Slow after sleep - MBP mid-2009, Mavericks

[mwright50]

Begin: Everything's running great during use. Speed is fine.
And Then: Put her to sleep for more than 20 mins, and when I reopen, she's slow and quick to go to the pinwheel.

Specifically:

• Randomg points, lags between windows then comes back
  
• While typing, and when switching browser tabs: Lags and gives pinwheel at random points and random intervals, which lasts for between a microsecond and several seconds
• 50% of the time it lasts long enough to force me to reboot
• The other 50% it gradually comes around to normal
• (Clarification on time stuck on pinwheel: Experimented a few times with leaving for a while - usually 1 to 3 hours, and letting it spin away. Always, when I return, it has always gone back to normal but slow function, though I don't know exactly how long it took.)

Environment:

• I tend to run the same apps with same size docs or dbases open (no graphics, games, etc.)
  
• No noticeable correlation with which apps, or how many are running
• Same with browser - nothing to do with which browser (FF, sometimes Chrome), number of windows or tabs, etc.

Machine Specs:

Model Name: MacBook Pro (mid-2009)
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,4
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP53.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.49f2​

Most grateful for any help!

 

[CoastalOR]

Have you verified your disk with Disk Utility?
If you still have that original spinner HDD then test it with one of the available smart utilities. How full is the HDD? When you put the Mac to sleep it writes your memory to a sleepimage file (4 Gb in your case). When you wake it up it has to read that sleepimage back into memory. If your drive tests good with the smart utility then maybe a failing/intermittent HD ribbon cable.
If you think it's not hardware then it may be time to reinstall the OS (Apples favorite solution). Make sure you have a good backup your system, just in case.

 

[mwright50]

Thank you, CoastalOR!

Hardware checks out. Now I'll have to figure out how to do a reinstall. It'll be my first on a Mac.

Cheers!

Have you verified your disk with Disk Utility?
If you still have that original spinner HDD then test it with one of the available smart utilities. How full is the HDD? When you put the Mac to sleep it writes your memory to a sleepimage file (4 Gb in your case). When you wake it up it has to read that sleepimage back into memory. If your drive tests good with the smart utility then maybe a failing/intermittent HD ribbon cable.
If you think it's not hardware then it may be time to reinstall the OS (Apples favorite solution). Make sure you have a good backup your system, just in case.