iMac 7,1 slow and often needs permissions fixed

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My iMac runs slow after several hours of use. I then run "repair permissions". This afternoon it took 21 minutes. Day before yesterday, 31 minutes. A knowledgeable Mac guy told me I could have one of three things wrong. 1. My new memory is defective ( it ran worse when I only had 1 gig and would often crash). 2. My motherboard is starting to fail. 3. My hard drive is starting to fail.
Any body know what to do?
 
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G'day and welcome to the forums.

Start with suggestion 3. You do have the system install disc? Pop that in and reboot holding down 'C' immediately after the chime. Leave Installer and go to Utilities > Disk Utility > Repair Disk and see what is reported.

Also provide operating system details with your post. Always helps as if you are running Lion you will not have a system disc but have to use Lion Recovery.
 
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Thank you. It needed repair and did so in less than 10 minutes. Would it have said that the hard drive is faulty or soon to fail?
Merci beaucoup!!
 
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Yes. it would have given a message in red in there was anything faulty. Now you can go to Disk Utility in Utilities in the Application Folder and run verify Disk and you will get a green message.

And my pleasure.
 
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Ok, Harry, now it's been a few days, and this morning I noticed my Imac running very slow in acrobat, so I repaired permissions--27 minutes. I then used the install disk to check the condition of my hard drive, and it was fine. Should I start thinking about the other two possibilities?--that is, motherboard about to fail or faulty memory?
 

pigoo3

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Ok, Harry, now it's been a few days, and this morning I noticed my Imac running very slow in acrobat, so I repaired permissions--27 minutes. I then used the install disk to check the condition of my hard drive, and it was fine. Should I start thinking about the other two possibilities?--that is, motherboard about to fail or faulty memory?

- How much ram does the computer have?
- How full is the HD (how many gigs free)?
- How many applications do you usually have open at the same time?
- How many hours/day do you use your computer?
- Do you do a lot of gaming?

Nick

p.s. I will mention that it's very unlikely that the slowness or having to repair permissions a lot is related to the logic board or ram.
 
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8 GB Ram,
HD has 121 Gigs available.
I usually have (safari, mail, acrobat, iCal, iPhoto, vectorworks--six or seven, sometimes 8 apps open at the same time. When I see things slowing down, I often shut down all the apps I have open, except for the needed one, but I see no difference.
Sometimes I use the computer six or less hours per day(I have a MacBook Pro that I use a lot too).
I do no gaming whatsoever.
Your question about how many apps are open at one time may be right on target. I have always had many apps open simultaneously. Maybe I should use this computer for only two apps at a time: vectorworks (CAD program with sometimes 25 mb files) and iPhoto; or vectorworks and adobe acrobat; or vectorworks and preview; or vectorworks and safari.
John
 

pigoo3

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8 GB Ram,
HD has 121 Gigs available.
I usually have (safari, mail, acrobat, iCal, iPhoto, vectorworks--six or seven, sometimes 8 apps open at the same time. When I see things slowing down, I often shut down all the apps I have open, except for the needed one, but I see no difference.
Sometimes I use the computer six or less hours per day(I have a MacBook Pro that I use a lot too).
I do no gaming whatsoever.
Your question about how many apps are open at one time may be right on target. I have always had many apps open simultaneously. Maybe I should use this computer for only two apps at a time: vectorworks (CAD program with sometimes 25 mb files) and iPhoto; or vectorworks and adobe acrobat; or vectorworks and preview; or vectorworks and safari.
John

With 8 gig of ram (more than the average user)...I usually wouldn't be too worried that you have 8 apps open at the same time. But that CAD program, the large files you're working with, and a lot of reading/writing to the HD may be the source of slow-downs & the frequent permissions repairing.

A better way to "manage" what's going on is to use the program "Activity Monitor" (in the utilities folder). It shows you how your ram is being used, amongst other things.

Read the "beachballs" link in my signature...and all the links included in that posting...and it may help you understand things...give you a better way to manage the situation.

Pay very close attention to the "page-outs" and "swap file" size. When you restart the computer...the value for these two parameters should be zero...and stay zero for a long time...but eventually they will start to grow in size. When they get large enough...things will start to slow down.

It's sort of a complex topic...hopefully the links help. The main thing to remember is...if you notice the computer getting slow...quit all the applications...and restart the computer (also repairing permissions occasionally).

HTH,

- Nick
 
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my IMac useta' slow down

NIck, thanks a bunch. Now i know a little bit more. I put Activity Monitor into the startup items (folder) so I can monitor.
John
 

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