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Spinfaster Author

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

Top-ranking reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,849 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).

View in context

40 replies

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,227 points

Mar 10, 2014 6:26 PM in response to Drew Reece

Drew Reece wrote:

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.

As long as there are spare blocks, then it will do that, but with modern hard drives, that is supposed to happen automatically when a bad block is discovered through normal read/write operations. Once all the spare blocks have been used things usually go downhill rather quickly.

Since I've never tried to use Disk Utility to do such a surface scan, I'm not certain that the user is notified when a bad block is mapped out without checking the log, so it may not be the best tool available for letting the average user know the condition of a drive surface.

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,227 points

Mar 10, 2014 6:28 PM in response to Spinfaster

Just to make sure I understand, you did try to use the Recovery Partition to attempt the re-install, right?

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,666 points

Mar 11, 2014 1:04 PM in response to MadMacs0

Sorry MadMacs0, I needed to be clearer.

There is no feedback in a 'zero disk erase' since Disk Utility relies on the disk controller to find/mark bad blocks, writing zeros across the entire volume will try to write to every available bit. From that point the SMART data should indicate the number of bad blocks etc.

Spinfaster, it sounds like the internal disk is setup to boot from the installer, I wonder if 'startup disk' will allow you to reset the system that is selected to boot, recovery mode has the option in the menu. It does sound like you are about to erase & reinstall which is probably more productive than trying to fix the current OS.

P.S. don't forget Apple hardware test if the second install has errors…

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2014 3:39 AM in response to Drew Reece

Hi All,

Attached are some shots of the error report after trying to install the Mavericks update from the Recovery HD. Hopefully you can read the content...

Drew, I think the problem is that it's halfway through an install so can only boot back into the install. Maybe. If I boot normally it goes to the intaller. If I boot and hold option I can only select Mavericks Update or Recovery HD, neither of which give me the option to change the start up disc. As far as I remember anyway, I'll check again though. Although as you say, I think the best option now is just a wipe and fresh install as no one seems to have a definitive answer to the problems. Unless someone can decipher the jargon in the above images!

Will the Apple Hardware Test tell me for sure if my HDD is failing? Do you think it's something I can use in my MBP's current state?

Thanks again all for your help so far,

James.

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,666 points

Mar 13, 2014 9:49 AM in response to Spinfaster

Apple hardware test doesn't do much for HD diagnostics but it will check out the RAM, GPU, CPU etc.

It should be built in to the firmware, so the startup shortcut should still allow it to work in this broken state.

It looks like the installer can't find certain packages, then it all goes downhill from there and crashes the install process. How did you make this USB installer? It's possible that this installer is damaged & is causing the failed install process.

I'd wipe and reinstall at this stage. Erase in Disk Utility inside the installer or recovery mode.

Check the SMART status for the internal disk (Disk Utility shows it, but I can't remeber the menu name - may be under 'info').

If the installer fails again after erasing the internal HD you will need to reboot to 'internet recovery' (Command+Option+R at startup) to obtain a 'clean' copy of the installer. Or grab the 10.9 installer on another Mac & use that to make a new copy USB bootable disk.

Use an ethernet connection with 'internet recovery' - wifi is slow & can dropout over extended periods, it takes a long time.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2014 10:06 AM in response to Drew Reece

I guess checking all the hardware and not just concentrating on the HDD is a good way to go. I'll see what the results are.

As a note, this isn't the result of using my USB boot disc. This is from booting into the Recovery HD and choosing the Mavericks Installer from there. It starts downloading 'additional components' which I'm doing over wifi but it completes it's progress bar so I don't think it drops out. But since you ask, I downloaded the latest full Mavericks Installer from the Mac App Store and used Dismaker X to create the boot disc. This is what I will use once I've wiped the disc.

Thanks.

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,666 points

Mar 13, 2014 10:38 AM in response to Spinfaster

Thanks for clarifying where it was booted from. You'll need to boot of the USB to erase the HD completely since the 'recovery mode booter' would be on that internal disk, it will prevent you wiping the partition data.

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,227 points

Mar 13, 2014 11:25 PM in response to Spinfaster

Spinfaster wrote:

Hi All,

Attached are some shots of the error report after trying to install the Mavericks update from the Recovery HD. Hopefully you can read the content...

I found it difficult, but it would appear that it's a CrashReport of some sort. Pretty much impossible without being able to read the text and I suspect it would be more trouble than it's worth to try and find the log.

Will the Apple Hardware Test tell me for sure if my HDD is failing?

As far as I know, the AHT does not check any aspect of your hard drive. You'll need a third party utility to do that.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 14, 2014 3:52 AM in response to MadMacs0

Thanks again to everyone who has tried to help.

And can I just add that it's been nice to have a discussion that hasn't resulted in bickering and pettiness as I've seen on so many other discussions on this forum. Maybe that's because I'm not using MacKeeper or CleanMyMac though.... ;-)

Cheers.

Spinfaster Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 15, 2014 4:23 AM in response to Spinfaster

Update: Disc wiped and Mavericks reinstalled and everything seems to be running fine. Seems pretty **** quick too. Hurrah!

Unbearably slow Mavericks performance