JohnMelton

Q: Constantly Receive Spinning Color Wheel on I Mac OS X Yosemite

I have run all of the suggested tests for adware / malware and it was not found, but I am still getting the dreaded spinning color wheel on my 5 year old I Mac.  I looked at Activity Monitor and didn't see anything unusual.  I cannot delete my iCloud userid (it has keychain checked) because it says it is still using something, but it won't let me re-check any of the other boxes either.  I also cannot turn on sharing in photos on this computer, although I use sharing on other devices.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 12, 2015 7:24 AM

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Q: Constantly Receive Spinning Color Wheel on I Mac OS X Yosemite

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  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 12, 2015 7:48 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Aug 12, 2015 7:48 AM in response to JohnMelton

    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 â–¹ All Messages

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

              View â–¹ 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.

  • by JohnMelton,

    JohnMelton JohnMelton Aug 12, 2015 12:19 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 12:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Here is the link to pastebin.com ($49.00):  Help With Beachball Cursor

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 12, 2015 1:32 PM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Aug 12, 2015 1:32 PM in response to JohnMelton

    The startup drive is failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault.

    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.

  • by JohnMelton,

    JohnMelton JohnMelton Aug 13, 2015 4:32 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 13, 2015 4:32 AM in response to JohnMelton

    PLease help me to back-up my data!!  Thanks so much!!

  • by JohnMelton,

    JohnMelton JohnMelton Aug 13, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 13, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Please tell me how to back-up my data.  I have never backed up this data, do not have an external back-up drive, & time capsule has not been configured on this I Mac.  When I have tried configuring time capsule in the pat, I get errors

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli Aug 13, 2015 5:03 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 7 (25,400 points)
    Aug 13, 2015 5:03 AM in response to JohnMelton

    Take your backup drive with you to the Apple Store.

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 13, 2015 6:21 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Aug 13, 2015 6:21 AM in response to JohnMelton
    do not have an external back-up drive

    Please get one, at least large enough to hold all the data you have to back up, then try to follow the instructions here:

     

    Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support

     

    If that doesn't work, ask for other instructions. I strongly suggest that you shut down the computer immediately and don't turn it on again until you're ready to back up. Don't rely on Apple "Geniuses" to back up for you except as a last resort.

  • by JohnMelton,

    JohnMelton JohnMelton Aug 14, 2015 12:32 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 14, 2015 12:32 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I took your advice and purchased a 1  Terabyte Seagate backup drive. I have  successfully  turned on Time Machine & am in the process of performing my first  back up  of 845 GB of data.   It has been raining since noon today, I'm still in the "preparing back up " stage. My I Mac now appears to be frozen .  The clock in the upper right-hand corner stopped at 5:03 this afternoon,  and has not moved since.  I know this is a lot of data, so the  back up will take a lot of time,, but some peoples  said there's  appeared to be frozen but we'rent really running,  so  what should I do?  It will not respond to commands or anything  I click on to activate

  • by JohnMelton,

    JohnMelton JohnMelton Aug 14, 2015 12:43 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 14, 2015 12:43 AM in response to JohnMelton

    Sorry, that's Running, not Raining !   The Seagate drive is for a Mac or Windows either way.   Most of the data is videos that are.not storable in the iTunes Cloud,  but is located in iTunes on the I Mac, so I would lose it if I cannot back it up.

  • by Hibernian56,

    Hibernian56 Hibernian56 Aug 14, 2015 1:54 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 1 (48 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 14, 2015 1:54 AM in response to JohnMelton

    John,

     

    If your machine is anyway responsive a better way to back up (faster) would be to get a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner https://bombich.com/  This will make an EXACT replica of your drive, saving whatever it finds. It can also make a bootable backup, so your machine can be up and running working from your external drive until you get a chance to replace the internal one.

     

    Whatever you do, make sure you get a drive that is at least as big as your existing drive.

     

    Assuming your existing drive is 1Tb

    I would suggest:

    1. Get a new 2Tb external drive and make a bootable clone of your existing mac using Carbon Copy Cloner.
    2. Get a second new 2Tb internal drive. (Give yourself room for expansion)
      1. Install OSX Yosemite onto the new internal drive (Known as a vanilla or clean install)
      2. Use Migration Assistant in utilities once you are up and running to reimport your files from the external drive.
    3. Get an external drive caddy and place your old drive into it.
    4. If you failed to get some files off your old internal drive, get Disk Drill http://www.cleverfiles.com/ This program has really saved my bacon (and files) several times of almost dead hard drives. It can hunt the files out for you and has a fairly high recovery success rate.
    5. After you are happy with the process, set up Carbon Copy Cloner to do a full incremental back up EVERY NIGHT to your new external drive. You will never find yourself in this predicament again. Time Machine is flakey and slow, it sometimes fails to backup with no warning.
    6. If the old internal drive is damaged, smash it up, drill a hole through it so that you will never mistakenly use it in the future only to discover you have lost some important files.

     

    In future BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP.

     

    Good luck

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Aug 14, 2015 5:30 AM in response to JohnMelton
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Aug 14, 2015 5:30 AM in response to JohnMelton

    There are several ways to back up a Mac that is not fully functional. You need an external hard drive or other storage device to hold the data.

    1. Start up from the Recovery partition, from Internet Recovery, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.

    If you use FileVault 2, then you must first unlock the startup volume. Select its icon ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) It will be nested below another disk icon, usually with the same name. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar. Enter your login password when prompted.

    2. If Method 1 fails because of disk errors, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.

    3. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB (except on a MacBook Retina with a USB-C port), Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.

    4. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.