My 2007 iMac has started going very slowly

Question

Level 1

9 points

My 2007 iMac has started going very slowly

Around two weeks ago my computer started running very slowly and the beach ball effect happens every time I open a program. Very sluggish response everywhere. I downloaded and ran the EtreCheck software and I will post the results below:

Problem description:

My iMac is running extremely slow and beach balls spin with almost every click or opening of an application.

EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)

Report generated February 27, 2015 at 11:03:48 PM EST

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

iMac (24-inch Mid 2007) (Verified)

iMac - model: iMac7,1

1 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

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

Video Information: ℹ️

ATI,RadeonHD2600 - VRAM: 256 MB

iMac 1920 x 1200

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.2 (14C109) - Time since boot: 2 days 21:22:0

Disk Information: ℹ️

ST3500630AS Q disk2 : (500.11 GB)

EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk2s2) / : 499.25 GB (231.84 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk2s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

USB Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Kensington Kensington Expert Mouse

Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Wacom Co.,Ltd. CTH-661

EPSON USB MFP

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Firewire Information: ℹ️

Iomega HDD unknown_device 800mbit - 800mbit max

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

CLONE 10.10 (disk1s2) /Volumes/CLONE 10.10 : 650.40 GB (380.35 GB free)

TimeMachine2 (disk1s3) /Volumes/TimeMachine2 : 1.35 TB (423.80 GB free)

LaCie Group SA LaCie Hard Drive FireWire+ 400mbit - 400mbit max

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Clean (disk0s2) /Volumes/Clean : 249.72 GB (176.38 GB free)

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.5.2) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchAfaTech (1.1) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchEmpia (1.1) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchVoyager (1.1) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (5.2.1) [Click for support]

Startup Items: ℹ️

TiVoDesktop: Path: /Library/StartupItems/TiVoDesktop

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

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

[failed] com.tvmobili.artwork.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

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

[loaded] com.bombich.ccc.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.bombich.ccchelper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Click for support]

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

[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.skype.skypeinstaller.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

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

[running] com.amazon.cloud-player.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: ℹ️

iTunesHelper UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)

Android File Transfer Agent Application (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 8.3.1 [Click for support]

Photo Center Plugin: Version: Photo Center Plugin 1.1.2.2 [Click for support]

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.40.2.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

RealPlayer Plugin: Version: Unknown

DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.5.0r596 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

ToontownBundleManager: Version: Unknown [Click for support]

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin: Version: Unknown

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin1017277: Version: Unknown

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 1.4 [Click for support]

Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.0 [Click for support]

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

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

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.40.2.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

WacomSafari: Version: 1.1.0-4 [Click for support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 31 Check version

WacomNetscape: Version: 1.1.0-4 [Click for support]

User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

SabaMeetingPlugin: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]

Move_Media_Player: Version: npmnqmp 071705000010 [Click for support]

fbplugin_1_0_0: Version: Unknown [Click for support]

fbplugin_1_0_3: Version: Unknown [Click for support]

Picasa: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]

Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 2.6.1f3 [Click for support]

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

DivX [Click for support]

Flash Player [Click for support]

Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]

Java [Click for support]

Perian [Click for support]

TiVo Desktop [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.25 GB Disk used: 267.40 GB

Destinations:

TimeMachine2 [Local]

Total size: 1.35 TB

Total number of backups: 199

Oldest backup: 2011-09-14 21:17:01 +0000

Last backup: 2015-02-28 03:38:00 +0000

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 1.35 TB > (Disk used 267.40 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

63% systemstatsd

3% WindowServer

1% ps

0% EPSON Scanner

0% askpermissiond

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

374 MB firefox

101 MB systemstatsd

82 MB softwareupdated

82 MB Finder

64 MB System Preferences

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

191 MB Free RAM

1.40 GB Active RAM

1.23 GB Inactive RAM

682 MB Wired RAM

26.70 GB Page-ins

321 MB Page-outs

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Feb 27, 2015, 09:45:20 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-02-27-214520_[redacted].hang

Feb 27, 2015, 09:42:52 PM /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/plugin-container_2015-02-27-21 4252_[redacted].crash

Feb 27, 2015, 01:44:49 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-02-27-134449_[redacted].hang

Feb 26, 2015, 01:02:23 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64_2015-02-26-130223_[r edacted].cpu_resource.diag [Click for details]

Feb 26, 2015, 12:57:17 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-02-26-125717_[redacted].hang

Feb 25, 2015, 07:45:20 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/LockDown Browser_2015-02-25-194520_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Click for details]

Feb 25, 2015, 05:40:57 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-02-25-174057_[redacted].hang

Feb 25, 2015, 11:08:06 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2015-02-25-110806_[redacted].hang

Feb 25, 2015, 01:38:14 AM Self test - passed

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), 4gb RAM

Posted on Feb 27, 2015 8:26 PM

Reply

Answer 1

seventy one

Level 7

27,424 points

Feb 28, 2015 12:28 AM in response to Greg23

You are rather short on memory for 10.2. I know Apple says 4Gb is fine but the consensus here is 6Gb. Your machine will happily take a RAM upgrade to 6Gb; mine is the same machine and I have run 6Gb for some years,

I also suggest you type 'systemstats' (Red inked in the report) into Google and start reading. There are several entries there that suggest problems you may be able to relate to your own.

Reply

Answer 2

Greg23 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 28, 2015 8:09 AM in response to seventy one

I thought I had all the memory this version could take until recently I have seen others like you saying it will take 6 GB. I thought the memory slots only held 2gb memory sticks at once? How do I configure it to hold 6gb?

Thanks for the help and information!

Reply

Answer 3

seventy one

Level 7

27,424 points

Feb 28, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Greg23

Hi Greg,

You can exchange one of your 2Gb sticks for a 4 Gb which would give you a total of 6Gb. But 6Gb is the maximum I have ever seen for your machine and to put in more is unnecessary. If you are in the UK buy from

http://uk.crucial.com

They have been known to say 4Gb is Max but they tend to be conservative. Take great care when inserting it; go to any Snow Leopard site and type into search, 'how to insert a memory upgrade'.

Reply

Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

68,606 points

Feb 28, 2015 10:27 AM in response to Greg23

The Cycling74/Soundflower extension, although not fully "fingered" as a slowdown factor, does show up in a lot of reports of Mac issues. If you are not using it, dump it and see if that helps.

You have a massive number of plug-ins and some of the log messages in the diagnostic section of the report are related to FireFox and plug-ins. If you can thin them out, that my help.

The report does not show that your RAM is hugely stressed at the time the report was taken. 321MB of page-outs indicates some pressure but not at the critical point, about 1GB. Were it a major issue, Etrecheck would flag a number of extensions as "shut down due to memory pressure."

I'm not saying don't add RAM--I love having a pile of it--but, if the problem is software, assign RAM without resolving software issues first is like tying a bandage around your foot to treat a broken arm.

The only source I trust for the 4GB RAM module is OWC. It is a special module that not everyone carries or has tested in a Mac. Example: Crucial does not show that module available for your computer:

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/imac-%28mid-2007%29

OWC does:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5300DDR2S4GB/

And here is a direct link for how to install RAM to save you a search:

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_mid_2007/

Reply

Answer 5

Greg23 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 1, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Allan Jones

Thanks for the replies, I haven't found anything that has worked yet but I am still searching! I may have to try the memory option and that probably isn't the problem, but I don't know how to do some of the other things mentioned.

Do you think it would help to post another test from the EtreCheck thing?

Reply