So, I'm currently using a 4 year old 13" Macbook Pro, running Snow Leopard. The issue I'm having is that while at start up my computer runs fine, after being on for a while, it has issues running anything more than one application at a time. I'm unsure of what would cause this, I'm not all that experienced with the inner workings of a computer. I'm willing to answer any questions that would help solve the problem.
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Slowdown issues
- Thread starter Kazesei
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^This exactly. Also, is the hard drive the original hard drive? When did you last do a clean install?
Original Hard Drive, and by clean install do you mean the OS? If so, the last time I did it was when I did the initial update for Snow Leopard. Since then, I've lost the disc, so I haven't been able to reinstall the OS. Also, what do you mean reset the SMC?
Reset the SMC
Okay do this as a test. Make a new user account, log into it, and use it long enough to see if it suffers slow downs. When a computer gets slowed down over time, it is from all the BS files that various apps have created. 90% of them are in your usernames Library folder. If the fresh user account doesn't suffer slowdowns then you know it's not hardware, but if it does, it most likely is.
If by 4 years old you mean 2009, then it should be 2 gb RAM. Even so, 4 gb or 8 gb will improve speed also a new hard drive. My 2009 MBP has a new hard drive and new RAM. It runs pretty well! Still on snow leopard, but I'll be upgrading that soon when the Mavericks system requirements are announced.
Under "About this Mac" it says Memory: 1 GB 1067 MHz DDR3. So, only 1 GB to work with.
I did the User test, and had the same slowdown on the new account. So it looks like it's indeed a hardware issue. Now, as far as I know, MBP's aren't made to be opened up and messed with, am I going to have to take it into a shop to add the RAM? Also, how much does RAM cost? I've never had to buy any so I'm completely new to this.
I did the User test, and had the same slowdown on the new account. So it looks like it's indeed a hardware issue. Now, as far as I know, MBP's aren't made to be opened up and messed with, am I going to have to take it into a shop to add the RAM? Also, how much does RAM cost? I've never had to buy any so I'm completely new to this.
Have you check "System Memory" in "Activity Monitor"? Activity Monitor is in Applications->Utilities.
Open it then click on "System Memory" at the bottom and have a look at "Page ins" and "Page outs". If you see that Page outs is a significant portion of Page ins and carry on going up significantly over time, you are short on memory. Also, you will see no "green" and possibly no "blue" in the chart pie on the right, which means you have no free and possibly inactive memory left. If this is the case, you are short on RAM and need more.
You can also check the memory used by each App in Activity Monitor by clicking on "Real Mem" at the top right of the screen. There might be one application using a lot of RAM. So if you don't want to upgrade your memory, you could try to tackle culprits that way and close the apps using too much RAM.
But generally speaking, 1 GB of RAM is pretty low, unless you are only using old apps and OS and haven't upgraded your software for a while.
Good luck.
If you're having performance issues, this may help: To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.
Also, under "About this Mac"->"More info"->"System Report", does it say your Mac is a MacBookPro5,5?
If so, you should be able to upgrade up to 8GB. You can find this information here: http://support.apple.com/kb/SP541.
However if your machine is indeed a 5,5 version, I expect that you would have 2GB of RAM by default and suspect that either one RAM slot or one stick of RAM is defective.
While you are in "System Report", click on Memory on the left hand side and see what it says. You should have two memory stick listed. If it says one is empty, then you have a problem. This might explain why your computer became slow suddenly.
To test if it's your slot that is defective or your stick, you can open your computer and remove one stick. Turn your computer back on, check what it says in memory, then move the stick still installed from the current slot to the other slot and see what it says. If it shows 1GB of RAM both times that means you have a defective stick (the one not installed). If it shows 1GB once and 0GB (I guess your laptop won't start in that case) that other time, that means it's the RAM slot that is not working.
If your RAM slot is not working but don't want to repair it, you could just buy a 4GB stick and install it in the functioning slot.
I hope my explanation is clear, don't hesitate to ask if it's not the case.
So, I looked under memory, and indeed it says slot 2 is empty. I will have to check to see if it's the slot or stick gone bad. This would also explain the issue of the performance suddenly dropping. Out of curiosity, where do you buy RAM at, and does it matter what brand you get?
Amazon, BB, local electronics shop. Corsair, Crucial and Kingston are typically regarded as the best for Macs.
Ok, good, it looks like we got to the bottom of the problem. B... has replied to your question so I won't add more. No real difference if you stick to the good brands, otherwise it's a matter of reliability if you buy something too cheap...
So, Update:
Took it to an Apple Store. The first thing they did is reset the P-Ram (I believe that's the correct RAM name). Upon doing this, my computer correctly stated I had 2 GB of RAM, with both slots working. Everything seemed to be in order, took my laptop back.
Now, I'm realizing that my computer will alternate as to whether it recognizes the second slot as empty or not. I'm thinking this means the RAM slot, in other words the logic board, is faulty. Am I right in assuming this, or could it still be the stick that's bad?
Took it to an Apple Store. The first thing they did is reset the P-Ram (I believe that's the correct RAM name). Upon doing this, my computer correctly stated I had 2 GB of RAM, with both slots working. Everything seemed to be in order, took my laptop back.
Now, I'm realizing that my computer will alternate as to whether it recognizes the second slot as empty or not. I'm thinking this means the RAM slot, in other words the logic board, is faulty. Am I right in assuming this, or could it still be the stick that's bad?