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Level 1

8 points

Unbearably slow Mavericks performance

Hi All,

Along with many others on here I'm experiencing crippling Mavericks performance on my Early 2011 Macbook Pro 13inch. I get almost constant beachballing from almost everything, including mundane tasks such as scrolling and moving Finder windows, typing, changing browser tabs etc. As a clue it took 2mins 20 secs to start up from the chime, and this was 'til the icons and dock had appeared. It'd probably be a good 20 seconds more before I'd be able to do anything.

Here's my EtreCheck results...

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

4 GB RAM

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB

System Software:

OS X 10.9.2 (13C64) - Uptime: 0 days 1:24:57

Disk Information:

Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 319.21 GB (225.89 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5970H

USB Information:

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

FireWire Information:

Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files:

/etc/hosts - Count: 29

Kernel Extensions:

at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch (4052 - SDK 10.8)

Launch Daemons:

[System] at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link

Launch Agents:

[System] at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.70 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.70 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

NP_2020Player_IKEA: Version: 5.0.93.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.1.5.17733 3rd-Party support link

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.1.0 3rd-Party support link

npgtpo3dautoplugin: Version: 0.1.44.29 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.1.5.17733 3rd-Party support link

Silverlight: Version: 5.0.61118.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update

Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

iTunes Plug-ins:

Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player 3rd-Party support link

Growl 3rd-Party support link

Old Applications:

None

Time Machine:

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

12% mds

6% mds_stores

3% WindowServer

1% EtreCheck

1% coresymbolicationd

Top Processes by Memory:

119 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

102 MB Google Chrome

64 MB Google Chrome Helper

49 MB Finder

45 MB mds

Virtual Memory Information:

1.38 GB Free RAM

1.29 GB Active RAM

367 MB Inactive RAM

995 MB Wired RAM

398 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

A few other points...

Spotlight seems to be constantly indexing or trying to index. It's ALWAYS estimating index time. When it seems to have finished (ie i can do a search) coming out and going back in prompts it to start indexing again. Is this normal?

I tried to do a permissions check (in safe mode as well) but it fails. Doing a disk check says there are no problems.

I get a lot of HDD thrashing.

When I checked my activity monitor a while ago it had very high CPU readings for kernal activity. Normal?

I got my MBP with Lion and have since upgraded to ML and then upgraded to Mavericks, so I've never had a clean install (erase and install) which is my next port of call. Probably a good idea to do this once every few years right?

Thanks in advance for any help!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 3, 2014 2:31 PM

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Posted on Mar 3, 2014 2:34 PM

Try these in order testing your system after each to see if it's back to normal:

1. a. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM

b. Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

2. Restart the computer in Safe Mode, then restart again, normally. If this doesn't help, then:

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the

COMMAND and R keys until the Utilities menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and

after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears.

Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

3. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

Reinstall the 10.9.2 update: OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 Update (Combo).

4. Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks: Reboot from the Recovery HD. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks from the Utilities menu, and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Reinstall the 10.9.2 update: OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 Update (Combo).

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40 replies

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2014 3:04 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks a lot to everyone who has responded to this so far. A touch overwhelming maybe but i'll look at trying out everyones ideas and post a reply over the next few days.

As some quick points tho...

• As far as I know I only have one user account.

• I only installed Little Snitch on Sunday so it should be the latest version.

• I use google drive etc for work so I need to keep that. Also, I hate Firefox since it's a bloated piece of junk now (or it was the several years ago when I last used it) and I'm not that keen on Safari either. If you think it's worth a shot though I could use Safari for a bit.

• No comment about the Adobe software, but I don't use torrent sites 🙂

• As far as I know everything is set to automatic updates, both Apple (and thus Safari) and Chrome. I noticed that there's an old Flash player in there. Where can I find these files in Finder so I can delete them?

Thanks again.

John Galt

Level 10

141,210 points

Mar 4, 2014 5:01 AM in response to Spinfaster

Follow the instructions on Adobe's website to remove Flash:

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html

• I use google drive etc for work so I need to keep that. Also, I hate Firefox since it's a bloated piece of junk now (or it was the several years ago when I last used it)

As opposed to Google highly efficient code?

If you must use Google Drive for work, then you must, but you must also accept its detrimental effect on system performance, to say nothing of its intrusion upon your private activities. Ask Google to buy you a faster Mac, they seem to have had no objection to subsidizing the sale of Chromebooks.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2014 4:59 AM in response to John Galt

Sorry, what I meant was.. the massive global advertising agency that I work for uses Google Drive, Google Mail and Google Calendar. When I work at home I have to use it. Sorry boss, not much I can do about that!

