MacBook Pro late-2011 slow and unusable after Yosemite OS X clean install

Try network recovery. Not cmd+r but: cmd+alt+r It sorts it totally out for me.

OK. If you put the Crucial RAM in, try putting the original in and see if this makes a change. There have been reports of RAM issues from 3rd parties that were not affected by Mavericks, but have been an issue with Yosemite. If you did not put the RAM in, then do not try to do this unless you are confident in doing so.

The other thing I would try is starting the Mac in "Safe" mode. To do this, press (and hold) the Shift key until you see the grey screen. Wait until it is ready and then see if your machine is significantly faster. If so, let us know.

Time now to update Yosemite to 10.10.1 do it before going on.

FYI there is tool that checks the memory: Rember, a UI for memtest: it is slow. You can download it here: http://www.kelleycomputing.net/rember/

I don't think there is something wrong with the Ram, but you never know.

Lex

Right. If Safe mode is producing the same performance, it looks as though this is a hardware related issue, and my gut is pointing to the RAM. As LexSchellings says, you should go to 10.10.1 anyway to be sure that something has not been fixed that we don't know about, but Safe Mode is there to put any possible software that may cause issues out of the picture.

RAM issues can be "latent" in that a standard soak test will not show anything until you do a hard and fast read/write test that may then show up poor zones. This is also the difference between cheap RAM and more expensive RAM that purports to do the same work. The only other area that can produce similar issues is a drive that is on its way out. Macs use SATA drives as standard and they moved to SSDs some time around when your Mac was made. If you have a mechanical drive, then it could also be causing a performance issue if it is lagging. Again, I may be looking too deeply for what is presenting as a simple fault (i.e.: Mavericks worked, Yosemite doesn't) but I also have to temper that with my own experience which is that my main workhorse machine is a late 2008 MBP that I upgraded to 8GB RAM (Crucial) and an Intel 300GB SSD which is running like a train on Yosemite.

These issues (and there are many like yours around the web) do seem to point to a hardware problem of some kind (especially with the Safe Mode producing the same issue). But I also take your initial comments as vital in that this worked before you went to Yosemite. The usual suspects with slowness are RAM or HDDs if the software build is 'good'.

I don't know if this is useful, but I also had an MBP that was rendered unusable. 2010 with 4 MB ram and a 500 MB hard drive.

Since the Yosemite install I have -

- reset the SCM and the PRAM

- tidied up all the permissions, checked the HD, emptied caches etc

- installed Crucial RAM so it now has 16 MB

- deleted the preference panes FUSE (quite an exercise) and SpiceRack, which were implicated in some post

It is now more or less back to performance under Mountain Lion - it was a bit slow then and I was already contemplating a RAM upgrade, so it's still a bit slow.

On the other hand, I installed Yosemite on a 2010 MacBook Air with 250 GB flash drive and it is fine, better if anything. Also on a mid 2010 iMac with 16 GB memory and 2 TB hard drive. (they both still have FUSE and SpiceRack installed). All the machines run the same applications and do the same sort of tasks, I use them in different locations.

So I have to conclude that it's some combination of hardware and system software specific to this MacBook Pro. I hope some future issue of Yosemite will address whatever it is.

If you have issues, better not hack this thread but start a new thread for yourself, this brings in more attention from troubleshooters.

No-one would be able to offer guarantees, but in my experience I would rate RAM errors lower than HDD. SSDs are not foolproof either, so get a decent one as cheaper is rarely better.

Normaly you should not change hardware before solving your issue, unless that hardware is the cause of the issue.

Run Etrecheck now (after the OSX update).

At this point I'd run the apple hardware test

Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support

I'd also read the link "Isolating Issues in OS X"

There are some helpful ideas.

Hi All,

I have repaired disk permissions, reinstalled Yosemite. The filevault encryption has ended but my Mac is still so slow. Please see below etrecheck

EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)

Report generated 23 November 2014 21:05:01 GMT

Hardware Information: ℹ️

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

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

Video Information: ℹ️

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) - Uptime: 0:19:39

Disk Information: ℹ️

Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 disk0 : (320.07 GB)

S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 318.84 GB (172.18 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk0s2 319.21 GB Online

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-898

USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.avatron.AVExFramebuffer (1.7 - SDK 10.8) Support

[not loaded] com.avatron.AVExVideo (1.7 - SDK 10.8) Support

Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[failed] com.apple.ucupdate.plist

[failed] com.apple.watchdogd.plist

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[not loaded] com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist Support

[not loaded] com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist Support

[not loaded] com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist Support

[not loaded] com.hp.devicemonitor.plist Support

[not loaded] com.hp.productresearch.plist Support

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support

[not loaded] com.trusteer.rapport.rapportd.plist Support

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[not loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

[not loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support

[not loaded] com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist Support

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support

[not loaded] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist Support

[not loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support

User Login Items: ℹ️

Flux Application (/Applications/Flux.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 25 Check version

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.223 - SDK 10.6 Support

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support

Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.223 - SDK 10.6 Support

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

CitrixICAClientPlugIn: Version: 11.8.2 - SDK 10.7 Support

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.5 - SDK 10.6 Support

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 Support

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

Searchme

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player Support

Java Support

Trusteer Endpoint Protection Support

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 318.84 GB Disk used: 146.66 GB

Destinations:

MAXELL [Local]

Total size: 0 B

Total number of backups: 8

Oldest backup: 2014-05-27 19:08:35 +0000

Last backup: 2014-10-13 22:34:59 +0000

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 0 B < (Disk used 146.66 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

25% repair_packages

19% WindowServer

14% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

6% Safari

3% com.apple.Safari.SearchHelper

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

262 MB repair_packages

172 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

99 MB Safari

81 MB WindowServer

73 MB CalendarAgent

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

683 MB Free RAM

1.94 GB Active RAM

768 MB Inactive RAM

698 MB Wired RAM

1.05 GB Page-ins

1 MB Page-outs

Start a new thread, you have different problems (and you have problems). Post the link here.

In the mean time read thesafemac.com

Lex