Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

There is something wrong with my Macbook Pro. IT'S GOING EXTREMELY SLOW!

S

SethRogen

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
263
0
I practically have the most expensive Macbook Pro you can get. I got it in January, and got every upgrade possible for my Pro when buying.

I'm in College and at a dorm. Everything is moving slower on my computer. I used to download HD episodes on iTunes in "minutes." It now saying 12-15 hours per episode?

Youtube videos and windows are loading slower as well.

My roommate internet seems fine though?

THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS.

Could I have a virus? I filled a LOT OF STORAGE with iTunes btw.

Usually everything works so smooth.

Could it be a Virus. Help?
 
It is NOT a virus.

Currently there are zero viruses affecting Mac OS X in public circulation, but there are other kinds of malware existing, that can infect your Mac.
But as long as you don't install software from unknown and untrusted sources, you are safe, as malware needs administrative permissions to run successfully, which means, you need to install the malware yourself, it can't install itself (one of the reasons, why a Mac OS X virus hasn't appeared yet).
To learn more about malware in Mac OS X and what steps can be taken to protect yourself, read the following F.A.Q.:


Open Activity Monitor and select All Processes and then either sort by Real Mem to show you the process(es) using up your RAM or/and sort by CPU to show you the processes slowing down your Mac.

What are your network settings and how do you connect to the internet? What speed do you get via www.speedtest.NET?

Performance Tips For Mac OS X

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​
 
SethRogen said:
I practically have the most expensive Macbook Pro you can get. I got it in January, and got every upgrade possible for my Pro when buying.

I'm in College and at a dorm. Everything is moving slower on my computer. I used to download HD episodes on iTunes in "minutes." It now saying 12-15 hours per episode?

Youtube videos and windows are loading slower as well.

My roommate internet seems fine though?

THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS.

Could I have a virus? I filled a LOT OF STORAGE with iTunes btw.

Usually everything works so smooth.

Could it be a Virus. Help?
Click to expand...


It's not a virus.


Mahic said:
I think the most likely situations is that your Wi-Fi card is failing. You should set up a genius bar appointment and have them check it out.
Click to expand...

It depends on if OP is having the issue outside of his room then it could be the airport card. If I were a betting person - and I am (much to the dismay of my wallet) - I would say that it's a problem with either the router, your location in the room, position relative to the router, or the net management software that your school uses.
 
SethRogen said:
I'm in College and at a dorm. Everything is moving slower on my computer. I used to download HD episodes on iTunes in "minutes." It now saying 12-15 hours per episode?
Click to expand...

College internet isn't the fastest thing in the world. I won't be surprised your internet is slow when his is fast cus you're connecting when the bandwidth pipe is being choked.

This and the fact that almost everyone torrents porn in dorms, so all in all, I'd say its pretty normal.
 
I'm assuming youre in the US. At that, welcome to college. You can go spend $1 million on a computer and upgrade everything, but your internet is still dependent on everyone else on their cheap $500 dells. Its the unfortunate truth.

Never try comparing the nice things you have at home to school, the internet/tv/food will never be as good at school.

Just for the technological backing, each dorm has one "pipe" for internet. Just like your home has one "pipe". Only difference is that one pipe in college is being used by hundreds of kids to watch youtube videos, download porn, game on xbox live, etc. all of which slows things down for everyone else. As far as I can tell, that is your problem.

If you think you actually have an issue (not "when i open safari it takes 2 minutes to load my homepage") then post up the actual specs of your machine (13"? 15"? 4gb ram? core i5, i7, core2, etc.) and someone will be more likely to be able to help you figure out whats wrong.
 
danthedj said:
I'm assuming youre in the US. At that, welcome to college. You can go spend $1 million on a computer and upgrade everything, but your internet is still dependent on everyone else on their cheap $500 dells. Its the unfortunate truth.

Never try comparing the nice things you have at home to school, the internet/tv/food will never be as good at school.

Just for the technological backing, each dorm has one "pipe" for internet. Just like your home has one "pipe". Only difference is that one pipe in college is being used by hundreds of kids to watch youtube videos, download porn, game on xbox live, etc. all of which slows things down for everyone else. As far as I can tell, that is your problem.

If you think you actually have an issue (not "when i open safari it takes 2 minutes to load my homepage") then post up the actual specs of your machine (13"? 15"? 4gb ram? core i5, i7, core2, etc.) and someone will be more likely to be able to help you figure out whats wrong.
Click to expand...