Cheers.

John Galt

Level 10

141,210 points

Mar 4, 2014 5:04 AM in response to Spinfaster

My apologies, I was not aware you work for Google.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2014 6:04 AM in response to John Galt

Haha! Not a fan then...? 😉

John Galt

Level 10

141,210 points

Mar 4, 2014 6:22 AM in response to Spinfaster

I'm being facetious. Google is incredibly good at what they do, and it's not as though they keep that a secret. Whether it's beneficial for the user is for the user to decide. In any event, that's a subject for another day.

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Mar 4, 2014 4:22 PM in response to Spinfaster

Spinfaster wrote:

• I use google drive etc for work so I need to keep that.

I have not yet found a need for Google Drive, which you probably noted from my previous discussion with MichelPM, but I do know that there were serious issues that were well documented with it back in November. I haven't been able to locate any discussion of it having been fixed, probably becuase most users abandoned it's use. Are you aware of it's status now? Obviously it's working again for you, but does that mean it's completely functioning without impact now?

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 7, 2014 5:02 AM in response to Kappy

Hi all, quick update...

I've reset the PRAM / NVRAM and the SMC. No difference.

I booted to the recovery disc and ran the permissions check. Still fails. Specifically it says in red:

"Error: Permissions verify or repair failed."

That's it. Same message if I just go ahead and do repair.

The disc utility says the disc is verified.

I think my next stop will be a wipe and install.

Thanks.

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Mar 7, 2014 12:55 PM in response to Spinfaster

Spinfaster wrote:

I think my next stop will be a wipe and install.

Wait! I don't see where you tried Kappy's Step 4. That's going to be much easier than a wipe, gives you a totally clean System and won't disturb any of your User data or third party apps. I'd be more comfortable about this fixing things if I understood exactly what permission(s) can't be repaired, but it's still worth the hour or less that will take.

Be sure you have a current bootable backup before you do either of those things.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 10, 2014 2:53 AM in response to MadMacs0

Update. My MBP is currently knackered.

I tried redoing the Mavericks update installer as per Kappy's Step 4 and it failed, reporting over 500 lines of errors. I would paste them into here but a. I have no way to do that and b. I'm not sure anyone would want to look through 500 lines of install errors!

I ran the installer several times with the same result. Luckily I'd backed up my important data and I created a Mavericks boot disc before running the update. Hopefully a wipe and install will work or I'll be pretty ****** off!

Anything anyone wants to add at this point about how amazing Mavericks is....? ;-)

Thanks everyone for your help so far.

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Mar 10, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Spinfaster

Spinfaster wrote:

I tried redoing the Mavericks update installer as per Kappy's Step 4 and it failed, reporting over 500 lines of errors. I would paste them into here but a. I have no way to do that and b. I'm not sure anyone would want to look through 500 lines of install errors!

I don't think I've ever heard of something like that happening, but without knowing even the general nature of the errors the only thing I can offer is that is sounds a lot like hard drive failure to me.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 10, 2014 9:08 AM in response to MadMacs0

I'll run it again tonight and take a few photos of the result and upload tomorrow, to give a snapshot of some of the errors. I'm thinking possible HDD failure too, but running the Disk Utility shows a verified disc. I didn't think this happened if there was an imminent failure...?

If it's a failure then I'd be ion no better position, and at least I've backed up my important data, so it's not the end of the world.

Thanks.

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,221 points

Mar 10, 2014 9:14 AM in response to Spinfaster

Spinfaster wrote:

I'm thinking possible HDD failure too, but running the Disk Utility shows a verified disc.

Disk Utility only checks the directory and S.M.A.R.T. data. It does not do a surface scan of any type.

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Mar 10, 2014 9:22 AM in response to Spinfaster

I'd also consider downloading the installer again if you have time & the bandwidth. I think it's possible the errors may come from the installers.

You may want to make a USB bootable stick if you want to erase the HD completely, otherwise you can't wipe out the partition table when booted from the installer on the boot HD.

Madmacs0 doesn't doing a 'zero data' erase effectivly do a surface scan + mark bad blocks? It will map out any blocks that cannot be zero'd.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 10, 2014 9:27 AM in response to Drew Reece

Thanks Drew,

Luckily I made a Bootable USB drive before I re-ran the update installer. This is now my only option as I can't just restart as normal. When I do it just boots into the installer again. I literally can't do anything else.

I'll post some snaps of the errors just for the record / your interest but I'll be doing a wipe and install in the next dew days.

Thanks.

Unbearably slow Mavericks performance