Disk Utility Rainbow Wheel of Death!

I am erasing a 1tb hard drive and I after 2 hours it said 1 minute left and I suddenly got the rainbow wheel of death. It's been there for at least 20 minutes. I'm scared if I unplug the drive or force shut down the computer that my drive will get damaged. There's no end in sight and I don't want to leave my computer on all night. Help!! What should I do?

Did you do a secure erase, if so then let the system run. This is really necessary if you're going to be using the system. If you did not do a secure erase your HD may be damaged but I'd still let it run at least overnight.

Similar Messages

I get the rainbow wheel of death literally every two minutes

I get the rainbow wheel of death so often. I wiped my hard drive clean two weeks ago to get rid of the problem. It was okay for about two days, now it's back and worse than ever. It takes me almost 10 minutes to open up a microsoft word document. I can't do any work on it when this happens.

Adequate Backups must be your top priority, as your Boot drive may be failing.
Next on the list is to buy a new drive and install your favorite version of Mac OS X on it. Once you are running from a dependable drive, you can use the full power of Mac OS X to debug any remaining problems (if any) and determine whether that old drive can be saved.

Application Manager Downloads cause rainbow wheel of death

Each time I go to download an app with my Creative Cloud account via the Application Manager, it will download, but then once the install begins it continually starts the rainbow wheel of death. I'm running Snow Leopard, all up to date. Brand new MB Pro too. I have to continually shutdown my laptop manually and go through this whole process over again. Still continues to do the same thing. Any ideas? So frustrating.

At first download the Adobe applciation manager manually from the locations:
Mac: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=4774&fileID= 4438
Windows: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=4773&fileID= 4437
Later If you are still facing issue. Rename Media_db, pdb and OOBE folder.
The path for the above files will be:
1: OOBE
Windows: C>Program files or Program files(x86)>Common files>Adobe>OOBE and rename the OOBE folder to like (OOBEold).
Mac OS X : Macintosh HD>Library>Applciation support>Adobe>OOBE .
2:Location of Media_db, pdb files.
Windows: C>Program files or Program files(x86)>Common files>Adobe>Caps
Mac OS X : Macintosh HD>Library>Applciation support>Adobe>Caps.
After renaming OOBE, Media_db, pdb files run the Application manager which was downloaded and if the issue still persists then:
Create a new Administartor account and the restart the computer and log in back to the created new admin account , log in to CCm account and then try it will work.
If you still have queries regarding Creative Cloud installation and setup, you can contact support using the below link.
http://helpx.adobe.com/contact/
1) Choose 'Creative Cloud' from the field 'Select Your Adobe Product'
2) Choose the option " Download, installing and setting up" from drop down menu for the option ' Tell us what you need help with?'

MacBook Pro extremely slow start up, Rainbow wheel of death. HELP!

