Spinning beach Ball with almost every click - please advise.

Folks, i have the last core 2 duo 2 GHz mac mini (2009) before they went unibody. It seems like every time I click anything the spinning beach ball comes up - like the computer is slow or always has to think about what it's doing.
I never had this problem with my 2008 model which was much slower (a single core). This machine just seems so slow and not snappy. Any ideas? I don't have the disk set to go to sleep by the way. And this happens system-wide, no matter what application or the finder. the drive is 7200 rpm by the way, 320 GB.
Snow Leopard- 4GB Ram

When I see the symptoms you've described, I'd first recommend running the Apple hardware test, just to ensure there's not an obvious hardware issue. Not likely on your machine, but you may want to consider that.
Free disk space is another consideration, already asked about above by daddy.
Boot from your OS X installation disk that came with your system, bring up Disk Utility and do a disk repair. If there are no issues identified, repair permissions, while you're there (you can repair permissions from Disk Utility on your applications/library too. You have to boot to your OS X disk to repair your hard drive).
If you don't run a disk maintenance program, you might consider OnyX. Download and run the tasks on the maintenance and cleaning tabs. A number of people have found that this makes a difference on performance. It's located at http://www.titanium.free.fr/download.php?sid=86da62a438d18b7b72aad4c9f630b9e0 . Good computing practice says that before using any disk maintenance software, you should have your hard drive backed up.

Similar Messages

Spinning Beach Ball on almost every mouse click

I have a late 2009 21.5 imac 8 GB Ram running OS X 10.8.3
Everything was working fine until I the other day when it froze while being woken up from sleep mode.
I then got the white screen of death on every startup. Safe mode worked though.
I finally reinstalled Mountain Lion and startup worked again.
Now my problem is I get the spinning beach ball of death all the time and it lasts for several minutes.
It seems to happen on all applications at random. Chrome, mail, app store, finder etc...
I have activity monitor running and it never goes above 5-10%
Any suggestions on what to do to find what is causing the problem?

So I created a new user account, and so far everything is working as though my mac were brand new!
So can anyone tell me the best way to go about transferring files from the old "corrupted" user account to the new one?

