Late 2011 MBP *STILL* slow after SSD Upgrade + Yosemite

Lets quickly double check that the OS is clean…

Etrecheck will make a report of all the installed & active items. Please post the report here.

http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

It does attempt to remove personal info, but you should check before you post it here, redact any elements that concern you.

It may be normal to see high usage after a new install - how long has this OS been setup?

Clean Install of Snow Leopard

1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.

2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.

3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.

4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. After you finish Setup Assistant will complete the installation after which

you will be running a fresh install of OS X. You can now begin the update process

by opening Software Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your

installation current.

Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. Is it still slow?

Thanks, the report looks super clean 🙂

It does make me wonder what is going on with your Mac. I'll try to post more suggestions later (pressed for time at moment).

Other users who have reported similar 'slow SSD performance' sometimes resolve it by replacing the SATA cable to to the SSD.

I would try to rule that out by installing OS X onto the fastest USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt external disk I had & test booting from that - if the Mac is fine like that it indicates some issue between the SSD & the Mac.

I don't know how widespread this issue is, but it is something to consider (anecdotally it looks common). Testing hardware hasn't shown any faults with these SATA cables as far as I am aware (from the threads I can remember seeing on here).

Otherwise I would try these troubleshooting steps…

Reset the PRAM

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Reset the SMC

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Safe mode

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

See if the OS is stable & faster than the normal boot - graphics performance can be worse under safe mode since many Apple extensions are disabled, just try to check as much as possible.

Create a new user account in System Preferences > Users & groups, reboot & login as that user - it is any smoother?

Apple Hardware Test (AHT)

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1

Power off to allow the Mac to cool down for a few hours then try AHT. Run several extended tests to allow the Mac to warm up to operating temperature. Record any error codes in full (maybe photograph the screen). AHT may not be installed, if that is the case you can use the original disks (if it had Grey OS install disks). It may be possible to add AHT to another disk, but AHT doesn't always detect errors, so it may be a waste of time, try the other tests then ask about making an AHT bootable disk.

You can also erase the HD & reinstall OS X this may fix any errors due to corruption, but I would expect the logs to be announcing any existing issues. /Applications/Utilities/Console will show the logs, but they can be complex to diagnose.

Look at the 'all messages' section during a period of slow behaviour & consider posting a few lines here (please don't post hundreds of lines of the same message).

Kay Gibbz wrote:

I finally took it to a computer shop that shares office space with me. I told them to check out the SATA cable per your instructions. As of right now they are "updating the kernels" and that the motherboard might be the issue. Hoping that's not technican jargon for "We don't know how to fix it."

If you were running Linux or another *nix OS it would be valid to talk about 'updating the kernel', OS X doesn't work like Linux or many other unix systems (the kernel is controlled by Apple). If you have all the updates from Apple then there is no such thing as 'updating the kernel'.

I understand it is easy to get wires crossed when technical details are explained & discussed so maybe they know more but are mixing up their terms (or you could be mixing it up too). 'Updating the kernel' sounds like it is from someone with a non-Apple perspective.

Booting from an external disk is a simple way to test booting without using that SATA cable, if they throw their hands in the air & don't have an answer consider doing that yourself, it is just a case of installing to a different external disk & then booting from it by holding alt & selecting the disk in the boot picker. Eject the internal disk to limit how much it could effete the test.

Good luck with it.

Look carefully at what is disabled in Safe Mode. Check those out carefully since one or more would be the cause of your problem.

Safe boot will disable many Apple extensions & third party extensions in addition to software that runs on startup. Your report from Etrecheck indicates there are no third party extensions active, there are no third party startup items that I can see either. So it seems like a built in extension may be interacting with the SSD during a normal boot.

I imagine it's possible that an extension adds extra features for the SSD could be conflicting somehow. I don't know if a failing SATA cable could work in one mode but not the other, that seems odd to me. The logs may state the error in a normal boot, ask the techs to look at them if they still have access.

I would attempt an install on an external disk, if that is capable of performing in a normal boot I would look at getting a different SSD (& inspect the cable when switching it).

If your technically able you could DIY. Visit OWC and look for a video tutorial on disassembly. You can also purchase any special tools you may need from them. iFixit would be a good source to try for a motherboard.