Hi there
My Mac has just suddenly started becoming very slow. Upgraded to Mavericks 2 months ago. Had an issue at first install that was resolved with re-installation.
Has become very slow to boot, freezing at the Grey Screen with the Apple and spining cog. (Kernel I think?)
It is also very slow once logged in. Nothing has changed system wise. Any help would be much appreciated.
EtreCheck version: 1.9.11 (43) - report generated 6 June 2014 1:53:23 pm AEST
Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
          1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) - Uptime: 0 days 0:32:16
Disk Information:
          Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (56.74 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information:
          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Gatekeeper:
          Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions:
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTELTEUSBCDCACMData (5.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTELTEUSBMassStorageFilter (5.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (1.3.12) Support
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (1.3.12) Support
          [kext loaded] com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal (9.0.4f4 - SDK 10.5) Support
          [not loaded] com.maudio.usb.fasttrackpro.driver (1.8) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.7.2) Support
          [kext loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (1.7) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDIPSupport (1.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraFSRSupport (3.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraHSRSupport (3.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraIPDirect (1.1.5) Support
          [not loaded] com.zte.LTEdriver.cdc_ecm_qmi (1.0.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.zte.LTEdriver.cdc_usb_bus (1.0.2) Support
Startup Items:
          DigidesignLoader: Path: /Library/StartupItems/DigidesignLoader
          PACESupport: Path: /Library/StartupItems/PACESupport
Problem System Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.auth.plist Support
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
          [loaded] com.adobe.versioncueCS4.plist Support
          [loaded] com.disc-soft.DAEMONTools.PrivilegedHelper.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist Support
          [running] com.paceap.eden.licensed.plist Support
          [loaded] PACESupport.plist Support
Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist Support
          [running] com.seagate.SeagateStorageGauge.plist Support
          [running] com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool.plist Support
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
          [not loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac.helperTool.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist Support
          [running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support
User Login Items:
          None
Internet Plug-ins:
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.07 - SDK 10.6 Support
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.07 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Flash Player: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins:
          Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins:
          CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 Support
          Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 2.6.1f3 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Adobe Version Cue CS4 Support
          Flash Player Support
          M-AudioFastTrackPro Support
          Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X Support
Time Machine:
          Auto backup: YES
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
               3%          WindowServer
               0%          TextEdit
               0%          fontd
               0%          aosnotifyd
Top Processes by Memory:
          119 MB          mds_stores
          106 MB          Google Chrome
          66 MB          Finder
          57 MB          WindowServer
          45 MB          Dock
Virtual Memory Information:
          1.77 GB          Free RAM
          1.13 GB          Active RAM
          213 MB          Inactive RAM
          787 MB          Wired RAM
          442 MB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs
Battery Info
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):          3391
Fully Charged:          No
Charging:          Yes
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          5599
Health Information:
Cycle Count:          806
Info received after running syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'Channel t|GPU D|I/O|find tok|n Cause: -' | tai in Terminal
Jun 1 17:56:26 shaunmahallsmbp kernel[0] <Debug>: nspace-handler-unblock: did not find token 10524
Jun 2 12:12:30 shaunmahallsmbp kernel[0] <Debug>: nspace-handler-unblock: did not find token 94
Jun 6 09:24:24 localhost kernel[0] <Debug>: Previous Shutdown Cause: -60