15' 2.5 GHz intel Core i7, 750 gb, 8gb memory
 
simsaladimbamba said:
That's it?
Again, what about the rest?
Click to expand...

1898596336.png


I'm asking people I know in dorms.

Download speed from Student #1: 2.94

Student #2: 2.3

I'm at 0.25....?
----
Restarted Macbook:
1898607617.png


----

If they are hitting in 2.3 - 3

And I'm getting 0.28. Something has to be wrong with my Macbook?
This isn't right.
 
Last edited:
1. what's your wifi signal like?
2. if you're not on wifi, maybe your port has been shaped by your network admin or automated process. you been hammering the hell out of your bandwidth?
 
throAU said:
1. what's your wifi signal like?
2. if you're not on wifi, maybe your port has been shaped by your network admin or automated process. you been hammering the hell out of your bandwidth?
Click to expand...
All dorm students use the same wifi signal.....

My download speed is just extremely messed up and I don't know why?

I should be in the 2.5 - 3 range. Not 0.28!
 
SethRogen said:
All dorm students use the same wifi signal.....

My download speed is just extremely messed up and I don't know why?

I should be in the 2.5 - 3 range. Not 0.28!
Click to expand...

He is suggesting that your specific machine may have been singled out and served a limit for overuse. It does not matter if you are all on the same WiFi network, a limit enforced on your computer is not going to effect other computers.

I would suggest, on that note, that perhaps you could at some point (barring any other possible solutions) go to a coffee shop with a friend and compare your connections there. If you see no real difference there, it would probably be safe to assume that you've been served a limit. If you see a difference there, it would become a more likely possibility that perhaps a component in your Mac is failing.

Good luck.
 
why dont you give help desk a call?

I work for the help desk at my university and we (used to) give everyone a 5gb soft cap per month of data. So if you downloaded major amounts of itunes movies you'd FLY over that cap and get throttled.

Call help desk. Its their network. They can find your exact computer and see if anything has happened or was misconfigured when you first configured your account at the university.
 
danthedj said:
why dont you give help desk a call?

I work for the help desk at my university and we (used to) give everyone a 5gb soft cap per month of data. So if you downloaded major amounts of itunes movies you'd FLY over that cap and get throttled.

Call help desk. Its their network. They can find your exact computer and see if anything has happened or was misconfigured when you first configured your account at the university.
Click to expand...

This is actually a much better idea than mine. I'll just second this. You can probably find the help desk number on your universities website.
 
FcjCb.png


they're most likely throttling your internet. give help desk a call and tell them you've been doing nothing against the policy, simply using itunes HD movies (jab that the school doesnt provide much in the form of HD media). They should lift the throttle if there is one.
 
east85 said:
He is suggesting that your specific machine may have been singled out and served a limit for overuse. It does not matter if you are all on the same WiFi network, a limit enforced on your computer is not going to effect other computers.
Click to expand...

Exactly. You could also be throttled on wifi, which i didn't make clear.

Ask your helpdesk what's going on. If you've been throttled (likely if you've been using a lot of data) then you may be able to negotiate for more bandwidth, get the cap lifted or whatever.

If you can't get un-throttled, at least you know what's going on (and presumably the throttling will time-out at the end of the month or whatever once your quota resets).


Alternatively, test your wifi on some other AP and see if you have speed issues there.

I asked about your wifi signal because even if you're on the same AP, you're likely not in the same room. It could be interference close to where you are causing slow speed... but more likely shaping.
 
east85 said:
He is suggesting that your specific machine may have been singled out and served a limit for overuse. It does not matter if you are all on the same WiFi network, a limit enforced on your computer is not going to effect other computers.

I would suggest, on that note, that perhaps you could at some point (barring any other possible solutions) go to a coffee shop with a friend and compare your connections there. If you see no real difference there, it would probably be safe to assume that you've been served a limit. If you see a difference there, it would become a more likely possibility that perhaps a component in your Mac is failing.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

This. I went to college 10 years ago (!) but there's peak times and if you're downloading a massive amount of stuff they have no problem capping you. This is also a legal liabilty for the college as the RIAA has attempted to both sue and subpena colleges for abetting illegal file sharing.
 
your upload speeds look fine so that sould prove its not the machine I have to agree with others that your being throttled for hammering the hell out of the downloads
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back