My iMac (pre June 2013) keeps freezing

Question

Level 1

8 points

My iMac (pre June 2013) keeps freezing

I have a late 2012, 21.5-inch iMac with running OS10.10.4, 2.7GHz Intel Core 15 processor,16GB 1600 MHz DDR3 memory, NCIDIA GeForce GT 640M 512 MB Graphics.

I have a 3 TB WD external hard drive connected as my back up drive.

A few months ago, not long after updating to 10.10 (Yosemite) I started having issues with Safari freezing (colour wheel spinning, cursor freezing, websites taking a long time to load). At the time, I presumed it was a problem with my internet provider.

Gradually all my apps started to freeze up and I couldn't even type an e-mail without getting the colour wheel spinning - it's doing it now.

I tried simple things like closing applications, removing external drives and removing and checking all peripherals.

I ran the Apple Hardware Test and repaired all disk permissions, but there are no problems there.

Zapped the PRAM and reset the SMC.

Nothing worked so eventually I re-formated my hard drive and did a complete clean re-install of the system.

Everything was working fine for a few days and then the freezing started again.

From it working fine to freezing I had not added any new software or changed the way I use my Mac in fact I hadn't changed anything previously either except to update to OS10.10.

The freezing happens arbitrarily. I can do a few things fine and then I can't and have to wait until it unfreezes. There is nothing logical about this.

Have tried all sorts of suggestions that I've come across and nothing works.

I have thought about taking it to Apple to be checked, but I live in Thailand and it will need to go to Bangkok and explaining the problem when I don't speak Thai will not be easy. If they do what I have done and then return it as is, in all likelihood the problem will return a few days later.

I am at my wits end and the only thing I can think of doing now is trying to install a previous version of the operating system (presumably 10.9) but I don't know if this is possible and I really don't want to do another clean re-install as it takes so long to get all the permissions re-set to access files.

Please note that although I do know Macs to an extent I am not a tech sort of person.

I hope someone out there can help.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), Late 2012 21.5-inch

Posted on Jul 5, 2015 5:42 AM

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Answer 1

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Jul 5, 2015 6:17 AM in response to mls_15

Please post an EtreCheck report http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Reply

Answer 2

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2015 6:44 AM in response to SeaPapp

EtreCheck version: 2.2 (132)

Report generated 7/5/15, 8:40 PM

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 (21.5-inch, Late 2012) (Technical Specifications)

iMac - model: iMac13,1

1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

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

Video Information: ℹ️

NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080

System Software: ℹ️

OS X 10.10.4 (14E46) - Time since boot: 3:7:11

Disk Information: ℹ️

APPLE HDD ST1000LM024 disk0 : (1 TB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

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

Gertrude (disk1) / : 998.97 GB (641.95 GB free) - 117 errors

Core Storage: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online

USB Information: ℹ️

Western Digital My Book 1230 3 TB

EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 315 MB

George (disk2s2) /Volumes/George : 3.00 TB (144.49 GB free)

American Power Conversion Back-UPS CS 500 FW:808.q10 .I USB FW:q10

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

Tablet PTZ-630

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. iPhone

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Apple Inc. Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter

Gatekeeper: ℹ️

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Spin Doctor.app

[not loaded] com.hzsystems.terminus.driver (4) [Click for support]

/Applications/Toast 11 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) [Click for support]

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.sophos.kext.sav (9.2.50 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]

[loaded] com.sophos.nke.swi (9.2.50 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.ftdi (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (6.3.11 - SDK 10.9) [Click for support]

Launch Agents: ℹ️

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a...plist [Click for support]

[running] com.sophos.uiserver.plist [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist [Click for support]

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

Launch Daemons: ℹ️

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist [Click for support]

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

[running] com.freemacsoft.appcleanerd.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: ℹ️

[failed] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support] [Click for details]

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

User Login Items: ℹ️

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

uTorrent Application (/Applications/uTorrent.app)

AppCleaner Helper Application (/Applications/AppCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/AppCleaner Helper.app)

Google Chrome Application Hidden (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)

EOS Utility Application Hidden (/Applications/Canon Utilities/EOS Utility/EOS Utility.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 18.0.0.194 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 15.007.20033 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 8.0.0 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 18.0.0.194 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.5.2 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.6 - SDK 10.9 [Click for support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 15.0.0 - SDK 10.10 Check version

Safari Extensions: ℹ️

AdBlock

3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

Flash Player [Click for support]

WacomTablet [Click for support]

Time Machine: ℹ️

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Gertrude: Disk size: 998.97 GB Disk used: 357.03 GB

Destinations:

George [Local]

Total size: 3.00 TB

Total number of backups: 44

Oldest backup: 2015-01-03 17:08:15 +0000

Last backup: 2015-07-05 02:54:26 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk size 998.97 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