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'm not too Mac savvy, so the help is very much appreciated. So here's what I've done...
Had already tried to delete CleanMyMac. So I got EasyFind, and used it to delete/destroy the rest of the files. Did the same for Roxio, Sierra Wireless and Seagate. PaceAp would have been installed with Pro Tools, which is now gone.
There are several files associated with Sierra, PaceAp and Seagate (.plist & .bom files) that I cannot delete, as I get an error saying that cannot be deleted.
Tried Verifying and Repairing Disk Permissions - All was OK
Ran through the Sleep, then Restart, then Shutdown sequence. Noticed no difference.
Reset P-Ram.
Reset SMC
Rebooted again, holding command + R and ran the disk utility.
First Verified the disk. Got errors:
Invalid Directory item count
Volume bitmap needs minor repair for orphaned blocks
The volume Machintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.
So I then ran Repair disk, it ran through and then said:
The volume Machintosh HD was repaired successfully.
The battery condition is normal
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):          5420
Fully Charged:          Yes
Charging:          No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          5482
Health Information:
Cycle Count:          806
Condition:          Normal
Battery Installed:          Yes
Amperage (mA):          0
Voltage (mV):          12401
I then rebooted, but nothing has changed. At the moment it boots to the grey screen with the Apple logo and cogwheel. Takes about 10 mins to then go through to log in. Often the fan will start running as if the system is under load.
When I click login the rainbow wheel pops up and it freezes for a while. Then it eventually loads the home page. Takes another 10 - 20 mins to load everything, the clock and wifi connections in the top right take ages to load.
It will be extremely slow for another 20 mins or so. Cant open folders or do simple tasks without getting the rainbow wheel. Then after a little while it seems to run OK, but still sluggish.
There are no programs that are launched on startup, and I close all programs before shutting the system down. I have over 100 GB free space on the harddrive. Yet I notice in the data from EtreCheck, it states there is only 66 Gb.
Haven't used Time Machine, as my external harddrive is formatted to FAT32, and I have nowhere to store all its contents to reformat it to Mac Extended Journal. I have backed up all the files from the system that I need.
So is there anything else I can try? Should I try a full system wipe and reinstallation? If so, how do I go about this?
I'm assuming unlike PC's, it's not just a simple task to replace the harddrive, if it is failing hardware?
I'm in rural Australia, so not readily near a Mac Support Shop. But if it is hardware, I'll just have to figure out some way to get to one.
Here's the updated info from EtreCheck, if its of any use..
Thanks again everyone the help, muchos gracias!
EtreCheck version: 1.9.11 (43) - report generated 7 June 2014 1:54:42 pm AEST
Hardware Information:
          MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)
          MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro6,2
          1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          Intel HD Graphics - VRAM: 288 MB
          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M - VRAM: 512 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) - Uptime: 0 days 2:11:8
Disk Information:
          Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (66.67 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information:
          Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
          Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
Gatekeeper:
          Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions:
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTELTEUSBCDCACMData (5.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTELTEUSBMassStorageFilter (5.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (1.3.12) Support
          [not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (1.3.12) Support
          [kext loaded] com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal (9.0.4f4 - SDK 10.5) Support
          [not loaded] com.maudio.usb.fasttrackpro.driver (1.8) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.7.2) Support
          [kext loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.7.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (1.7) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.1.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraDIPSupport (1.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraFSRSupport (3.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraHSRSupport (3.0.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraIPDirect (1.1.5) Support
          [not loaded] com.zte.LTEdriver.cdc_ecm_qmi (1.0.2) Support
          [not loaded] com.zte.LTEdriver.cdc_usb_bus (1.0.2) Support
Startup Items:
          DigidesignLoader: Path: /Library/StartupItems/DigidesignLoader
          PACESupport: Path: /Library/StartupItems/PACESupport
Problem System Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.paragon.NTFS.auth.plist Support
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
          [loaded] com.adobe.versioncueCS4.plist Support
          [loaded] com.disc-soft.DAEMONTools.PrivilegedHelper.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist Support
          [running] com.paceap.eden.licensed.plist Support
          [loaded] PACESupport.plist Support
Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist Support
          [running] com.seagate.SeagateStorageGauge.plist Support
          [running] com.sierrawireless.SwitchTool.plist Support
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
          [running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist Support
User Login Items:
          None
Internet Plug-ins:
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.07 - SDK 10.6 Support
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.07 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Flash Player: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins:
          Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins:
          CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 Support
          Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 2.6.1f3 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Adobe Version Cue CS4 Support
          Flash Player Support
          M-AudioFastTrackPro Support
          Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X Support
Time Machine:
          Auto backup: YES
          Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU:
               8%          Google Chrome
               8%          WindowServer
               2%          hidd
               0%          mdworker
               0%          fontd
Top Processes by Memory:
          254 MB          coreservicesd
          127 MB          Google Chrome
          111 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent
          86 MB          Finder
          61 MB          Google Chrome Helper
Virtual Memory Information:
          780 MB          Free RAM
          1.52 GB          Active RAM
          716 MB          Inactive RAM
          917 MB          Wired RAM
          823 MB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

