Finder freezes (spinning beach ball) for minutes when in column view

Just in the last weeks, I get the spinning beach ball when I try to select an item in the column view. Doesnt happen with a folder, which just opens up another pane.
The beach ball continues for a couple of minutes, then it stops and the item is viewable.
This happens also when trying to open files from applications (in the column view)
Powermac G4, Dual 1.0ghz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

First, try using Disk Utility to repair your startup disk (hard drive) as shown in Dr.Smokes repair thread.
Doing the things in his link is a good start for a monthly maintenance program.
If that does'nt help, check out his Spinning Beachball link.
Cheers!
DALE

Similar Messages

10.6.8 update won't install gets half way through then just freezes spinning beach ball for 4 hours any ideas y. Tried and restarted 3 times already does the same thing each time have to hold down the power button to restart

10.6.8 update won't install gets half way through then just freezes spinning beach ball for 4 hours any ideas y. Tried and restarted 3 times already does the same thing each time have to hold down the power button to restart. Anyone can help

Ok will check, as of right now I have 82.57gb free, that's plenty of space will check the disk though using disk utility. Also I am now downloading the update from the apple website instead of going through software update

Potential fix for frequent freezes - spinning beach ball - in all apps

I've had escalating difficulties over the past few weeks with frequent crashes. It started out that iTunes would pause suddenly in the middle of a song, and give me the spinning beach ball for 5-10 seconds before starting to play again; it then progressed to Safari doing the same thing when I tried to load process-heavy pages (I noticed it especially on pages with large animated ads). It got progressively worse, to the point where yesterday I had to force restart about fifteen times, and a couple of those were so bad that I'd have to re-restart five seconds after logging in.
Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that I tried various solutions I've seen around the boards - seems a bunch of folks are having similar difficulties - and so I tried a couple of the suggestions: repairing permissions; using Macaroni to do routine maintenance such as clearing logs & caches; running Disk Utility. I found that using a newly-created account got rid of the problem, so I figured there was some problem with my user account.
Well, I saw someone suggest in another thread dragging the Fonts folder to the desktop and restart; the next step in the process was to do the same with Preferences. I got into my library folder and found I had not one but two Fonts folders - seemingly identical in their contents (encodings.dir, fonts.dir, fonts.list, fonts.scale) and then a third folder with all the actual font files in it. Not sure how it happened that I had two Fonts folders, but I dragged both of them to the desktop and let the computer replace it upon restart.
And miracle of miracles, that seems to have solved the problem. Not sure if the computer was trying to look in the Library for fonts and getting confused by finding two identical files, or what, but hey, I can't complain.
So I thought I'd post this here in case it's helpful for anyone else!
~t.

I've had escalating difficulties over the past few weeks with frequent crashes. It started out that iTunes would pause suddenly in the middle of a song, and give me the spinning beach ball for 5-10 seconds before starting to play again; it then progressed to Safari doing the same thing when I tried to load process-heavy pages (I noticed it especially on pages with large animated ads). It got progressively worse, to the point where yesterday I had to force restart about fifteen times, and a couple of those were so bad that I'd have to re-restart five seconds after logging in.
Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that I tried various solutions I've seen around the boards - seems a bunch of folks are having similar difficulties - and so I tried a couple of the suggestions: repairing permissions; using Macaroni to do routine maintenance such as clearing logs & caches; running Disk Utility. I found that using a newly-created account got rid of the problem, so I figured there was some problem with my user account.
Well, I saw someone suggest in another thread dragging the Fonts folder to the desktop and restart; the next step in the process was to do the same with Preferences. I got into my library folder and found I had not one but two Fonts folders - seemingly identical in their contents (encodings.dir, fonts.dir, fonts.list, fonts.scale) and then a third folder with all the actual font files in it. Not sure how it happened that I had two Fonts folders, but I dragged both of them to the desktop and let the computer replace it upon restart.
And miracle of miracles, that seems to have solved the problem. Not sure if the computer was trying to look in the Library for fonts and getting confused by finding two identical files, or what, but hey, I can't complain.
So I thought I'd post this here in case it's helpful for anyone else!
~t.

