Apple Releases Performance Update 1.0 to Address Hard Drive Stalls

[uv23]

It is well past the time to upgrade to Snow Leopard. The other thing I might suggest is making sure you have the latest version of quicktime installed.


Dave

I have a development stack that I'm not willing to muddle with for days just to install an incremental OS update. My MBP was shipped with problems with Leopard. I expect those problems to be fixed. In Leopard.

I have installed the update and will rent a full length movie from iTunes to test it. That was always where I would see hangs.

 

[dflick]

My fan speed on a early '09 iMac has increased greatly since the update. The ODD and CPU fans are about what they were, but the Hard Drives fan seems to be averaging about 1000 rpm's higher than it was.

I dont know how fast my fans are running now, but I can hear them more than I ever did before this update. My MBP is only about a month old. Anyone else?

 

[Amdahl]

Why is this a page 2 rumor when the articles on the front page cover Apple's financial report and a note about in-store purchases that really only applies to iApp devs?

Because the only thing more exciting than buying an Apple product is buying Apple stock.

Having the products actually work: not so interesting.
Receiving a dividend check from the Apple stock: Obviously, not too exciting, since Apple doesn't actually pay a dividend. (So why own the stock?)

But don't worry, Steve doesn't make any money either. He does it for the cause.

 

[bigd95112]

WOW this update is just what I needed because my computer was stalling and being slow a lot. Now it never stalls and works as good as ever! about damn time

 

[amancalledsun]

upgraded HD - same problems with older machine?

I have a MacBook Pro (17-inch Core 2 Duo, Late 2006) for which I've upgraded the HD. The new drive is Seagate ST9320423AS. I now get the same click-pause problems as other users are noting here on newer machines, but the MBP I have is not eligible to install this update. So frustrated!!

 

[silentnite]

Hadn't notice my fans running faster until today, after this performance update 1.0, seems like my fans have picked up speed. with that said, I've got a few tabs open & 2 programs & everything seems to be stable, so far. Just hoping things stay that way.

 

[SLR2009]

I've been having problems with Safari freezing the entire system temporarily and iTunes freezing itself. I did an Erase and Install this morning, cause I still have some files on my Mac from when I migrated from my iBook G4 onto my iMac CD (then to my first MBP, and finally to this brand new MacBook Pro).

Still have had problems since I did an erase and install. Whole system feels much smoother, but Safari is occasionally hanging, and iTunes is slow as hell.

Restarting now, I'll respond with how it helped.

Update: iTunes seems to be a lot more responsive, not 100% but still pretty good.

Same Problem here

 

[phatcat]

108 KB on my air

 

[xemino]

my mbp mid 09 boot always in safe mode after the update. (if i remember correctly, the progress bar at the boot screen...)
i did repair permissions before and after the update.
how can i fix this?

 

[daneoni]

Yup....my fans have gone up by 1000rpm and i'm not doing anything remotely tasking. I knew i should've stayed away from this update. *Sigh*

 

[deancs]

all good for me

I have applied to my 2009 iMac (iMac9,1) 2.66Hgz running 10.6.1. Fan speeds have remained the same under normal (low) load CPU 1200, HDD 1600, ODD 700rpm as reported by iStat menus. System certainly seems overall just a bit snappier.

 

[johnhw]

Is the Mid-2009 iMac listed there is the educational iMac ($899)?

 

[Peruvian]

My tap to click on my alu macbook 13 seems to be more sensitive after this update, fingers crossed its not a placebo effect...

 

[Miharu]

I was in the process of buying a new hard drive because I thought there was something wrong with it. This has been exactly the problem I've had since I bought my Macbook, the hard drive stops spinning randomly and I have to wait around 15-30 seconds before I can continue using my Mac.

I now installed this update and am hoping for the best

 

[johnhw]

The hard drive ticking noise was lost after this update, nice!

 

[e.m.]

that's awesome that this seems to finally fix the long standing problem finally. took them too long, but better late than never.

btw, I installed it on my machine with a Corsair P128. No problems, and nothing seems different as mine was running fine before the update anyways.

 

[RaceTripper]

I installed the update on my 17" MacBook Pro and I noticed a big difference. Before the update I noticed some lag time when editing photos using the application aperture. It would take a couple of seconds for the application to respond when adjusting the exposure etc. Now, it updates the photo instantaneously.

