iMac mid 2011 with SSD suddenly takes 1+ min to start

[sopax]

Since I installed the 250GB SSD drive 2 years ago, the startup time has been swift and took a few seconds. Suddenly one day a couple of weeks ago it took 60-90 sec from the sound (with white screen) until the the installation bar appeared. From the moment the bar came up, the remaining time was like before. My computer is updated and kept very clean, the CPU usage upon start up is 3%, system 2%, idle 95%, SSD 32% used space. I have run the OnyX as advised by another user, but no change.

Any ideas?

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Helps if you provide the operating system details as trou ble shooting varies quite markedly. 2011 iMacs can be running any operating system from OS X.6 Snow Leopard to OS X.11 El Capitan. When you say 'like before' do you mean it has returned to the 10 seconds or so of previously? If so don't worry. If not, and it has been updated with OS, enter Recovery and run Verify Disk or Disk First Aid, depending on the system. Do you have a current backup? C ritical as SSDs fail also like platter drives, not if but when.

Had them D.O.A. new in the box.

 

[pm-r]

As Harry says, and have you installed anything new lately???

Have you checked your user login items for anything new that might have been added?

And how often are you really clean booting and why if it's often???

And how does your Mac run after it does boot up???,,, and I guess 60-90 sec could/should be a bit faster if booting from an internal SSD.





- Patrick
======

 

[harryb2448]

And after all that, did you replace the platter drive or just 'piggy back' the SSD? If so maybe it is booting from the platter drive. And if piggy backed, any chance the installed drive was a fusion drive?

 

[sopax]

Thanks for your comments.
1. I'm running El Capitan10.11.6 and always updating immediately to new versions
2. I have TM backups
3. I am the only person using this computer and am closing it down completely every time I finish my work.
4. The computer has the original HD, where my files are stored. All OS and programmes are stored on the SSD.
5. Harry: By "like before" I mean that after 60-90 sec with blank white screen, the logo and the bar appears. From that moment it takes only a few seconds - like before - until the login appears.
6. I rarely download or install anything on my computer - and do not recall having done so the day before this problem happened.

 

[pm-r]

I'd say and bet your problem lays with the latter part of #3.

Don't shut down, but use sleep instead.

The later Mac OS X versions will do a maintenance and check routine if the Mac has been shut down when I boots. That takes time.
Otherwise it will run the same procedures at a low use time if it's just put into sleep mode.

Try it and see.





- Patrick
======

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Since I installed the 250GB SSD drive 2 years ago, the startup time has been swift and took a few seconds. Suddenly one day a couple of weeks ago it took 60-90 sec from the sound (with white screen) until the the installation bar appeared. From the moment the bar came up, the remaining time was like before.

I can think of a number of things, off the top of my head, which would cause that type of a problem.

- Was the computer previously attached to a network, or external device which it is no longer attached to, causing it now to look for that network or device each time that it boots up, until it finally times out and finishes booting?

- Try deselecting the boot drive as the Startup drive in System Preferences, and then re-selecting it:
System Preferences --> Startup Disk

- Have you checked the health of your boot drive? The free demo version of the following will comprehensively tell you how well your hard drive is doing:

DriveDX - free demo
https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

- Does your user password include extended ASCII characters? That's a no no, and will cause a startup delay.

- Have you tried disabling your login items in System Preference to see if that helps?

 

[sopax]

Thanks for your comments.
pm-r: Right, but what concerns me is not so much the waiting time as the explanation why it has suddenly changed. For 2 years I have closed down down the computer every day - and started again the next day. Immediately after pressing the start button the logo and bar appeared and within few seconds I could login. Why would that suddenly change?
Randy:
1. No change in the network setup
2. The startup does not give me any alternatives other than the SSD drive.
3. The Drivedx has performed a check and found both the SSD and the original HD in perfect condition.
4. No extended characters - and I have not changed my password recently
5. I have now disabled all login items

 

[Randy B. Singer]

2. The startup does not give me any alternatives other than the SSD drive.

There should, at least, be an option to look for a Network Drive. All that you have to do is switch from one to the other, and then back again.

If you don't have that option, your OS is probably damaged. I'd use Recovery Mode to do a re-install of the OS and afterwards things will likely be back to normal.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

 

[sopax]

Thanks Randy. I have now reinstalled the OS, however the startup is still slow and I still have only the SSD drive in the Startup Drive:

 

[Pasquanel]

I had the same experience recently, I reset the "pram" and SMC and its back to normal very easy procedure!
http://www.macworld.com/article/2881177/how-to-reset-your-macs-nvram-pram-and-smc.html

 

[pm-r]

Thanks for your comments.
pm-r: Right, but what concerns me is not so much the waiting time as the explanation why it has suddenly changed. For 2 years I have closed down down the computer every day - and started again the next day. Immediately after pressing the start button the logo and bar appeared and within few seconds I could login. Why would that suddenly change?
… … …

If you're using the latest OS X, you haven't been using it for "2 years".

The latest does different boot checks at startup.

PS: sopax's comments on the "resets" wouldn't hurt to try and often fixes some quirks.

PPS: Have you been using any sort of TRIM support???
And have you ever done any Read/Write speed tests?
Maybe "Blackmagic Disk Speed Test" if you've never used one. Then do some comparison checking.






- Patrick
======

 

[sopax]

Pasquanel - Amazing! I followed the instructions to reset the SMC: Disconnected the power cord for 15 sec, and when I turned on the Mac after another 5 sec, it started up immediately! Thanks to all for suggestions - I have learned a lot about my Mac by trying out these.

 

[IWT]

There should, at least, be an option to look for a Network Drive. All that you have to do is switch from one to the other, and then back again.

If you don't have that option, your OS is probably damaged. I'd use Recovery Mode to do a re-install of the OS and afterwards things will likely be back to normal.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

@Randy,

Your advice caused me a momentary panic. I have the newest iMac, specs under my Avatar.

In System Preferences > Startup Disk, I too have only the Macintosh HD shown as a bootable option. (But the Recovery Partition works fine using Cmd + R on reboot.)

You tend to imply that there should be another bootable option in System Preferences. Or have I misunderstood you?

Ian

 

[Randy B. Singer]

@Randy,

Your advice caused me a momentary panic. I have the newest iMac, specs under my Avatar.

In System Preferences > Startup Disk, I too have only the Macintosh HD shown as a bootable option. (But the Recovery Partition works fine using Cmd + R on reboot.)

You tend to imply that there should be another bootable option in System Preferences. Or have I misunderstood you?

I have such an option. But don't go looking for reasons to be "panicked". I may have another option because of something that I have connected to my Mac(s), or something that *was* connected to my Mac. Don't stress about it.

I have a "Network Startup" option in System Preferences:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205054

 

[IWT]

Thanks, Randy. It was only a frisson of unease

Reading your links (and the further links therein), I'm quite comfortable with my setup. Incidentally, if I mount my EHD with SuperDuper! clone on it - then it does appear as a startup option.

It seems that there are all sorts of "add-ons" and so forth which can further control the startup options. I don't have these and I'm sure, given your very extensive experience, that you will have done something in the past.

Thanks for your courtesy in posting back; much appreciated.

Ian