Finder stuck in beach ball mode

I've been having many issues with my computer for several days now, trying to address them one at a time. Latest: Finder isn't responding pretty regularly. Gets stuck in beach ball. Please advise.

Appears to be time for an Archive & Install, which gives you a new OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
Just be sure to select Preserve Users & Settings.
More Free Space would help too, like 20 GB if you can.

Similar Messages

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.

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

Bluetooth causing finder hanging and beach balls

This problem suddenly arose a few days ago when I was running 10.8.5. I thought updating to 10.9 would fix it, but no ~ the problem is still here ...
Up until a few days my bluetooth Apple keyboard and trackpad were behaving perfectly. Then out of the blue I started getting 20 second hangs, with beachball, every time I did something invovling the Finder ~ opening folders, clicking on files in a folder, etc. I ran all the utilities and maintenance jobs I could think, but the problem persisted.
By trial and error I discovered that turning Bluetooth off fixed the problem. I then tried different keyboards and trackpads (seeing if it was a hardware problem), but no joy ~ the Finder still hung.
I updated to Mavericks, but the problem persists
I tried everything I can think of, including reseting SMC and PRAM, but no joy.
Can anyone help me find the cause, and a fix, for this problem?
Thank you ....

Hi,
No way to know for sure if these are symptoms of an impending hard drive failure but make sure you have all important data backed up just in case.
Go here for help with kernel panics...
Apple Support - About kernel panic messages
Mac OS X Kernel Panic FAQ
The X Lab - Resolving Kernel Panics
Tutorial: Avoiding and eliminating Kernel panics
Carolyn

Spinning "Beach Ball" in Finder

I have a 2007 MacBook Pro running OS10.9.5. I recently noticed that whenever I double-click on an icon in the Finder the "spinning beach ball" occurs for about 20 seconds. Afterwards, the page will then load. This problem does not occur in any app; only the Finder.
I wold appreciate any thoughts as to why this issue occurred all of a sudden. Thank you kindly.

