Spinning Rainbow Beach Ball

I'm working in microsoft word and the spinning rainbow beach ball has been come up for the last 15-20 minutes. How do I get rid of the ball and still save my unsaved work?

Hello, see how many of these you can answer...
See if the Disk is issuing any S.M.A.R.T errors in Disk Utility...
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7029
Open Activity Monitor in Applications>Utilities, select All Processes & sort on CPU%, any indications there?
How much RAM & free space do you have also, click on the Memory & Disk Usage Tabs.
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.
In the Memory tab of Activity Monitor, are there a lot of Pageouts?

Similar Messages

Rainbow beach ball spins when opening up movie

Hey everyone,
Every time I try to open up a movie, quicktime opens, I see the window, but then the spinning rainbow beach ball just sits there and spins forever, until I force quit quicktime... Quicktime used to work fine a few days ago...
Any ideas how to fix this?
Thank you.

please help

System very slow, rainbow beach ball, etc...?

My system is running very slow, I have the dreaded rainbow beach ball spinning gear. I recently shut down my computer w/out using the mouse. I have also held the power on/off switch longer then usual, and may have started a firmware update, but have no idea how to confirm this. I have performed verify disk permissions, and repair permissions tasks. I will reboot in safe mode next. I was also getting the grey progress bar at startup. Any procedural help would be grateful.

ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
I've recently had the beach ball appearing every 30 seconds or so and then the Mac totally freezes.
After trying all the suggestions online, the solution that fixed my problem was to reset the SMU. It basically forces the fan to maximum power and cools your mac down. The problems I had were being caused by an overheating Mac, even though it looked like a system software issue!
The reset the SMU:
Shut your Mac down.
Unplug the power cable from the back of the mac and any other devices (keyboard, etc).
Leave the mac for at least 10 seconds.
Hold down the power button on the back of the mac.
Keep holding down the power button and re-attach the power cable.
Once the power cable is in place, release the power button.
Now press the power button again to start-up your mac. (You can plug your devices back in now).
You should now hear the fan at maximum levels (it's very noisy!).
If you have the same problem that I had, your mac should start to cool and your mac should start operating preperly again (it may take a few minutes).
If this works, you'll then need to download FAN CONTROL FOR MAC.
It's a control panel that better regulates the temperature of your mac than the standard settings.

Safari constantly rainbow beach ball all the time... help!

I am running everything all up to date on my Macbookpro, and always my safari is doing the rainbow disk, or beach ball, whenever I open it, close it, open a new tab, open a new window, switch between tabs... you get my point right?
How do I solve this issue?

Hi,
Check for third party Safari add-ons. Safari: Add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues
Reset Safari. From your Safari menu bar click Safari / Reset Safari. Select the top 5 buttons. Click Reset. Relaunch Safari.
Open a Finder window select your Home Folder in the Sidebar on the left. Then open the Library folder, then the Caches folder, then the com.apple.Safari folder. Move the cache.db file to the Trash. Relaunch Safari. If you still have problems ...
Check for Login Items Open System Preferences/Accounts then select the Login Items tab. Delete any files or apps you have listed there. And go to /Library/Startup Items. Move any files in the Startup Items folder to the Trash.
Troubleshoot the Safari .plist file. Open a Finder window. Select your Home Folder in the Sidebar on the left. It has a small house icon. Then open the Library folder then the Preferences folder.
Move the com.apple.Safari.plist file from the Preferences folder to the Desktop. Now launch Safari. If Safari functions as it should, move the .plist file to the Trash.
If nothing above has helped, login to another user account on your Mac. Try Safari there.
Carolyn

Freezes, Rainbow Beach Ball, HELP!