Spinning beach ball with Leopard 10.5 - mach_msg_trap - Hangs

Hi,
since I upgraded to Leopard, my Macbook Pro hangs sometimes. I recorded today such a hang (10-20 minutes, spinning beach ball) with "Spin Control".
It seam to me, that some resources are locked by the OS. Is anybody able to describe what happens?
Thanks a lot in advance
Henri
e.g. For "Mail.app":
307.45s machmsgtrap
478.74s CFRunLoopRunSpeciﬁc
478.76s CFRunLoopRunInMode
478.76s RunCurrentEventLoopInMode
478.78s ReceiveNextEventCommon
478.78s BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode
478.79s _DPSNextEvent
478.79s -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:i…
520.86s -[NSApplication run]
520.86s NSApplicationMain
520.86s 0xfb012
520.86s Thread_981b
307.45s machmsgtrap [TOP]
e.g. for "MkConsole.app":
47.11s machmsgtrap [TOP]
47.11s machmsgtrap
236.38s CFRunLoopRunSpeciﬁc
236.38s CFRunLoopRunInMode
236.38s RunCurrentEventLoopInMode
236.38s ReceiveNextEventCommon
236.38s BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode
236.38s -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:in…
236.38s -[NSApplication run]
236.38s NSApplicationMain
236.38s _start
236.38s start
236.38s Thread_d303
236.38s _DPSNextEvent
e.g. for Keycue.app:
24.00s machmsgtrap [TOP]
24.00s machmsgtrap
24.00s _AXMIGCopyAttributeValue
24.00s AXUIElementCopyAttributeValue
24.00s -[AXObject getIntegerAttribute:at:]
36.00s +[Shortcut shortcutWithMenuItem:]
48.00s -[ShortcutList(Collector) scanMenuItem:menuInd…
61.51s -[ShortcutList(Collector) scanMenu:menuIndex:level:]
61.51s -[ShortcutList(Collector) scanMenuItem:menuInd…
61.51s -[ShortcutList(Collector) scanMenu:menuIndex:level:]
61.51s -[ShortcutList(Collector) scanMenubar:]
61.51s -[ShortcutList(Collector) collectShortcuts]
61.51s -[ShortcutList(Collector) checkFrontProcess:]
61.51s __NSFireTimer
61.51s CFRunLoopRunSpeciﬁc
61.51s CFRunLoopRunInMode
61.51s RunCurrentEventLoopInMode
61.51s ReceiveNextEventCommon
61.51s BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode
61.51s -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDa…
61.51s -[NSApplication run]
61.51s NSApplicationMain
61.51s _start
61.51s start
61.51s Thread_6903
61.51s _DPSNextEvent
13:08:24 2301.90 seconds
Acrobat
12:43:09 0.39 seconds Safari
12:43:14 1.39 seconds witchdaemon
13:07:08 1435.03 seconds
Safari
12:46:11 0.23 seconds Mail
12:46:14 1.23 seconds witchdaemon
12:46:15 1.91 seconds Mail
12:46:28 7.48 seconds Mail
12:48:09 89.17 secondsMail (sampled for maximum time)
13:06:43 1202.90 seconds
KeyCue (sampled for maximum time)
12:46:45 4.23 seconds witchdaemon
13:08:24 908.30 seconds
Mail (sampled for maximum time)
13:07:10 309.39 seconds
MkConsole (sampled for maximum time)
13:06:54 274.96 seconds
witchdaemon (sampled for maximum time)
13:06:42 41.38 secondsOfficeTime (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:42 32.77 secondsIntegoStatusItemHelper
(stopped because too many samples i
13:06:42 30.08 secondsvmware (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:42 28.07 secondsAirPort Base Station Agent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:06:42 26.44 secondsTerminal (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:43 24.81 secondsVersionTracker Pro(stopped because too many samples i
13:06:43 23.86 secondsPrinterProxy (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:43 23.05 secondsCAPT Helper (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:46 23.25 secondsGrowlHelperApp (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:48 22.94 secondsHazelHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:48 22.94 secondsHazelHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:52 25.53 secondsSMARTReporter (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:54 26.10 secondsScanSnap Manager(stopped because too many samples i
13:06:56 26.27 secondsiTunesHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:56 23.29 secondsNML2NDeviceObserver
(stopped because too many samples i
13:06:58 23.50 secondsFolder Actions Dispatcher
(stopped because too many samples i
13:06:58 21.85 secondsSpotlight (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:58 21.42 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:06:58 20.59 secondsMenuCalendarClock iCal
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:01 21.16 secondsPath Finder (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:01 19.58 secondsCrossOver (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:11 27.41 secondsTypinator (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:12 26.32 secondsLittle Snitch UIAgent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:12 25.29 secondsOfficeTime (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:14 26.00 secondsIntegoStatusItemHelper
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 93.35 secondsvmware (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:17 25.30 secondsAirPort Base Station Agent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:19 24.49 secondsTerminal (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:19 22.79 secondsVersionTracker Pro(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:56 58.91 secondsKeyCue (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:20 22.36 secondsPrinterProxy (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:22 23.69 secondsCAPT Helper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:24 24.00 secondsGrowlHelperApp (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:25 23.06 secondsHazelHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:26 23.45 secondsSMARTReporter (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:26 22.64 secondsScanSnap Manager(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:26 22.12 secondswitchdaemon (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:27 21.44 secondsiTunesHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:27 19.91 secondsNML2NDeviceObserver
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:28 19.65 secondsFolder Actions Dispatcher
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:28 18.75 secondsSpotlight (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:29 17.94 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:29 17.46 secondsMenuCalendarClock iCal
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:30 16.35 secondsPath Finder (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:46 28.77 secondsCrossOver (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:07 48.67 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:07 48.67 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 63.83 secondsSafari (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:08 47.44 secondsMkConsole (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:08 45.97 secondsX Resource Graph(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:36 12.95 secondsTypinator (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:36 12.18 secondsLittle Snitch UIAgent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:36 12.00 secondsOfficeTime (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 12.34 secondsIntegoStatusItemHelper
