Spinning pinwheel of death

It would help us to help you if we could have some more technical info about your iMac.

If you wish, Please download, install and run Etrecheck.

Etrecheck was developed as a simple Mac diagnostic reporting tool by a regular Apple Support forum user and technical support contributor named Etresoft.

Etrecheck is a small, unobstrusive app that compiles a static snapshot of your entire Mac hardware system and installed software.

This is a free app that has been honestly created to provided help in diagnosing issues with Macs running the new OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

It is not malware and can be safely downloaded and installed onto your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Copy/paste and post its report here in another reply thread so that we have a complete profile of your Mac's hardware and installed software so we can all help with your Mac performance issues.

Thank You.

There is nothing obvious in your report that could be causing the severe slowdowns you are having.

Create a new test User account under System Preferences Panel under the Accounts icon and see if your system runs better under this new Test account (it can be easily deleted once you have test this account).

If your iMac is running better under the new user account, then there is a serious issue with your regular user account that needs to be tracked down.

If you are still having the same poor performance under the new user account, then this means that your iMac's hard drive maybe failing.

Purchase and connect an external hard drive and purchase and use a data cloning app, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone your entire iMac's hard drive, system and all important data to this drive and make an appointment to bring your iMac into an Apple Store for a free diagnostic and quote for hardware replacement.

Problem description:

The Multicolored Spinning Wheel spins and you cannot do anything until it stops.

I used your info, ran the program and below is what was generated.

What's the verdict?

EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)

Report generated 6/4/15, 6:06 PM

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: ℹ️

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) (Technical Specifications)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,2

1 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 92 - SN = 9G907049Z4M0A

Video Information: ℹ️

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

Color LCD 1344 x 840

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT - VRAM: 512 MB

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.3 (14D136) - Time since boot: 2:23:38

Disk Information: ℹ️

FUJITSU MHZ2320BH FFS G1 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 319.21 GB (217.88 GB free)

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

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N

USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

composite_device 15.5 GB

USB3 16 2 (disk2s1) /Volumes/USB3 16 2 : 15.50 GB (14.47 GB free)

Iomega Iomega eGo HDD 500.11 GB

disk1s1 (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 32 KB

disk1s2 (disk1s2) <not mounted> : 29 KB

disk1s3 (disk1s3) <not mounted> : 29 KB

disk1s4 (disk1s4) <not mounted> : 29 KB

disk1s5 (disk1s5) <not mounted> : 29 KB

disk1s6 (disk1s6) <not mounted> : 262 KB

disk1s7 (disk1s7) <not mounted> : 262 KB

disk1s8 (disk1s8) <not mounted> : 262 KB

Music_HDD (disk1s10) /Volumes/Music_HDD : 499.97 GB (150.05 GB free)

Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex

Western Digital My Passport 0730 1 TB

EFI (disk4s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

MusicCopyHDD (disk4s2) /Volumes/MusicCopyHDD : 999.83 GB (649.43 GB free)

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

Apple Inc. iPhone

PIXART USB OPTICAL MOUSE

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.6.0 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.2.0 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.NCHSoftware.driver.SoundTapVirtualAudioDevice (1.0.0d1) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3G (2.2.8) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.DisableAutoInstall (1.2) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSupport (1.4.11) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSwitch (1.2.2) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSwitchKicker (1.0.0) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessModem (3.2.6) [Click for support]

[not loaded] net.pocketmac.driver.BlackberryUSB (3.0.12) [Click for support]

[not loaded] net.pocketmac.driver.BlackberryUSBDev (3.0.12) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions/NovatelWireless3G.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3GData (2.2.8) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions/SMSIWirelessModem.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessCDC (3.2.6) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessSerial (3.2.6) [Click for support]

Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[killed] com.apple.ctkd.plist

[killed] com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist

[killed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist

3 processes killed due to memory pressure

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.sync.watch.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

iTunesHelper UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)

Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector2 Application Hidden (/Library/Printers/Canon/IJScanner/Utilities/Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector2.app)

Sync Application (/Applications/Sync.app)

Box Sync Application (/Applications/Box Sync.app)

Wormhole Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Wormhole/Wormhole.app)

Octoshape Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Octoshape/Octoshape.app)

Box Edit Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Box/Box Edit/Box Edit.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.188 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.188 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 45 Check version

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

Silverlight: Version: 4.0.50917.0 [Click for support]

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 [Click for support]

OctoshapeWeb: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

Box Edit: Version: 1.2.17(341) - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Click for support]

Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]

Java [Click for support]

Logitech Control Center [Click for support]

MacFUSE [Click for support]