1. This procedure is a diagnostic test. It changes nothing, for better or worse, and therefore will not, in itself, solve the problem. But with the aid of the test results, the solution may take a few minutes, instead of hours or days.
Don't be put off by the complexity of these instructions. The process is much less complicated than the description. You do harder tasks with the computer all the time.
2. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before doing anything else. The backup is necessary on general principle, not because of anything in the test procedure. Backup is always a must, and when you're having any kind of trouble with the computer, you may be at higher than usual risk of losing data, whether you follow these instructions or not.
There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
3. Below are instructions to run a UNIX shell script, a type of program. As I wrote above, it changes nothing. It doesn't send or receive any data on the network. All it does is to generate a human-readable report on the state of the computer. That report goes nowhere unless you choose to share it. If you prefer, you can act on it yourself without disclosing the contents to me or anyone else.
You should be wondering whether you can believe me, and whether it's safe to run a program at the behest of a stranger. In general, no, it's not safe and I don't encourage it.
In this case, however, there are a couple of ways for you to decide whether the program is safe without having to trust me. First, you can read it. Unlike an application that you download and click to run, it's transparent, so anyone with the necessary skill can verify what it does.
You may not be able to understand the script yourself. But variations of the script have been posted on this website thousands of times over a period of years. The site is hosted by Apple, which does not allow it to be used to distribute harmful software. Any one of the millions of registered users could have read the script and raised the alarm if it was harmful. Then I would not be here now and you would not be reading this message.
Nevertheless, if you can't satisfy yourself that these instructions are safe, don't follow them. Ask for other options.
4. Here's a summary of what you need to do, if you choose to proceed:
☞ Copy a line of text in this window to the Clipboard.
☞ Paste into the window of another application.
☞ Wait for the test to run. It usually takes a few minutes.
☞ Paste the results, which will have been copied automatically, back into a reply on this page.
The sequence is: copy, paste, wait, paste again. You don't need to copy a second time. Details follow.
5. You may have started the computer in "safe" mode. Preferably, these steps should be taken in “normal” mode, under the conditions in which the problem is reproduced. If the system is now in safe mode and works well enough in normal mode to run the test, restart as usual. If you can only test in safe mode, do that.
6. If you have more than one user, and the one affected by the problem is not an administrator, then please run the test twice: once while logged in as the affected user, and once as an administrator. The results may be different. The user that is created automatically on a new computer when you start it for the first time is an administrator. If you can't log in as an administrator, test as the affected user. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this section doesn’t apply. Don't log in as root.
7. The script is a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, though you may not see all of it in the browser window, and you can then copy it. If you try to select the line by dragging across the part you can see, you won't get all of it.
Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/libexec;clear;cd;p=(Software Hardware Memory Diagnostics Power FireWire Thunderbolt USB Fonts SerialATA 4 1000 25 5120 KiB/s 1024 85 \\b%% 20480 1 MB/s 25000 ports ' com.clark.\* \*dropbox \*GoogleDr\* \*k.AutoCAD\* \*k.Maya\* vidinst\* ' DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES\ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH -86 "` route -n get default|awk '/e:/{print $2}' `" 25 N\\/A down up 102400 25600 recvfrom sendto CFBundleIdentifier 25 25 25 1000 MB com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent 464843899 51 5120 files );N5=${#p[@]};p[N5]=` networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder|awk ' NR>1 { sub(/^$[0-9]+$ /,"");n=$0;getline;} $NF=="'${p[26]}')" { sub(/.$/,"",$NF);print n;exit;} ' `;f=('\n%s: %s\n' '\n%s\n\n%s\n' '\nRAM details\n%s\n' %s\ %s '%s\n-\t%s\n' );S0() { echo ' { q=$NF+0;$NF="";u=$(NF-1);$(NF-1)="";gsub(/^ +| +$/,"");if(q>='${p[$1]}') printf("%s (UID %s) is using %s '${p[$2]}'",$0,u,q);} ';};s=(' /^ *$|CSConfigDot/d;s/^ */ 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END { if($3~/[0-9]/)print$3;} ' ' BEGIN { L='${p[36]}';} !