Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Late 2012 27 iMac Very Slow

R

rwelgosh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2014
6
0
All,

I have a late 2012 27 8GB iMac and it seems to me that after upgrading to Mavericks it is very slow. An example would be on a restart if I open Safari I wait up to 20 seconds for Safari to appear. The icon jumped in the tray 26 times.

I see a lot of posts about getting logs, etc but Im not sure how to do that.

I ran disk permissions, and verify disk both are OK.

I downloaded something called Onyx and the way I used it didn't help any.

I have some 3rd party apps like Norton, Plex Media Server and Playback Media Server, Open Office, Lightroom, Photoshop and some Canon Apps.

I also use OpenDNS but thats not the problem as it was slow before I signed up for it.

Any thoughts on what to do next? Any help is appreciated!!!!

Thanks
Ray
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
rwelgosh said:
All,

I have a late 2012 27 8GB iMac and it seems to me that after upgrading to Mavericks it is very slow. An example would be on a restart if I open Safari I wait up to 20 seconds for Safari to appear. The icon jumped in the tray 26 times.

I see a lot of posts about getting logs, etc but Im not sure how to do that.

I ran disk permissions, and verify disk both are OK.

I downloaded something called Onyx and the way I used it didn't help any.

I have some 3rd party apps like Norton, Plex Media Server and Playback Media Server, Open Office, Lightroom, Photoshop and some Canon Apps.

I also use OpenDNS but thats not the problem as it was slow before I signed up for it.

Any thoughts on what to do next? Any help is appreciated!!!!

Thanks
Ray
Click to expand...

Are you using an SSD or a HDD? Or a Fusion Drive setup?
 
R

rwelgosh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2014
6
0
It is a HDD but I didn't experience slowness in 10.8.

Sorry for being so novice here but if you request logs or system info, please let me know how to get for you guys.

Thanks!!!
 
L

loybond

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2010
853
616
The True North, Strong and Free
A fresh install of Mavericks (not an upgrade BTW) is the easiest, and perhaps only way to fix those kinds of issues. Doesn't sound like fun, I know, but it sounds necessary from the way you've described it.
 
R

rwelgosh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2014
6
0
Thanks. Will a fresh install wipe my drive. I have 500MB in pics and I don't want to lose any. I know backup, backup, backup but typically does a fresh install erase info like pictures or keychain info?

Thanks all!!!
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,601
California
rwelgosh said:
Thanks. Will a fresh install wipe my drive. I have 500MB in pics and I don't want to lose any. I know backup, backup, backup but typically does a fresh install erase info like pictures or keychain info?

Thanks all!!!
Click to expand...

Yes... a fresh install by definition erases everything on the disk then the OS is reinstalled, then after that data and apps and manually reinstalled.

If you were not having this trouble before and now you are with Mavs, it sounds like you have something installed that is conflicting with Mavs.

Try this. Do a safe mode boot by holding the shift key when you boot. That runs a stripped down startup process and bypasses startup and login items. Does the problem persist in safe mode? If it goes away in safe mode, then we know you have a startup or login item causing the conflict.

I would unintall the Norton products to start with. Others here have had trouble with Norton under Mavs.

Also try making a new temp admin account and login to that account and see if the problem is still there. If it is gone in the new temp account that tells us it is something running in your account causing trouble.
 
D

DerekS

macrumors 6502
Jun 25, 2007
341
14
Before you go wiping the disk, run Blackmagic Disk Test to see what your disk speeds are.

Sometimes drives get slow as they age, and while I realize you say it was fast before Mavericks it could also be a timing coincidence.

For the record, reinstalling OSX has never solved any problem for me, and I don't consider it a valid troubleshooting step for Macs.
 
R

rwelgosh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2014
6
0
All,

It appears to be better with a Norton uninstall. I looked in launch agents and found a remnant of CLAMXAV so I removed that. I also tried the drive speed. Im getting about 108 on both the read and write.

I created a new admin account and it was much faster.

So because of this, I removed Norton.

When I boot now, It takes about 8 seconds on the first load but its very very fast on the subsequent loads.

Also, just to see if this is normal.

Right now Im using 4.91 out of 8GB but kernel_task is taking up 800MB. Not sure what that is.

is there any reliable program out there to clean up any mess, like having CLAMXAV files in launch agent folder.


Thanks
Ray
 
M

Mugwumper

macrumors regular
Jan 19, 2008
245
8
Temecula, CA
Do you have any "login items"?

Hi Ray -

Did you run Activity Monitor to determine you were using 4.91GB of RAM? If so, what other apps appear to be running and consuming processes? Also, have you actually quit apps, or just closed their interface?

