Q: firmware update
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May 17, 2016 8:48 AMby pinkstones,If your computer is lagging and giving you the SBBoD, there could be some third-party issue that is responsible for it. Please post the results of your EtreCheck report. It's a diagnostics tool developed by a trusted and respected contributor here, and it will allow us to see what is installed on your hard drive in the way of applications, drivers, plugins, extensions, etc. No sensitive issue is included in the report.
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May 17, 2016 8:51 AMby leroydouglas,mjscogr wrote:
I always install updates, does that also install firmware updates or do I have to do that separately/manually?
About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers - Apple Support
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May 17, 2016 9:08 AMby mjscogr,EtreCheck version: 2.9.12 (265)
Report generated 2016-05-17 09:59:31
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 3:08
Performance: Good
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Check Apple signatures: Enabled
Problem: Computer is too slow
Description:
I own a late 2012 iMac running iOS X El Capitan (v. 10.11.4), processor: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, that seems to be running slower than usual and see the color wheel a lot. I've researched a little and a firmware update has been suggested. I always install updates, does that also install firmware updates or do I have to do that separately/manually?
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
iMac - model: iMac13,1
1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M - VRAM: 512 MB
iMac 1344 x 756
OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 (15E65) - Time since boot: about 2 days
APPLE HDD ST1000LM024 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (870.63 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Seagate BUP Slim BK 2 TB
EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Seagate Back up (disk1s2) /Volumes/Seagate Back up : 2.00 TB (1.83 TB free)
Apple Inc. MacBook Air SuperDrive
HP Photosmart Plus B209a-m
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Mac App Store and identified developers
[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[loaded] 148 Apple tasks
[running] 82 Apple tasks
[not loaded] 44 Apple tasks
[loaded] 155 Apple tasks
[running] 90 Apple tasks
[failed] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-15) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2012-04-02) [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2015-07-11) [Support]
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Mail Application (/Applications/Mail.app)
Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
FaceTime Application (/Applications/FaceTime.app)
[running] com.getdropbox.dropbox.47712
[running] com.hp.scanModule.69152.EA0EC861-1550-4794-BE86-A74AF1716A11
[loaded] 390 Apple tasks
[running] 201 Apple tasks
FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-22) [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-03-22)
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.15 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-09) [Support]
AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.15 - SDK 10.6 (2016-03-09) [Support]
Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-22) Outdated! Update
Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-03-22)
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.3 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-14) [Support]
Pin It Button - Pinterest, Inc. - http://www.pinterest.com/ (2016-05-11)
Flash Player (2016-04-15) [Support]
Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X (2015-08-06) [Support]
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 128.72 GB
Destinations:
Seagate Back up [Local]
Total size: 2.00 TB
Total number of backups: 55
Oldest backup: 8/13/15, 3:05 PM
Last backup: 5/17/16, 9:05 AM
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 2.00 TB > (Disk used 128.72 GB X 3)
2% WindowServer
1% fontd
0% kernel_task
0% cloudpaird
821 MB kernel_task
475 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(4)
336 MB Mail
205 MB Safari
180 MB softwareupdated
2.32 GB Free RAM
5.68 GB Used RAM (1.54 GB Cached)
512 KB Swap Used
May 17, 2016, 08:44:54 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64_2016-05-17-084454_[ redacted].crash
/System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.We bKit.Plugin.64.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64
May 16, 2016, 01:00:17 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64_2016-05-16-130017_[ redacted].crash
May 15, 2016, 01:05:40 PM Self test - passed
May 15, 2016, 01:03:12 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64_2016-05-15-130312_[ redacted].crash
May 14, 2016, 10:49:41 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64_2016-05-14-104941_[ redacted].crash
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May 17, 2016 9:17 AMby leroydouglas,mjscogr wrote:
seems to be running slower than usual and see the color wheel a lot. I've researched a little and a firmware update has been suggested. I always install updates, does that also install firmware updates or do I have to do that separately/manually? Thank you.
Do you have an external boot clone that you can boot off of, and run for awhile to see if your problems go away?
This would help verify if your internal HDD is starting to fail or not.
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May 17, 2016 9:59 AMby appreciate,The user can use two apple articles to update firmware .
https : //support.apple.com/en-in/ht201518 , https: // support.apple.com/en-in/ht202040
note : before using the articles please contact in support they will send a link & the user has to double click on that link , then follow the steps in the article .
note : the user has to disable firmware password & file vault before using the above steps .
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May 18, 2016 6:23 AMby mjscogr,I know so little about the workings of a MAC, I have no idea if I have an external boot clone that I can boot off of and run for awhile to see if the problems go away. I'm just going to live with the problem; its a nuisance but I CAN live with it. Thank you everyone for help and guidance but you all are way above my knowledge base. I appreciate you time.
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May 20, 2016 8:26 AMby babowa,HelpfulYou would know it if you had an external clone because you would have created it. It involves getting another external hard drive, formatting it, and cloning (copying) your entire system onto that drive. Then it can be used to boot your iMac from it and repair your drive if necessary.
In order to speed up boot time, I would get rid of all items in your logins by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups > click on Login Items tab > highlight an entry and click on the - (minus) button. These apps can easily be launched when needed instead of running in the background. You may be prompted to enter your password (if so, click on the lock icon in the corner).
If things get worse, you can also consider using recovery to reinstall the OS.
OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
As for your original question: firmware updates are usually done automatically along with your OS or app updates. There is generally no need to do them separately. Who suggested a firmware update?
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May 18, 2016 9:57 AMby leroydouglas,mjscogr wrote:
I know so little about the workings of a MAC, I have no idea if I have an external boot clone that I can boot off of and run for awhile to see if the problems go away. I'm just going to live with the problem; its a nuisance but I CAN live with it. Thank you everyone for help and guidance but you all are way above my knowledge base. I appreciate you time.
Having a redundant backup plan in place is a good practice. All hard drives and SSD will fail in time, it is just a question of when, right out of the box or 3 years, 4 years??
Having a boot clone and a independent Time Machine back-Up will cover most any scenario including a catastrophic failure of your computer, with little or no down time or lose of data.
Easy enough to do with software like CCC. https://bombich.com/
there are others http://www.macworld.com/article/2461362/drive-cloning-utilities-the-best-mac-app s-for-making-a-bootable-backup.html
The price of external drives and enclosures is relatively inexpensive. see OWC for everything you need, here is one example
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/SATA/DIY/
Having the ability to boot off an external drive and keep going allows for no down time. You can not boot of off Time Machine backups, however you can easily restore selected files easily, or the entire drive if necessary.
In your case booting off of the external clone will allow you to see if bypassing the internal drive solves your problem. You can literally spends months trying to trouble shoot a drive that has intermittent problems and is on its way to failure. It is a nuisance you can avoid.
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May 20, 2016 8:33 AMby mjscogr,Thanks for the suggestion of speeding up boot time, I removed items in the system preference login. I don't recall who advised to update the firmware. I had done a search on speeding things up and one of the search results recommended that which is why I asked that question. I don't intend to update firmware.