/^[[:space:]]*(#.*)?$/ { l++;if(l<=L) f=f"\n "$0;} END { F=FILENAME;if(!F) exit;if(!f) f="\n [N/A]";"file -b "F|getline T;if(T!~/^(AS.+ (En.+ )?text$|(Bo|PO).+ sh.+ text ex)/) F=F" ("T")";printf("\nContents of %s\n%s\n",F,f);if(l>L) printf("\n ...and %s more line(s)\n",l-L);} ' ' s/^ ?n...://p;s/^ ?p...:/-'$'\t''/p;' 's/0/Off/p' ' END{print NR} ' ' /id: N|te: Y/{i++} END{print i} ' ' / / { print "'"${p[28]}"'";exit;};1;' '/ en/!s/\.//p' ' NR!=13{next};{sub(/[+-M]$/,"",$NF)};'"`S0 39 40`" ' $10~/\(L/&&$9!~"localhost" { sub(/.+:/,"",$9);print $1": "$9;} ' '/^ +r/s/.+"(.+)".+/\1/p' 's/(.+\.wdgt)\/(Contents\/)?Info\.plist$/\1/p' 's/^.+\/(.+)\.wdgt$/\1/p' ' /l: /{ /DVD/d;s/.+: //;b0'$'\n'' };/s: /{ /V/d;s/^ */- /;H;};$b0'$'\n'' d;:0'$'\n'' x;/APPLE [^:]+$/d;p;' ' /^find: /d;p;' "`S0 44 45`" ' BEGIN{FS="= "} /Path/{print $2} ' );c1=(system_profiler pmset\ -g nvram fdesetup find syslog df vm_stat sar ps sudo\ crontab sudo\ iotop top 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-|NVDA$|pagin|proc: t|Roamed|rror|ssert|Thrott|tim(ed? ?|ing )o|WARN' -k Message Rne 'Goog|ksadm|SMC:| VALI|xpma' -o -k Sender fseventsd -k Message Req 'SL' " '-du -n DEV -n EDEV 1 10' 'acrx -o comm,ruid,%cpu' '-t1 10 1' '-f -pfc /var/db/r*/com.apple.*.{BS,Bas,Es,J,OSXU,Rem,up}*.bom' '{/,}L*/Lo*/Diag* -type f -regex .\*[cgh] ! -name *ag \( -exec grep -lq "^Thread c" {} \; -exec printf \* \; -o -true $ -execdir stat -f:%Sc:%N -t%F {} \;|sort -t: -k2 |tail -n'${p[38]} '-L {/{S*/,},}L*/Lau* -type f' '-L /{S*/,}L*/StartupItems -type f -exec file {} +' '-L /S*/L*/{C*/Sec*A,E}* {/,}L*/{A*d,Ca*/*/Ex,Co{mpon,reM},Ex,Inter,iTu*/*P,Keyb,Mail/B,Pr*P,Qu*T,Scripti,Sec,Servi,Spo,Widg}* -path \\*s/Resources -prune -o -type f -name Info.plist' '/usr/lib -type f -name *.dylib' `awk "${s[31]}"<<<${p[23]}` "/e*/{auto,{cron,fs}tab,hosts,{[lp],sy}*.conf,pam.d/*,ssh{,d}_config,*.local} {,/usr/local}/etc/periodic/*/* /L*/P*{,/*}/com.a*.{Bo,sec*.ap}*t /S*/L*/Lau*/*t .launchd.conf" list getenv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf\ globalstate --proxy '-n get default' -I --dns -getdnsservers\ "${p[N5]}" -getinfo\ "${p[N5]}" -P -m\ / '' -n1 '-R -l1 -n1 -o prt -stats command,uid,prt' '--regexp --only-files --files com.apple.pkg.*|sort|uniq' -kl -l -s\ / '-R -l1 -n1 -o mem -stats command,uid,mem' '+c0 -i4TCP:0-1023' com.apple.dashboard\ layer-gadgets '-d /L*/Mana*/$USER&&echo On' '-app Safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled' "+c0 -l|awk '{print(\$1,\$3)}'|sort|uniq -c|sort -n|tail -1|awk '{print(\$2,\$3,\$1)}'" '/S*/*/Ca*/*xpc* >&- ||echo No' );N1=${#c2[@]};for j in {0..9};do c2[N1+j]=SP${p[j]}DataType;done;N2=${#c2[@]};for j in 0 1;do c2[N2+j]="-n ' syscall::'${p[33+j]}':return { @out[execname,uid]=sum(arg0) } tick-10sec { trunc(@out,1);exit(0);} '";done;l=(Restricted\ files Hidden\ apps 'Elapsed time (s)' POST Battery Safari\ extensions Bad\ plists 'High file counts' User Heat System\ load boot\ args FileVault Diagnostic\ reports Log 'Free space (MiB)' 'Swap (MiB)' Activity 'CPU per process' Login\ hook 'I/O per process' Mach\ ports kexts Daemons Agents launchd Startup\ items Admin\ access Root\ access Bundles dylibs Apps Font\ issues Inserted\ dylibs Firewall Proxies DNS TCP/IP Wi-Fi Profiles Root\ crontab User\ crontab 'Global login items' 'User login items' Spotlight Memory Listeners Widgets Parental\ Controls Prefetching SATA Descriptors XPC\ cache );N3=${#l[@]};for i in 0 1 2;do l[N3+i]=${p[5+i]};done;N4=${#l[@]};for j in 0 1;do l[N4+j]="Current ${p[29+j]}stream data";done;A0() { id -G|grep -qw 80;v[1]=$?;((v[1]==0))&&sudo true;v[2]=$?;v[3]=`date +%s`;clear >&-;date '+Start time: %T %D%n';};for i in 0 1;do eval ' A'$((1+i))'() { v=` eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((3+i))'() { v=` while read i;do [[ "$i" ]]&&eval "${c1[$1]} ${c2[$2]}" \"$i\"|'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}";done<<<"${v[$4]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};A'$((5+i))'() { v=` while read i;do '${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$1]}" "$i";done<<<"${v[$2]}" `;[[ "$v" ]];};';done;A7(){ v=$((`date +%s`-v[3]));};B2(){ v[$1]="$v";};for i in 0 1;do eval ' B'$i'() { v=;((v['$((i+1))']==0))||{ v=No;false;};};B'$((3+i))'() { v[$2]=`'${c1[30+i]}' "${s[$3]}"<<<"${v[$1]}"`;} ';done;B5(){ v[$1]="${v[$1]}"$'\n'"${v[$2]}";};B6() { v=` paste -d: <(printf "${v[$1]}") <(printf "${v[$2]}")|awk -F: ' {printf("'"${f[$3]}"'",$1,$2)} ' `;};B7(){ v=`grep -Fv "${v[$1]}"<<<"$v"`;};C0(){ [[ "$v" ]]&&echo "$v";};C1() { [[ "$v" ]]&&printf "${f[$1]}" "${l[$2]}" "$v";};C2() { v=`echo $v`;[[ "$v" != 0 ]]&&C1 0 $1;};C3() { v=`sed -E "$s"<<<"$v"`&&C1 1 $1;};for i in 1 2;do for j