So All i did was delete what i thought were unnessacery folders filled with what i thought were my pictures and audio files i didnt want anymore, they deleted then all of a sudden my itunes, safari, office, iwork, and mail were gone, they werent anywhere to be found or anything so i rebooted everything onto the computer and then whenever i open a webpage with 1 or 2 others open the beach ball comes out and freezes my computer, forcing me to restart it.. happens everyday approx: 5-7 times. How can i stop this? Can i bring it to a apple store and is it possible for them to fix it and it be like new? It bothers me and annoys me, i've had my macbook pro for less than 5 months.. Please someone help me!
** Has Warranty**

Hi Jordan,
Sorry to hear you're having problems. One rule of computer ownership I like to encourage to my users that I support.... Don't ever delete/move/rename a file or folder that you're not absolute certain the purpose and function of on your computer.
Sounds like whatever you deleted caused some havoc. Without having been there to see it, it's difficult to guess, so I won't bother to waste anyone's time.
Have a backup? If not, you can start first by backing up any important personal data you've loaded onto the machine. I'd then proceed with reinstalling the operating system and any of the 3rd party programs you've installed which are not working correctly, like Office and iWork.
The Apple Store may assist you with reinstalling the operating system onto your computer, but their primary support is hardware and software troubleshooting / advice. I know stores use to perform OS installations and such at the Genius Bar, but I'm under the impression that they don't typically do that much anymore. It's worth a visit, if you get stumped on doing the actions yourself, however.

Mail Freezes - rainbow beach ball.

Is anyone having issues when scrolling though mail documents the rainbow ball appears and requires a force quit

Yes. It only happens when attempting to open an attached video.

Creative Cloud App window = two hours of spinning blue beach ball...

First time installing CC on my MacBook Pro laptop. Running OS 10.9.5. What am I missing here?

Hi Exbrook,
Please use the following Kb article for Resolution.
App doesn’t open | Progress wheel spins continually
Cheers,
Kartikay Sharma

Spinning Beach Ball and Startup Disc issue

My friend has an IMAC and it has the latest updates and all... About once every day or two the mac just freezes and the rainbow beach ball spins... If she immediately restarts, she gets the question mark folder so her Imac is looking for a startup folder... If she lets it sit overnight, it reboots into her startup disc. The only thing I can think of that could change overnight is a temperature issue??? I have repaired permissions, repaired the startup disc and used Disk Warrior, Drive genius and Cocktail. No fix. Any ideas ladies and gentlemen? I have reinstalled the system software and tried everything I can think of.

What is the S.M.A.R.T. status of the HD in Disk Utility. You Can try running the AHT http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509

The spinning rainbow disk keeps appearing and my laptop keeps hanging

Hi everyone
I've been using this macbook pro for almost a year now and just yesterday the spinning beach ball of death started appearing more frequently than usual. Everytime I click something or try to type something (even this post) the rainbow beach ball would appear and make my laptop hang. Also, I can't play YouTube videos properly anymore as the graphics would be disrupted halfway through. I have no idea why or how this problem suddenly cropped up and I would really appreciate if someone could help me out here! Thanks!

If you are having problems with a brand new MacBook invoke the warranty and contact AppleCare.
Useful article here on the causes of the Spinning Beach Ball and how to troubleshoot it:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9177479/Troubleshoot_the_spinning_beach_b all?taxonomyId=89&pageNumber=1
and also this:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

Mac Mini and spinning rainbow ball

I bought a refurbished Mac Mini 2.0Ghz from Apple about a year ago. It doesnt seem as fast as my older MacBook. I'm always getting the rainbow ball...should I upgrade the memory or is it something else? I currently have 2GB.

Danny Boy® wrote:
I'm always getting the rainbow ball
also check this article: _*Troubleshoot the spinning beach ball*_.
JGG

B&W spinning beach ball?

Hi,
When in AW (starting point/ template) and I click on some of the templates....I see a spinning black/white beach ball then see watch timer is this normal? The template will open but never seen spinning B&W beach ball b4. Also is there anyway of deleting a template? I have AW 6.2.9
Thank you for your help & time.

Hi Roger,
As you stated "though in most cases its the rainbow-coloured 'beach ball'"
Mine use to be rainbow........ thought perhaps the B&W meant I had a corrupted something. Well I went into Templates (per your locating templete instructions) and deleted all the templates that caused B&W beach ball. (the ones I had downloaded and noticed I had several duplicates)...anyway no more B&W beach ball just the timer icon.
Thanks for your help

Spinning Beach ball of eternity...

