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iMac has become very slow and unresponsive

Hi,

I have an iMac that in the last couple of days has suddenly become unusably slow. Almost every click brings up the spinning beachball even right after a reboot. iTunes can't play a tune without pausing every minute or so. Even Safari is really sluggish so I haven't even tried anything more demanding such as Lightroom.


Its a mid 2010 iMac, 8 Gb RAM, 1Tb HD with 305 Gb free. Im running El Capitain, 10.11.6


Any ideas what might be causing this or what I might do to remedy the situation? Im thinking that I will have to go through the pain of wiping the hard drive and reinstalling everything. But I'd really rather avoid that as I was planning on getting a new iMac when they next release them and I don't want to have to go through all that process again.


Hopefully someone has an idea of something I could try before I do that?


Thanks.

Andy

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 6, 2016 8:12 PM

Reply
9 replies

Sep 6, 2016 8:14 PM in response to andyg74

Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.

Etrecheck – System Information

Sep 6, 2016 8:36 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric. This is the report. Even though it says "Good" I also notice it reports drive failure! Anything else catch your eye?


EtreCheck version: 3.0.3 (307)

Report generated 2016-09-06 20:33:53

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 4:47

Performance: Good


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

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


Problem: Computer is too slow


Hardware Information:

iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)

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

iMac - model: iMac11,3

1 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core

8 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

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

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


Video Information:

ATI Radeon HD 5750 - VRAM: 1024 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440


System Software:

OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (15G1004) - Time since boot: less than an hour


Disk Information:

ST31000528AS disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (305.03 GB free) - 4 errors

Drive failure!

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


PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTS09 ()


USB Information:

Apple Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Wacom Co.,Ltd. Intuos5 touch S

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight


Firewire Information:

HitachiGST G-Drive Mobile 800mbit - 800mbit max

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Boot OS X (disk1s3) <not mounted> : 134 MB

G-Drive (disk2) /Volumes/G-Drive : 749.48 GB (137.51 GB free)

Encrypted AES-XTS Unlocked

Core Storage: disk1s2 749.81 GB Online


Gatekeeper:

Anywhere


Kernel Extensions:

/Applications/TemperatureMonitor.app

[not loaded] com.bresink.driver.BRESINKx86Monitoring (9.0 - 2013-09-19) [Support]


/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (Wacom Tablet 6.3.7-3 - SDK 10.8 - 2016-09-02) [Support]


System Launch Agents:

[not loaded] 8 Apple tasks

[loaded] 157 Apple tasks

[running] 73 Apple tasks


System Launch Daemons:

[not loaded] 43 Apple tasks

[loaded] 153 Apple tasks

[running] 95 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-09-02) [Support]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2016-08-28) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2015-06-17) [Support]

[running] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist (2013-10-11) [Support]


Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2016-07-13) [Support]

[not loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (2014-01-12) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2016-09-02) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2016-08-12) [Support]

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

[loaded] com.apple.aelwriter.plist (2014-01-11)

[running] com.autodesk.backburner_manager.plist (2013-02-04) [Support]

[running] com.autodesk.backburner_server.plist (2013-02-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.autodesk.backburner_start.plist (2013-02-04) [Support]

[running] com.backblaze.bzserv.plist (2016-07-07) [Support]

[running] com.fitbit.galileod.plist (2014-05-19) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2016-08-31) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2015-06-17) [Support]


User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2014-01-12) [Support]

[running] com.amazon.cloud-player.plist (2014-04-17) [Support]

[running] com.backblaze.bzbmenu.plist (2016-09-06) [Support]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2015-10-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2015-06-02) [Support]


User Login Items:

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

Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Google Drive Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)


Internet Plug-ins:

WacomNetscape: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 (2013-10-11) [Support]

Default Browser: 601 - SDK 10.11 (2016-07-18)

AdobeExManDetect: AdobeExManDetect 1.1.0.0 - SDK 10.7 (2014-01-12) [Support]

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.3.1.3 - SDK 10.8 (2014-11-14) [Support]

WacomTabletPlugin: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 (2013-10-11) [Support]

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-02) [Support]

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-02) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-08-10) [Support]

Silverlight: 5.1.50428.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-08-09) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-07-18)

Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 - SDK 10.9 (2016-08-10) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-02) [Support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 101 build 13 (2016-09-06) Check version


User internet Plug-ins:

RealPlayer Plugin: Unknown (2015-11-20) [Support]

Google Earth Web Plug-in: 7.1 (2013-10-07) [Support]


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Backblaze Backup (2016-07-07) [Support]

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

Flip4Mac WMV (2014-05-11) [Support]

Java (2016-09-06) [Support]

Perian (2011-07-23) [Support]


Time Machine:

Skip System Files: NO

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 694.31 GB

Destinations:

Data [Network]

Total size: 2.00 TB

Total number of backups: 61

Oldest backup: 4/22/16, 12:17 PM

Last backup: 9/6/16, 8:34 AM

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 2.00 TB < (Disk used 694.31 GB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU:

2% WindowServer

2% kernel_task

1% fontd

1% Adobe CEF Helper(2)

0% AdobeCRDaemon(3)


Top Processes by Memory:

729 MB kernel_task

434 MB mdworker(17)

238 MB mds_stores

188 MB Dropbox

172 MB Google Drive


Virtual Memory Information:

3.18 GB Free RAM

4.81 GB Used RAM (1.88 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used


Diagnostics Information:

Sep 6, 2016, 07:57:13 PM Self test - passed

Sep 5, 2016, 03:43:18 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PluginProcess_2016-09-05-154318_[redacted].cras h

com.apple.WebKit.PluginProcess - /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/PluginProcess.app/Conten ts/MacOS/PluginProcess

Sep 6, 2016 9:05 PM in response to andyg74

Hello Andy,

EtreCheck is not particularly disk intensive. It just looks for Kernel I/O error messages in your log files. You could get a good performance from a failing hard drive. Unfortunately, you have limited options for replacing or augmenting your storage in that machine.


I think a reformat might actually help. Short of cracking it open, there isn't too much else you can do.


You do have basic security disabled. I strongly recommend you reset Gatekeeper to the default setting in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Allow apps downloaded from > "Mac App Store and identified developers"

Sep 6, 2016 10:21 PM in response to etresoft

Ah yes, that's right. I'm using different account on my iPad. And as Apple won't allow me to consolidate my iTunes and iCloud accounts I'm stuck like this forever!


OK, time machine should be three times your hard disk. I'll keep that in mind too. Thank you!


by the way, the computer seems to be working more normally again. The internet went down (thanks Comcast) so I wonder if that has had something to do with it?

Sep 7, 2016 9:13 PM in response to andyg74

So, even though my iMac is mostly working normally again, Im definitely seeing some odd things with it. For example, after waking from sleep today it just gave me a black screen with a spinning beachball. Im going to format the hard drive this weekend. I have all my valuable files backed up three times! First, to a physical drive plugged into usb. Second, wirelessly to Time Machine. Third, online via Backblaze.


Whats the best way to restore? I think its via my physical drive. But if I install El Capitain all fresh, and then copy my files back, how will Time Capsule know whats going on with the computer? Will I run into any weirdness with it?


Any help is much appreciated!

iMac has become very slow and unresponsive

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