in 0 2 3;do eval D$i$j'(){ A'$i' $1 $2 $3; C'$j' $4;};';done;done;{ A0;D20 0 $((N1+1)) 2;D10 0 $N1 1;B0;C2 27;B0&&! B1&&C2 28;D12 15 37 25 8;A1 0 $((N1+2)) 3;C0;D13 0 $((N1+3)) 4 3;D23 0 $((N1+4)) 5 4;D13 0 $((N1+9)) 59 50;for i in 0 1 2;do D13 0 $((N1+5+i)) 6 $((N3+i));done;D13 1 10 7 9;D13 1 11 8 10;D22 2 12 9 11;D12 3 13 10 12;D23 4 19 44 13;D23 5 14 12 14;D22 6 36 13 15;D22 7 37 14 16;D23 8 15 38 17;D22 9 16 16 18;B1&&{ D22 35 49 61 51;D22 11 17 17 20;for i in 0 1;do D22 28 $((N2+i)) 45 $((N4+i));done;};D22 12 44 54 45;D22 12 39 15 21;A1 13 40 18;B2 4;B3 4 0 19;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 5 11;A1 17 41 20;B7 5;C3 22;B4 4 6 21;A3 14 7 32 6;B4 0 7 11;B3 4 0 22;A3 14 6 32 0;B4 0 8 11;B5 7 8;B1&&{ A2 19 26 23;B7 7;C3 23;};A2 18 26 23;B7 7;C3 24;A2 4 20 21;B7 6;B2 9;A4 14 7 52 9;B2 10;B6 9 10 4;C3 25;D13 4 21 24 26;B4 4 12 26;B3 4 13 27;A1 4 22 29;B7 12;B2 14;A4 14 6 52 14;B2 15;B6 14 15 4;B3 0 0 30;C3 29;A1 4 23 27;B7 13;C3 30;D13 24 24 32 31;D13 25 37 32 33;A2 23 18 28;B2 16;A2 16 25 33;B7 16;B3 0 0 34;B2 21;A6 47 21&&C0;B1&&{ D13 21 0 32 19;D13 10 42 32 40;D22 29 35 46 39;};D23 14 1 62 42;D12 34 43 53 44;D12 22 50 32 52;D22 0 $((N1+8)) 51 32;D13 4 8 41 6;D12 26 28 35 34;D13 27 29 36 35;A2 27 32 39&&{ B2 19;A2 33 33 40;B2 20;B6 19 20 3;};C2 36;D23 33 34 42 37;B1&&D23 35 45 55 46;D23 32 31 43 38;D12 36 47 32 48;D13 20 42 32 41;D13 37 2 48 43;D13 4 5 32 1;D13 4 3 60 5;D12 26 48 49 49;B3 4 22 57;A1 26 46 56;B7 22;B3 0 0 58;C3 47;D22 4 4 50 0;D23 22 9 37 7;A7;C2 2;} 2>/dev/null|pbcopy;exit 2>&-
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
8. Launch the built-in Terminal 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 Terminal in the icon grid.
Click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste by pressing command-V. The text you pasted should vanish immediately. If it doesn't, press the return key.
9. If you see an error message in the Terminal window such as "Syntax error" or "Event not found," enter
exec bash
and press return. Then paste the script again.
10. If you're logged in as an administrator, you'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You will not see the usual dots in place of typed characters. Make sure caps lock is off. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you make three failed attempts to enter the password, the test will run anyway, but it will produce less information. In most cases, the difference is not important. If you don't know the password, or if you prefer not to enter it, press the key combination control-C or just press return three times at the password prompt. Again, the script will still run.
If you're not logged in as an administrator, you won't be prompted for a password. The test will still run. It just won't do anything that requires administrator privileges.
11. The test may take a few minutes to run, depending on how many files you have and the speed of the computer. A computer that's abnormally slow may take longer to run the test. While it's running, there will be nothing in the Terminal window and no indication of progress. Wait for the line
[Process completed]
to appear. If you don't see it within half an hour or so, the test probably won't complete in a reasonable time. In that case, close the Terminal window and report what happened. No harm will be done.
12. When the test is complete, quit Terminal. The results will have been copied to the Clipboard automatically. They are not shown in the Terminal window. Please don't copy anything from there. All you have to do is start a reply to this comment and then paste by pressing command-V again.
At the top of the results, there will be a line that begins with the words "Start time." If you don't see that, but instead see a mass of gibberish, you didn't wait for the "Process completed" message to appear in the Terminal window. Please wait for it and try again.
If any private information, such as your name or email address, appears in the results, anonymize it before posting. Usually that won't be necessary.
13. When you post the results, you might see an error message on the web page: "You have included content in your post that is not permitted," or "You are not authorized to post." That's a bug in the forum software. Please post the test results on Pastebin, then post a link here to the page you created.
14. This is a public forum, and others may give you advice based on the results of the test. They speak only for themselves, and I don't necessarily agree with them.
Copyright © 2014 by Linc Davis. As the sole author of this work, I reserve all rights to it except as provided in the Use Agreement for the Apple Support Communities website ("ASC"). Readers of ASC may copy it for their own personal use. Neither the whole nor any part may be redistributed.