Spinning rainbow wheel of death multiple times a day

Hi, I'm on a 2-yr-old MacBook Pro, and for the last few months I am getting the rainbow wheel many times a day. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it. I'm fairly new to Mac, and so don't know the best maintenance routine.
I discovered something called EtreCheck, and ran that. I'm including it below in case anyone knows what any of it means.
Thanks for any help!
EtreCheck version: 1.9.15 (52)
Report generated October 6, 2014 at 1:59:50 PM MDT
Hardware Information: ?
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,1
1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4 cores
4 GB RAM
Video Information: ?
Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: (null)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 512 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
System Software: ?
OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: 10 days 1:26:51
Disk Information: ?
APPLE HDD HTS547550A9E384 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (350.8 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-8A8
USB Information: ?
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Information: ?
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper: ?
Mac App Store and identified developers
Problem System Launch Daemons: ?
[failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
Launch Daemons: ?
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support
Launch Agents: ?
[running] com.brother.LOGINserver.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ?
[loaded] com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Login Items: ?
iTunesHelper
Dropbox
Caffeine
Internet Plug-ins: ?
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.4 - SDK 10.6 Support
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20913.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 67 Check version
Audio Plug-ins: ?
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins: ?
Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins ?
CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 Support
WebEx64: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes: ?
Flash Player Support
Java Support
Time Machine: ?
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ?
      3% WindowServer
      1% mds_stores
      0% ocspd
      0% Mail
      0% com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64
Top Processes by Memory: ?
106 MB WindowServer
66 MB Microsoft Word
53 MB Safari
53 MB Mail
45 MB Calendar
Virtual Memory Information: ?
21 MB Free RAM
689 MB Active RAM
678 MB Inactive RAM
765 MB Wired RAM
10.27 GB Page-ins
1.87 GB Page-outs

When you have the problem, note the exact time: hour, minute, second.
These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Scroll back to the time you noted above.
Select the messages entered from then until the end of the episode, or until they start to repeat, whichever comes first.
Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of it useless for solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Rainbow wheel of death-multi program

the subject says it all. after a year of perfect performance my imac g5 with 2 external hard drives, 1/3 of internal being used, is giving me pinwheels suddenly. it's across programs-internet, finder, photoshop....any ideas short of taking it to the genius bar? i ran onyx which seemed to help a bit but i am still seeing struggles. thanks.

HI,
Boot from your install disc and run Disk Utility. The startup disk may need repairs.
Insert your install disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
*(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)*
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
While you have the Disk Utility window open, look at the bottom of the window. Where you see Capacity and Available. *Make sure there is always 10% to 15% free disk space*
If you cannot boot from your install disc, try booting in Safe Mode
Probably a good idea to run the Apple Hardware Test also.
Carolyn

Macbook Is freezing randomly and giving me the spinning rainbow wheel of death.

Hi all. My Macbook (2009, right before they were changed to pros) is freezing at random times, sometimes when I'm on the internet, sometimes when I'm just trying to quit a program etc. It gives me the spinning wheel and when I go to the little apple in the corner to try and force quit my browser, or restart, it won't even click that, and remains frozen. I replaced my hd about four months ago so I don't know what would be causing this. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve me having to go to the Apple store?

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then take one of the actions that you're having trouble with. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Why does my itunes keep freezing and give me the rainbow wheel of death?

Whenever I am doing stuff on my computer it will randomly freeze up and I am almost positive it only happens when iTunes is open and playing. I have a lot of free space on my hardrive even though I have around 6000 songs and a bunch of movies on there. I just downloaded a bunch of games form the app store too that could be taking up space. Please let me know if you can help!

what model year make computer do you have what os are you on how much ram do you have?
go to launchpad (yeah I said it) utilities> system information.
on the left hand side, hardware should be highlight and you will have all the information you need to give us.
Feel free to exclude your serial number. you can do so in preview. But it doesn't really matter, and it would be nice to have a reference of it somewhere should it ever get stolen. it your choice.

The screen is black and the rainbow wheel of death moves with the cursor

Help why won't it work?

A bad GPU? Screen? Connector cable between the two? It's difficult to say.
The best thing that you can do is to take your machine into your local Apple Store or AASP and have them diagnose the machine and get an estimate for repairing the machine, both of which should be free.
If it turns out that the problem is with the GPU or the screen, be ready for some sticker shock to repair your unit.
Good luck,
Clinton

Having mail 4.5 issues- open mail and get a new features message so I must import messages first in order to use mail 4.5. Just recently put in MAC OSX 10.6.7. Once it imports click done to start using mail, but end up with the rainbow wheel? Now What?