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 11.74 secondsAirPort Base Station Agent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 11.08 secondsTerminal (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 10.37 secondsVersionTracker Pro(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 9.77 seconds ChronoSyncBackgrounder
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 9.09 seconds PrinterProxy (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:38 8.60 seconds CAPT Helper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:39 9.00 seconds GrowlHelperApp (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:42 10.80 secondsHazelHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:43 11.68 secondsSMARTReporter (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:43 11.38 secondsScanSnap Manager(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:54 21.50 secondswitchdaemon (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:43 10.46 secondsiTunesHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:43 9.45 seconds NML2NDeviceObserver
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:44 9.40 seconds Folder Actions Dispatcher
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:44 8.65 seconds Spotlight (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:45 8.79 seconds DashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:45 8.28 seconds MenuCalendarClock iCal
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:45 7.18 seconds Path Finder (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:51 13.13 secondsTypinator (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:52 13.43 secondsLittle Snitch UIAgent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:53 13.70 secondsOfficeTime (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:53 12.99 secondsIntegoStatusItemHelper
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:53 12.39 secondsAirPort Base Station Agent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:54 12.17 secondsTerminal (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:54 11.50 secondsVersionTracker Pro(stopped because too many samples i
13:07:54 10.91 secondsChronoSyncBackgrounder
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 40.27 secondsPrinterProxy (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:55 11.03 secondsCAPT Helper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:55 11.03 secondsCAPT Helper (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:56 11.74 secondsGrowlHelperApp (stopped because too many samples i
13:07:58 12.81 secondsHazelHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:00 13.70 secondsSMARTReporter (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:00 13.53 secondsScanSnap Manager(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:01 13.77 secondsiTunesHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:02 13.46 secondsNML2NDeviceObserver
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:03 13.33 secondsFolder Actions Dispatcher
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:03 12.62 secondsSpotlight (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:04 13.15 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:06 14.71 secondsMenuCalendarClock iCal
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:06 14.04 secondsPath Finder (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 30.41 secondsCrossOver (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:09 14.63 secondsTypinator (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:10 15.07 secondsLittle Snitch UIAgent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:10 14.36 secondsOfficeTime (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:11 14.49 secondsIntegoStatusItemHelper
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:11 13.83 secondsAirPort Base Station Agent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:11 13.30 secondsTerminal (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:11 12.61 secondsVersionTracker Pro(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:12 12.60 secondswitchdaemon (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:12 12.56 secondsChronoSyncBackgrounder
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:23 22.92 secondsCAPT Helper (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 23.06 secondsKeyCue (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 21.64 secondsGrowlHelperApp (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 21.08 secondsHazelHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 20.45 secondsSMARTReporter (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 19.62 secondsScanSnap Manager(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:23 18.84 secondsiTunesHelper (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 17.62 secondsNML2NDeviceObserver
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 17.21 secondsFolder Actions Dispatcher
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 16.70 secondsSpotlight (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:23 15.34 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 15.42 secondsMenuCalendarClock iCal
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 13.84 secondsPath Finder (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 13.29 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 13.29 secondsDashboardClient (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 12.35 secondsMkConsole (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 11.64 secondsX Resource Graph(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 11.21 secondsTypinator (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:23 9.36 seconds Little Snitch UIAgent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 9.41 seconds OfficeTime (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 8.15 seconds IntegoStatusItemHelper
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 7.29 seconds AirPort Base Station Agent
(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:23 6.31 seconds Terminal (stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 5.96 seconds VersionTracker Pro(stopped because too many samples i
13:08:24 6.04 seconds witchdaemon
13:08:24 4.84 seconds ChronoSyncBackgrounder
13:17:32 1.13 seconds Acrobat (sampled for maximum time)
13:17:32 0.14 seconds witchdaemon
13:25:19 4.19 seconds witchdaemon

