodger

You can try that if you want, but don't erase your only backup. First start a new backup on another drive. You should have more than one backup anyway. One is never enough to be safe.

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Answer 15

Sep 20, 2013 3:21 PM in response to Linc Davis

Here's an update on this issue. I recently applied the OSX 10.8.5 update and turned on Time Machine again. Since updating to 10.8.5 on Sep 15 backups are working normally without a single freeze. The info regarding the fixes for 10.8.5 made no explicit mention of updates for Time Machine issues but apparently there were some changes to fix problems that popped up with 10.8.4.

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