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CONSTANT(every 15 seconds) freezing/lockups with Yosemite, currently unusable

johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
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Every 15 seconds... or more. On every appiication.

If I'm typing it will stop responding for a couple seconds, many times per minute. Scroll over something and it won't acknowledge that I did for a couple seconds, basically anything I'm doing at the time of the freeze will stop working. If I'm scrolling it will stop for a few seconds, same story.

The computer is just totally locking up for a second or two at a time.

Everything is doing it. I don't mean to be dramatic but Yosemite is literally unusable for me right now. It is driving me nuts. This was never a problem until very recently, starting at maybe the 2nd last Yosemite beta.

2012 cMBP

I did a cmd +r and selected reinstall OS X, still happening.

Please advise.
 
P

phrozend

macrumors member
May 14, 2014
60
1
That doesn't sound good. Could possibly be hardware related? (HDD) I'm afraid I havn't got a solution, but I'm just going to tell you this in case you experienced the same thing I did (0.001% chance since you already said you've had this problem for a while). When I installed PB2, I had a terrible experience when I first logged in. It was like you explained, this long stutter between every action I made. I had started working on something and I didn't want to risk losing it by just shutting the computer off, so I went away for about 6 hours and when I came back everything was fine again. I decided to check this board and other users experiences with installing the beta, and from what I gather, the process of re-indexing and some other things OSX rebuilds during 1st launch, was the reason for this. Having a bunch of external drives having to be scanned through didn't help either. If it's only been a couple of minutes since you re-installed the beta, I would give it some time.
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
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phrozend said:
That doesn't sound good. Could possibly be hardware related? (HDD) I'm afraid I havn't got a solution, but I'm just going to tell you this in case you experienced the same thing I did (0.001% chance since you already said you've had this problem for a while). When I installed PB2, I had a terrible experience when I first logged in. It was like you explained, this long stutter between every action I made. I had started working on something and I didn't want to risk losing it by just shutting the computer off, so I went away for about 6 hours and when I came back everything was fine again. I decided to check this board and other users experiences with installing the beta, and from what I gather, the process of re-indexing and some other things OSX rebuilds during 1st launch, was the reason for this. Having a bunch of external drives having to be scanned through didn't help either. If it's only been a couple of minutes since you re-installed the beta, I would give it some time.
Click to expand...

You could be right. I did just install the newest update, it may be indexing or whatever.

It has been several hours since I reinstalled through the recovery, however like I said I just got another update.

I'll give it a few hours :)
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
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Still happening a couple days later. My MBP has been so slow lately it's crazy.

On the current beta update and it's horrible how often it's beachballing and freezing
 
K

KoolAid-Drink

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2013
1,814
843
USA
johnnnw said:
Still happening a couple days later. My MBP has been so slow lately it's crazy.

On the current beta update and it's horrible how often it's beachballing and freezing
Click to expand...

If you have the same issue with Mavericks, it's something with your hardware (HD/logic board?). If Mavericks is working just fine, then perhaps do a bug report in Yosemite? Very odd.
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
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KoolAid-Drink said:
If you have the same issue with Mavericks, it's something with your hardware (HD/logic board?). If Mavericks is working just fine, then perhaps do a bug report in Yosemite? Very odd.
Click to expand...

Started around the time of PB2 of Yosemite, never had this problem before hand with Mavericks

I'm considering reinstalling Mavericks to see if anything has changed since then to eliminate it being my hardware but since I've done a Yosemite TM backup I don't know if I can go back.
 
K

KoolAid-Drink

macrumors 68000
Sep 18, 2013
1,814
843
USA
johnnnw said:
Started around the time of PB2 of Yosemite, never had this problem before hand with Mavericks

I'm considering reinstalling Mavericks to see if anything has changed since then to eliminate it being my hardware but since I've done a Yosemite TM backup I don't know if I can go back.
Click to expand...

Install Mavericks fresh (this is the best way to eliminate any issues with software), then restore from your Yosemite TM backup when you're done. That's what I'd do.