Solved, by deinstalling Intego Antivirus X4 (Leopard ready).
No more hang since 7 days.

Spinning beach ball with every click

I've got a 3.5 year old Mac Mini 2.3 GHz Core i5 with 4 GB of RAM running OS X 10.9.2. A couple months ago, at no specific moment in time, my mini started to slow down, it's continued to get slower and slower to the point now where every time I click on anything, I get a spinning beach ball for as many as 10 - 20 seconds before the Mac processes what I've done. I have run permission repairs and also bought and installed CleanMyMac2, while it "cleaned" 50+ GB of junk, my Mac's behavior has not changed. Anyone got any other ideas?

Thanks, Drew. Here are the results from Etresoft:
Hardware Information:
          Mac mini (Mid 2011)
          Mac mini - model: Macmini5,1
          1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.3 (13D65) - Uptime: 0 days 0:38:22
Disk Information:
          TOSHIBA MK5065GSXF disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (277.11 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
USB Information:
          Apple Inc. MacBook Air SuperDrive
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
          Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
FireWire Information:
          LaCie Hard Drive FW/USB 400mbit - 400mbit max
                    disk2s1 (disk2s1) <not mounted>: 32 KB
                    disk2s2 (disk2s2) <not mounted>: 66 KB
                    disk2s3 (disk2s3) <not mounted>: 66 KB
                    disk2s4 (disk2s4) <not mounted>: 115 KB
                    Topher (disk2s6) /Volumes/Topher: 1 TB (147.06 GB free)
          LaCie Hard Drive FW/USB 400mbit - 400mbit max
                    EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    disk1s2 (disk1s2) <not mounted>: 749.81 GB
                    Boot OS X (disk1s3) <not mounted>: 134.2 MB
Thunderbolt Information:
          Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
Gatekeeper:
          Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions:
          [not loaded] com.Apogee.driver.DuetFWOverideDriver (1.4.4) Support
          [kext loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.5.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.digidesign.fwfamily.driver (9.0f4) Support
          [kext loaded] com.digidesign.iokit.DigiDal (10.0f56 - SDK 10.6) Support
          [not loaded] com.digidesign.usb.elevenrack.driver (1.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3G (2.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.3GData (2.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.novatelwireless.driver.DisableAutoInstall (1.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.8 - SDK 10.4) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.8) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.8 - SDK 10.3) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.8 - SDK 10.6) Support
          [not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.8 - SDK 10.4) Support
          [kext loaded] com.rogueamoeba.HermesAudio (3.0.1) Support
          [not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (1.7) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSupport (1.4.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.sierrawireless.driver.SierraSupportKicker (1.4.0) Support
          [not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessCDC (3.2.6) Support
          [not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessModem (3.2.6) Support
          [not loaded] com.smithmicro.driver.SMSIWirelessSerial (3.2.6) Support
          [not loaded] net.pocketmac.driver.BlackberryUSB (3.0.11) Support
          [not loaded] net.pocketmac.driver.BlackberryUSBDev (3.0.11) Support
Launch Daemons:
          [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
          [running] com.digidesign.fwfamily.helper.plist Support
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist Support
          [loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support
          [loaded] com.stclairsoft.AppTamerAgent.plist Support
Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
          [running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist Support
          [running] com.epson.Epson_Low_Ink_Reminder.launcher.plist Support
          [running] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist Support
          [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Launch Agents:
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.diskSpaceWatcher.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist Support
          [loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist Support
          [failed] com.shirtpocket.backuponmount.plist Support
User Login Items:
          None
Internet Plug-ins:
          o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.3.1.18536 Support
          OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 Support
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.3.8.1 Support
          iLokClientHelper: Version: 3.5 - SDK 10.5 Support
          PandoWebInst: Version: 1.0 Support
          AdobeAAMDetect: Version: AdobeAAMDetect 2.0.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support
          DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.1 Support
          PDF Browser Plugin: Version: 2.4.4 - SDK 10.6 Support
          Flash Player: Version: 13.0.0.214 - SDK 10.6 Support
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.7
          googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.3.1.18536 Support
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.0.0 Support
          Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20913.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 45 Check version
Safari Extensions:
          DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 <video>: Version: 2.1.2.126
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:
          Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 2.5.5f1 Support
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Adobe Version Cue CS4 Support
          Déjà Vu Support
          Digidesign Eleven Rack Support
          DivX Support
          Flash Player Support
          Flip4Mac WMV Support
          Growl Support
          MacFUSE Support
          Perian Support
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Mobile backups: OFF
          Auto backup: YES
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 464.96 GB Disk used: 206.88 GB
          Destinations:
                    Time Machine [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 698.02 GB
                    Total number of backups: 24
                    Oldest backup: 2014-03-10 03:27:15 +0000
                    Last backup: 2014-05-18 16:24:40 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Adequate
                              Backup size 698.02 GB > (Disk used 206.88 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
Top Processes by CPU:
               8%          backupd
               3%          WindowServer
               1%          Creative Cloud
               0%          Google Chrome
               0%          fontd
Top Processes by Memory:
          160 MB          Google Chrome
          147 MB          mds_stores
          94 MB          Google Chrome Helper
          78 MB          Creative Cloud
          57 MB          WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information:
          276 MB          Free RAM
          1.55 GB          Active RAM
          1.15 GB          Inactive RAM
          1.02 GB          Wired RAM
          1.30 GB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

