*PLEASE HELP* Spinning beachball keeps coming up…

NewbMacUser wrote:

Hey guys, even though I've got 500mb of RAM available for OSX to use.....

That isn't enough RAM. To run Mavericks plus the applications use, you need at least 8 GB. I suspect that is your problem. A while ago I installed Mavericks on a computer that only had 4 GB of RAM, which had been fine up until that point, but which gave me all kinds of freezes and beachballs with Mavericks. So I added an extra 4 GB, and everything was fine.

Yes, the Console text still says the same thing I mentioned before. mDNS is Bonjour. You have a part of your OS X software that is corrupted -- Or, some failure (less likely) in hardware. A failing drive "might" cause this - but we can't know for sure.

Reinstalling is the simplest troubleshooting (& possible repair) option right now.

Is there some reason you don't want to do that?

Tom in London wrote:

NewbMacUser wrote:

Hey guys, even though I've got 500mb of RAM available for OSX to use.....

That isn't enough RAM. To run Mavericks plus the applications use, you need at least 8 GB. I suspect that is your problem. A while ago I installed Mavericks on a computer that only had 4 GB of RAM, which had been fine up until that point, but which gave me all kinds of freezes and beachballs with Mavericks. So I added an extra 4 GB, and everything was fine.

According to his initial ETRecheck report, his computer does have 8GB installed.

Hardware Information:

Mac mini - model: Macmini5,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores

8 GB RAM

NewbMacUser wrote:

Hey Greg, thanks for your reply! If Bonjour is the issue, how can I fix it?

I don't want to re-install a fresh install of Mavericks because it'd take sooo much time for me to re-install my apps and set up my preferences. That's why I thought installing Yosemite might be a good idea...

Installing a piece of Beta software on a Mac that already has problems is a very bad idea.

My suggestion is --

1. download & install the latest version of ETRecheck

2. startup in Safe Mode

3. while in Safe Mode, run ETRecheck.

4. post the result.

Hopefully the result will help us make a suggestion as to which applications/etc

might be causing your problem(s).

Also note the capacity of your Mac's hard disk drive is overly full

and so your saved content is likely in competition to the OS X's

ability to function using limited resources it needs to work right.

That, and whatever is using the chip RAM isn't leaving scraps

big enough for anything else running and wasting CPU cycles

or whatever else you have going on.

Avoid adding a new layer of grief and misery over your Mavericks

OS X 10.9.x system. Resolve your issues where they are. Backup

your computer content to an externally enclosed hard drive and

choose one with its own AC power adapter, and consider using a

Clone utility (CarbonCopyCloner from Bombich, or SuperDuper from

maker sites, only; no adware or malware tainted third party) to save

a working fully bootable copy of your running OS X on a separate

hard disk drive capable of running the Mac from a Clone.

You can't hardly make enough backups; ones you can fully restore a

computer directly, & offline as needed; do not rely on a TimeMachine.

With a good backup, and a bootable clone, you could totally reinstall

a new Mavericks, &/or restore it w/ your content from external archives.

This on top of other good advice given in at least two threads you have

going on a similar topic; both need the same cure. Not a beta upgrade.

Save that idea for a different machine that has nothing you want on it.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Not sure if something as simple as an 'archive & install' or basic installation now

available with Mavericks, would affect any of your applications; however some

may require you to look into the App Stores to re-download your paid apps, etc.

The OS X Utilities could erase everything on the hard disk drive; however to just

install Mavericks (and hope that fixes the issue) is possible without wiping out

your applications and user created files.

You should be able to reinstall Mavericks over the current version and not have

anything go missing; however you need to make a backup just in case the hard

disk drive in the computer fails.

The other issues, lack of free capacity in the hard disk drive, as well as almost

no memory (RAM) need to be addressed; so perhaps someone will repeat

how to address these before or along with a reinstall of 10.9 in hope to repair

or replace just the defective system only...

With that, I'm best to not advise you further due to insufficient experience in 10.9.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Why?

You want to know what is running in Normal Mode (unless you usually use Safe Mode when using your Mac)