Spinning Beach Ball of Death plus Glacially Slow Performance

Question

akph2015 Author

Level 1

5 points

Spinning Beach Ball of Death plus Glacially Slow Performance

Hi Folks,

I have been enduring the spinning beach ball of death for quite some time now in my day to day computing and I just can't take it anymore, particularly since it comes up no matter what I do on the Mac, and performance is glacially slow.

This happens all the time.

I ran several virus checkers including Clam and none of them came up with anything.

The problem came on slowly over a long period of time. Now, however, the beach ball takes over whenever I am on the Mac to the point that I have to force shut-down and restart just to get anything done, and even then it isn't long before the ball is back and performance slows down again.

Thank You in advance for any help you can provide.

Please let me know if you need more info than this about my computer:

Model Name:	iMac
Model Identifier:	iMac12,1
Processor Name:	Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:	2.5 GHz
Number of Processors:	1
Total Number of Cores:	4
L2 Cache (per Core):	256 KB
L3 Cache:	6 MB
Memory:	4 GB
Boot ROM Version:	IM121.0047.B23
SMC Version (system):	1.71f22

Gratefully,

AK

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 30, 2016 3:28 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,534 points

Sep 1, 2016 12:50 PM in response to akph2015

Please post an EtreCheckreport of your system. We can then look for obvious issues. Please click the link, download the app and run the report. Once you have the report, please copy and paste it to your reply to this post.

If you would like more info on what EtreCheck is, simply click the link and you will find a description of the app.

It is very possible your problem has been made much worse by installing antivirus apps on your computer. AV apps for Macs serve no purpose, there are no viruses for OS X. Most tend to create more problems than they solve so locate the developers instructions for uninstalling the one(s) installed and uninstall them. Run the EtreCheck report after the y have been uninstalled. OS X needs no antivirus, cleaning or ANY third party maintenance apps. If left alone and simply kept up-to-date OS X will run well for most users for years!

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Answer 2

akph2015 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 1, 2016 12:50 PM in response to rkaufmann87

EtreCheck version: 3.0.3 (307)

Report generated 2016-09-01 12:43:13

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 6:55

Performance: Below Average

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Beachballing

Description:

Beach balls take over computer no matter what I do. Performance is glacially slow. I have to force restart when the ball won’t stop spinning. That doesn’t always help — almost always the beachball comes back and performance once again grinds to a halt.

Hardware Information: ⓘ

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

iMac - model: iMac12,1

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

4 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM1

Empty

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

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

Video Information: ⓘ

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080

System Software: ⓘ

OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G31) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ

ST3500418AS disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 499.25 GB (382.44 GB free)

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

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5690H ()

USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

EPSON XP-830 Series

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Card Reader

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.eltima.ElmediaPlayer.kext (1.0 - 2016-08-02) [Support]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 159 Apple tasks

[running] 47 Apple tasks

[killed] 24 Apple tasks

24 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 47 Apple tasks

[loaded] 155 Apple tasks

[running] 75 Apple tasks

[killed] 13 Apple tasks

13 processes killed due to insufficient RAM

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2012-07-03) [Support]

[running] com.epson.Epson_Low_Ink_Reminder.launcher.plist (2015-01-19) [Support]

[running] com.epson.ecrp.launcher.plist (2015-06-28) [Support]

[loaded] com.epson.esua.launcher.plist (2016-03-28) [Support]

[running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist (2014-09-21) [Support]

[failed] com.epson.scannermonitor.plist (2015-12-16) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (2012-07-03) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-06-28) [Support]

[not loaded] com.eltima.ElmediaPlayer.daemon.plist (2010-09-19) [Support]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.MBAMHelperTool.plist (2016-04-28) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-12) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ

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

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 2.3.5.4 (2010-09-10) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-14) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-29)

Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-07-14) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 9.3.4 (2010-09-30) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-29)

DirectorShockwave: 11.0.0r465 (2008-08-01) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 - SDK 10.11 (2012-07-02) Check version

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (2016-03-05)

FastestTube - Kwizzu - http://fastesttube.kwizzu.com/ (2016-03-05)

Pin It Button - Pinterest, Inc. - http://www.pinterest.com/ (2016-03-13)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Adobe Version Cue CS2 (2008-08-28) [Support]