Hi I have a problem on my iMac G4 is as much as when I log off or shutdown all I get is a very pretty but annoyingly persistent spinning rainbow coloured beach ball that never goes away. I have left it like that for 24hrs before now - that was until I got totally bored!! I have tried all the usual disk utility repairs (repair permissions & repair disk).
Can any one suggest how I can sort this problem.
BTW so far it boots and logs on just fine and can be used without a glitch, it just wont log off any account, restart or shutdown with out mr spinny (or mrs, miss or ms) the only way to power off is the power button being pressed for the allotted blimdyblong seconds - which I do as little as possible.
cheers
Paul
iMac G4, Powerbook 17" G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Thanks Mason
That helped and I am still working on it - non of those situations specifically address my situation but got me on a train of thought to no avail tho
Tried starting up in safe mode and then logging off still the same mr spin. Can't bring up the force quit with command-option-escape. The spinner only returns to a pointer when I pass the mouse over the dock and then it is unresponsive like everything else.
Everything I try that fails causes me to turn of by killing the power with a sustained press of the power button and I am terrified of killing my HD or system totally.
Any help would be greatfully recieved
Cheers

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

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

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

New (8/14) Macbook Pro Retina - Premiere Pro CC 2014 spinning beach ball

Help! Seems my shiny new wiz-bang 4-core Macbook Pro with 16 GB of Ram and a 512 solid state drive works just fine with Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014 until my project reaches a certain size, then it won't open the project and immediately gives me the deadly spinning beach ball. The only way to exit is to force quit whereupon I get the "Sorry, a serious error has occurred...". Aggravating beyond words.
Saw one forum comment where it was recommended to update to the 6.0 CUDA driver, but not even sure I have a CUDA driver. Plenty of space left on hard drive. In Premiere Pro preferences under the "Memory Tab" it doesn't seem to matter if it's set to "Optimize rendering for.... Memory or Performance." I've reinstalled the Premiere Pro App twice. Doesn't help.
Some specs:
Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel Iris Pro
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M GPU PCie
Intel Iris Pro GPU Built-in
8 GB DDR# 1600 MHz (x2) = 16 GB RAM
350 GB of 499 GB left on drive
Of the 16 GB of RAM I have 11 available for Premiere Pro and the other 5 GB allocated for other apps.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

>NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M GPU PCie
>Intel Iris Pro GPU Built-in
Dual graphics adapters are a bane on civilization!!!
-http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/error---preludevideo-play-modules.html
-http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1001579
-Use BIOS http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1019004?tstart=0
-link to why http://forums.adobe.com/message/4685328
-http://www.anandtech.com/show/4839/mobile-gpu-faceoff-amd-dynamic-switchable-graphics-vs-n vidia-optimus-technology/2
-Mac Utility for dual adapters http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1017891?tstart=0

Spinning beach ball each time I make an edit!

Hi guys - have done a search on this to no avail.
I upgraded to Leopard (foolishly) and recently have found that I am getting the spinning beach ball on every edit I make, making the whole thing unbelievably slow.
I have tried repairing disk permissions, closing all sequences / projects except the one that I am working on. The project is only 24 minutes long, and isn't particularly graphic heavy. I have also split the project in to shorter 5 minute sequences but still no luck. I haven't trashed preferences as FCP Rescue 6 doesn't work.
My settings / setup:
Mac OSX 10.5.1
G5 Quad
FCP 6.0.2
Motion 3
DV PAL Anamorphic
FCP Project folder on internal hard drive
Capture scratch and render files on external Sata drive
2 other 1TB External firewire drives
External monitor
Sony HDV Dec
2 screens
Any help would be much appreciated!
Stephen

If you go with the reinstall
"Not sure what you mean by 0s and bad sectors"
Disc Utility (applications/utilities) Highlight the hard drive, erase tab, should be under "security" (in 10.4 not sure about 10.5). *This will erase everything on drive*
"or if there are any specific steps to take backing up the system drive..."
well anything you want to keep must be copied to another drive or dvd/cd; projects, plug-ins, browser bookmarks, downloaded programs...everything. Which is a really good idea anyway - all drives will fail sooner or later.
Edit - You know you get into this to be creative and you wind up being an IT guy just to keep it all running - it's inevitable if you want well running system.
Message was edited by: javabob

Spinning Rainbow Beach Ball

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for