4% WindowServer

3% uTorrent

1% fontd

0% taskgated

0% Dock

Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

1.06 GB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(8)

918 MB kernel_task

475 MB softwareupdated

213 MB iTunes

197 MB Safari

Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

7.30 GB Free RAM

8.70 GB Used RAM

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

Jul 5, 2015, 05:29:04 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/WacomTabletDriver_2015-07-05-172904_[redacted]. crash

Jul 5, 2015, 05:28:13 PM Self test - passed

Jul 5, 2015, 05:26:23 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/WacomTabletDriver_2015-07-05-172623_[redacted]. crash

Jul 4, 2015, 01:35:07 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/WacomTabletDriver_2015-07-04-133507_[redacted]. crash

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Answer 3

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Jul 5, 2015 6:55 AM in response to mls_15

You have several problems, one or possibly a combination of all are likely causing your problem. First your hard disk is reporting 117 errors, if you cannot repair it using Disk Utility when started into your Recovery partition your drive may be failing. Repair the disk itself not just permissions.

Uninstall Sophos and App Cleaner, they're both unnecessary and are possibly causing your problems.

Stop using Torrents, malware is often passed along through torrent file sharing.

Reply

Answer 4

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2015 7:06 AM in response to SeaPapp

Thanks Mike.

Have to say have tried everything you suggest previously and it made no difference whatsoever.

I will go through it all again and see if it makes any difference a second time round.

It make take a while before I get back to you.

It does sound like my drive is failing though.

Reply

Answer 5

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Jul 5, 2015 7:36 AM in response to mls_15

Make sure you get rid of Sophos and App Cleaner after you try to repair the drive.

Reply

Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jul 5, 2015 8:26 AM in response to mls_15

When you see a beachball cursor or the slowness is especially bad, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.

Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.

Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

When you post the log extract, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "The message contains invalid characters." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the text on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.

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Answer 7

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2015 9:14 AM in response to SeaPapp

Oops. Already uninstalled Sophos, but not App cleaner as yet. Will leave that until I get a chance to repair my drive which may not be until tomorrow as it's already late here. I have done it before and it made no difference but it's worth another go. Things are getting even slower right now which makes it very difficult to do anything at all.

Reply

Answer 8

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks Linc I will do what you suggest though noting the time will be fun as it's almost constant. Again, this will take time.

Reply

Answer 9

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 6, 2015 12:45 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi Linc,

Here are a few of the Console messages.

06/07/2015 14:32:05.689 Mail[1412]: Could not open log file.

2: No such file or directory

06/07/2015 14:38:43.700 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.501) Service "com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000022.AppleSpell" tried to hijack endpoint "fr (Apple)_OpenStep" from owner: com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000002.AppleSpell

06/07/2015 14:34:19.000 kernel[0]: CoreStorageGroup::completeIORequest - error 0xe00002ca detected for LVG "Gertrude" (A3986C98-E1CD-4C15-A0ED-8A6EED152146), pv C954899A-31A9-43A8-802C-88777BFAC3A9, near LV byte offset = 473119137792.

06/07/2015 14:38:43.716 AppleSpell[355]: *** -[NSMachPort handlePortMessage:]: dropping incoming DO message because the connection is invalid

06/07/2015 14:38:43.822 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.

06/07/2015 14:41:12.000 kernel[0]: CoreStorageGroup::completeIORequest - error 0xe00002ca detected for LVG "Gertrude" (A3986C98-E1CD-4C15-A0ED-8A6EED152146), pv C954899A-31A9-43A8-802C-88777BFAC3A9, near LV byte offset = 473119137792.

06/07/2015 14:41:12.000 kernel[0]: disk1: I/O error.

06/07/2015 14:41:12.243 systemstatsd[425]: assertion failed: 14E46: systemstatsd + 3258 [7ABA0061-5219-3DC9-ACDC-A98BA722D473]: 0xa

These all repeat regularly.

Reply

Answer 10

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 6, 2015 12:48 AM in response to SeaPapp

Done everything you suggested. According to Disk Utility and AHT my hard drive is fine. But obviously it's not since there are so many error messages.

Nothing has changed, if anything it's all getting worse!

Reply

Answer 11

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Jul 6, 2015 3:53 AM in response to mls_15

Did you happen to check the SMART status while you were in Disk Utility? Anything other than "verified" indicates a problem.

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Answer 12

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 6, 2015 4:11 AM in response to SeaPapp

Where is the SMART status? Don't seem to have anything that shows that on Disc Utility.

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Answer 13

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Jul 6, 2015 5:12 AM in response to mls_15

Reply

Answer 14

mls_15 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 6, 2015 5:57 AM in response to SeaPapp

I don't have the same disk utility as you do. This is what I have.

Reply

Answer 15

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jul 6, 2015 6:00 AM in response to mls_15

The startup drive is failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault. You can't solve the problem with Disk Utility.

Back up all data on the drive immediately if you don't already have a current backup. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.

Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.

Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair

Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.

*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

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