snow leopard beach balls... at wits end

[catachip]

So, I did two 100% clean installs of Snow Leopard on my late 2008 MacBook Pro. The only think I've upgraded since I got it (and that was before snow leopard) was to a 500 GB, 5400 RPM drive.

After both clean installs I still get spinning beach ball in all different apps about 3-4 times a day (lasts about 15-20 seconds). During this time music will stop, and I can't click on any windows (although I can move the mouse), then all of a sudden things will catch up. Also having videos in VLC and Plex pause and such like they never have before.

I can't get to Activity Monitor when this happens (as I can't click on any other windows) and console shows nothing that I can tell. I thought maybe safari had something to do with it, but it happens even when it is closed.

I am at the end of my rope here and thinking about just going back to Leopard. Can anyone help me out here? I don't know what else to do...

 

[Catfish_Man]

Anything relevant-looking in console logs? Can you force quit an app while it's beachballing? If you can, the report-to-apple dialog should have a spin trace that would explain what's going on.

 

[catachip]

Anything relevant-looking in console logs? Can you force quit an app while it's beachballing? If you can, the report-to-apple dialog should have a spin trace that would explain what's going on.

It's the whole system that locks up, not just the app. You can't force quit or initiate any new commands. Console doesn't reveal any errors.

 

[earthdan]

First, try snow leopard cache cleaner.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/snowleopardcachecleaner.html

Second, try uninstalling the flash plugin from safari. Reboot. Then download newest version (can be found on apple's site), and install.

cheers,
Dan

 

[pyrodex]

First, try snow leopard cache cleaner.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/snowleopardcachecleaner.html

Second, try uninstalling the flash plugin from safari. Reboot. Then download newest version (can be found on apple's site), and install.

cheers,
Dan

Can you provide steps for the second item? I myself am getting beach balls all over the place outside of safari just doing operating system functions and it is getting frustrating. Not sure how the Flash plugin will help but willing to try anything at this point.

 

[earthdan]

http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/safariplugin.htm

just googled it

 

[catachip]

First, try snow leopard cache cleaner.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/snowleopardcachecleaner.html

Second, try uninstalling the flash plugin from safari. Reboot. Then download newest version (can be found on apple's site), and install.

cheers,
Dan

I tried both the cache cleaner and uninstalling flash and reinstalling without a resolution.

I tried to watch two different movies yesterday and they would lock up about every 20 minutes in VLC. This is frustrating...

 

[earthdan]

do you have parallels installed?

if you do, try removing.

For me, the beachballs seemed to disappear after i reinstalled the flash plugin, so I am kinda just guessing from info Ive read over these forums.

sorry I can't give you a definitive answer....

cheers

 

[penter]

I seem to be having the same problem.
i ADDITION, however, I can't install ANYTHING!!
software update doesn't get past the "accept terms of service" screen, and applications can't be installed using installers.
can anyone help me?