All of sudden, the "loading" spinning wheel is appearing with almost every click...and I have to wait until it stops to start again???

All of a sudden...the "loading" spinning wheel appears on the desktop after almost every click. Then I have to wait
for it to stop before I can start again. Thisjust happened.
I recently cleared my cache. Could that have effected it???
Help!!! Dan

Hey dkdip,
Thanks for the question. I understand that you are experiencing some performance issues with your MacBook Pro. The following resources may provide a solution:
OS X Mavericks: If your Mac runs slowly
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13895
Isolating an issue by using another user account
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4053
OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564
Thanks,
Matt M.

ITunes spinning beach ball with update

I haven't seen this anywhere else on the net yet:
I'm having a problem with CPU hog when updating podcasts. iTunes has no problem when I just run the program (offline or if I don't have it automatically update podcasts). But once I set it to update or hit refresh I'm sunk.
Before the update (which I could of sworn I updated once before, but it just asked me to update again & it popped up in software update...) I never had a problem. Now iTunes spinning beach balls me every time.
All other apps act normally & no system slow down. Just iTunes.
HOWEVER, when looking in the Activity Monitor it actually says that iTunes is using 102% of my CPU! How can that be???
I've repaired permissions, trashed preferences, and reinstalled the program. No change.
Any ideas? Thanks!!
Message was edited by: Stephanie Lucchesi - added picture

Did some more testing & it appears that it only happens when I update video podcasts. Audio podcasts update without stalling iTunes.

Spinning beach ball with Safari 4.02?

Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz, 1.25 GB RAM, MacOS 10.4.11
I really like the "Top Sites" feature in Safari 4 but of late I am getting a spinning beach ball regularly. I wait for the ball to stop then quit and restart Safari and all is well for a while. Anyone else have this problem? Is there a fix? Thanks.

Try deleting the Syndication Database File(s) in user/Library/Syndication. In my case I had 2 files in that folder, "Database3" and "Database3.BROKEN". Deleted both and restarted, and my 2 months of suffering through beachballs upon the first launch of Safari following every computer restart are now over!! And yes, I tried all the other "solutions" out there....this fixed it for me, and was the only thing that had ANY effect whatsoever.
Here's a link to my orig post about this.....trying to be more succinct here yet still spreading the word
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....3037&#10043037

Constant spinning beach ball with New Macbook no upgrades

I recently purchase a new macbook worked fine first week then it started. Just upon opening Safari I get a "beach ball" I scroll down "beach ball" Open a new page "Beach ball" everything I do in all programs including Itunes garage band the finder Its frustrating. I Reinstalled the OS still the same problem slow crap performance I've owned over 4 macs now and have NEVER been so frustrated any answers would be great

welcome, I have the same, two macbooks sitting here (I am a mac veteran with 20 years experience and 20+ macs bought and used for myself).
But my new white MacBook is a horror. I changed RAMs, installed 10.4 and 10.5 now half a dozen times fresh from scratch and only Apples updates and the machines dances the spinning beachball dance of death and frustration. I will not replicate all the nonworking behaviour what others have described. Just one thing: Each and every problem people have here, my MacBook has also. There is a fault in this series of MacBooks from the hardware side and from Apple! period!
(Beside this Mac I have a 3 month older more expensive black MacBook sitting on my desk and this is working like a charm, no beachball at all!!!)