Pages spinning beach ball for 2 minutes opening document

Every time I open a pages or numbers document I get a spinning beach ball for a very long time.
Some examples:
36kb pages doc: 56sec to open first time; close, then reopen - 16sec.
115kb numbers doc: 1min46sec to open;
117kb pages doc: 2min29sec to open;
That's ridiculous, right? Or is it like this for everyone? This is after a FRESH install of lion on brand new SSD (everything else works great), and a FRESH install of iWork '09. It was the same with the migrated version of the app - I reinstalled it, including fresh plist files, thinking that would help. No difference. I routinely repair permissions as well.
Here's my specs:
Mac Pro 1.1 2.66 GHZ
6GB RAM
SSD Boot drive
Home folder on seperate drive (no latency with any other apps)
iWork '09 Up to date (pages 4.1 for example)
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
-FD

I have got the same problem, with Pages but also with "Password Wallet". There seems to be some problem with the "Mobile Documents" folder but I could not figure out how to solve it.
I tried to deactivate iClouds "Documents and Data" feature and thought this might solve the problem, but now I always get the spinning beachball - with "Documents and Data" checked or unchecked
Btw: I have a OWC SSD and wonder if the spinning beachball might have something to do with the SSD? But why does it only occur with some apps?

Spinning beach ball for 45-60 seconds, then fine

For several months now, I've had the spinning beach ball issue on my Macbook Pro. Within the first 5 minutes after boot up, the spinning beach ball will occur, seemingly at random (no specific app or action), for 45-60 seconds. While this happens, the system becomes completely unresponsive. But after this occurrence within the first five minutes after startup, it never happens again and everything is fine - until I reboot of course.
I am running Snow Leopard and this problem was happening before I installed Snow Leopard, so that's not it. But one thing I did do, which I am semi-convinced is the culprit, is I replaced my hard drive with a Seagate 500 mb Momentus drive. The actual model # is SEAST9500420AS. I don't know for sure, but that's around the time this issue first started. I know there is/was a spinning beach ball problem with the newer Macbook Pros and they were attributing it to the hard drive which just so happens to be the same hard drive I now have in my Macbook Pro. There was recently an EFI update that seemed to fix the problem for the newer models, but mine is the first generation right when they went to Intel chips (bought mine in April, 2006). Problem is, if it is my drive, this new EFI update that fixes the issue on the new models won't install on mine.
I also did a verify disk and repair disk permissions, but that was no help. Another thing I found going through the discussion groups was that the problem could happen because both the Macbook Pro and the Seagate drive have anti-shock technology that could conflict with one another. So if you disabled the anti-shock on the Macbook Pro, it might solve the problem as it seemed to for some folks out there. But I did that and it didn't help either.
I'm thinking it's my hard drive, but don't know how to fix it. But it could be something I haven't looked at yet or thought of. I've been trying everything the last several months with no luck and it's been driving me batty! What's really strange is it only happens once and always within the first 5 minutes after start up. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks.

I just finished doing lots of different tests to try to solve my problem. Didn't resolve it, but I did manage to eliminate some things and narrow it down further.
First I removed all my login items and restarted my computer. That didn't fix the problem.
So then I thought it might have something to do with Safari since that's one of the first things I open up when I start my computer and there are numerous reports in the discussions of spinning beach balls with Safari 4.0.3 which I have. So I purposely did not open Safari after startup. Problem still happened.
So then I thought maybe it has something to do with my internet connection. So I disconnected my internet connection and rebooted. Then I only opened programs that don't use online access. I leisurely opened up a program, did a few things in it, closed it, and then did the same thing with another program. Did some things with Finder. Purposely did not rush things. Waited 4-5 seconds after every operation's completion before executing another task. Never had more than one program open at any given time to eliminate any issue with two many resources open. You guessed it - the problem STILL happened. Not that it matters, but it happened when I hit Command-I on my hard drive icon to get the info pane. A fairly innocuous task. Froze up with the spinning beach ball for at least 45-50 seconds. Tried clicking a few other things while this was happening, but nothing. Once it freed up, a few things I clicked on previously suddenly became active and everything was fine again. Tried Command-I for a lot of different things with no problem. Response was instantaneous.
It pretty much happens 3-4 minutes into a session and then never happens again. And I think my test here eliminated several possibilities. Very frustrating. I hope this helps someone come up with a possible solution. Thanks.

