Nit1000

Q: Intermittent spinning beachball

Hi folks. I suddenly started having an issue where I get a spinning beachball every few mouse clicks. It is especially bad when opening/closing a program, switching between programs, right clicking, clicking on a menu, etc.

 

This problem started suddenly. I woke my computer up from sleep mode one day and it was doing this. No problems before that. I was running El Capitan at the time.

 

I have tried verifying and repairing the startup disk using disk utility, I did a clean installation of the OS (back down to Mavericks), and I reset the PRAM but the problem still persists. The computer also passed the apple hardware test. The SMART status of the hard drive says verified.

 

Some details about the computer:

MacBook Pro, mid 2012

2.9 GHz core i7

8GB RAM

250GB SSD HardDrive

 

The fact that the problem persists after doing a reformat and reinstallation of OS X seems to imply that this is not a software issue. Could the hard drive be failing? Is there any way to test this?

 

Thanks for the help.

MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.53 GHz), iOS 10, null

Posted on Sep 17, 2016 9:41 AM

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Q: Intermittent spinning beachball

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  • Helpful answers

  • by kaz-k,

    kaz-k kaz-k Sep 17, 2016 9:52 AM in response to Nit1000
    Level 5 (5,789 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 17, 2016 9:52 AM in response to Nit1000

    Resetting SMC could solve the problem.

    Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

    And run EtreCheck and paste the result here.

    https://etrecheck.com/#about

  • by CT,

    CT CT Sep 17, 2016 10:13 AM in response to Nit1000
    Level 6 (17,882 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 17, 2016 10:13 AM in response to Nit1000

    Yes, it could be a hard drive going bad.  Etrecheck might give a hint.  You can also look in the logs in Console (Utilities folder) for the dreaded "I/O error".  You may have to take it in to be tested.  You should consider making a backup.

  • by Nit1000,

    Nit1000 Nit1000 Sep 18, 2016 12:21 AM in response to kaz-k
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 18, 2016 12:21 AM in response to kaz-k

    I tried reseting the SMC again, but no luck. The beachball is still showing up quite often. The results of etrecheck are pasted below.

     

    EtreCheck version: 3.0.3 (307)

    Report generated 2016-09-18 00:18:57

    Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

    Runtime 15:24

    Performance: Poor

     

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

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

     

    Problem: Beachballing

     

    Hardware Information:

        MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

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

        MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,2

        1 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2-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

        Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 498

     

    Video Information:

        Intel HD Graphics 4000

            Color LCD 1280 x 800

     

    System Software:

        OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (13F34) - Time since boot: less than an hour

     

    Disk Information:

        APPLE SSD SM256E disk0 : (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 250.14 GB (238.52 GB free)

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

     

        HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GS41N   ()

     

    USB Information:

        Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

        Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

        Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

        Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

     

    Thunderbolt Information:

        Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

     

    Gatekeeper:

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    System Launch Agents:

        [not loaded]    4 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    147 Apple tasks

        [running]    32 Apple tasks

     

    System Launch Daemons:

        [not loaded]    50 Apple tasks

        [loaded]    141 Apple tasks

        [running]    57 Apple tasks

     

    User Launch Agents:

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-09-17) [Support]

     

    Internet Plug-ins:

        Default Browser: 537 - SDK 10.9 (2016-09-17)

        QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-09-17)

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes:

        None

     

    Time Machine:

        Time Machine not configured!

     

    Top Processes by CPU:

            18%    Google Chrome Helper(11)

             6%    Google Chrome

             6%    WindowServer

             3%    kernel_task

             2%    fontd

     

    Top Processes by Memory:

        1.56 GB    Google Chrome Helper(11)

        482 MB    kernel_task

        147 MB    Google Chrome

        82 MB    com.apple.IconServicesAgent

        66 MB    CVMCompiler(2)

     

    Virtual Memory Information:

        4.58 GB    Free RAM

        3.41 GB    Used RAM (1.23 GB Cached)

        0 B    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information:

        Sep 17, 2016, 11:55:54 PM    Self test - passed

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 18, 2016 8:10 AM in response to Nit1000
    Level 8 (49,171 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 18, 2016 8:10 AM in response to Nit1000

    If you can correlate slow behavior to actions that cause the "wait cursor" to appear, read below.

     


     

    Back up your Mac if you have not done so already. To learn how to do that read https://www.apple.com/support/backup/. To learn how to use Time Machine read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac.

     

    If your Mac is momentarily unresponsive, consider the following.

     

    Launch the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder. You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.

     

    If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu. Select Show Toolbar if it is not already shown.

     

    Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem.

     

    To do that click the Clear Display button in the Toolbar. All previously displayed log entries will be disappear.

     

    Next: Perform whatever actions cause the Mac to exhibit the slow behavior. If the problem is caused by errors logged by the system, the Console window will show them being recorded in system.log.

     

    One or more of them, along with their time stamps, may reveal the reason for the problem you describe.

     

    Copy and paste those log entries in a reply. If hundreds of the same repetitive messages appear, please edit them before posting. There should be no need for more than a few log entries.

     

    Most of the entries will be cryptic but will contain information you might consider personal such as your Mac's name. If you do not want that information to appear, delete or obscure it when posting your reply. Leave enough information so that the entries can be deciphered.

  • by Nit1000,

    Nit1000 Nit1000 Sep 18, 2016 11:49 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 18, 2016 11:49 PM in response to John Galt

    I checked the console while opening and closing different applications (what seems to most consistently cause the beachball to appear). The messages pasted below seem to be showing up often, but not every time. I also noticed that the computer either hangs or gives a beachball when opening new locations in the finder where it has to load the contents. I get a blank finder window for 5-10sec before the files show up. It seems that the beachball/hang ups occur whenever it tries to read anything from the harddrive. Is there a way to directly test for harddrive issues or run a stress test? Apple Hardware Test didn't show any issues.

     

    Messages that seem to be commonly showing up:

    9/18/16 11:30:10.019 PM WindowServer[86]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Photo Booth" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.

    9/18/16 11:30:19.576 PM WindowServer[86]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Photo Booth" after 10.56 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)

    9/18/16 11:30:50.731 PM WindowServer[86]: CGXGetConnectionProperty: Invalid connection 94479

  • by CT,

    CT CT Sep 19, 2016 5:44 AM in response to Nit1000
    Level 6 (17,882 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 19, 2016 5:44 AM in response to Nit1000

    It is still a possibility the drive is failing, but that might be something for which you will have to go to an authorized service place for testing.

     

    Another think I noticed is that you have Google Chrome, which is a notorious resource hog and has been known to cause performance problems.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 19, 2016 8:23 AM in response to Nit1000
    Level 8 (49,171 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 8:23 AM in response to Nit1000

    Please restart your Mac in "Safe Mode". Read about how to do that here: Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up - Apple Support. Observe how your Mac works in "Safe Mode" and describe any obvious differences.

     

    In Safe Mode, it's normal for graphics to appear jagged and clunky while loading web pages or switching between applications. Audio is disabled on some Macs, and some applications (iTunes for example) won't work.

     

    It is generally inconvenient to use a Mac in that mode for any length of time. It's just an additional step that will aid in troubleshooting. If the problem you're describing is caused by software the "wait cursor" ought not to appear as often as it has been. If it does though, your initial suspicion regarding the hard disk drive is likely to be correct.

     

    To exit Safe Mode restart your Mac normally.