Junk or Fix my 2007 iMac?

[chukovsky]

I bought a 2007 iMac two and a half years ago for $250 and it's worked fairly fine until several months ago, when a cascading series of problems have popped up. I use it mainly for word processing, web surfing and e-mail. When I move my cursor somewhere, it will highlight swaths of text, and it's very difficult to UNhighlight it; when I DO want to highlight text, the cursor blinks off in a minisecond, making it very difficult to do so; it has become interminably slow opening programs; some programs are difficult - sometimes impossible - to close; more and more, I click to open a file, and the computer is unresponsive - repeated jabbing will finally get it to open; certain programs are crashing more often. . . You get the idea.

I have no idea wherein lie the problems, or whether it would behoove me to attempt to fix them, or whether I should cut the cord and buy a new one.

Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[Slydude]

Have you tried running Disk Utility and checking the hard drive? Some of those problems sound like hard drive issues.

 

[Rod]

It would be easy to assume that this is a system hardware issue as the life of a HDD is only about 5 years unless it's been replaced.
I would suggest a backup if you value any of the data on the HD before doing too much.
Then I'd suggest you run Disk Utility first aid to check the OS followed by Hardware Check, the method to do this will vary dependent on your OS and see what results you get.
In addition check your storage. You need at least 10-20% unused for the operating system virtual memory to function.

 

[Rod]

I suppose I should say, to answer your original question more directly, I would not consider spending too much money on an 11 year old Mac that is displaying serious functional problems. It could crash irrevocably any moment. It has already outlived reasonable expectations.
Still if it can be urged to live a little longer without expensive repairs and it fulfills your needs why not. Personally I would replace it but I don't know if you are able to afford that.

 

[chukovsky]

I suppose I should say, to answer your original question more directly, I would not consider spending too much money on an 11 year old Mac that is displaying serious functional problems. It could crash irrevocably any moment. It has already outlived reasonable expectations.
Still if it can be urged to live a little longer without expensive repairs and it fulfills your needs why not. Personally I would replace it but I don't know if you are able to afford that.

Thanks, this is helpful. So, as to storage, as reflected on Disk Utility: The "Encrypted Logical Partition" has 165.5 GB available out of 248.86 GB capacity. However, the "Logical Volume Group" has only 16.8 MB available out of 294.2 GB. Honestly, I don't know quite what to make of this or how to deal with it, but the extreme lack of storage left on the latter may be the problem you referred to in your last post. I had previously run Disk Utility quite a bit to try to work through any HD problems, but it didn't help at all. I don't know about Hardware Check. I run 10.8.5, if that helps in this regard.

Yes, I am able to replace this machine, but I must say, I'm a minimalist, and don't splurge for bigger ticket items unless I really need to. But if I do, I will.

 

[chukovsky]

Yes, I've tried it. No luck. It may have something to do with lack of storage? (see response to post below). Thanks.

 

[Slydude]

Are you currently running FileVault?

 

[Rod]

Yes, and check in the Apple Menu > About this Mac > Storage and see what that says as far as available storage.

 

[pm-r]

First off, I'd get rid of any encryption and get it working as a normal drive.

From your description there's absolutely no reason you need it and that Mac doesn't need any additional resources added to its strain.

After that's done. try booting up using Safe Boot Mode and see how it works. Hold down the shift key when booting it. Just restart to get back to "normal" mode.




- Patrick
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[Slydude]

Rod, I don't mess will Filevault and haven't kept up with some of the changes in how it operates. Are you reading those numbers to mean that when the Filvault partition is decrypted there isn't enough free space left for good performance? That's my basic thought FWIW.

 

[chukovsky]

Are you currently running FileVault?

Not that I'm aware. Sorry for my ignorance, but I don't know what FileVault is.

 

[chukovsky]

First off, I'd get rid of any encryption and get it working as a normal drive.

From your description there's absolutely no reason you need it and that Mac doesn't need any additional resources added to its strain.

After that's done. try booting up using Safe Boot Mode and see how it works. Hold down the shift key when booting it. Just restart to get back to "normal" mode.




- Patrick
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How do I get rid of the encryption? Thanks.

 

[chukovsky]

In "About this Mac," the 250 GB SATA disk has 165.46 GB available. Thanks.

 

[Slydude]

Go to System Preferences and open the Security and Privacy preference pane. Click the Filevault tab and the results will tell you whether FileVault is enabled. If it is turned on it can be turned off from the same place in that panel.

 

[chukovsky]

First off, I'd get rid of any encryption and get it working as a normal drive.

From your description there's absolutely no reason you need it and that Mac doesn't need any additional resources added to its strain.

After that's done. try booting up using Safe Boot Mode and see how it works. Hold down the shift key when booting it. Just restart to get back to "normal" mode.




- Patrick
======

Ok, done. I guess I will have to to keep an eye on it in for a while and see what kind of a difference this may make. I just tried moving my cursor around for several minutes on different documents and I DO notice an improvement - I can locate the cursor at a point without swaths of text getting highlighted.

Fire Vault was in fact turned on and I turned it off.

These changes have not made a difference in the storage numbers recited in the earlier posts.

Thanks. I will post again after having more time to observe how the iMac responds.

 

[pm-r]

I can locate the cursor at a point without swaths of text getting highlighted.

That may also be from the mouse switch double/triple clicking that could/would select words or lines of text.

Maybe try changing your mouse click speed or even try using a different good working mouse if you have one.

You can also check or change your System Preferences > Mouse speeds and also some of the mouse pointer options in Sys Prefs > Accessibility for pointer size etc.




- Patrick
======

 

[chukovsky]

That may also be from the mouse switch double/triple clicking that could/would select words or lines of text.

Maybe try changing your mouse click speed or even try using a different good working mouse if you have one.

You can also check or change your System Preferences > Mouse speeds and also some of the mouse pointer options in Sys Prefs > Accessibility for pointer size etc.




- Patrick
======

That was my first suspicion, so I've tried those options without luck to date. I'll give it another try though. Thanks!

 

[pm-r]

That was my first suspicion, so I've tried those options without luck to date. I'll give it another try though. Thanks!

Or even an intermittent "short" in the cable if it's a wired mouse. Try another mouse as well.




- Patrick
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[Rod]

It's true that an old mouse could be a problem with selection and scrolling but I got the impression from your first post that you had several other functional issues, opening/quitting apps etc which led me to suspect storage issues. What Operating System are you using. I'm thinking running OnyX might be a good idea if a version is available for your OS if not a reinstall of the operating system from the Recovery Partition could be wort a try.

 

[pm-r]

When I move my cursor somewhere, it will highlight swaths of text, and it's very difficult to Unhighlight it; when I DO want to highlight text, the cursor blinks off in a minisecond, making it very difficult to do so;

Just focusing on his one comment quoted above, it sure sounds like a mouse and mouse-button switch problem to me.

IE: Click and drag over any text whether the button is pressed or not if it's clicking on its own with a goofy switch, it would do just that, and just what its supposed to do.

If that's the case, Onyx sure ain't gonna fix it.

But it might help with some of their other Mac problems.

And it looks like there are versions available even earlier than the OP could use with that 2007 iMac that originally came with 10.0 4 I think:
https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html





- Patrick
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