Flash Player (2016-06-28) [Support]

Flip4Mac WMV (2010-09-10) [Support]

Perian (2011-07-23) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 499.25 GB Disk used: 116.81 GB

Destinations:

THE BLACK BOX [Local]

Total size: 0 B

Total number of backups: 0

Oldest backup: -

Last backup: -

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 0 B < (Disk used 116.81 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

4% com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing.Service

2% WindowServer

2% mdworker(2)

1% kernel_task

1% syspolicyd

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

720 MB kernel_task

397 MB softwareupdated

45 MB mds_stores

33 MB WindowServer

25 MB UserEventAgent(2)

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

1.37 GB Free RAM

2.63 GB Used RAM (830 MB Cached)

36 MB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

Sep 1, 2016, 12:02:42 PM Self test - passed

Reply

Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,534 points

Sep 1, 2016 3:26 PM in response to akph2015

When the 2011 iMacs were originally made the operating system used (Snow Leopard) only required 1GB of RAM to run. Since then your machine has been updated to El Capitan 10.11.6 which has a minimum system requirement of 4GB to run. Your machine has the bare minimum RAM and the report clearly shows it needs additional RAM. I would recommend upgrading to 16 or 24GB of RAM. If you choose to do this, please only use Crucial (buy direct) or OWC (www.macsales.com) because iMacs are sensitive to quality RAM and both providers offer that at reasonable prices.

Reply

Answer 4

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,070 points

Sep 3, 2016 3:11 PM in response to akph2015

With four slots for memory and two unpopulated, that leaves much

room for an upgrade...

Maximum Memory 32 GB (Actual) 16 GB (Apple)

Memory Slots 4 - 204-pin PC3-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM

Your model iMac is shown here; their original upgrade total is less than actual:

• Install memory in an iMac - Apple Support

iMac RAM upgrade examples from macsales OWC:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac

Other World Computing OWC site also has a helpful page to view upgrade parts:

https://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/

Official vendors of Crucial memory include OEMPCWorld.com, where they

were able to supply the guaranteed memory upgrade parts for less than

the official Crucial site (in my instance) - while I didn't rely on their word...

...I contacted Crucial directly about the specs + model part number of

memory chips offered at lower price, and asked Crucial if they were the

correct alternative part numbers. (They assured me they were; so I went

with oempcworld for less cost and first-class shipping.) And all previous

purchases from this other lower cost Californian vendor were satisfactory.

And I asked Crucial if this 'oempcworld' is an official vendor. (yes)

So you have a few fairly good options with exact spec memory RAM chip

upgrade possibilities. The other upgrades may include larger capacity

hard drive or perhaps an SSD. Be aware the upgrade to hard drives may

be problematic because there usually is a Temperature Sensor on original

hard drives from Apple.

The aftermarket drives do not have the sensor, so the default cooling fan

speed is 'high speed' without a sensor. If you get a upgrade hard drive

from OWC, ask about the Temperature Sensor issue; they may offer a kit

with a sensor to fix this. Note iFixit guides for takeapart difficulty and OWC

has videos on how to upgrade online.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Reply

Answer 5

akph2015 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 3, 2016 3:06 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thank You for your response and insight. The RAM requirement for El Capitan didn't register with me when I upgraded; I merely assumed since my iMac wasn't that old that I would have the required amount. I probably should have stayed with Lion or (as you suggest) upgrade the amount of RAM if I wanted to upgrade (confession: I always want to upgrade). I hope this is all that is wrong. ;-) Again thanks.

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Answer 6

akph2015 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 3, 2016 3:11 PM in response to K Shaffer

Thanks very much for the links you included in your response, and for your candor and insight. I'm quite anxious about "operating" on this iMac since I have not done so before. So again thanks for the links and help.

Reply

Answer 7

akph2015 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 3, 2016 3:24 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I don't know why, but for some reason I can not click the Helpful button on your response, though I tried repeatedly (even reloaded the page). Just wanted you to know even though the star and the word Helpful don't appear next to your response that I found it very helpful. Cheers.

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Answer 8

akph2015 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 3, 2016 3:26 PM in response to K Shaffer

After checking the page about installing RAM I feel quite relieved -- looks easy! Just have to make sure I have the right product, as you note. Again, thanks!!

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