I have the opposite problem. Before the performance update I did get beachballs system-wide now and then under Snow Leopard, but Aperture for the most part worked pretty well. Now -- after the performance update -- Aperture is nearly unusable. I can't make adjustments without it lagging so much it starts beachballing. Very frustrating.

 

[Hugh]

Not in Denial....

That was sarcasm. You see, Mac fans attack anybody who has a problem, and blame their issue on something THEY have done. For this Performance Update, it was not enough RAM, bad hard drive, failing to do a clean install, etc. "Whenever an Apple product fails to impress, it is due to operator error."

Then, out of the blue, Apple issues a release that fixes all the problems, and Mac fans pretend they never happened. For instance, this Performance Update, deleted user data, OSX 10.6.0, 10.6.1, and soon 10.6.2. 10.6.2 is going to fix a ton of bugs, but nobody likes to admit those bugs exist RIGHT NOW on everyone's systems and it was a mistake for Apple to ship Snow Leopard in August, and it was a mistake for many customers to install it. Denial.

Not every one has problems with the Mac. Really.. I'm still on Mac OS 10.6.0 and I haven't had any problems at all. This isn't denial, it's the truth. I'm on a Macbook late 2007 with 2gig of ram. I haven't had any problems with it. Now my iMac is another story, I haven't figured out if it's my RAM or the computer. (Haven't had the time to play with it much yet) I do know that's it's not the OS, because the problem rises in 10 4.11, 10.5.8, 10.6.0.

Now I'm sure there are some Mac users out there experiencing problems with Mac OS 10.x.x, and sometimes it's 'user error'. Some users will install some 3rd party 'enhancements' and the Mac OS doesn't like it. It's not Apple's fault it's the 3rd party's.

Yes with 10.6.0, there are reported bugs with it, (I haven't hit any of them.. YET). No software is going to be totally bug free.


Hugh

 

[RaceTripper]

Not every one has problems with the Mac. Really.. I'm still on Mac OS 10.6.0 and I haven't had any problems at all. This isn't denial, it's the truth....

For what it's worth, I have found 10.6.1 to be decidedly less stable than 10.6.0, and 10.6 was more stable for me than any version of Leopard ever was. I'm hoping 10.6.2 returns Snow Leopard to 10.6.0 level of stability.

 

[macachia]

I have an imac late 2008 (2.4 core2duo, 4gb ram, etc) and am having these hdd problems ever since upgrading to 10.6 (also 10.6.1)....but I can't install this update!

 

[reubs]

This update fixed the problem I was having with beachballs, as well. Glad Apple took care of it, too, b/c it was really starting to affect what I was doing with this machine.

 

[Blueyo]

Exactly the Same Issue

Ohhhh how I hope this fixes my 30 seconds of beachballing that have started to happen literally every 10-15min since I installed Snow Leopard on launch day. It was starting to make me hate my Mac. Fingers crossed.

I was experiencing the same issue you are describing post snow leopard install, it pretty much drove me crazy because I would just open a link on safari and try to scroll down the page and the beachball of death would appear, my heart literally skips a beat when I see that beachball...but seriously, like you said, it made me start to hate my Mac because opening a link would cause a hard drive freeze, seriously?!?

I just installed the update and it seems to be snappier and I haven't seen the beachball yet, "cross fingers".

 

[sbohan]

I'm glad I am not the only one who was seeing the random beach balls freezing applications pre-update.

I'm happy to report I've been running on the updated machine for nearly 24 hours now with not a beach-ball in site. Previously I was seeing around 3 per hour. However due to the error I started looking at SSD's and have convinced myself to upgrade to an SSD. So this could prove to be a costly error for me!

 

[chill.]

whoa i think all these people posting about speedups/slowdowns from the update are a bit neurotic..

before the update i would sometimes beachball when browsing firefox with an external hard drive connected. the external hard drive would make that reading sound and i would get a 5-10 second spinning ball. since the update, i've had no more firefox beachballs when the hard drive is grinding away.

very nice

 

[jaforres]

I had a similar thought process. The delays were getting so bad I nearly purchased an SSD as well. Problem seems to be fixed since update. Back to waiting for the prices of SSD to drop.

-jaforres

I'm glad I am not the only one who was seeing the random beach balls freezing applications pre-update.

I'm happy to report I've been running on the updated machine for nearly 24 hours now with not a beach-ball in site. Previously I was seeing around 3 per hour. However due to the error I started looking at SSD's and have convinced myself to upgrade to an SSD. So this could prove to be a costly error for me!