Problem description: My macbook pro since this afteon has been slower, every application I open, it takes a long time to open, and shows the spinning beach ball for a while before it opens or performs some task, or responds to a click- EtreCheck

My computer
Problem description:
My macbook pro since this afternoon has been slower, every application I open, it takes a long time to open, and shows the spinning beach ball for a while before it opens or performs some task, or responds to a click…
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated 31 de março de 2015 18:29:15 BRT
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
    1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
    16 GB RAM Upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 250
Video Information: ℹ️
    Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB
        Color LCD 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.10.2 (14C1514) - Time since boot: 0:25:47
Disk Information: ℹ️
    Hitachi HTS545032B9A302 disk0 : (320,07 GB)
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
        Macintosh HD (disk1) / : 318.84 GB (47.94 GB free) - 51 errors
            Core Storage: disk0s2 319.21 GB Online
    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.trusteer.rapport.rapportd.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
    iTunesHelper    UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)
    AdobeResourceSynchronizer    Application Hidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
    Stickies    Application (/Applications/Stickies.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 31 Check version
    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.134 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.13 [Click for support]
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.13 [Click for support]
    Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.134 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.8 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Click for support]
    Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.8
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    npsf_cef: Version: sf 3.3.1.1 [Click for support]
    Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: Unknown
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
    DivX HiQ
    DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 <video>
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Flash Player [Click for support]
    Java [Click for support]
    MacFUSE [Click for support]
    Perian [Click for support]
    Trusteer Endpoint Protection [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Skip System Files: NO
    Auto backup: YES
    Volumes being backed up:
        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 318.84 GB Disk used: 270.90 GB
    Destinations:
        Time Machine Backups [Local]
        Total size: 999.86 GB
        Total number of backups: 60
        Oldest backup: 2012-07-15 01:16:54 +0000
        Last backup: 2015-03-29 19:28:06 +0000
        Size of backup disk: Excellent
            Backup size 999.86 GB > (Disk size 318.84 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
        97%    rapportd
         3%    WindowServer
         1%    mds
         0%    fseventsd
         0%    distnoted
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    155 MB    Safari
    120 MB    Finder
    86 MB    rapportd
    86 MB    WindowServer
    69 MB    mds_stores
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    12.56 GB    Free RAM
    2.53 GB    Active RAM
    428 MB    Inactive RAM
    1.66 GB    Wired RAM
    1.04 GB    Page-ins
    0 B    Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
    Mar 31, 2015, 06:00:15 PM    Self test - passed
    Mar 31, 2015, 01:13:05 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Microsoft Error Reporting_2015-03-31-131305_[redacted].crash
    Mar 31, 2015, 01:05:42 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Microsoft Error Reporting_2015-03-31-130542_[redacted].crash
    Mar 31, 2015, 12:24:33 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Microsoft Error Reporting_2015-03-31-122433_[redacted].crash
    Mar 30, 2015, 05:45:38 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Skype_2015-03-30-174538_[redacted].cpu_resource .diag [Click for details]
    Mar 30, 2015, 01:52:07 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Last.fm Scrobbler_2015-03-30-135207_[redacted].crash
    Mar 29, 2015, 05:55:05 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_20 15-03-29-175505_[redacted].crash
    Mar 29, 2015, 01:06:38 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/VLC_2015-03-29-130638_[redacted].hang
    Mar 29, 2015, 01:02:47 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/VLC_2015-03-29-130247_[redacted].hang

Open Activity Monitor and kill this process - rapportd.
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Alternatively, see:
Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Choose the version you have installed now:
OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
     Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
                 if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Clicking "All my Files" in Finder causes Spinning Beach Ball / Pinwheel