Help for slow clients with spinning beach balls.

I work at a school where we have an xsvr 105-000 running 10.5
We have about 100 eMacs running 10.4 that connect to it. They are clients running their desktops off of the server. Each student has their own account.
We are having a continuing problem that no one seems to be able to solve. The computers slow to a crawl everyday. Students get spinning beach balls when they are clicking on sites, paging or scrolling up and down etc.
If someone plugs in with a laptop that does not log into the server and surfs the web there are no problems. No delays.
Here are my questions:
1. Are there a maximum number of connections that an xserv server can handle. If we have 60 students logged in are we choking at at the server level?
2. Is there some setting on the server that could be causing this? (I realize that I have provided no where near enough info for a specific here, but I am only a teacher.)
3. Any other ideas?
Thanks

Hi
Good question. I'm sure there will be others with opinions and experiences willing to share?
In my experience/opinion once you get to around 60-100 users - depending hugely on usage etc - you really should be adding another server to help balance the load. Enabling lots of Services on one box and then connecting lots of clients is a 'classic' mistake to make. It does not end there. Ideally you should be providing gigabit to desktop. Ideally managed switches. You also have to look at what the rest of the network is doing. Important if your situation involves an educational environment. It might be advisable to put mac clients and server(s) on their own switch possibly?
Ideally Server and Client should be the same version although if approached correctly there should not be any problems if the Server is one version ahead of the clients.
Mileage as ever will vary.
Tony

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.

Lots of spinning beach balls

Hello,
I have a Mac mini G4 (see specs in signature) and it worked fine a for a while until at one point a month or two ago, there was something wrong with the file directory or something so I had to do a complete zero erase and install. It worked fine for a while, but lately everything I do has been causing me to see more and more of the dreaded spinning beach ball. For example, clicking on "log in" on the apple discussion page brought about the spinning beach ball. Opening a new window can sometimes bring a spinning beach ball. Even in iChat it will randomly show me the spinning beach ball. iTunes as well has been giving me plenty of grief so much that I can't even listen to music on my computer because it will freeze and the seconds in the song will stop moving and then it plays for a bit and then stops again. I don't know what's wrong with my computer. In the Activity Manager it says I have 660 MB free memory and I have a 94% idle CPU. It's not dusty and it doesn't feel hot, in the iStat Pro widget it says the HD is at 119 degrees Fahrenheit. What the heck is wrong with my computer? It is really frustrating to not be able to even play an MP3 on my computer or have Safari freeze just because I opened a new window. The strange thing is that it always comes back, as in, when it freezes, I just have to wait a little bit and then it starts working again. So far I have tried repairing the disk permissions, repairing the disk, running "sudo periodic daily weekly monthly" and even running AppleJack in "deep clean" mode. Please, any help would be vastly appreciated.
P.S. As I was writing this, I got the beach ball twice.
Message was edited by: el pinguino

There are a number of possible issues that could cause this other than the ones you appear to have attempted to deal with so far.
The most obvious is an issue with Fonts - Macs are sensitive to font conflicts in particular, though some fonts cause problems even with no conflicts. Open Font Book and get it to check and resolve conflicts, then go through the font families and turn off what you absolutely don't need (even if only to run the system for a day or so to see if it helps - they can be turned on again when needed).
Next obvious is prebinding, though with a newly reinstalled system that shouldn't be a problem. Try to update prebinding anyway, just to rule that out.
Also ensure that permissions are repaired and remove all caches. Applejack does this, though personally I prefer YASU. After that is done, then use Disk Utility to check the boot drive (you'll need to boot from another MacOS volume such as the original install disk to effect repairs if needed).
After that, it's possible the issue is a damaged property list file, so grab a copy of Preferential Treatment and scan both user and system levels. Delete anything it flags as a problem.
Lastly (for now at least), create a new user on the system and log into that to see if that user suffers the same issues.