That, or just install Mavericks on another partition on your computer. (If so, be sure to exclude the Mavericks partition from your TM backups.)
 
grahamperrin

grahamperrin

macrumors 601
Jun 8, 2007
4,942
648
phrozend said:
… Could possibly be hardware related? (HDD) …
Click to expand...

+1

Given the symptoms in the opening post, that's a reasonable first guess.

johnnnw said:
… I'm considering reinstalling Mavericks to see if anything has changed since then to eliminate it being my hardware …
Click to expand...

That would not reliably eliminate an issue with hardware.

Random link to part of another recent topic where a hardware issue was suspected: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20024836#post20024836
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
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cwedl

cwedl

macrumors 65816
Jun 5, 2003
1,401
30
This has happened to me on previous versions of OSX, it was always related to flash, do you have flash installed? Update it see if that fixes it or remove it, see if that helps
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
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grahamperrin said:
No mention of kernel panics, though. To me the symptoms still sound more like a problem with rotational media, a marginal block maybe. YMMV; it's hard for readers to tell without being hands on.

Timely: Using Apple Hardware Test
Click to expand...

I have a Samsung 840 Pro SSD.

Just ran the Apple hardware test by holding d on startup, no issues found.

Again this problem just started right after I installed PB2 of Yosemite.

Does anyone know of software to test the ssd for a bad sector or whatever? It can be windows or Mac as I have a bootcamp.

It is happening less now but turning into slowness in general. Freezes for a second when doing anything. Click something will be delayed, hovering over the toolbar will take a second for it to zoom on the app, everything is just really poor feeling.
 
B

bennibeef

macrumors 6502
May 22, 2013
340
161
What about a Yosemite fresh install without migrating time machine? If the fresh install is making the same thing without your settings or applications you may be running and those may not work properly with Yosemite or something screwed something up you know whats up.
 
grahamperrin

grahamperrin

macrumors 601
Jun 8, 2007
4,942
648
Don't over-focus on the Yosemite aspect, that could be simple coincidence.

Use iDefrag (there's a free demo). Is the catalog file or attributes file fragmented?

johnnnw said:
… software to test the ssd for a bad sector or whatever? It can be windows or Mac …
Click to expand...

If you want to test without paying for additional software: try HDAT2, which requires neither OS X nor Microsoft Windows. Linked from previously mentioned https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20068181#post20068181

Or badblocks run with an Ubuntu live disc (example).

I would find HDAT2 more user-friendly than badblocks …
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
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benthewraith said:
The Samsung 840 kinda has a troubled history playing with Mac. Have you updated the firmware at all?
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmmmm not a bad point. I indeed did update the firmware a while back, but I'm not sure how close to the time the problem started.

I haven't heard anything about this troubled history.

I know of the sandforce problems on certain SSDs but the 840 is not a sandforce controller drive.
 
D

deviant

macrumors 65816
Oct 27, 2007
1,187
275
johnnnw said:
Hmmmmmmmm not a bad point. I indeed did update the firmware a while back, but I'm not sure how close to the time the problem started.

I haven't heard anything about this troubled history.

I know of the sandforce problems on certain SSDs but the 840 is not a sandforce controller drive.
Click to expand...

sand force had problems with nvidia sata controllers back in, like, 2009 or something because nvidia controllers identified any sand force sata ssd (sata 3, sata 2) as SATA I and therefore was slow as hell (at least for an ssd) . that's the reason i went with a crucial ssd for my mac mini. i have 840 in my 2007 iMac, works fine. although it used to freeze once a week under mavericks (it was strange, but since i don't use it a lot and it happened like, really, once a week or even less i just let it go). but under yosemite everything seems back to normal. i never updated firmware because it's still a pain opening the iMac. maybe i should've.

until you try clean install and to see if it stays the same way nobody can help you, really.
 
J

j800r

macrumors 6502
Jan 5, 2011
399
140
Coventry, West mids, England
This ain't Yosemite. I've been running since beta 2 as well on a simple HDD and performance has NEVER been that bad. The symptoms do sound more like hardware related. If you were running a HDD I would suggest that being the culprit.

Do you have access to an Apple store to take your machine in? Could you maybe contact Apple support? Either way, go back to Mavericks (as it's 100% confirmed stable) and if you still have issues it's definitely your machine.