When I open a new Finder window which defaults to "All My Files" or whenever I click on "All My Files" I get the spinning beach ball / pinwheel.
When the Finder becomes responsive again I notice that at the top of "All My Files" is the "Contacts" and "Calendar" items. However, only two contacts out of hundreds show up and only one calendar event (from the beginning of the year) shows up.
In the system log I am seeing the following two line every time I click on "All My Files"
Oct 20 08:31:48 bkmac WindowServer[97]: CGXDisableUpdate: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Finder" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
Oct 20 08:31:50 bkmac WindowServer[97]: reenable_update_for_connection: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Finder" after 3.42 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
NOTE: I have done a "verify disk" in Disk Utility and it says the disk is fine, though I do have one of the Seagate drives that is listed for warranty repair on my iMac.
This machine was upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion to Mountain Lion and is a late-2009 IMac 11,1 27-inch Core-i5.
Other things in the log that look unrelated, but may still be problematic and appear frequently in the log include:
Oct 20 02:32:28 bkmac iTunes[52709]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff7c17e180): Unexpected connection closure...
Oct 20 02:32:28 bkmac ath[52725]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff7c17e180): Unexpected connection closure...
Oct 20 02:32:46 bkmac iTunes[52709]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff7c17e180): Unexpected connection closure...
Oct 20 02:32:46 bkmac ath[52725]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff7c17e180): Unexpected connection closure...
Oct 20 02:34:53 bkmac iTunes[52709]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff7c17e180): Unexpected connection closure...
Oct 20 02:34:53 bkmac ath[52725]: _NotificationSocketReadCallbackGCD (thread 0x7fff7c17e180): Unexpected connection closure...
and...
Oct 20 08:33:21 bkmac mdworker[60567]: Unable to talk to lsboxd
Oct 20 08:33:21 bkmac mdworker[60566]: Unable to talk to lsboxd
Oct 20 08:33:21 bkmac sandboxd[60568] ([60567]): mdworker(60567) deny mach-lookup com.apple.ls.boxd
Oct 20 08:33:21 bkmac sandboxd[60568] ([60566]): mdworker(60566) deny mach-lookup com.apple.ls.boxd
Oct 20 08:33:21 bkmac kernel[0]: Sandbox: sandboxd(60568) deny mach-lookup com.apple.coresymbolicationd
and....
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Could not look up channel/token: com.apple.time/0x3577: 0x3: No such process
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Could not get event name for stream/token: com.apple.time/3577: 0x3: No such process
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Bug: 12C54: libxpc.dylib + 36100 [FAC04D8B-680E-325F-8F0C-DD69859D0E01]: 0x3
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Could not get event name for stream/token: com.apple.time/3577: 0x3: No such process
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Could not get event name for stream/token: com.apple.time/3578: 0x3: No such process
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Could not get event name for stream/token: com.apple.time/3581: 0x3: No such process
Oct 20 08:59:59 bkmac UserEventAgent[158]: Could not get event name for stream/token: com.apple.time/3583: 0x3: No such process
Any thoughts on resolving the issue?

Regarding the "Contacts" and "Calendar" items -- apparently those files were from saved attachments in the Downloads folder rather than coming from my Contacts address book or my Calendar. I have deleted those -- I believe that was simply a red herring.
The error in the system.log persists every time I click on "All My Files"
Oct 20 11:02:21 bkmac WindowServer[101]: CGXDisableUpdate: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Finder" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
Oct 20 11:02:21 bkmac WindowServer[101]: reenable_update_for_connection: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Finder" after 1.35 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
I believe the problem must revolve around this.

Spinning Beach ball for 1 hour after Lion X installation, pls help

I have the Spinning Beach ball for 1 hour after Lion X installation, pls help
How long is it going to take?
Using Mac Book Pro corei5 with all previous updates.
Thanks

This happened to me too.
I bought Lion and let it download and install.
I had to leave my computer while the installer was running and when I came back a few hours later it was disoplaying the mac equivalent of a blue sceen: "You need to restart your computer. Hold...".
I restarted and I get to the login screen, but as soon as I start typing my password I get the beach ball and then tha fans start working like crazy.
I upgraded from snow leopard and my home account is encrypted.
What do I do?

Spinning Beach Ball of Death when saving.

Hey all.
I just upgraded to leopard and am having a tough time with cs3. We absolutely have to work off of a server so I can't get around that. However, it's just a mac in the corner, so it's not so technical...
Anyway, whenever I run an simple action on a file, it runs fine, but I get a spinning beach ball for at least 15 seconds. I can click on other applications, but the finder locks up. This only happens in Leopard. I've tried in tiger, and it works better, although still slower than PS7 or CS. I've locked the mediabrowser file and upgraded to 10.5.4 which said to fix an issue with cs3 (maybe not this one).
I think this is related to working from the server but I don't have a choice.
Anyone else experience this?

"We absolutely have to work off of a server so I can't get around that."
Somebody has forced you to suffer the consequences.
I've worked for companies like that and you have my condolences.

