I need to get to the bottom of this...spinning beach ball?

[Imola Ghost]

I've had my Macbook 2.4GHz with 4gb of ram 500gb HD last Monday, and I seem to have spinning beach balls quite often. My computer is completely clean with NO software but the ones that come with OSX. I've updated all of the software updates that are available to my laptop.

I get spinning beach balls when I click on a song in iTunes, I get them when I'm going to a previous page in Safari. It's not every time but the times that it has happened that's what was going on. Most of the time it will just sit there and spin and never go away. I don't know what to do [because I'm new to Mac's] and the only thing I been able to do is press and hold the power button to restart the laptop.

What do you think might be going on?

 

[jecapaga]

Launch Activity Monitor from your Applications>Utilities folder and take a look at what's going on when you're experiencing problems to see what's taking up your business.

 

[sushi]

Suggest that you boot from your install disk (DVD).

When you get to the point where the menu appears at the top (before you do any installation), you can select Disk Utility. Use Disk Utility to fix the permissions and to repair your HD.

Hopefully this will fix you HD and get rid of the beach ball.

If you still have issues, and there were no issues repairing your HD, then you may have a RAM issue. Did you purchase 3rd party RAM and install it?

If so, take it out and put the original RAM back in and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Imola Ghost]

Launch Activity Monitor from your Applications>Utilities folder and take a look at what's going on when you're experiencing problems to see what's taking up your business.

The problem is; sometimes the ball freezes where its at and its unmovable. Sometimes it spins and I can move the ball around but I can't click on anything.

 

[Imola Ghost]

Suggest that you boot from your install disk (DVD).

When you get to the point where the menu appears at the top (before you do any installation), you can select Disk Utility. Use Disk Utility to fix the permissions and to repair your HD.

Hopefully this will fix you HD and get rid of the beach ball.

If you still have issues, and there were no issues repairing your HD, then you may have a RAM issue. Did you purchase 3rd party RAM and install it?

If so, take it out and put the original RAM back in and see if that makes a difference.

Are you talking about the "Repair Disk Permissions, if so I'll try that. I just put in the new memory yesterday but I had those same problems before I replaced the memory. I though it might be because I needed more memory, so I added more.

 

[emptyCup]

I've had my Macbook 2.4GHz with 4gb of ram 500gb HD last Monday

It's a new machine. Call Applecare (800-275-2273). They will walk you through fixing it or authorize a replacement. That's the whole point of a warranty. Best wishes.

 

[sushi]

Are you talking about the "Repair Disk Permissions, if so I'll try that. I just put in the new memory yesterday but I had those same problems before I replaced the memory. I though it might be because I needed more memory, so I added more.

Yes, you should "Repair Disk Permissions" and then "Repair Disk." You can only do the later if you boot from an external HD or from the install DVD.

The Mac OS itself will run fine without adding memory. If you were experiencing problems before you added memory, then you may have a more serious issue with your MacBook.

It's a new machine. Call Applecare (800-275-2273). They will walk you through fixing it or authorize a replacement. That's the whole point of a warranty. Best wishes.

Good point.

OP, this might be the best option for you.

 

[Imola Ghost]

Does AppleCare, care or not that I've added a bigger hard drive and more memory? I mean will they say that is my problem and just get rid of it and go back to the factory spec hardware?

 

[Richard1028]

Does AppleCare, care or not that I've added a bigger hard drive and more memory? I mean will they say that is my problem and just get rid of it and go back to the factory spec hardware?

Replacing these components doesn't void your warranty - leave them installed. When calling Apple though, I wouldn't volunteer this info unless the tech specifically asks. It may come down to that drive you installed but let Apple jump you through their hoops first.

 

[Imola Ghost]

I'm going to call them now. I'll post up the results.

 

[Imola Ghost]

They are closed in observance of Memorial Day.

 

[sushi]

They are closed in observance of Memorial Day.

Where you able to find a solution to your problem?

 

[hashholly]

Is this an aftermarket 500gb Seagate drive? If so this happens to be a problem with the drive itself, and it may die on you very shortly.

 

[MacBookProwler]

i have the same thing going on with my MBP, i just got a 30 second beach ball typing the first sentance, i brought it to the mac store and they did some stuff and it was fixed but 3 days later it happened again and now its worse, when the beach ball pops up when im doing something im about ready to choke slam this laptop. re install the software

 

[Moocher]

One of the first things I do when weirdness happens is to quit Safari, repair disk permissions, reboot, and DON'T run Safari for awhile. If the problem recurs, then go to an Apple store. Safari has some problems. I never run it for more than a couple hours without quitting and restarting it. A couple times I've left it running through a couple sleep cycles and it always gets weird.

With that in mind, this probably is not your problem, but it's an easy thing to do. As the poster above indicated, check activity monitor. Sort the results by cpu usage and see what's what.

Mooch

 

[Tudeski]

Search for a posting called "beach ball hell".


I was having this problem frequently, and found this posting. You simply delete your cache for safari, and do a couple of other things as described in the post--SMC reset, and wham.

fixed.


Hope this helps, as it should fix your problem, it did with mine.