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iPcdebb

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
32
1
Tampa, FL
Hello all,

I have an iMac that seems to run flawlessly unless I open iTunes. It is extremely slow and freezes everything on the computer. If I close iTunes via the activity monitor, the system snaps right back into action. I've browsed many solutions and none work for me. (disabling genius, resetting pram or whatever it's called). iTunes is 11.0.4. I'm at a loss on what to do to fix this. :confused:
 

iPcdebb

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
32
1
Tampa, FL
Which iMac, how much RAM, which OS X version?
it says iMac mid-2011, 4gb, mac os x 10.7.5 Lion

i've run several disk utilities that says the disk is fine
i've done a clean mac os install (erased drive first)
disabled itunes helper

everything was fine at first after the reinstall, then it went back to being very laggy and freezing up. it only happens when iTunes is open. if I force close iTunes, the system is fast and no problems. iTunes open, system is totally unusable. I've been doing any and everything I can since yesterday and nothing seems to work.
 

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,423
2,491
Create a new user, switch to that account, open iTunes & create a small library. If the problem is still there, it's something in the OS or iTunes install. If not, it's in your iTunes library or existing user account.
 

iPcdebb

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
32
1
Tampa, FL
Create a new user, switch to that account, open iTunes & create a small library. If the problem is still there, it's something in the OS or iTunes install. If not, it's in your iTunes library or existing user account.

i removed the itunes folder then opened itunes so it can recreate a new empty folder and started afresh, didnt help. when in safe mode, it works like a champ, i was able to do just about everything i needed to except listen to anything
 

Raima

macrumors 6502
Jan 21, 2010
400
11
What happens if you move iTunes to the trash, empty trash, then redownload it from the App Store?

Also do you have any apps that are related to iTunes? Like maybe something that downloads album art, or something?

Also how big is your library?
 
Last edited:

iPcdebb

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
32
1
Tampa, FL
i've tried several different ways of getting fresh copies of iTunes installed. I even erased the disk and did a fresh install of the os. If there is anything related to iTunes running, I didn't put it there, it's got to be a stock app. My library is showing 655.1mb

I want to stress, everything on the iMac runs smoothly when iTunes is not running. At one point I had various applications running without issue. Soon as iTunes is opened, locks up immediately and is useless. If i reboot into safe mode, I can use iTunes. That convinces me there's a background app (probably related to iTunes) that is not acting right, but I just don't know what it is.
 

marzer

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,396
120
Colorado
it says iMac mid-2011, 4gb, mac os x 10.7.5 Lion

i've run several disk utilities that says the disk is fine
i've done a clean mac os install (erased drive first)
disabled itunes helper

everything was fine at first after the reinstall, then it went back to being very laggy and freezing up. it only happens when iTunes is open. if I force close iTunes, the system is fast and no problems. iTunes open, system is totally unusable. I've been doing any and everything I can since yesterday and nothing seems to work.

So you did a clean reinstall of the OS but how did you reinstall your user data? Selectively? Or a full restore?
 

iPcdebb

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
32
1
Tampa, FL
Have you looked at Activity Monitor before and after you start iTunes?

I did, but nothing was different

----------

So you did a clean reinstall of the OS but how did you reinstall your user data? Selectively? Or a full restore?

when i did a reinstall, I didnt "restore". Since I bought it used, I really hadn't put anything on it, so there was nothing to really restore. I just started fresh like i bought it brand new.

----------

n4fq.jpg


out of the many things I had done, I had verified permissions a few times, and would get the same two notifications. the first one on the list bothered me. I had repaired the permissions before but it came back. I repaired permissions again tonite, verified again, that message did not come back. I opened iTunes and browsed around, opened my library, the store, etc. Has not frozen up yet. I rebooted , verified permissions again, the message about the group permission wasn't there, opened iTunes, and i've left it open for the last 10 minutes and no issues so far.

Now lets see what happens when I plug in my phone or ipad.....(edit: so far so good with both devices, will report back later to see if anything changes)
 
Last edited:

Nuke61

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2013
325
1
Columbia, SC
I did, but nothing was different
Your Mac becomes unresponsive but it shows no rise in CPU usage? Wow, that's really weird. I've always seen system responsiveness show up in Activity Monitor somewhere. Unfortunately, you definitely have a stumper of a problem. :confused:

Have you looked at the Disk Activity tab, along with the System Memory tab, before and after the problem starts?
 
Last edited:

osiris24x

macrumors member
Mar 11, 2007
51
0
I'd recommend firing up Activity Monitor to see how much RAM and CPU iTunes is using while running. Also, what does Activity Monitor show under "Page Outs"? If that number is very high, then you're definitely running out of memory.

I have a massive iTunes library, but it only uses 163MB of memory or so, and 1.6% CPU while playing. So that should give you something to compare yours to.
 

iPcdebb

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2011
32
1
Tampa, FL
the ram is fine, wont be replacing it here.

this is just the absolute wierdest thing. Since i've repaired the permissions, I have not had a single issue since. Activity monitor didn't show any huge differences that showed me what the culprit was which is what started the confusion in the first place. cpu usage was never high.

i've been throwing everything i can at it and it hasnt frozen up once.
 
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