Why do a get a spinning beach ball of death when using latest skype?

Why do I get the spinning beach ball of death when using latest skype?

Google "skype os x problems" for suggestions.

Added user accounts all freeze (spinning beach ball)

Why do all user accounts (other than my main administrator account) freeze after logging in. The Finder freezes with the spinning beach ball just when the account seems to have logged in properly. I created new accounts (thinking that my old accounts were corrupted), but the new accounts did the same thing. My main user account is fine. I haven't used the other accounts for a while now, so why would they suddenly have problems now?! Is something corrupted in my system?!
It almost seems like the Finder is waiting for something to load, but it never gets loaded-so it gives me the beach ball while it waits. Is this what is happening? I can't even force the finder to quit. I have to force the computer to shut off by using the power switch.

Hi Paul
Try this.
Determine the Username for one of these other accounts.
Write down this chosen AccountUsername.
In your main admin account, Open Terminal, found in Applications/Utilities, and enter into terminal this command, (substitute the theAccountUsername with the actual account name you wrote down)
sudo rm /Users/theAccountUsername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist
then type in your admin password. It will not appear as you type, then press Return, then type
exit
and quit Terminial.
Log out and log into that usernames's account that you just worked on.
See how that goes.
Note: if you need to Force Quit, try the four key press of Control + Option + Command + Escape to open the Force Quit Dialogue box and try and Force Quit Finder. That may give you a chance to exit normally.
Also by doing those hard shutdowns you may need to run Repair Disk from the boot Installation Disk just to check that the file structure is OK.
regards roam

IPhoto 09 and 11: spinning beach ball of death when accessing contextual menu.

Whenever I right click to access the contextual menu, iPhoto gives me the spinning beach ball of death. This happens only when I right click on a photo from the events in the iPhoto library. It freezes for a few seconds then the spinning ball appears.
This happened in iPhoto 09 so I upgraded to iPhoto 11, but the problem is still there. I have deleted all files from the previous version before installing iPhoto 11 but it didn't solve the problem. Those files were application support files, cache and preferences all in the library. I have even created a new library in iPhoto 11 and imported a few photos just to test it out, but the problem persisted. I just can't right click without having that spinning beach ball of death appear. The only solution is to force quit the application. This is very frustrating and I would appreciate any help.
I am running Mac OS X Mountain Lion.
Thanks

Try the following:
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
User/Home/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your
User/Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder (Snow Leopard and Earlier).
or with Lion and Mt. Lion from the User/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/
Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder
3 - try to launch iPhoto and check for any improvements.
NOTE 1: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.
NOTE 2: In Lion and Mountain Lion the Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and hit the Enter button - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.

Solution to iPhoto spinning beach ball for Book projects with too many unplaced photos

