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Random beachballing

K

kai920

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 21, 2009
46
0
I have a 2-week old 13" MacBook Pro (2G/160G). I'm not sure why but recently started getting random beachballs. It has happened in iPhoto, Firefox 3.5, iTunes, etc. so it doesn't seem to be restricted to any one particular program.

I've tried watching Activity Monitor but don't notice anything alarming about CPU usage when the beachball hits. The beachball would typically last for about 5 seconds and I would be able to move the cursor around... if I am on a Skype voice call or playing music in iTunes, the voice/music does not freeze in the background.

I did recently upgrade the RAM to 4GB of Kingston DDR3 - could this possibly be the reason? My MBP seems okay otherwise.. sleep and wake works I'll be doing some Googling shortly, but is there a memory testing program you would recommend that works on my MBP? (Something like Memtest86)

I have plenty of HD space available (30G+) and I've already tried repairing permissions in Disk Utility. Are there other troubleshooting steps you would suggest?

Thanks in advance.
 
kai920 said:
No, I haven't touched it since I got the MBP... this is what it says in System Profiler:

Boot ROM Version: MBP55.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.47f2

According to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237, my EFI is at the latest version?
Click to expand...

Apple menu> about this mac> more information. Serial Ata.
Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

do you have that
 
kai920 said:
I did recently upgrade the RAM to 4GB of Kingston DDR3 - could this possibly be the reason? My MBP seems okay otherwise.. sleep and wake works I'll be doing some Googling shortly, but is there a memory testing program you would recommend that works on my MBP? (Something like Memtest86)
Click to expand...

The RAM upgrade could be the reason why. Try putting the old RAM back in.
Memory Test- Use the Apple Hardware Test using the Application DVD that came with your Mac. I would also try updating EVERYTHING on the computer (Firmware, Software, Applications etc.).
 
Panzo said:
Apple menu> about this mac> more information. Serial Ata.
Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

do you have that
Click to expand...

Yep, I do .. is this good or bad?

celticpride678 said:
The RAM upgrade could be the reason why. Try putting the old RAM back in.
Memory Test- Use the Apple Hardware Test using the Application DVD that came with your Mac. I would also try updating EVERYTHING on the computer (Firmware, Software, Applications etc.).
Click to expand...

OK I'll try that, didn't know there was something I could use that came inside the box :eek:

(I think I already have the latest 1.7 firmware, and everything under Software Updated has been done..)

I hope it's not the RAM :(
 
kai920 said:
OK I'll try that, didn't know there was something I could use that came inside the box :eek:

(I think I already have the latest 1.7 firmware, and everything under Software Updated has been done..)

I hope it's not the RAM :(
Click to expand...

If it is the RAM, AHT should come up with it. However, make sure to run the extensive test and run it a few times too (to make sure results are accurate).
 
I'll give it a go and let you know if AHT comes up with anything... Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test

edit: after 1 round of extended testing there are no hardware faults so that's a little bit of a relief. I'll try another round later.

I also normally run my MBP on a laptop stand at an angle of about 30˚, this can't possibly be a reason for the freezes could it? I'm running my MBP flat on my desk now to eliminate that as a culprit :rolleyes:
 
i have a 13" 2.26 uMBP roughly 3 wks old now...

i run into some random beachballing, but only when i'm browsing safari; usually when open lots of tabs. i usually just stick it out - never lasts more than 30 seconds. figure it must be my wireless router, maybe dropping signal randomly? havn't run into any beachball problems running non-internet apps

this thread just caught my eye since we have the same model and i sometimes get the random beachball... let me know if you find the cause/solution!
 
rcf-dds said:
i have a 13" 2.26 uMBP roughly 3 wks old now...

i run into some random beachballing, but only when i'm browsing safari; usually when open lots of tabs. i usually just stick it out - never lasts more than 30 seconds. figure it must be my wireless router, maybe dropping signal randomly? havn't run into any beachball problems running non-internet apps

this thread just caught my eye since we have the same model and i sometimes get the random beachball... let me know if you find the cause/solution!
Click to expand...

Y'know you might be on to something... last evening for about 6+ hours I didn't notice any beachballing, and it was because I used Opera as my main browser instead of Firefox 3.5.2. Often times with FF I will have 4 windows open, with a total of maybe 20 tabs - maybe memory usage is too great?

I've noticed some complaints about Safari beachballing too.

I'm typing this in FF now but I only have 1 window and 7 tabs open. Why don't you give Opera a try and see if that helps at all? Long shot and it might not even be the cause of my freezing but worth trying. Besides Opera seems like a solid browser :)

Heb1228 said:
Check this thread at Apple support, among others. I know there's at least one other on Apple support and one or two here at Macrumors also.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2075399
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, will definitely check it out.

Panzo said:
More likely the efi update then anything else, is your mac a mid 2009?
Click to expand...

If you're asking me, then yep mine is a mid-2009...
 
Theres a bif commotion going on on how the 1.7 EFI update that the new mcbook pros are subjected to causes beach balling randomly, it happens to me too, and i too think the upgrade is the culprit.

If so be the case, and if you find it unbearable request your firmware rolled back or your logic board swapped.
 
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