Why is Beach Ball Showing Up So Much?

I use Mavericks 10.9.2. Just lately whenever I try to drag a file into a folder, or almost anything I do, I keep getting the spinning beach ball. The only way I know how to get out of the spinning beach ball mode is to shut off the Mac at the Mac Pro on/off switch. What's going on?

Enclosed please see picture 1 - 4.

Finder periodically plagued with Spinning Beach Ball of Death

SBBOD = Spinning Beach Ball of Death
Could someone who understands MacOS X internals please explain to me why the finder needs to wait for an external Firewire drive to spin up to:
1. Open an app from the doc. (sbbod until the FW drive spins up)
2. Quit an app via right clicking the dock icon of the app. (shows 'Application not Responding' until FW drive spins up then
'quit' is the available choice)
3. Get a running program to respond. (sbbod then app responds as usual when FW drive spins up)
Let me set the scene. I do not have 'put drives to sleep' in energy saver. Spotlight is configured to ignore all of my external volumes. None of my apps use the external volumes for scratch or anything else. I rarely if ever directly save to an external volume from any application. I cannot change the behavior of the FW drive going into Stand-By mode (I've checked with Seagate and the feature is not changeable via firmware or dip-switch/jumper settings)
My only thought is poor filesystem buffer cache management. Problem is even that doesn't make sense. If I haven't read from or written to the external drives there shouldn't be ANY in memory buffers associated with the now in stand-by state firewire drive.
The SBBOD usually only takes 5-10 seconds to go away and Finder behavior to return to normal. I know it sounds 'petty' but it definitely is a flaw in what is supposed to be (and usually is) a very responsive GUI. I've experienced this annoying behavior with the standard Apple apps (Mail, Address Book, iCal, iTunes etc) and my 3rd party apps (Photoshop CS3, Excel, Word, Cisco VPN client. I'm thinking about writing a crontab entry to 'touch' the FW drive every few minutes to keep it spun up as a workaround.
Running 10.6.1 and hoping Apple would have gotten it right with this release.

AFAIK, the Seagate bare HDs don't have that limitation. At least the 750 GB SATA, ST3750640AS, one doesn't have the standby mode. Neither do any in that family. Spec sheet at http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Barracuda7200.10_SATA_750.3GB&vgnextoid=138697c102ede010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-GB

Spinning beach ball and no Finder icons

I am trying to troubleshoot this problem:
My brother was trying to move a lot of JPGs (3,500 of them!) by dragging from one folder to another, but he missed the target folder and they started appearing on his desktop. The only way he could think of to kill the process was to Restart.
After restarting, the system seems to load normally EXCEPT all the icons on his desktop are missing (including the ones for his hard drives) AND the Finder cursor is the spinning beach ball.
Mail, Safari, etc, will load and function normally, but he can't use the Finder. Activity Monitor shows the Finder using high 90s of %CPU.
So far we have tried: Restarting in Safe Mode, Repairing permissions, and running Disk First Aid from the Install DVD - with no problems found and no helpful results.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
gw