A few days ago I discovered the solution to this problem for a client using iPhoto 9.5.1 in OS X Mavericks 10.9.4.
=====
TRIED ALL KNOWN SUGGESTIONS BUT NONE HELPED
My client had already tried repairing, rebuilding etc. the iPhoto Library, and I tried OS X's Disk Verify and Repair Permissions plus emptied the cache folder in system Library and in the hidden user Library folder (option-key "Go" menu, Library). None of this helped.
CLUE TO PROBLEM
I noticed several of her iPhoto Book projects each had thousands of "unplaced" photos. In each of those cases, each Book project only had 10-50 "placed" photos used to order the book but thousands of "unplaced" photos. In a Book project, clicking on the bottom-right corner's "Photo" icon-button caused an extremely long lasting spinning beach ball making iPhoto unusable for long periods.
I discovered the problem by clicking once on an existing Book project's name in the left column of iPhoto, then letting go of the mouse with its arrow cursor hovering over the selected Book project name. Within 1-7 seconds, a little pop-up appears listing the total number of photos (placed + unplaced) in that Book project. For many Book projects, the total number was just several more photos than the number of "placed" photos, e.g., a Book with 25 photos showed "(37)" in the pop-up info by the hovering stationary mouse, meaning 37 total photos (placed + unplaced) are associated with that Book project.
BUT...
...some projects listed over 5,000 (five thousand) photos associated with a single Book project that had only placed 20-40 photos in the final printed book. One Book project had 6,070 and several other small book projects showed over 1,000 photos. In each Book project with a mass of unplaced photos, clicking the bottom-right "Photo" icon-button caused a very long-lasting spinning beach ball, almost certainly because iPhoto struggled to build a huge list of thumbnails for the mass of unplaced photos.
My client didn't understand how to efficiently add photos to a new Book project and was clicking on the pull-down menu in the right column that appears after clicking the Photo icon-button within the Book project. From the menu she chose "Last import..." or other menu choice that added a mass of "unplaced" photos to the Book project.
She didn't realize that after creating a new Book project, she could simply drag an individual photo or multi-selected group of photos or an event or "faces" group from its respective library section and drop it onto the Book project's name in the left column, thereby adding only a small group of "unplaced" photos.
USER SOLUTIONS
=====Delete mass of "unplaced photos" within a Book project
This works best for cleaning up smaller number of unplaced photos from completed Book projects.
Problems with solution:
- if the number of unplaced photos is huge, e.g., 6,070, the list of unplaced photos won't appear for a long, long time if ever.
- even if the list of unplaced photos finally appears, there's no way to select more than one thumbnail at a time, i.e., command-a for Select All doesn't work, nor do shift-clicks and command-clicks for multi-item selecting. You must click one photo then tap the "delete" key on your keyboard repeatedly and fast for this to be practical (note: delete key presses are cached here (meaning accumulated until it catches up processing them later); tapping the delete key like mad then waiting for iPhoto to catch up takes lots of patience.
====Delete an entire existing Book project containing a mass association of unplaced photos
This is practical if you've already printed your Book project and no longer need it. My client chose this method for Book projects with a mega mass of unplaced photos.
Problem with solution:
- for incomplete Book projects in progress with a mass of unplaced photos, you'd have to start over after deleting the whole thing.
NEED FOR IMPROVED IPHOTO FEATURE(S)
(1) The existing "Clear Placed Photos" button within a Book project might be useful, but it'd be even better to also have a button to "Clear Unplaced Photos,” and this button should be available outside of the section that struggles to display thumbnails of large numbers of unplaced photos. Clicking "Clear Unplaced Photos" would do the trick.
(2) An additional iPhoto behavior might help: iPhoto should warn with an option to cancel when adding a mass of photos to the "unplaced photo" section if the number of photos exceeds ??? (400??).
(3) Add another choice to iPhoto’s special startup Administrative window (Repair, Rebuild, etc.): "Remove unplaced photos from existing projects. (Doesn't destroy any photos in Library)"
Whew!

Like I mentioned in the post, corruption was probably ruled out by running all the Admin features at iPhoto startup (e.g., Rebuild, etc.). I also stated in my post that I also ran a Disk Verify and Repaired Permissions in OSX (via Disk Utility). I also emptied system Library cache files as I stated in my post.
I was paid to figure out the solution and am not getting paid to troubleshoot for Apple. The more unplaced photos there are in a Book project, the longer it takes to build thumbnails. It's an old general problem in computing when building lists on the fly.
The delay happened for all Book projects with lots of unplaced photos (almost*** certainly more than Apple imagined a user would use), and the beach ball delay was proportional to the number unplaced photos, which super large numbers of photos.
I very much doubt photos are corrupt. But Apple will probably figure it out. It was EASILY reproducible. Try it with different number of unplaced photos known not be corrupt (they display fine elsewhere and iPhoto's and Disk Utlity's admin Verify, Repair etc features show no problems).
I'm done with this.
My client's iPhoto works well now and she knows how avoid placing exorbitant numbers of unplaced photos into her project. I'm not getting paid to answer all this, so good night.
=======
***"Science is the outcome of being prepared to live without certainty and therefore a mark of maturity. It embraces doubt and loose ends."
— A. C. Grayling

Spinning beach ball of death when opening a project

hello,
i would like to ask if there is a solution to my problem:
at my school in the media department, there are 4 eMac's 2 with OS X Panther and imovie 04, and 2 with OS X jaguar with imovie 03, now only one of the jaguar computers has decided that it wont open only one project, and it needs to be sent off to the exam board, all that happens is when i open it, i just get the spinning beach ball of death, and nothing else, i have tried to connect another mac with ilife 04 to it but the same problem occurs, i am updating the macs so that they will all have panther and ilife 05, would that solve it? also would any existing projects from imovie 3/4 be able to be opened in ilife05?
many thanks
bigpapaboogaloo

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