Another "My Mac is slow" problem

Greetings. My Mac is slow. I am close to throwing it in the trash. Intel iMac5 that originally came with Tiger and has since been upgraded to Snow Leopard and 2GB of additional ram. Updates take forever. I get the spinning pinwheel all the time; click a menu item=delay, then pinwheel, then it'll finally open. Sometimes I will get the pinwheel just by moving the mouse pointer. I have deleted the caches, verified the volume, run the SMART utility, etc. I broke down and purchased some program called DiskToolsPro, mostly so I could defrag the hard drive. 48 hours later, it was still defragging at a snails pace, so I quit the utility. I am at wits end with this machine. Does anyone know how I can resolve this so I can again enjoy using my Mac?
Thanks in advance, BrianCN.

What did the SMART Utility say about the drive? Have you checked resource allocation in Activity Monitor? Specifically how memory is allocated?

did you verify & repair, or just verify?


also, do you experience long boot times?

SMART utility said the drive was OK. I am looking at the Activity Monitor, but I don't exactly understand your question. I am baffled by software and terminology.

robduckyworth said:

did you verify & repair, or just verify?


also, do you experience long boot times?

Click to expand...

I don't remember if I repaired or not. I could do it again. It takes longer to boot than I would like it to.

cwa107 said:

What did the SMART Utility say about the drive? Have you checked resource allocation in Activity Monitor? Specifically how memory is allocated?

Click to expand...

System memory says: 1.98GB free, 291.2MB wired, 369.9MB active, 384.8MB inactive, 1.02GB used. If that is what you're asking.

This is a guess, but even though SMART utility said there were no issues, remember that SMART utility reads the SMART status of the drive. I have seen many hard drives that were dying but did NOT fail in the SMART test.

Also boot with the OSX DVD that came with your machine. Hold down the D key right after the startup sound. Run the advanced test. See if anything comes back with an error.

Do you have plenty of free space on your HD?

6string said:

Do you have plenty of free space on your HD?

Click to expand...

Yes. 59GB free. Currently running the hardware test.

BrianCN said:

System memory says: 1.98GB free, 291.2MB wired, 369.9MB active, 384.8MB inactive, 1.02GB used. If that is what you're asking.

Click to expand...

You said 2GB of additional memory, if you already has 2GB, then Activity Monitor should've reported 4GB..

In Activity Monitor, you want to try to do an activity that causes the pinwheel and the delays and then look at which task (line) is taking up the most "% CPU" which indicates where all your processor power is going..

You might want to first click on the "% CPU" twice to ensure that the down (descending) arrow is shown which will bring up the worst CPU hog to the top.

Regards

No Trouble Found on the extended hardware test.

Raz0rEdge said:

You said 2GB of additional memory, if you already has 2GB, then Activity Monitor should've reported 4GB..

In Activity Monitor, you want to try to do an activity that causes the pinwheel and the delays and then look at which task (line) is taking up the most "% CPU" which indicates where all your processor power is going..
You might want to first click on the "% CPU" twice to ensure that the down (descending) arrow is shown which will bring up the worst CPU hog to the top.

Regards

Click to expand...

The machine came with 1GB, and was expandable to a maximum of 3GB. I will take a look at the Activity monitor.

I was just thinking, if the defrag (which you quit) took so long, it really points to a failing HD, but a quick test to see if it's account related would be a good idea.
Set up a new user account and test it.
If it is the same in the new account, since you were willing to give the defrag so long, an hour or so backing up with time machine, clean install and restore from time machine (quick way to defrag) could be worth a shot.

6string said:

I was just thinking, if the defrag (which you quit) took so long, it really points to a failing HD, but a quick test to see if it's account related would be a good idea.
Set up a new user account and test it.
If it is the same in the new account, since you were willing to give the defrag so long, an hour or so backing up with time machine, clean install and restore from time machine (quick way to defrag) could be worth a shot.

Click to expand...

re; new user account...test it how? I don't use time machine, and at the rate that this thing moves, I have no confidence that it would ever finish backing up. BTW, the restart from the Hardware test is just sitting there with a blank white screen.

I really appreciate the time you're all taking with this.

For one, I hope that you have some form of backup going on, because it's not looking good if you are stuck on the white screen.
If you can get it to boot, first thing I would do is backup your HD.
Next up.... new user, although I think it is a waste of time, go to , system preferences, accounts (click the lock and put in your password), click the + and add a new account.
Go back to the , log out, and log back in as the new user.

6string said:

For one, I hope that you have some form of backup going on, because it's not looking good if you are stuck on the white screen.
If you can get it to boot, first thing I would do is backup your HD.
Next up.... new user, although I think it is a waste of time, go to , system preferences, accounts (click the lock and put in your password), click the + and add a new account.
Go back to the , log out, and log back in as the new user.

Click to expand...

What sould I do about the white screen? Just wait it out?

Try resetting the PRAM.
Shut down by holding the power button.
Turn it on and wait until you hear the chime.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys simultaneously.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup chime for the second time.
Release the keys.

6string said:

Try resetting the PRAM.
Shut down by holding the power button.
Turn it on and wait until you hear the chime.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys simultaneously.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup chime for the second time.
Release the keys.

Click to expand...

OK, rebooted and reset the PRAM. Not resolving the problem. That was the first time I ever had a blank white screen and boot failure.

Really sounds like your HD is cactus....
Try a safe boot.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode

6string said:

Really sounds like your HD is cactus....
Try a safe boot.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode

Click to expand...

What will a safe boot accomplish?