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My MBP Keeps giving me the Beachball!!

jusacruiser

jusacruiser

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 15, 2009
343
14
Palm Beach, Florida
I am constantly getting the dreaded beachball. :mad:

I have done all the usual things to try and speed up my computer. I have deleted my cashe, cookies, shut down all things "running in the background", I have even resorted to PC strategies such as restarting my computer or some form of "defragmenting."

I have run memory apps to free up memory and have plenty of extra memory space and storage.

What can I do to get my MBP to stop freezing?

Help!!
 
jusacruiser said:
I have run memory apps to free up memory and have plenty of extra memory space and storage.

What can I do to get my MBP to stop freezing?

Help!!
Click to expand...

For starters, stop using memory clean apps. They do more damage than good.

I'm not sure what system you have, so let's assume you have an HDD and not an SSD. Please could you run through the troubleshooting in the order below. If there is an issue identified, don't worry about the other stages after that; stop, reply/quote this comment with what has an issue, and we'll go from there.

1) Check HDD isn't corrupted by verifying SMART data

2) Run Disk Utility volume verification

3) Ensure OS X is fully up-to-date

4) Restart with reopen windows when logging back in disabled/unticked.

Speak soon.
 
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jerryk said:
What system do you have? and which year?

How much memory? SSD?
Click to expand...
I have a 2010 MBP and NOT the Solid State Drive. 4GB of Memory
[doublepost=1469132753][/doublepost]
keysofanxiety said:
For starters, stop using memory clean apps. They do more damage than good.

I'm not sure what system you have, so let's assume you have an HDD and not an SSD. Please could you run through the troubleshooting in the order below. If there is an issue identified, don't worry about the other stages after that; stop, reply/quote this comment with what has an issue, and we'll go from there.

1) Check HDD isn't corrupted by verifying SMART data

2) Run Disk Utility volume verification

3) Ensure OS X is fully up-to-date

4) Restart with reopen windows when logging back in disabled/unticked.

Speak soon.
Click to expand...
Ok.....I will run through the steps above. But I don't have SSD. I have a 2010 MBP and 4 GB of Memory. Let me work on your suggestions now.
 
jusacruiser said:
I have a 2010 MBP and NOT the Solid State Drive. 4GB of Memory
[doublepost=1469132753][/doublepost]
Ok.....I will run through the steps above. But I don't have SSD. I have a 2010 MBP and 4 GB of Memory. Let me work on your suggestions now.
Click to expand...

That's great, thank you for taking the time to run through the steps. Do let know the news either way! :)
 
keysofanxiety said:
That's great, thank you for taking the time to run through the steps. Do let know the news either way! :)
Click to expand...

Keys.....Finished all the steps successfully! But the real test is to see how my computer behaves over the next day or so. So far, so good.

Thanks for your help. Especially since, it was very specific.
 
jusacruiser said:
I have a 2010 MBP and NOT the Solid State Drive. 4GB of Memory
[doublepost=1469132753][/doublepost]
Ok.....I will run through the steps above. But I don't have SSD. I have a 2010 MBP and 4 GB of Memory. Let me work on your suggestions now.
Click to expand...
2010 MBP on original hard drive? Keep a backup handy, that hard drive's getting a bit on the old side of things for a laptop.

All mechanical hard drives will fail, it's a question of when, not if.

Hard drives tend to slow to a crawl (and thus slow the whole computer down) before croaking. I'd be wary of yours if you've been getting those beachballs out of nowhere.
 
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If the problems persist and the HDD isn't failing, it could also be the SATA cable.

If you plan on keeping the computer for much longer I'd also suggest upgrading to a SSD. It is the absolute best upgrade you can do on nearly any computer.
 
jusacruiser said:
Keys.....Finished all the steps successfully! But the real test is to see how my computer behaves over the next day or so. So far, so good.

Thanks for your help. Especially since, it was very specific.
Click to expand...

Did the SMART data come back clean or kick up a warning?

In all honesty as other posters have mentioned, I'd recommend replacing the HDD with an SSD. The latest OSs don't run smoothly on spinning drives at the best of times, but as you've got a 5-6 year old drive, wear-and-tear dictates that it'll be much slower than new anyway.

Double the RAM to 8GB, HDD for an SSD, and it'll be running better than new :)
 
Last edited:
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knudsen2 said:
Agree on the HD cable, there are numerous reports of this (use google) where the only symptom was the beachball all the time
Click to expand...