Tuxera NTFS [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 319.21 GB Disk used: 101.33 GB

Destinations:

TIME141220 [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 46

Oldest backup: 2014-12-19 14:06:51 +0000

Last backup: 2015-06-04 03:26:54 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk size 319.21 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

6% WindowServer

4% mdworker(4)

1% Box Sync Monitor

0% Box Sync

0% NotificationCenter

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

680 MB Safari

520 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(5)

451 MB kernel_task

61 MB Finder

61 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

290 MB Free RAM

3.72 GB Used RAM

15 MB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Jun 4, 2015, 03:40:25 PM Self test - passed

Jun 3, 2015, 01:21:33 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.InputMethodKit.UserD ictionary_2015-06-03-132133_[redacted].crash

Jun 2, 2015, 04:34:48 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Finder_2015-06-02-163448_[reda cted].crash

Jun 2, 2015, 08:52:54 AM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.InputMethodKit.UserD ictionary_2015-06-02-085254_[redacted].crash

Jun 2, 2015, 05:56:23 AM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.InputMethodKit.UserD ictionary_2015-06-02-055623_[redacted].crash

You really should start your own thread instead of hijacking this one.

drbchilds wrote:

I have no idea what is going on, but I get that spinning pinwheel all the time now. I have had an imac at home for 3 years and an imac at my office for 1 year. They have both been just amazing. Never one crash, no viruses, etc., etc. They do what I ask them to do and they do it every single time with lightning quick speed....until now.

I dont know if it was an update or what, but now I get what I call "The spinning pinwheel of death" It just spins and freezes up the computer for seconds and sometimes minutes. I can't do anything on the computer until it stops spinning. I have tried restarting, turning off all applications so only safari is running, etc.., etc., but to no avail.

What can I do to correct this?

From your report - you system has been running for 8 days -- sometimes the quick fix = Shut down from Menu - this will clear all memory RAM running jobs - better than a restart -- for shut down - wait a minute - then power up.

Using Safari = check top sites -- that little box in the menu bar -- edit out sites you don't want to be top sites because they do refresh when the site is updated.

eagle1147 wrote:

Problem description:

The Multicolored Spinning Wheel spins and you cannot do anything until it stops.

I used your info, ran the program and below is what was generated.

What's the verdict?

Your report shows 3 inactive processes killed by Yosemite because it need RAM for active processes.

If you just restarted rather than shutdown and power up - your memory is not as cleaned up as in a shut down.

It was not my intentions to infringe on anyones post. I thought this is why there is a forum for problems we encounter.

And, the problem I have seem to fit. Is it not better to have all the issues in one place instead of going to different posts?

If I offended you, I apologize .

No. It is not better to have them all in one place because it gets too confusing to switch back and forth with mixed problems in a single thread. It is usually far better to create your own thread. In addition with your own thread you can award points to those that help. Whereas if you tag onto to someone else thread you can't do that.

Thank you for alerting me to this procedure. I did notice that it was happening on Safari mostly. So, I went to safari, reset my defaults and now the problem seems to be solved. Strange that I have not changed any of my setting in Safari before this occurred.

Thank you for pointing this out-I did know know this. I will try to follow your suggestion in the future. I was only trying to look for a solution.

eagle1147 wrote:

Thank you for alerting me to this procedure. I did notice that it was happening on Safari mostly. So, I went to safari, reset my defaults and now the problem seems to be solved. Strange that I have not changed any of my setting in Safari before this occurred.

In searching the WWW out of curiosity - saw some articles snippets where Safari wasn't refreshing tops sites and some users wanted them to. Unfortunately there is no way to turn off top sites -- so if you don't want to use them you have to keep the pruning up.

drbchilds,

Your system looks fairly healthy, all in all. But one thing caught my attention:

Top Processes by Memory:

1.50 GB Safari

483 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

106 MB systemstats

57 MB com.apple.WebKit.Networking

49 MB Finder

Virtual Memory Information:

40 MB Free RAM

1.39 GB Active RAM

1.36 GB Inactive RAM

1.04 GB Wired RAM

9.41 GB Page-ins

308 MB Page-outs

The VM information suggests that your 8GB RAM is getting overtaxed. I don't know why, but it seems that Safari is being queried aggressively (hence the high amount of page-ins) - or that some process is keeping your machine from processing the page-ins as quickly as it should. Citrix is one process that jumps out to me immediately as a possible cause.

What can I do to alleviate this?

The easiest way to address this is to add more RAM (if your machine; 16GB should go a long way to improve things.

I can't offer much help on the possible issue with Citrix, however. You might want to contact a discussion group on this.