HI Gary,
Besides trashing the Finder plist file which would have been my first idea first also, try deleting this one too: com.apple.desktop.plist /Users/YourName/Library/Preferences. Open the Preferences folder, locate that file and drag it to the Trash, empty the Trash and reboot. Your Mac will create new pref files for you.
Also.. thought of something else. Go to a clear space on your Desktop so it says Finder in the Menu. Now click Command + Option + Esc on your keyboard. A Force Quit window will open. Select Finder in the list and click Relaunch.
*** Performance tip: Keep the Desktop clutter-free (empty, if possible) ***
Mac OS X's Desktop is the de facto location for downloaded files, and for many users, in-progress works that will either be organized later or deleted altogether. The desktop can also be gluttonous, however, becoming a catch-all for files that linger indefinitely.
Unfortunately - aside from the effect of disarray it creates - keeping dozens or hundreds of files on the Desktop can significantly degrade performance. Not necessarily because the system is sluggish with regard to rendering the icons on the desktop and storing them in memory persistently (which may be true in some cases), but more likely because keeping an excessive number of items on the Desktop can cause the windowserver process to generate reams of logfiles, which obviously draws resources away from other system tasks. Each of your icons on your desktop is stored as a window in the window server, not as an alias. The more you have stored, the more strain it puts on the window server. Check your desktop for unnecessary icons and clear them out.
Keeping as few items as possible on the Desktop can prove a surprisingly effective performance boon. Even creating a single folder on your Desktop and placing all current and future clutter inside, then logging out and back in can provide an immediately noticeable speed boost, particularly for the Finder.
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

"Beach Ball" when I conect to a PwrBook in Target Disk Mode

The iMac G4 is the host to a PwrBook G4 Ti
I get the blue screen with the firewire icon on the PwrBook
On the iMac, the PwrBook's apears on the desktop as a firewire drive
When I either double clic on it, or open finder to search in the PwrBook's drive, a "beach ball", work in progress, will linger for many minutes, hours if I were to leave it.
Sometimes it stops, and I can clic on folder, but then the beach ball never disapears.
My PwrBook is pluged in.
And I tried to other way around, iMac as the Target disk and the PwrBook as the host. That worked, ok, but what I'm looking for...
Any thoughts
Thank you
1GHz 17 iMac G4, 400MHz 15 PwrBook G4 (1G RAM) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
1GHz 17 iMac G4, 400MHz 15 PwrBook G4 (1G RAM) Mac OS X (10.2.x)
1GHz 17 iMac G4, 400MHz 15 PwrBook G4 (1G RAM) Mac OS X (10.2.x)

The big Combo update will take you from 10.4.anything straight to 10.4.11...
The combo update for PowerPC-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateppc.html
The combo update for Intel-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateintel.html
Repair Permissions afterwords, reboot.
You could do Internet Sharing to the one that doesn't work, or other things, but applyimg the update while that one is in Target mode depends on the OS & what exact Mac the other one is.

Since i updated latest version 6.0.2, it keeps getting stuck and goes really slow and the coloured beach ball spins for ages, so all i can do is force-quit - how can i install the version before this version again?

On a Mac Book pro - running 10.6.8
Firefox was fine until the last couple of updates that happened without my consent (?).
Suddenly there were weird errors and crashes of Flash
and slow loading pages. Now it's gone into rubbish mode where
the beach ball spins at the slightest fast type or double-click and then all i can do is force quit.
It's as if it can't cope with anything anymore.
How do i uninstall and keep my bookmarks etc and re-install an earlier version of it as it was before it got updated?
Thanks

Hey Thanks for the link thing!
So i had tried it in safe mode, and thought that it was still in SMode but then realized that that stopped once i had closed it and reopened in aft/eve/ last night and started up again today, also. So i just tried it again in safe mode and it seems to not be doing it...but then it's so random anyway. But if i'm in safe mode like this there is no toolbar but i guess that's cool if that is what is making it sluggy and beach ball-y. But how do i stay in safe mode all the time? And if it is only in safe mode then does that mean i can't have the 3 addons i use - (java, QT, Flash- all the other vid things like divx etc are 'disabled' ) I thought those add ons were necessary to play/read things on the net?? Forgive my ignorance in this matter. But saying that, when it was going wrong, and i was clicking on audio links sometimes in the 'blank white page scenario' a popup would come and tell me that i would need ' QuickTime to play this track' and i would click 'continue' and it would link me to Apple to get QT...but i already have QT installed in my MBPro so i thought that was a bit weird...! when i just tried it now in safe mode it went straight to the audio link white page with player in the middle and played the track. But then as i said, it was a bit random before so i don't know if this was just a time when it worked...
Anyway, what do you think about my questions on operating in safe mode...should i have to do that?! i'll stay in Safemode until i hear back from you and see how well it performs.
Thanks for your help.