Spinning Beach Ball of Doom

I have consistent problems with Safari 4 on my home laptop. Long "Loading" messages on start-up , and sometime hangs. A on start-up, spinning beach balls, extreme latency after clicking

I have consistent problems with Safari 4 on my home laptop. Long "Loading" messages and/or spinning beachballs on start-up, and sometime hangs. After start-up, spinning beach balls, extreme latency after clicking. I've tried everything I can think of, clearing cache, cookies, et cetera. I've disabled
java, javascript, and plug-ins. I have hundreds of bookmarks, but my iMac at work has no problems with the same set of bookmarks. I have tested Safari with a dummy account on the same machine, and see no slow-down there, so it's something my account has only at home. Firefox is ok. I just restarted Safari a few times: 15 seconds of "Loading" to get the google home page. First click on news gives a 5-20 second beachball or sometimes nothing, and from then on it's beachballs of random duration at random times. I'm out of ideas, and very frustrated.

App Store on 10.6.8 = spinning beach ball of death

I've never been able to use the App Store on my MacBook running Mac OS X.6.8.
Steps to reproduce:
1) Start App Store.
2) Successfully authenticate using my Apple ID.
3) Select a free app.
4) Click "Free".
5) Click "Install".
6) Successfully authenticate as an admin user when asked to do so.
Result = spinning beach ball of death every time, and no app gets installed.
I've tried this many times, tried rebooting etc. but the result is always the same.
Any ideas?

Run Disk Utility located in /Applications/Utiliites to verify and if necessary, repair the startup disk.
Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
And how much free space on the starutp disk?
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure there's a minimum of 15% free disk space.

HELP ... I'm in the land of spinning beach balls !

Hello and thanks ahead of time for any posts to my problem.
I've been successfully working a slide show from stills in iMovie 4 (w/some titles, ken burns, music, etc.)
It's been going great.
I wish I had a security camera taping me so I know exactly what I did at the end....
I "saved as" to my second internal HD
This save took several min., afterward it seemed to close the movie down and reopen the saved one.
All is looking well....
but the movie was acting jerky, not smooth as it had been.
I deleted my trash (I figured I didn't need that stuff anymore)
I closed the movie and went to double check the original on start up drive, thinking I don't want to delete anything till I make sure the backup works.
I can't open the orgiinial.
I can't open the back up on the second drive.
I get the spinning beach ball if I double click on the icon, or if I navigate there from the iMovie start up screen.
... furthermore I found a lot of iMovie type stuff in my desktop trash can that I don't think I put there. I took all that stuff out and put it in a folder on my desktop.
I've worked hard on this project and even tried to back up my work as anyone should.
HELP !!!!!!!
-Ray

... the whole project was done on iMovieHD
I'm OK .... sort of
I went to apple menu-recent items clicked on my movie there and it opened!
I went staight to iDVD, composed the DVD and burned so I have copies for all family members.
My question is, when I go via the finder to one of my movie projects, I can't even single click on it and get info without getting a spinning beach ball. I have to force quit the finder every time
I'm trying to comfirm which project was the last one used, how much space, etc. ... can't do it!
Should I do a Save As to my second hard drive and trust it?
In the future, is there a way to set the default location where iMovieHD and IDVD save to? I'm trying to use my second HD instead of my startup.
Whats the archive project thing in IDVD?
Sorry for so many questions, I can use the applications fine, but I have guesse I have problems on 'managing" the applications
-Ray

Spinning beach ball - all applications

iMac Intel - ealry 2009 - spinning beach ball with all applications - could not force quit or use keyboard shortcuts to restart - had to perform hard restart - ran hardware test with original install disk and result was no error - not sure how to proceed

That is bad news. Sounds like the Hard Drive has failed. Try a
SMC RESET
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
The 5 second timing is important to a successful reset.
That may reset power to the Hard Drive, but it's a long shot. Hope you have backups.

Spinning beach Ball with almost every click - please advise.

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