Having mail 4.5 issues- open mail and get a new features message that says in order to use the new features, I must import existing messages into the new version first in order to use mail 4.5. Just recently put in MAC OSX 10.6.7. Once it imports I am to click done to start using mail, but end up with the rainbow wheel of death and it also says you cannot use mail until the import is finished? Now What?

Is Mail still "spinning"? If it's been doing that for a while, I'd kill it, using either Activity Monitor or the OS X application picker. Then relaunch Mail and see what happens.
Two "by the ways":
1) Your system details mention an PPC iMac. Since a non-Intel Mac can't run OS X 10.6, you seem to have another Mac. You might want to consider updating your system details.
2) You seem to have been misled by the poor labeling of the message composition fields on this forum into trying to enter your entire post into the "subject" field. In the future, just enter a summary of your post there and the main text into the field below it.

Spinning Beach Ball of death during disk utility

Go to disk utility and verify the startup disk, start the disk verification and the spinng beach ball of death coming up. After a minute the result is that the disk is ok. During the verify processing I see only the spinning ball.
Anyone???

drums77 wrote:
Go to disk utility and verify the startup disk, start the disk verification and the spinng beach ball of death coming up. After a minute the result is that the disk is ok. During the verify processing I see only the spinning ball.
Anyone???
Normal. The verify disk operation on the boot volume can take a while and Disk Utility may not be responding to the OS quickly enough so the mystic spinning lollipop pizza comes up for a while. Somewhere there is an actual disclaimer to that effect. It all comes from not being able to dismount the root volume, which complicates the process.

Streaming videos and ads cause rainbow spinny wheel of death

I really need help here.
Everytime I try to view videos on hulu and various other sites, or even just go to the youtube homepage, safari freezes up and gives me the spinny wheel.
It did it before I upgraded my flash, and still does it after.
Any help?

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...
Uninstall and reinstall the latest version of Flash Player Plugin.
Uninstall Flash
Install Flash
Then repair disk permissions.
Quit any open applications/programs. Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select the FirstAid tab. Click: Repair Disk Permissions. When it's finished from the Menu Bar, Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac. If you see a long list of "messages" in the permissions window, it's ok. That can be ignored. As long as you see, "Permissions Repair Complete" when it's finished... you're done. Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac.
Carolyn

Disk Utility Graphical Smears with use of wheel mouse

Here's a screenshot to show what I'm talking about:
This occurs itermittently when you mount a 4GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro and click the info button in the toolbar of disk utility. Once the info appears, rolling the mouse wheel can cause the text to smear as it moves upward.

Problem does not occur in Snow Leopard.

IMac running 10.7.3 stuck on rainbow wheel right after desktop launches and google chrome trying to restore a previous browsing session

