Macbook Pro 2012 Slow startup/shutdown & beachballs

[i69l]

Hi everyone, I upgraded my Macbook Pro (500 gb HDD & 8 GB RAM) from Mavericks to Yosemite and ever since then I have been getting long startup times (2 ~ 4 minutes). When I do manage to log in then the laptop will occasionally get beachballs every 15 ~ 30 seconds and will hang there for a few seconds and is almost unusable. To top it off it takes long to shut down the laptop and this can take anywhere between 15 seconds to 5 minutes (it will stay on the black screen).

Things I have tried:
- Clean installation of Yosemite (same result)
- Reset PRAM
- Changed Hard Drive
- Changed RAM
- Verify/ Repair Permissions.
- Turned off FileVault
- Cleared the kextcache
- Ensured Startup disk is set correctly
- Booted in Safe mode (same thing happens but worse - slow startups and restarts )

I now do not know what else I could try to do to fix this Macbook Pro and wanted to ask if anyone else has had this problem and managed to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Hi everyone, I upgraded my Macbook Pro (500 gb HDD & 8 GB RAM) from Mavericks to Yosemite and ever since then I have been getting long startup times (2 ~ 4 minutes). When I do manage to log in then the laptop will occasionally get beachballs every 15 ~ 30 seconds and will hang there for a few seconds and is almost unusable. To top it off it takes long to shut down the laptop and this can take anywhere between 15 seconds to 5 minutes (it will stay on the black screen).

Things I have tried:
- Clean installation of Yosemite (same result)
- Reset PRAM
- Changed Hard Drive
- Changed RAM
- Verify/ Repair Permissions.
- Turned off FileVault
- Cleared the kextcache
- Ensured Startup disk is set correctly
- Booted in Safe mode (same thing happens but worse - slow startups and restarts )

I now do not know what else I could try to do to fix this Macbook Pro and wanted to ask if anyone else has had this problem and managed to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

Very odd. When you restart the computer, is the option 'Reopen windows when logging back in' disabled?

I see you've already tried changing the HDD, though you can check its SMART data to see if it's corrupted. Direct link to SMART Utility here, anything other than 'passed' is bad: http://cloudfront.volitans-software.com/smartutility314.zip

Did you also try verifying the disk rather than disk permissions?

I've seen one or two 13" MBPs which were having this problem. It turned out that the SATA cable on the Logic Board needed to be replaced. Not sure if that could be it? Is your MacBook still under warranty?

At any rate if the hard-drive's corrupted, that's the problem -- in which case replacing with an SSD would be prudent.

 

[i69l]

Very odd. When you restart the computer, is the option 'Reopen windows when logging back in' disabled?

I see you've already tried changing the HDD, though you can check its SMART data to see if it's corrupted. Direct link to SMART Utility here, anything other than 'passed' is bad: http://cloudfront.volitans-software.com/smartutility314.zip

Did you also try verifying the disk rather than disk permissions?

I've seen one or two 13" MBPs which were having this problem. It turned out that the SATA cable on the Logic Board needed to be replaced. Not sure if that could be it? Is your MacBook still under warranty?

At any rate if the hard-drive's corrupted, that's the problem -- in which case replacing with an SSD would be prudent.

Hey, thanks for the quickly reply!

I will give the SMART Utility a try and see how it goes. I have tried verifying the disk also but it hasn't made any difference. My laptop is not under warranty. I recently got my Logic Board replaced (Laptop had firmware password that previous owner set and couldn't remember it, this led me to being able to reset the PRAM to try fix the problem but didn't work).

 

[keysofanxiety]

Hey, thanks for the quickly reply!

I will give the SMART Utility a try and see how it goes. I have tried verifying the disk also but it hasn't made any difference. My laptop is not under warranty. I recently got my Logic Board replaced (Laptop had firmware password that previous owner set and couldn't remember it, this led me to being able to reset the PRAM to try fix the problem but didn't work).

Ahh right if the Logic Board's been replaced then SATA cable should be OK.

In all honesty the stock HDDs (5400rpm) in the MacBook Pros are horrendously slow, and due to how conventional HDD technology works with the spinners/platters/needles, simple wear-and-tear over time will have a detrimental effect towards the hard-drive's performance (read/write speeds, access times, things like that). An HDD is almost always going to be the bottleneck in a laptop.

Even with a clean install on the 2012s they're not really that quick, still plenty of beachballing if you try to do too much too quickly before everything's loaded up. All down to those horrible hard-drives.

In which case it's worth throwing an SSD in there anyway as the system will run considerably better than new in every area; of course if the hard-drive is corrupted then this'll give you additional justification to make the plunge.

 

[i69l]

Ahh right if the Logic Board's been replaced then SATA cable should be OK.

In all honesty the stock HDDs (5400rpm) in the MacBook Pros are horrendously slow, and due to how conventional HDD technology works with the spinners/platters/needles, simple wear-and-tear over time will have a detrimental effect towards the hard-drive's performance (read/write speeds, access times, things like that). An HDD is almost always going to be the bottleneck in a laptop.

Even with a clean install on the 2012s they're not really that quick, still plenty of beachballing if you try to do too much too quickly before everything's loaded up. All down to those horrible hard-drives.

In which case it's worth throwing an SSD in there anyway as the system will run considerably better than new in every area; of course if the hard-drive is corrupted then this'll give you additional justification to make the plunge.

I'll have to think about as I have tried my hard drive in my friend's laptop and it ran fine which makes me think it could be a hardware issue. I guess a cheap SSD wouldn't hurt..

 

[keysofanxiety]

I'll have to think about as I have tried my hard drive in my friend's laptop and it ran fine which makes me think it could be a hardware issue. I guess a cheap SSD wouldn't hurt..

That's true! Was your friend's computer a Mac of the same model, or was it a Windows machine?

 

[i69l]

That's true! Was your friend's computer a Mac of the same model, or was it a Windows machine?

It was a 2010 Macbook Pro. I've just ran the SMART utility and it passed.

 

[keysofanxiety]

It was a 2010 Macbook Pro. I've just ran the SMART utility and it passed.

Humm ... next thing to try would be your friend's hard-drive in your 2012 MacBook Pro (providing it's running Mountain Lion or higher). If there's a definite performance deficit, it could be the SATA cable. Sorry for taking so much time, it's difficult to diagnose something like this.

The next thing to try would be possibly running Black Magic Speed Test on your HDD, then trying it in your friend's MacBook and see if the speeds are quicker. They definitely shouldn't be as his one may have an older SATA interface. If there's a noticable dip in performance that would indicate a problem with the SATA cable on the MLB. If you also do vice-versa; test his hard-drive with Black Magic in his, then in yours ...

Unless anybody has any other ideas of simpler ways to diagnose a failing SATA cable on the MacBooks?