While you indicate performance got better after removing Norton and others, may I suggest that you also check to see if there are other things that get started after a restart?

In System Preferences, find the "Users & Groups" icon and click it. At the top of this control panel is "Password" and "Login Items". Click the "Login Items" and see if there are any that you don't need - these may have been installed without you knowing it.

Another thought: your system may be in the process of doing a Spotlight re-scan. This can take up processing power until it finishes.

Lastly, how full is your internal hard drive? I'm starting to see some performance hit as I am now under 7% free space. (an upcoming weekend project is to move some seldom-used stuff to external drives)

Hope some of this helps . . .
 
F

FreemanW

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2012
483
93
The Real Northern California
Why oh why do people insist upon installing this third party crapware that supposes to know effective ways to "optimize" the Operating System and computer better than the people that wrote the software and built it?

It's bad enough on a Windows computer when people install "Registry" scan tools that represent they will get rid of problems . . . . yeah, right, is that before or after they create problems. :rolleyes:

Lose Onyx, lose any and all antivirus software. In fact, given that you have treated this beautiful machine as though it were a Microsoft computer . . . . maybe you ought to wipe and reinstall. :D

If you really feel compelled to scan you iMac, use the free ClamX tool or the free BitDefender tool . . . . once in a while . . . . . for placebo effect.

Sorry if I came across harsh, that certainly is not my intent. It's just been a long, long day. :)
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,601
California
rwelgosh said:
Right now Im using 4.91 out of 8GB but kernel_task is taking up 800MB. Not sure what that is.
Click to expand...

That sounds normal. Think of that kernel_task process as sort of the traffic police for all the other processes that are running.

Look at the bottom of the memory tab in Activity Monitor for the colored memory pressure graph. If that is green during normal operations, you have plenty of memory.

is there any reliable program out there to clean up any mess, like having CLAMXAV files in launch agent folder.
Click to expand...

Not really. You will need to manually sort through and get rid of anything you don't want.

So is it running pretty well now?
 
F

flavr

macrumors 6502
Nov 9, 2011
363
40
I had EXACT same issue with my 2012 imac after installing Mavericks. Its your internal hard drive slowing down the operating system. Here is what permanently solved it. I bought a 64GB external SSD drive from best buy for like $70...reinstalled Mavericks on that, removed Mavericks from imac hard drive. I now use internal imac hard drive as storage and the SSD exclusively for Mavericks. My imac is blazing fast. its been perfect for two months now and safari and all apps open almost instantly.
 
J

jehartley

macrumors member
Sep 30, 2012
92
0
flavr said:
I had EXACT same issue with my 2012 imac after installing Mavericks. Its your internal hard drive slowing down the operating system. Here is what permanently solved it. I bought a 64GB external SSD drive from best buy for like $70...reinstalled Mavericks on that, removed Mavericks from imac hard drive. I now use internal imac hard drive as storage and the SSD exclusively for Mavericks. My imac is blazing fast. its been perfect for two months now and safari and all apps open almost instantly.
Click to expand...

I can't find any external SSD's on Best Buy's website, other than one that costs $500. Could you tell me the brand and model number?
 
R

rwelgosh

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2014
6
0
Mugwumper said:
Did you run Activity Monitor to determine you were using 4.91GB of RAM? If so, what other apps appear to be running and consuming processes? Also, have you actually quit apps, or just closed their interface?

I did verify that 4.91 was thru activity monitor. After leaving my computer sit for a day its up to 7.89 of 8GB. I suspect this has something to do with either PLEX or PLAYBACK. I will quit both of them and see what happens but there memory in activity monitor is low. I do always quit programs.

While you indicate performance got better after removing Norton and others, may I suggest that you also check to see if there are other things that get started after a restart?

In System Preferences, find the "Users & Groups" icon and click it. At the top of this control panel is "Password" and "Login Items". Click the "Login Items" and see if there are any that you don't need - these may have been installed without you knowing it.

Everything looks normal here.

Another thought: your system may be in the process of doing a Spotlight re-scan. This can take up processing power until it finishes.

No scan. I checked.

Lastly, how full is your internal hard drive? I'm starting to see some performance hit as I am now under 7% free space. (an upcoming weekend project is to move some seldom-used stuff to external drives)

I have 1/2 free. About 500GB of a 1TB drive

Thank you for the suggestions. I am a little worried that my memory is creeping up without me even being on the system. However, even though Im at 7.89 right now, the memory pressure is green and very low.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom