Slow boot after upgrading to High Sierra

[pizzaman34]

Hello! I would appreciate any help with getting my iMac to boot faster and thank you in advance for any advice.

I upgraded my iMac to High Sierra and since then there is a loading bar under the logo that takes 10-15 minutes. Then after I login the desktop takes another 5-10 minutes to fully load up everything. After this unusually long boot up time, the computer runs fine with only very occasional beachballing.

Here is my EtreCheck report:

EtreCheck version: 4.3.5 (4D039)

Report generated: 2018-07-29 14:31:55

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 4:14

Performance: Good


Problem: Computer is too slow


Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.


Apps crashing - There have been numerous app crashes.

Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.

Unsigned files - There are unsigned software file installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.


Hardware Information:

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)

iMac Model: iMac13,1

1 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-3470S) CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok


Video Information:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080


Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD ST1000LM024 1.00 TB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 999.35 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD [Recovery] 650 MB


Mounted Volumes:

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD 999.35 GB (704.37 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /


Network:

Interface SAMSUNG_MDM: SAMSUNG Modem

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface en5: EasyTether

Interface fw0: Thunderbolt FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi 2

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 353 MB available


System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65)

Time since boot: Less than an hour

System Load: 1.62 (1 min ago) 1.62 (5 min ago) 1.18 (15 min ago)


Configuration Files:

File /etc/sysctl.conf exists but not expected


Security:

System Status
Gatekeeper Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection Enabled

Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wacom.UpdateHelper.plist

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wacom.UpdateHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/com.wacom.UpdateHelper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist

Executable: /Users/***/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/steamclean

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.nero.HSMMonitor.plist

Executable: /Applications/HTC Sync Manager.app/Contents/Resources/HSMMonitor.app/Contents/MacOS/HSMMonitor -runMode autoLaunched

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK



32-bit Applications:

21 32-bit apps


Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[Loaded] Soundflower.kext (MATT INGALLS, 2.0b2 - SDK 10.10)

[Not Loaded] FTDIKext.kext (1.0 - SDK 10.13)

[Not Loaded] Pen Tablet.kext (Wacom Technology Corp., Pen Tablet 5.3.7-6 - SDK 10.12)

[Not Loaded] Wacom Tablet.kext (Wacom Technology Corp., Wacom Tablet 6.3.30-2 - SDK 10.13)

[Loaded] Saffire.kext (TC Applied Technologies, 4.3.0 - SDK 10.8)


/System/Library/Extensions

[Not Loaded] AvidMboxPro.kext (1.2.1 - SDK 10.6)

[Not Loaded] ssuddrv.kext (DEVGURU Co., Ltd., 1.4.45 - SDK 10.6)

[Not Loaded] DigidesignFireWireAudio.kext (9.0)

[Not Loaded] DigidesignMbox2Boot.kext (10.3.5.211 - SDK 10.6)

[Not Loaded] DigidesignMbox2.kext (10.3.9.12 - SDK 10.7)

[Not Loaded] FocusriteUSBAudio.kext (Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd., 2.9 - SDK 10.9)

[Not Loaded] EasyTetherUSBEthernet.kext (1.0.7 - SDK 10.4)

[Not Loaded] NovationUSBAudio.kext (Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd., 2.7 - SDK 10.9)


/System/Library/Extensions/ssuddrv.kext/Contents/PlugIns

[Not Loaded] ssudmdmcontrol.kext (DEVGURU Co., Ltd., 1.4.45 - SDK 10.6)

[Not Loaded] ssudmdmdata.kext (DEVGURU Co., Ltd., 1.4.45 - SDK 10.6)

[Not Loaded] ssudmtp.kext (DEVGURU Co., Ltd., 1.4.45 - SDK 10.5)

[Not Loaded] ssudserial.kext (DEVGURU Co., Ltd., 1.4.45 - SDK 10.6)

[Not Loaded] ssdumdrv.kext (Samsung Electronics, 1.3)


System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 185 Apple tasks
[Running] 100 Apple tasks
[Other] One Apple task

System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 37 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 190 Apple tasks
[Running] 108 Apple tasks
[Other] One Apple task

Launch Agents:

[Running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2016-10-10)
[Running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-07-15)
[Running] com.wacom.DataStoreMgr.plist (? 2fe6c0b5 - installed 2018-06-06)
[Running] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2018-06-06)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-10)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)

Launch Daemons:

[Loaded] tc.tctechnologies.Saffire.plist (TC Applied Technologies - installed 2015-12-21)
[Other] com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist (? a7cbca7 - installed 2015-02-19)
[Loaded] com.wacom.displayhelper.plist (Apple - installed 2018-07-04)
[Loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-06-25)
[Running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Other] com.cisco.anyconnect.ciscod.plist (? d78c2ec9 - installed 2015-02-19)
[Running] com.adobe.agmservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-10)
[Not Loaded] com.avid.sibelius.plist (Avid Technology Inc - installed 2017-11-30)
[Running] com.wacom.UpdateHelper.plist (? 247c9951 - installed 2018-06-06)
[Loaded] com.adobe.acc.installer.v2.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-07-18)

User Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2018-07-17)
[Loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2018-04-12)
[Not Loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-01-08)
[Not Loaded] .dat00d8.000 (Spotify - installed 2018-03-23)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-04-07)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.ARM.***.plist (? 0 - installed 2015-01-20)
[Not Loaded] com.nero.HSMMonitor.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-07-25)

Internet Plug-ins:

AdobeAAMDetect: (installed 2018-07-15)

FlashPlayer-10.6: (installed 2018-07-10)

QuickTime Plugin: (installed 2018-07-04)

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: (installed 2014-12-03)

AdobePDFViewer: (installed 2014-12-03)

Flash Player: (installed 2018-07-10)

o1dbrowserplugin: (installed 2015-12-16)

googletalkbrowserplugin: (installed 2015-12-11)

Silverlight: (installed 2016-07-08)

DirectorShockwave: (installed 2014-01-28)

WacomTabletPlugin: (installed 2016-10-10)


User Internet Plug-ins:

WebEx64: (installed 2017-07-12)


Safari Extensions:

OpenIE.safariextz - Parallels - http://www.parallels.com (installed 2014-09-17)
extension.safariextz - Sol - http://macxcoupon.info (installed 2015-05-08)

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (installed 2018-06-25)

PenTablet (installed 2018-07-18)


Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!


Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count) Source % of CPU Location
Google Chrome Helper (8) Google, Inc. 25
sandboxd Apple 10
kernel_task Apple 7
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 7
WindowServer Apple 4

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count) Source RAM usage Location
Google Chrome Helper (10) Google, Inc. 1.04 GB
kernel_task Apple 839 MB
mdworker (19) Apple 471 MB
Adobe CEF Helper (3) Adobe Systems, Inc. 236 MB
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 201 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:

Process Source Input Output Location
mDNSResponder Apple 62 KB 30 KB
apsd Apple 4 KB 4 KB
netbiosd Apple 1 KB 708 B
SystemUIServer Apple 0 B 192 B
kernel_task Apple 0 B 0 B

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count) Source Energy (0-100) Location
Google Chrome Helper (10) Google, Inc. 6
coreaudiod Apple 4
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 4
WindowServer Apple 3
Adobe CEF Helper (3) Adobe Systems, Inc. 0

Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM 3.28 GB
Free RAM 40 MB
Used RAM 4.72 GB
Cached files 3.24 GB
Swap Used 0 B

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Name Version Install Date
Adobe Flash Player 30.0.0.134 2018-07-10
MRTConfigData 1.35 2018-07-13
App Cleaner & Uninstaller 5.1 2018-07-15
Saffire MixControl 3.7 2018-07-15
FL Studio 12.5.1 2018-07-15
Gatekeeper Configuration Data 148 2018-07-17
Wacom Tablet 0 2018-07-18
Wacom 0 2018-07-18
iTunes 12.8 2018-07-25

Clean up:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.cisco.anyconnect.ciscod.plist

/opt/cisco/hostscan/bin/ciscod

Executable not found

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist

/opt/cisco/anyconnect/bin/vpnagentd

Executable not found


Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-07-29 14:22:53 WacomTabletDriver.app Crash (7 times)

/Library/Application Support/Tablet/WacomTabletDriver.app

/Library/Application Support/Tablet/WacomTabletDriver.app/Contents/MacOS/WacomTabletDriver


2018-07-29 03:15:27 Adobe CEF Helper.app Crash

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/*/Adobe CEF Helper.app



End of report√

 

[techwarrior]

You might try a Safe Boot or a PRAM\NVRAM reset. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

HS might be churning on unsigned or unsupported drivers. Is the Wacom software up to date?

I had issues a few years back, forget which version of OS. I found some drivers (kexts) were not compatible and the boot process was painful as you mention. After cleaning it up, returned to normal. The cleanup involved running kextstat | grep -v com.apple in Terminal, identifying the non-apple drivers that were loaded, and removing any that were non-essential by unloading them (sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/NAME_OF_THE_KEXT_FILE.kext) and removing them from the system.

 

[DeltaMac]

I would likely start with the Cisco Anywhere software. Do you use it?

You can also watch your Activity Monitor, both the CPU and Memory tabs, where you might be able to see what particular processes in your system are affecting it the most. That will then help you decide how to proceed with a bit of a cleanup.

But, I think your biggest issue is that your hard drive is just being overwhelmed. It is a 2.5-inch, 5400RPM drive, usually found in laptops. Not much to help you out when upgrading to the "latest-n-greatest", when the system has not been too much optimized for use with spinning hard drives, so you get lots of lag time with that drive.
It will make all the difference in the world to swap that hard drive out for an SSD.

 

[pizzaman34]

You might try a Safe Boot or a PRAM\NVRAM reset. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

HS might be churning on unsigned or unsupported drivers. Is the Wacom software up to date?

I had issues a few years back, forget which version of OS. I found some drivers (kexts) were not compatible and the boot process was painful as you mention. After cleaning it up, returned to normal. The cleanup involved running kextstat | grep -v com.apple in Terminal, identifying the non-apple drivers that were loaded, and removing any that were non-essential by unloading them (sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/NAME_OF_THE_KEXT_FILE.kext) and removing them from the system.

I deleted everything associated with Wacom as I don't need to use my tablet at the moment and might as well try to reinstall it later. Using your advice I also deleted an old driver for a sound program I forgot I had installed. I think both of these things really speed up the startup time!! It's now down to about 5 minutes as opposed to a whole almost half hour ordeal. Still slow but now bearable. Thank you!
[doublepost=1532994281][/doublepost]

I would likely start with the Cisco Anywhere software. Do you use it?

You can also watch your Activity Monitor, both the CPU and Memory tabs, where you might be able to see what particular processes in your system are affecting it the most. That will then help you decide how to proceed with a bit of a cleanup.

But, I think your biggest issue is that your hard drive is just being overwhelmed. It is a 2.5-inch, 5400RPM drive, usually found in laptops. Not much to help you out when upgrading to the "latest-n-greatest", when the system has not been too much optimized for use with spinning hard drives, so you get lots of lag time with that drive.
It will make all the difference in the world to swap that hard drive out for an SSD.

I was able to delete Cisco Anywhere (no longer need it). In conjunction with a few other things I think it may have helped!
A definite future goal is to replace the HDD with an SSD. Thank you!!

 

[Fishrrman]

The OP wrote:
"A definite future goal is to replace the HDD with an SSD..."

THAT'S the reason for your "slow boot".
('Nuff said about this subject!)

 

[jeyf]

for now turn off timeMachine
review iCloud settings, temporary disable things that might take significant time to sync at power up