Experiencing frequentBeach balls after RAM upgrad

Question

I have a Macbook pro 13&#x27;&#x27; early 2011. I replaced my hard drive and performed a clean install of OS X 10.9.5 and started experiencing constant beach balls and system freezing. theses issues occurred on new administrator accounts and my old admin account restored from a time machine back up. I upgraded my RAM from 4 GB to 8GB but I still get the beach balls. The system freezing is most frequent when I use transmission.The RAM is from crucial and and the hard drive from OWC, both compatible with the mac. Is there any way to fix it?

Eric Root · Answer

Try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account.  Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear and again when you log in. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don’t do them all at once.Safe Mode - MavericksSafe Mode - AboutSpinning Beach BallSpinning Beach ball (2)Spinning Beach ball (3)Spinning Beach ball (4)Kernel Panics - AboutKernel Panics FAQ    Kernel Panics FAQ (2)

nguithi · Answer

Thank you. The beach balls have reduced after the safe mode boot and regular boot up. However when I play large media files like 720p and 1080p the videos freeze often. Finder relaunches it self for some reason. The fan also makes a lot of noise associated with the mac overworking even when one or two programs are running, in some cases immediately after the mac boots up. Are these issues associated with the age of the mac or maverick&#x27;s inability to handle large files?

nguithi · Answer

I performed a scan of the mac and got this info about the hardware and softwareProblem description:slow macEtreCheck version: 2.0.8 (95)Report generated October 31, 2014 at 7:52:00 PM GMT+3Hardware Information: ℹ️    MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1    1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core    8 GB RAM Upgradeable        BANK 0/DIMM0            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok        BANK 1/DIMM0            4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/nVideo Information: ℹ️    Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB        Color LCD 1280 x 800System Software: ℹ️    OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: 0:22:26Disk Information: ℹ️    WDC WD10S12X-55JTET0 disk0 : (1 TB)    S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified        EFI (disk0s1) &lt;not mounted&gt; : 210 MB         Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 999.35 GB (577.02 GB free)        Recovery HD (disk0s3) &lt;not mounted&gt;  [Recovery]: 650 MB     MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-8A8  USB Information: ℹ️    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub         Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller     Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad     Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)     Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_busGatekeeper: ℹ️    AnywhereKernel Extensions: ℹ️        /Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned    [loaded]    com.avast.AvastFileShield (2.1.0 - SDK 10.9) Support        /Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned    [loaded]    com.avast.PacketForwarder (1.4 - SDK 10.9) Support        /Library/Application Support/Hotspot Shield    [not loaded]    com.anchorfree.tun (1.1.1 - SDK 10.8) Support        /System/Library/Extensions    [loaded]    com.netralia.driver.VBMicDriver (1.0.0 - SDK 10.7) Support    [loaded]    com.netralia.driver.VBSpeakerDriver (1.0.0 - SDK 10.7) Support    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.9 - SDK 10.6) Support    [not loaded]    com.wacom.kext.pentablet (5.3.3 - SDK 10.8) Support        /System/Library/Extensions/PACESupportFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.9 - SDK 10.4) Support    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.9 - SDK 10.-1) Support    [loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.9 - SDK 10.6) Support    [not loaded]    com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.9 - SDK 10.4) SupportLaunch Agents: ℹ️    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support    [loaded]    com.avast.userinit.plist Support    [loaded]    com.divx.dms.agent.plist Support    [loaded]    com.divx.update.agent.plist Support    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support    [running]    com.wacom.pentablet.plist Support    [loaded]    org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist SupportLaunch Daemons: ℹ️    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support    [invalid?]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist Support    [loaded]    com.anchorfree.ajaxserver.plist Support    [loaded]    com.avast.init.plist Support    [loaded]    com.avast.uninstall.plist Support    [loaded]    com.avast.update.plist Support    [loaded]    com.barebones.authd.plist Support    [not loaded]    com.barebones.textwrangler.plist Support    [running]    com.cleverfiles.cfbackd.plist Support    [invalid?]    com.eset.esets_daemon.plist Support    [not loaded]    com.fernlightning.fseventer.plist Support    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support    [running]    com.magican.castle.plist Support    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support    [invalid?]    com.prosoftnet.idrivedaemon.plist Support    [invalid?]    com.prosoftnet.idwebdaemon.plist Support    [loaded]    com.sharpcast.xfsmond.plist Support    [loaded]    org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist Support    [loaded]    PACESupport.plist SupportUser Launch Agents: ℹ️    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support    [invalid?]    com.avast.home.userinit.plist Support    [invalid?]    org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist Support    [invalid?]    uk.co.markallan.clamxav.freshclam.plist SupportUser Login Items: ℹ️    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 25 Check version    WacomNetscape: Version: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 Support    OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 Support    Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9    AdobeExManDetect: Version: AdobeExManDetect 1.1.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support    WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 Support    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support    DivX Web Player: Version: 3.2.3.1164 - SDK 10.6 Support    Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20913.0 - SDK 10.6 Support    Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.2.0 - SDK 10.6 Support    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support    DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.6.8r638 SupportUser Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️    Folx3Plugin: Version: 3.0.1 - SDK 10.6 SupportSafari Extensions: ℹ️    AdBlock     iTube Studio     Avast Online Security     OpenIE 3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️    Fan Control  Support    Flash Player  Support    FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE)  Support    Java  Support    Perian  Support    Tuxera NTFS  Support    PenTablet  SupportTime Machine: ℹ️    Time Machine not configured!Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️        34%    firefox         8%    WindowServer         4%    Transmission         2%    mds         1%    com.avast.daemonTop Processes by Memory: ℹ️    481 MB    firefox    198 MB    com.apple.IconServicesAgent    137 MB    com.avast.daemon    129 MB    Transmission    112 MB    mds_storesVirtual Memory Information: ℹ️    2.65 GB    Free RAM    2.71 GB    Active RAM    1.76 GB    Inactive RAM    1.47 GB    Wired RAM    1.67 GB    Page-ins    0 B    Page-outs

John_M_ · Answer

You said that the problems started after you replaced your hard drive. What you didn&#x27;t say is that you replaced it with a Western Digital first generation hybrid drive which your system scan reveals as a WD10S12X-55JTET0. Unlike the Seagate and Toshiba SSHDs, which control the NAND caching in the drive firmware and therefore appear to the OS as a conventional hard drive and are compatible with OS X straight out of the box, WD decided to have the OS manage the NAND by means of a special driver. It&#x27;s explained here. These are OEM drives, intended for slim Windows laptops, so at best you&#x27;ll only be using the mechanical part of your drive. At worst it could well be causing the problems you see. Note that this is the first generation, slim WD Black device, not the newer WD Black2 hybrid drive, which also needs special configuration and was initially only supported by Windows but is now OS X compatible and behaves like a Fusion drive.

babowa · Answer

Additionally, I would attribute some of the beachballs to your AV software. You might want to consider uninstalling it.