24" iMac 2008 3.06ghz - Freezes/Beach balls/Sometimes can't find hard drive

Hi All,
Recently i've been having alot of issues with my 24" iMac. After reading countless discussions, none seem to have had the same answer as everything i have tried just doesn't seem to have worked?! Hoping you can give me a few more ideas and help narrow it down a little. (Fingers crossed solve it!)
General Issue:
The computer has mood swings - good days and bad days. On a good day it boots in a couple of minutes and on a bad day. I get the flashing folder unable to find a hard drive. Since my last clean install ... i haven't had that folder touch wood! But i do still however get the big bug.
After 10-15 minutes of using the iMac at normal speed whizzing around just doing general things on safari...thats it! its had enough.
Out comes the beach ball and the whole thing freezes apart from the cursor.
Launching a program will make it freeze, currently i launched the app store and its been frozen for a good 20 minutes with nothing.
Cant bring up force quit, either i wait sometimes 10 minutes sometimes an hour...or it has to be powered down by force.
Current state:
Clean install, no additional software, 500gb harddrive, clean as a whistle!
Things i've tried:
Smart status, verify disk, repair disk, check disk etc..all the usual disk utility bits.
fsck check.
memtest.
clean install of mountain lion.
-probably a few other bits i cannot think of.
System specification:
-I cannot paste the actual details from about this mac as its..you guessed it! FROZEN!
From the serial number this is its spec: http://support.apple.com/kb/SP485?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
10.8.3 OS
500gb HDD
3.06ghz Processor
4gb RAM
Let me know any other details you might need. Hope i've posted correctly as this is my first time on the forum. Fingers crossed someone has an answer or had a similar issue and resolution. Thanks, have a great day!
Jack

does the S.M.A.R.T. status of your hard drive return an OK verification?
Does anything show up during hard drive tests that indicate that your iMac's hard drive maybe failing?.
How many applications do you run simultaneously in the background while working in another application?
Do you run any antivirus software on your Mac? Antivirus software can slow down the normal operation of OS X.
Do you run any "crapware" like Mackeeper or any other type of so called hard drive "cleaning" apps?
Also, have you considered installing more RAM?
Your iMac model can take a max. RAM amount of 6 GBs
OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8 use more and more CPU, GPU, RAM and hard drive resources.
OS X 10.8, alone (no other third party applications running) can use between 2-4 GBs of RAM, easily.
Correct and reliable Mac RAM can be purchased from online Mac RAM sources Crucial memory or OWC (macsales.com).
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/6400DDR2S6GP/

Safe Mode Beach Ball

Beach Ball In safe Mode. Help!
installed Fresh copy of os mavericks
still getting the beach ball
Help me out
and how can i set SMC on macbook pro.i did by pressing the keys but there was no indication that it has resetted.
help me troubleshoot my problem
Thanks

Sounds like Hardware prolems...
Have you booted off the Install Disk by holding the *d key* down at boot-up, (not the c key), and run the extended Apple HW Test? Some Install disks require holding the Option key at bootup to select the AHT. Some Macs require the Option key to select AHT. Some Macs came with separate AHT CDs.
Can I use a firewire cable from my Pismo (10.2.8) to open the drive...
If it boots to FW Target Mode, that should work...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
or will i remove the drive and put it into an enclosure and try that?
If FWTDM doesn't work, then that's the way to go.

I get the beach ball of death when I empty the trash on my new 10.7 Mac. Even in safe mode

When I attempt to empty the trash I get the progress bar with message on how many items to empty and I get the barber pole lines but it never really starts to empty. I just have the beach ball of death. Everything else on the MacBook Pro comes to a halt (if you wait about 5 minutes an app selected to quit might quit). You can click on the X to stop emptying trash and it says it's stopping but it keeps showing the marching progress bar and the beach ball keeps spinning.
Running 10.7. 8 gigs ram 2.0 ghz i7. 15".
The only way to shut down is force quit holding down the power key. Tried it in Safe Mode with same results.