Hello All - thanks in advance for your help with this.
The problem I'm encountering is on an iMac 24" from 2008, Intel Core 2Duo 1.3 GHz processor. I'm running 10.7.3 but have yet to install the client combo update.
My computer would not wake from sleep this morning after having been left on all night. The last two apps I had been running last night before this morning's freeze up were Google Chrome and iTunes. I restarted the computer and noticed at the login screen that one of the login accounts that is normally set up for use had disappeared. Once I logged in to my account, which had not disappeared, and arrived at the desktop, Chrome automatically tried to relaunch and restore the previous session with a note indicating that the browser had not been quit properly.
iTunes was running as well but had no functionality - non responsive to mouse click commands, etc. About thirty seconds later the rainbow wheel appeared and began spinning.
Tried force quitting both applications applications respectively but the finder was non-responsive as well. The dock would pop up when moused over but I was not permitted to select any of the icons. Restarted the computer and essentially the same thing occurred but I was able to quit out of iTunes this time before the rainbow wheel started.
Tried restarting with all peripheral hardware disconnected. No change. Tried booting up in safe mode - didn't work. Rebooted in disk utility mode - ran disk verification and was told all was well. Ran permissions verifications and was told there were problems. Repaired the permissions issues successfully. Rebooted again but same issue with desktop/apps freezing up. Rebooted into Disk Utility mode and tried a reinstall of lion - reinstall successul but upon normal reboot desktop still frozen once I launched Chrome and attempted to get to apple site to download the 10.7.3 patch.
Tried rebooting in disk utility mode to restore from a time machine back up - the external hard drive where my back ups are stored did not appear as a restore source even though I had reconnected the USB cable.
I then rebooted again into disk utility mode and tried to use safari to navigate to the apple site and download the 10.7.3 client combo update. No dice - received error messages saying the download could not be completed because there was insufficient memory available.
Called Apple - rep said I should take the computer in to the store - refused as of the time of the call because I had already wasted half the day on this and didn't want to flush the remainder down the toilet hanging around at the Apple store. So much for that - the day is now totally wasted any way.
Another couple of bits of information which may or may not be helpful:
When I'm in disk utility mode the disk image icon at the top of the list of disk images/mounts on the left hand side of the utility window is in red text: 320.07 GB WDC WD320...and the main dialogue box says: "This drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired. Back up Data and see Apple dealer for help." One might conclude that my computer is therefore dead...not exactly. This happened once before after trying to set up a bootcamp partition using XP instead of windows 7. XP is not supported by Lion but I was trying a work around. Soon thereafter I upgraded my OS to 10.7.2 (or.3 can't remember) using software updater instead of a full native download from the Apple Support site and the computer went bananas. After the upgrade I was getting the CUI ???? errors which have since become infamous. While working with Apple phone support on the CUI issue and using disk utility on that issue, that same red text disc image came up and the note about my hardware having failed as described above. Apple told me I was cooked and my machine was finished. They were wrong. I can't remember what I did but I worked on the problem a bit more and was eventually able to upgrade my OS from the native download and get my machine back in order and runnign fine.
I recently attempted the bootcamp partition (stupidly) work around for XP again without success - last week before all of the latest drama set in. YES I have learned my lession and will not attempt this again.
So that's what's going on - sorry for the Moby Dick lenght description but I figured the more details available the more likely some one is to know how to fix the problem.
Any thoughts, suggestions, HELP please!!!
Thanks.