I had some beachball issues when my disk got too full. Cleaning up the disk to provide some free space mad a big difference. OP: How full is your drive?
 
snaky69 said:
2010 MBP on original hard drive? Keep a backup handy, that hard drive's getting a bit on the old side of things for a laptop.

All mechanical hard drives will fail, it's a question of when, not if.

Hard drives tend to slow to a crawl (and thus slow the whole computer down) before croaking. I'd be wary of yours if you've been getting those beachballs out of nowhere.
Click to expand...
My computer has been getting very slow again. And I appreciate your warning below, about my computer croaking. My memory app says that it is my Safari that is the culprit in using up memory. Any suggestions to prevent my Safari Memory from being choked to death? Thanks!
 
jusacruiser said:
My computer has been getting very slow again. And I appreciate your warning below, about my computer croaking. My memory app says that it is my Safari that is the culprit in using up memory. Any suggestions to prevent my Safari Memory from being choked to death? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Did you read the suggestions that I and others posted above ?
 
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I once had an unresponsive script operating on my MBP from a certain website that was showing me a beach ball everywhere. I got a hold of a Firefox extension called YesScript (a Javascript blocker) and I blacklisted the script from appearing. No more unresponsive script and no more beach ball.
 
jusacruiser said:
My computer has been getting very slow again. And I appreciate your warning below, about my computer croaking. My memory app says that it is my Safari that is the culprit in using up memory. Any suggestions to prevent my Safari Memory from being choked to death? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Double your RAM to 8 gig, replace the hard drive with an SSD, done.
 
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jusacruiser said:
My computer has been getting very slow again. And I appreciate your warning below, about my computer croaking. My memory app says that it is my Safari that is the culprit in using up memory. Any suggestions to prevent my Safari Memory from being choked to death? Thanks!
Click to expand...
You don't need a memory app, activity monitor comes with OS X and already monitors all of that.

If you go into activity monitor when you feel the slowdown, in the memory pane, look at the graph on the bottom of the window. It the graph is green coloured, you don't need more memory.
 
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The advice you have been given above about upgrading to an SSD is THE BEST advice you'll get.

You can buy a 240gb SSD for about $60 now (or even less). Installation takes about 15 minutes with the right tools. Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved (it's easy).

If you want to "cure the beachballs", THIS is the way to do it.
 
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Before the issues with the power controller and the flickery screen, my mid-2010 13" was getting ridiculously slow. Put it this way, my iPad 3 running iOS 9.3 was faster! Apps taking 10-20 bounces to open, then beachballs after opening apps, slow to boot and shut down.

Had it not died, I'd been planning to at least double the ram, then look at an SSD. Moving to the 2015 rMPB is like another world, I know it's a 4-5 year newer machine, but the specs (on paper) aren't much higher but the user experience is so much more satisfying. I now find myself wanting to use the computer, not putting it off!
 
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snaky69 said:
2010 MBP on original hard drive? Keep a backup handy, that hard drive's getting a bit on the old side of things for a laptop.

All mechanical hard drives will fail, it's a question of when, not if.

Hard drives tend to slow to a crawl (and thus slow the whole computer down) before croaking. I'd be wary of yours if you've been getting those beachballs out of nowhere.
Click to expand...

Actually ALL drives will fail. I do data recovery and can tell you that SSDs have their own issues (board problems, crappy NAND chips in the cheaper models, and major firmware bugs) so you should NEVER be unprepared for a failure. Always have current backups in more than one location.

Otherwise, I will be perfectly happy to help in the event of a failure, but it won't be as cheap as having proper backups!

;)
 
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snaky69 said:
You don't need a memory app, activity monitor comes with OS X and already monitors all of that.

If you go into activity monitor when you feel the slowdown, in the memory pane, look at the graph on the bottom of the window. It the graph is green coloured, you don't need more memory.
Click to expand...
Activity Monitor.....I need to be looking in there more....and hunting for and shutting down memory hogs!
 
Besides the hardware reasons slowing down the machine, couldn't there be a possibility of malware slowing down the machine? Heck, there could even be some software program causing the slowdowns. The memory cleaner program could be deleting caches that the computer constantly tries to rebuild. On an HDD that would be a death sentence for productivity.
 
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