Freezing

[zorg]

I have a problem with Mac OS X freezing. Every once in a while, it just freezes. What happens is the colorful wheel starts spinning and I can only move the mouse, but not click or do anything. It lasts for some minutes. This happens when I open some applications too, but not all. Like mail, or itunes. What should I do?

 

[jsw]

It's quite likely that you're running out of RAM and waiting for things to swap on/off the hard drive.

How much RAM do you have?

 

[zorg]

Well, this seems unlikely...I have 2 GB of RAM.

 

[zorg]

I just read what I said, and it might seem like it happens only when I open programs. This isn't the case. It can happen anytime; opening program, closing, clicking on a different program, or even when just surfing the internet. Anytime really.

 

[jsw]

Just for giggles, open up Applications->Utilities->Activity Monitor (when or after you see the beach ball) and let us know what it says for Free System Memory....

I just read what I said, and it might seem like it happens only when I open programs. This isn't the case. It can happen anytime; opening program, closing, clicking on a different program, or even when just surfing the internet. Anytime really.

While it might not be your problem, that is exactly how low RAM would show itself - when switching between apps or forcing them to pull portions off the disk.

 

[grapes911]

I just read what I said, and it might seem like it happens only when I open programs. This isn't the case. It can happen anytime; opening program, closing, clicking on a different program, or even when just surfing the internet. Anytime really.

That still could be swapping.


Try repairing permissions and running the periodic scripts.