Hello All - thanks in advance for your help with this.
The problem I'm encountering is on an iMac 24" from 2008, Intel Core 2Duo 1.3 GHz processor. I'm running 10.7.3 but have yet to install the client combo update.
My computer would not wake from sleep this morning after having been left on all night. The last two apps I had been running last night before this morning's freeze up were Google Chrome and iTunes. I restarted the computer and noticed at the login screen that one of the login accounts that is normally set up for use had disappeared. Once I logged in to my account, which had not disappeared, and arrived at the desktop, Chrome automatically tried to relaunch and restore the previous session with a note indicating that the browser had not been quit properly.
iTunes was running as well but had no functionality - non responsive to mouse click commands, etc. About thirty seconds later the rainbow wheel appeared and began spinning.
Tried force quitting both applications applications respectively but the finder was non-responsive as well. The dock would pop up when moused over but I was not permitted to select any of the icons. Restarted the computer and essentially the same thing occurred but I was able to quit out of iTunes this time before the rainbow wheel started.
Tried restarting with all peripheral hardware disconnected. No change. Tried booting up in safe mode - didn't work. Rebooted in disk utility mode - ran disk verification and was told all was well. Ran permissions verifications and was told there were problems. Repaired the permissions issues successfully. Rebooted again but same issue with desktop/apps freezing up. Rebooted into Disk Utility mode and tried a reinstall of lion - reinstall successul but upon normal reboot desktop still frozen once I launched Chrome and attempted to get to apple site to download the 10.7.3 patch.
Tried rebooting in disk utility mode to restore from a time machine back up - the external hard drive where my back ups are stored did not appear as a restore source even though I had reconnected the USB cable.
I then rebooted again into disk utility mode and tried to use safari to navigate to the apple site and download the 10.7.3 client combo update. No dice - received error messages saying the download could not be completed because there was insufficient memory available.
Called Apple - rep said I should take the computer in to the store - refused as of the time of the call because I had already wasted half the day on this and didn't want to flush the remainder down the toilet hanging around at the Apple store. So much for that - the day is now totally wasted any way.
Another couple of bits of information which may or may not be helpful:
When I'm in disk utility mode the disk image icon at the top of the list of disk images/mounts on the left hand side of the utility window is in red text: 320.07 GB WDC WD320...and the main dialogue box says: "This drive has a hardware problem that can't be repaired. Back up Data and see Apple dealer for help." One might conclude that my computer is therefore dead...not exactly. This happened once before after trying to set up a bootcamp partition using XP instead of windows 7. XP is not supported by Lion but I was trying a work around. Soon thereafter I upgraded my OS to 10.7.2 (or.3 can't remember) using software updater instead of a full native download from the Apple Support site and the computer went bananas. After the upgrade I was getting the CUI ???? errors which have since become infamous. While working with Apple phone support on the CUI issue and using disk utility on that issue, that same red text disc image came up and the note about my hardware having failed as described above. Apple told me I was cooked and my machine was finished. They were wrong. I can't remember what I did but I worked on the problem a bit more and was eventually able to upgrade my OS from the native download and get my machine back in order and runnign fine.
I recently attempted the bootcamp partition (stupidly) work around for XP again without success - last week before all of the latest drama set in. YES I have learned my lession and will not attempt this again.
So that's what's going on - sorry for the Moby Dick lenght description but I figured the more details available the more likely some one is to know how to fix the problem.
Any thoughts, suggestions, HELP please!!!
Thanks.

My Mac is doing strange things: delaying between users, mouse flickering and bouncing, gets stuck with rainbow wheel flickering. I ran the appel hardware test and it detected an error: 4MOT/4/40000003:HDD-1233 Does anybody know what that means? HELP!

My imac is doing strange things:
-delaying between users: when closing session it goes to blue, then takes a while to appear users signin box, and then wont recognize mouse command to enter until a couple of minutes later... then everything seems alright until....
-it gets stuck between things, the rainbow wheel appears and its just delays there forever....
-and every now and then the mouse starts flickering and bouncing wildly onscreen.
I ran the appel hardware test and it detected an error:
4MOT/4/40000003:HDD-1233
Does anybody know what that means? HELP!

WZZZ answered about where to get iStat. And do check the SMART status. If it is an overheating problem due to a fan or logic board problem, your hard drive is possibly cooking itself to death. If so it isn't a faulty hard drive even though the hard drive might fail. So assuming it's a temperature problem, even if you are able to repair things on the disk with software, that is working on symptoms, not causes. I could be wrong however.
RE: AppleCare: Your iMac came with one year of AppleCare (Apple's warranty program), but within the first year you can buy 2 more years. You have to extend by the one year anniversary of purchase of the computer. Your 10,1 is too old to still be in the first year, and since you asked what it was, I'm sure you don't have it. Bottom line meaning is that whatever this problem turns out to be, you'll have to pay for it. Unless there is something like this. It is for 2011 iMacs with certain Seagate drives. You can put in your serial number for fun, but it looks like yours is too old. Lastly, some people have had Apple help them anyway if it is just out of warranty, but many have not. Your machine is one of these. Type in 10,1 in the search box. Is there an Apple Store near you? Just b/c it's out of warranty doesn't mean you shouldn't have it looked at by Apple. But no one here can say at all what Apple will or will not do.
Hope you get it taken care of!

Disk Utility Rainbow Wheel of Death!

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