I would bet my back teeth it's not Yosemite. Frequently people get hardware failing on them around the time of upgrading their OS and immediately blame the OS as that's the most recent action they took. In truth though, it's very rarely the OS that's to blame. I know Yosemite's still in beta but even as a beta it's been pretty damn stable (I only ever had one system crash with an old beta and it's never happened since).
 
colourfastt

colourfastt

macrumors 65816
Apr 7, 2009
1,047
964
j800r said:
This ain't Yosemite. I've been running since beta 2 as well on a simple HDD and performance has NEVER been that bad. The symptoms do sound more like hardware related. If you were running a HDD I would suggest that being the culprit.

Do you have access to an Apple store to take your machine in? Could you maybe contact Apple support? Either way, go back to Mavericks (as it's 100% confirmed stable) and if you still have issues it's definitely your machine.

I would bet my back teeth it's not Yosemite. Frequently people get hardware failing on them around the time of upgrading their OS and immediately blame the OS as that's the most recent action they took. In truth though, it's very rarely the OS that's to blame. I know Yosemite's still in beta but even as a beta it's been pretty damn stable (I only ever had one system crash with an old beta and it's never happened since).
Click to expand...

My only complaint is Safari; it beachballs to hell for 20-40 seconds every time I start it.
 
grahamperrin

grahamperrin

macrumors 601
Jun 8, 2007
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648
j800r said:
… The symptoms do sound more like hardware related. If you were running a HDD …
Click to expand...

Solid state can also be associated with the symptoms.

Wonder whether the catalog file is fragmented (not a fault, but detrimental to performance), and so on …

… if there's not a fault, then I shouldn't rush to reinstall an operating system.
 
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
21
What a nightmare this is turning out to be. I'm getting this error when I try to reinstall Mavericks.

And when I try to restore from a TM backup it just says it failed to restore files.

See image

http://imgur.com/2QEbgMX

----------

Booted into my Windows partition to come onto here because trying to use it on my iphone is a nightmare.

I don't know what to do now... can't install Mavericks off my USB installer I made and can't restore from a Mavericks TM backup because it says it failed after a few minutes.
 
Last edited:
johnnnw

johnnnw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 7, 2013
1,214
21
Getting an error trying to restore from any of my TM backups. Even one done yesterday.

Anyone have any ideas why?

It runs about 10 minutes and says it couldn't install the files and wants me to restart the computer.

Does the OS used in the TM backup need to be installed prior? I thought that was part of the TM backup when you use the recovery menu thing.
 
grahamperrin

grahamperrin

macrumors 601
Jun 8, 2007
4,942
648
johnnnw said:
… error when I try to reinstall Mavericks. …
Click to expand...

A partial transcript of the photograph of a failed attempt:

… a recovery system can't be created. … ​

http://www.apple.com/support/no-recovery redirects to


Did you attempt a non-clean installation of Mavericks over an installation of pre-release Yosemite – without erasing the Yosemite startup volume?

Pre-release or not, I should never recommend that; and in some environments it may be difficult to achieve.

(Maybe too early to tell whether firmware for Yosemite will allow installation of Mavericks on every supported Mac, and so on. Consider at least How can I downgrade the OS on a Mac to the original one it came with? – Snow Leopard desired there, but hopefully you get the idea (side note, terminology: Apple does not provide an option to downgrade the OS). There's an unanswered question from me: Amongst Macs that can be upgraded to support OS X Recovery, can any model *not* accept a firmware downgrade?)

What's the firmware of the affected Mac?

johnnnw said:
Getting an error trying to restore from any of my TM backups. Even one done yesterday.
Click to expand...

Was yesterday's backup of Mavericks, or of Yosemite?

What version, what build is the Recovery OS? (Use sw_vers in Terminal.)

When did Disk Utility last report that the HFS Plus file system of the Time Machine backup was apparently OK?

Have you tried erasing the volume to which you're attempting installation, to which you're attempting restoration, before making those attempts?

Have you tried partitioning the disk on which you're making those attempts, before making them?

Last but not least, refocusing on the opening post and my first responses, please: what did iDefrag show about the catalog and attributes files?
 
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