My MBP is running slowly, funny thing are happening

[lanervoza]

For a few weeks now, the performance of my computer has dropped in performance drastically. 2.33 C2D, 2GB RAM.

Start up takes minutes, and the computer struggles for several more minutes afterwards.

It will lose the internet connection periodically, requiring a modem/router restart (this doesn't happen to my roommates).

It's just sluggish in general too.


I opened disk utility and repaired permissions and verified the disk. It said the HD should be repaired, so I ran that operation which said it was a success. Upon restarting, the computer could not make it past the grey screen (20+ minutes). 3 force-restart attempts later, it makes it all the way back, but it's still slow.

I thought maybe the HD was getting too full (I had ~10 GB free of 120 total), so I recently deleted about 30GB of stuff, to observe no change.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,
Alex

 

[squeeks]

reinstall

 

[lanervoza]

the OS?

 

[Techguy172]

the OS?

Yep.

 

[alphaod]

Run hardware tests first by booting onto the Restore DVD and press 'D' during boot.

Saying reinstall as the first step is why tech support is often epic failure.

 

[squeeks]

ok, ok, also make sure its reporting the full amount of ram, sounds like something that could happen is part of the ram came unseated and its only seeing half

 

[poppe]

I'm having this same problem. Well I've had this same problem for about a year and a half now, but it has become almost unusable in the last two or three months.

If I open up iTunes, and then try to look at the dock, my computer will practically freeze. Watching video on Hulu will make the whole computer become a slouch. If i download a file and use Stuffit to unzip, I have to make sure nothing else is running or the computer will hang until everything is unzipped.

What do you guys think, RAM or just a little bit of everything and I need a clean install?

I've done the system check on the disk, and it said everything was good. What's funny about that is my superdrive was a failed drive that I still hadn't gone and fixed yet, but the system check said it was good.

 

[gr8tfly]

ok, ok, also make sure its reporting the full amount of ram, sounds like something that could happen is part of the ram came unseated and its only seeing half

+1 I've personally seen it happen on a machine with 2x 512MB SODIMMS. One failed, so it was just running with 512MB. Check the actual installed using System Profiler. You can also look for an inordinately large number of pageouts.

 

[kolax]

I'm having this same problem. Well I've had this same problem for about a year and a half now, but it has become almost unusable in the last two or three months.

If I open up iTunes, and then try to look at the dock, my computer will practically freeze. Watching video on Hulu will make the whole computer become a slouch. If i download a file and use Stuffit to unzip, I have to make sure nothing else is running or the computer will hang until everything is unzipped.

What do you guys think, RAM or just a little bit of everything and I need a clean install?

I've done the system check on the disk, and it said everything was good. What's funny about that is my superdrive was a failed drive that I still hadn't gone and fixed yet, but the system check said it was good.

I'd try a clean install and start fresh. There might have been a few hacks you did a year ago that you forgot about, and it is causing problems.

Though you could try zapping the SMC and PRAM as it is possible something has got corrupted in there.

 

[daneoni]

There's also the possibility that your HD is on its way out. Also maybe run fsck and run Onyx to do a system cleanup/maintenance

 

[snowmoon]

Diagnostics on loop overnight.

Archive and Reinstall.

If you still are seeing problems take it in to an Apple store for a full diagnostics as they can probably tell you if it's hardware or software.

I'll also bet you are seeing memory failure.

 

[Animalk]

My first hunch would be to get a bigger hard drive. 10% free hard drive space is very limit for OS X.

 

[poppe]

My first hunch would be to get a bigger hard drive. 10% free hard drive space is very limit for OS X.

My external just crashed so once i get a new one I should be able to free up space. I have a 160 gb hard drive and only have 6.57 gb left of space on my laptop.

I'd try a clean install and start fresh. There might have been a few hacks you did a year ago that you forgot about, and it is causing problems.

Though you could try zapping the SMC and PRAM as it is possible something has got corrupted in there.

Thanks for this. I have zap my PRAM almost every week because my airport on my laptop never works. I called apple once and they said, that reseting the PRAM fixes the problem of why it times out, and every time I do it it usually fixes it.

There's also the possibility that your HD is on its way out. Also maybe run fsck and run Onyx to do a system cleanup/maintenance

I hope that's not the case. I have Onxy on my computer. How exactly do I do a system clean up with it?

Diagnostics on loop overnight.

Archive and Reinstall.

If you still are seeing problems take it in to an Apple store for a full diagnostics as they can probably tell you if it's hardware or software.

I'll also bet you are seeing memory failure.

I'l try this. I am afraid to do a clean install because I have a lot of software on my computer that I didn't keep the serials for, and never registered or kept the receipts... I guess a life lesson there.

 

[latogoga]

A cousin had the same problem. Some weeks later his HD died and he had to replace it. It was a 2007 Macbook pro. Hope that's not your case haha.

 

[snowmoon]

I'l try this. I am afraid to do a clean install because I have a lot of software on my computer that I didn't keep the serials for, and never registered or kept the receipts... I guess a life lesson there.

I've done Archive and reinstall and *most* of my applications work as expected. The only ones that need reinstalling are those that place frameworks/hooks into /System ( such as iLife ).

 

[poppe]

I'd try a clean install and start fresh. There might have been a few hacks you did a year ago that you forgot about, and it is causing problems.

Though you could try zapping the SMC and PRAM as it is possible something has got corrupted in there.

There's also the possibility that your HD is on its way out. Also maybe run fsck and run Onyx to do a system cleanup/maintenance

Diagnostics on loop overnight.

Archive and Reinstall.

If you still are seeing problems take it in to an Apple store for a full diagnostics as they can probably tell you if it's hardware or software.

I'll also bet you are seeing memory failure.

I've done Archive and reinstall and *most* of my applications work as expected. The only ones that need reinstalling are those that place frameworks/hooks into /System ( such as iLife ).

Oh I never really gave any of my specs on my MBP:

17" MBP C2D 2.33 w/ 2 GB of ram and a 160 GB Hard Drive.

As for software this is what I have that I am most worried about:

iLife, iWork, FCP, Final Draft, Adobe CS3, Cover Scout 3, Divx Pro, iSale, Office Student 2008 (used up the three installs), Toast 9, and WireTap Pro.


All of these I have, but I don't think I have the serials for or the discs. Well I think I have FCP, I don't have all the filters and effects that I have accumulated from all the post houses though...

I wonder what happened to my external. I have an external that is two Segates into a two hard drive housing that I have had for about 2 years. I think the segates said they had a 5 year warranty. Does anyone know how to handle this?