Help reading Etrecheck

[golftime]

I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro which started beachballing constantly a few months ago. This is my first Apple pc so I am still climbing the learning curve a bit and have become frustrated with the problem. I have run Malwarebytes and ClamXav and don't believe I have any adware or malware. My HD is barely filled. I recently ran Etrecheck and the results are below. Can anyone help me interpret the results? Specifically, why do I have so many Apple tasks trying to load (unsuccessfully) and is this normal? What is causing the BBing? Would upgrading the RAM to 16gb address this issue completely? Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions.

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)
Report generated 2016-12-11 19:16:07
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 8:56
Performance: Below Average
Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Problem: Beachballing
Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3615QM) CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 613


Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 4000

Color LCD 1680 x 1050

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 512 MB


System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2555) - Time since boot: about 9 days


Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE HDD TOSHIBA MK5065GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 498.88 GB (410.94 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 499.25 GB Online


MATSHITADVD-R UJ-8A8 ()


USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller


Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus


Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers


System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 157 Apple tasks

[running] 87 Apple tasks

[killed] 20 Apple tasks

20 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 40 Apple tasks

[loaded] 153 Apple tasks

[running] 99 Apple tasks

[killed] 12 Apple tasks

12 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


Launch Agents: ⓘ

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist (2016-10-12) [Support]

[running] com.brother.LOGINserver.plist (2016-10-03) [Support]

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Support]


Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2016-10-12) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2016-10-12) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-10-25) [Support]

[running] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (2016-12-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2012-04-02) [Support]

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Support]


User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-08-24) [Support]


User Login Items: ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (2016-11-03)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)


Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 (2013-12-21) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 23.0.0.207 - SDK 10.9 (2016-11-08) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-10-24)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.020.20042 - SDK 10.11 (2016-11-08) [Support]

AdobePDFViewer: 15.020.20042 - SDK 10.11 (2016-11-08) [Support]

Flash Player: 23.0.0.207 - SDK 10.9 (2016-11-08) [Support]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.7.0 - SDK 10.6 (2016-11-18) [Support]

GarminGpsControl: 4.0.4.0 Release - SDK 10.6 (2012-11-02) [Support]

Silverlight: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 (2014-09-03) [Support]



User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

WebEx64: 1.1.0 - SDK 10.10 (2016-07-15) [Support]



Safari Extensions: ⓘ

DuckDuckGo - DuckDuckGo - http://duckduckgo.com (2016-10-04)


3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Akamai NetSession Preferences (2015-09-23) [Support]

Flash Player (2016-10-25) [Support]


Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: ON

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 498.88 GB Disk used: 87.94 GB

Destinations:

FreeAgent GoFlex Drive [Local]

Total size: 999.86 GB

Total number of backups: 5

Oldest backup: 10/23/15, 10:00 PM

Last backup: 9/29/16, 3:57 PM

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk used 87.94 GB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

38% WindowServer

7% mdworker(9)

3% kernel_task

1% fontd

0% trustd(3)


Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1.47 GB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(7)

974 MB kernel_task

254 MB WindowServer

164 MB Safari

66 MB mds_stores


Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

2.36 GB Available RAM

752 MB Free RAM

5.64 GB Used RAM

1.63 GB Cached files

232 MB Swap Used


Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

Dec 11, 2016, 06:08:56 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2016-12-11-180856_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

Dec 11, 2016, 12:04:36 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/softwareupdated_2016-12-11-000436_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/Resources/softwareupdated

Dec 9, 2016, 10:10:45 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2016-12-09-221045_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

Dec 9, 2016, 02:26:18 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64_2016-12-09-142618_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]

/System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64

Dec 9, 2016, 01:12:17 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2016-12-09-131217_[redacted].crash

 

[golftime]

Nothing guys? I am starting to apply sun screen watching the spinning beach ball.

 

[Clint_Barton]

I am going to guess that it is a bad Sata cable

 

[xraydoc]

Nothing guys? I am starting to apply sun screen watching the spinning beach ball.

Almost nothing posted is helpful, honestly.
It looks like some processes are being aborted and that you still have some free RAM, but we still don't know what you have loaded.
Pull up Activity Monitor and post your active processes (CPU usage) and memory pressure.
[doublepost=1481678262][/doublepost]Oh, and try restarting your Mac. It's been running 9 days without a reboot, so who knows what background things are running.

 

[golftime]

Thanks doc. I looked at Activity Monitor for help. I often have 5-6 tabs open in Safari (as I do now) and see they are using anywhere from 200mb to over 1 gb memory each. Kernal Task also uses about 1 gb of memory but I believe that is my os? I am seeing about 6.5 gb of total memory used with 1.5 gb free, 1.3 gb cached files and my swap file is 300mb.

My CPU usage is about 1.5% user, 1.5% system and 97% idle so I am assuming the CPU is not the problem? If the solution is simply upgrading to 16gb memory I am willing to make the purchase as long as it solves my problem. Sorry for any lack of information on my part but hope this helps.

 

[xraydoc]

Not sure 16GB would make a difference. You still have from free RAM and your swap file is only 300MB which isn't very much. If your processor is sitting idle, too, then that's not a cause of beachballs either.

Besides, you definitely should not need 16GB for just a few browser tabs!

What apps is it doing this in? Has the machine been rebooted recently?

If you have a mechanical hard drive, the better investment would be to replace it with an SSD rather than spending money on RAM.

 

[golftime]

Yes, doc, mechanical hard drive, only about 20% filled. The BB is most noticeable in Safari, but everything seems a bit laggy. I guess I was leaning towards RAM as Etrecheck showed processes failed due to lack of RAM. Although I have not re-booted lately, I tried re-booting a number of times in the recent past with no difference.

 

[DeltaMac]

I would offer the opinion that your spinning hard drive is not your friend. macOS really is more comfortable (optimized) for use with an SSD.

 

[Clint_Barton]

I also have a mid 2012 map and have had problems with the SATA cable. It is a known problem with that machine.

 

[happyslayer]

I'm a computer consultant and work on Macs and PCs every day. The symptoms you are describing are almost always attributed to the hard drive--whether Windows PC or Mac. As some have said, it could be a bad cable which would be fairly inexpensive to replace but it could also be a failing drive--your drive can still be failing or just slowing down and diagnostic software will say its fine. If you feel comfortable doing it, you can pretty easily replace the drive. Lots of YouTube videos can show you how to open it up. However, if you are not (and that is totally fine!), definitely take it to a reputable computer person that can possibly replace the cable and/or the drive. Or an Apple Store--but they will probably be more expensive. Also, definitely go with an SSD (solid state drive) if you are replacing it as it will feel like a new machine. By far the best update for older machines when you already have plenty of RAM--which you do for sure.

Until then, make sure you are doing Time Machine backups. If a drive is failing it could completely die at almost any time.

Good luck.

 

[golftime]

Thanks guys. You have been tremendous help and given me some things to work on. I might try to replace the cable but would probably leave the SSD to a pro. I have travelled with this thing and it has a few bangs and bumps along the way so I would also have to think about whether to just upgrade to a new one, maybe MY2015, with SSD at this point. And yes, I am doing Time Machine backups just in case.