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Macbook Pro is running really slow

E

esbern

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 31, 2006
17
0
Hey...I have a Macbook Pro that I bought in August and today it just started randomly running very slow. I have never had the problem before, and it started around midday today after I came back from using it in class. A couple of things I should note:

1) when it started happenening, I had only 6 GB of my 60 GB Harddrive. I deleted 9 GB to bring it up to 15 GB and I restarted the computer. Multiple times. This did nothing.

2) opening finder goes really slowly, and it takes a long time to access my "movies" section in particular. but this isn't nearly my largest section...music is.

3) sherlock, safari, and ichat are all very slow and they are the only 3 programs that I am running.

4) I have used an adware finder called MacScan and that didn't do much at all.

Does anybody have a suggestion to help me out?
 
Couple ideas;

1. Is there a chance anyone dropped it? Could have damaged the processor.

2. Is the computer well ventilated?


Just my 2 cents.
 
Besides a software problem, this could be a failing hard drive or a RAM problem or another hardware related fault like a bad USB mouse or keyboard. Unplug all peripherals.

Boot from the CD/DVD that came with the machine, (insert CD, restart machine, hold the "C" key down through the restart). Under the Installer or Utilities menu, find Disk Utility. Run that and do a Repair Disk on the machine's hard drive. Restart the machine after completion

Tell us what it reported.

Repair permissions.

Read the instructions on that CD and restart it to run an Apple Hardware Test.
 
Nick9597:

1. I haven't dropped it.

2. It just sits on my desk most of the time and doesn't get too hot. Yesterday I brought it to class (doesn't happen often) and I was very careful with it.

CanadaRAM:

Here is a summary of the tests i ran:

The hardware test, done be resetting and holding D, found no problems. I ran both the normal and extensive tests.

The disk utility that was found by resetting the computer and holding C was not run because I got to a screen that set "preparing to install Mac OSX" and in order to not lose my files, I shut down the computer and started up.

I ran the disk utility that can be found with sherlock and got this. It said all permissions repaired, but the computer is still runnning slow:

Mar 6 06:16:56: Disk Utility started.

Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Determining correct file permissions.
Permissions differ on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxrwxr-x
Owner and group corrected on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities
Permissions corrected on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Info.plist, should be 0, owner is 501
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Info.plist
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Info.plist
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/MacOS/Flash Player, should be 0, owner is 501
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/MacOS/Flash Player
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/MacOS/Flash Player
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/MacOS, should be 0, owner is 501
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/MacOS
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/MacOS
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources/Flash Player.rsrc, should be 0, owner is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources/Flash Player.rsrc, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rw-r--r--
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources/Flash Player.rsrc
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources/Flash Player.rsrc
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources, should be 0, owner is 501
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents/Resources
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents, should be 0, owner is 501
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin/Contents
User differs on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin, should be 0, owner is 501
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin
Permissions differ on ./Library/Preferences/com.apple.xgrid.agent.plist, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rw-r--r--
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Preferences/com.apple.xgrid.agent.plist
Permissions corrected on ./Library/Preferences/com.apple.xgrid.agent.plist
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/secure.log, should be -rw------- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/secure.log
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/secure.log

Permissions repair complete


Permissions differ on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi, should be -r-xr-xr-x , they are -r--r--r--
Owner and group corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
Permissions corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Determining correct file permissions.

Permissions repair complete


The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Click to expand...
 
oh and another thing I should mention: I ran the activity monitor to watch what happens when there is a freeze, and there i little to no computer action at that time. However, once I open a program, it tends to work pretty well and run smoothly, though there will be a glitch or two ever so often.
 
OK, do NOT listen to nazmac21. Seriously.
_______________^n00b :rolleyes:
There are SO many things you can do before restoring the OS, this isn't windows people. :rolleyes:
 
lilstewart said:
OK, do NOT listen to nazmac21. Seriously.
_______________^n00b :rolleyes:
There are SO many things you can do before restoring the OS, this isn't windows people. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Good, I wasn't going to reset anyway. What do you suggest?
 
on another forum somebody suggest I change to a new user. This made the computer go back to its original speed. Does this mean that I have to use this user from now on? how do i change to the original one?
 
I'd suggest downloading Onyx, which is a system maintenance tool. What could be happening (depending on whether you sleep your computer or shut it down) is that the system usually runs daily, weekly and monthly maintenance at an odd hour of the day (usually when we are asleep)...if your computer is shutdown at that time, this doesn't get done.

So, download Onyx, then select the Maintenance icon, click the Scripts tab and click the execute button.

Before you do that, you should retry booting up with the Install disk (holding down C)...then select the language...you'll see a little progress bar "Preparing to install...", don't worry about it...it won't actually install without asking you. Once the next dialog appears, the Utilities menu will appear also, that will have the Disk Utility application in it...select Verify Disc, and let it do it's thing...if it comes back with an error, click Repair Disk.

Onyx has other cleaning options that you might look into as well, but I'd start with the Disk Utility on the Install Disk, then the Maintenance tab of Onyx.

Good Luck
 
esbern said:
on another forum somebody suggest I change to a new user. This made the computer go back to its original speed. Does this mean that I have to use this user from now on? how do i change to the original one?
Click to expand...

Do you have any application that open automatically when you startup in the slow account? (Check in the System Preferences>Accounts>"Name of Slow Account">Login Items, also check the Startup Items folder in the Library folder at the root level of your hard drive).

When you say Finder is slow...do you mean slow to startup or do you mean slow to respond in general?

It seems you might have a corrupt preference or something else bogging down the Finder in the old account, once you get that worked out...you can switch back. On the other hand, if it proves elusive, it might be easier just to use the new account.
 
I would close all programs, open Terminal and type:
Code: 
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
in order to force Mac OS X to do its thing. It will ask you for your password.
 
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