I had the same problem.
Your advice solved my problem.
Thank you for the original post. And the two updates.
I nominate you for "15 Points." 5 for your helpful answer. And another 10 because it was correct.
Apple's Support Community needs more people like you.
If I had posted a question and no one answered, I'd say, "the **** with it."
Instead, you came back - not once but twice - to provide updates.
Again, thank you.

Spinning Beach Ball / frozen finder / SugarSync / MacBook

I'm putting this up with this title to help hopefully many who encounter this:
Just got a 2012 MacBook Air, Refurbished, 8 MB RAM, 256 GB. It's refurbished by Apple. I run SugarSync. On my third day, the finder beach ball started spinning almost every time I clicked on the Apple menu or the Finder icon in the dock or any folder on the desktop. I couldn't get down to force-quit finder without first clicking on a program's open window and then on the Apple menu. Restarting doesn't solve it, either. The other thing that was occurring was that my Air was running very hot, the fan was running hard, and the battery was racing to be at 10%.
Thanks to macjack, I seem to have a solution. I've just retitled the information so others can find it better. Here it is:
1. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login items and delete SugarSync ( - ) as a login item (don't worry, this doesn't delete the program and you can always add it back as a login item with the ( + ) after all the steps below to solve the problem.
2. Quit the SugarSync program (to do this, click on its icon on your top menu bar and select Quit).
3. Go to Username/Library/Preferences folder, and trash the SugarSync "plist" file, which is: com.sharpcast.SugarSync.plist (this is the corrupted file that's causing your finder problem; and, don't worry, a new, clean plist file for SugarSync with all your information left untouched will be created the next time you open SugarSync).
4. Empty your trash; then restart your computer.
5. Upon restart, open the SugarSync program and you should now have no Finder, spinning-beach-ball problems. The fan should be off now and battery power creeping slowly down instead of racing to 10%.
6. Finally, put SugarSync back on your Startup at Login list by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login items, hitting the ( + ), and navigating to choose it.
You should be beach-ball free now, with no intense battery drain, heat, and fan.
Hope that helps.

I'm putting this up with this title to help hopefully many who encounter this:
Just got a 2012 MacBook Air, Refurbished, 8 MB RAM, 256 GB. It's refurbished by Apple. I run SugarSync. On my third day, the finder beach ball started spinning almost every time I clicked on the Apple menu or the Finder icon in the dock or any folder on the desktop. I couldn't get down to force-quit finder without first clicking on a program's open window and then on the Apple menu. Restarting doesn't solve it, either. The other thing that was occurring was that my Air was running very hot, the fan was running hard, and the battery was racing to be at 10%.
Thanks to macjack, I seem to have a solution. I've just retitled the information so others can find it better. Here it is:
1. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login items and delete SugarSync ( - ) as a login item (don't worry, this doesn't delete the program and you can always add it back as a login item with the ( + ) after all the steps below to solve the problem.
2. Quit the SugarSync program (to do this, click on its icon on your top menu bar and select Quit).
3. Go to Username/Library/Preferences folder, and trash the SugarSync "plist" file, which is: com.sharpcast.SugarSync.plist (this is the corrupted file that's causing your finder problem; and, don't worry, a new, clean plist file for SugarSync with all your information left untouched will be created the next time you open SugarSync).
4. Empty your trash; then restart your computer.
5. Upon restart, open the SugarSync program and you should now have no Finder, spinning-beach-ball problems. The fan should be off now and battery power creeping slowly down instead of racing to 10%.
6. Finally, put SugarSync back on your Startup at Login list by going to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login items, hitting the ( + ), and navigating to choose it.
You should be beach-ball free now, with no intense battery drain, heat, and fan.
Hope that helps.

Is the Finder finally beach-ball-proof?

I generally avoid point-Oh OS releases, but I am so annoyed with the 10.4.x Finder beach-balling whenever I deal with network drives that I would consider Leopard.
Is the beach-ball a thing of the past when accessing iDisk?

No beach ball for me, it's very smooth (with a 4MB DSL connection).

Finder stuck in beach ball mode

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