MBP extremely slow, HDD cable replaced, what next?

[TitoPartija]

Hello!

A week ago or so, my beloved sturdy workhorse (Macbook Pro model A1278 mid-2012) became suddenly and unreasonably slow, freezing constantly and beachballing while performing even the easiest tasks. However, before I managed to assess the situation, the infamous flashing question mark on boot appeared, warranting the change of the HDD cable as per these instructions:

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Cable Replacement - iFixit

After successfully replacing the HDD cable, I was relieved to see that my files were intact, but the laptop was still running extremely slow, albeit semi-reliably and not crashing no more. Since I used it pretty much every day for past five years, I'd say that installing SSD (or maybe even upgrading RAM) would be in order and would appreciate any inputs on what should I be doing next. Here's an EtreCheck report, it took 35min which reinforces my "waning HDD" theory:

EtreCheck version: 3.4 (420)
Report generated 2017-07-19 13:11:51
Runtime: 35:11
Performance: Poor

Problem: Computer is too slow
Description:
Computer is too slow, beachballing occurs while running and using pretty much any program, replaced the HDD cable saving the computer from perpetual flashing question mark.

Hardware Information: ⓘ
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro9,2
1 2,9 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3520M) CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 1880

Video Information: ⓘ
Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800

Disk Information: ⓘ
APPLE HDD TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF disk0: (750,16 GB) (Rotational)
[Show SMART report]
EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB
(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 749.30 GB
Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS31N ()

USB Information: ⓘ
USB20Bus
hub_device
hub_device
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB20Bus
hub_device
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
USB30Bus

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks: ⓘ
Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 748.93 GB (106.23 GB free)
Physical disk: disk0s2 749.30 GB Online

System Software: ⓘ
macOS Sierra 10.12.5 (16F73) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Configuration files: ⓘ
/etc/sudoers, File size 1302 but expected 1563
/etc/sysctl.conf - File exists but not expected

Gatekeeper: ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers

Clean up: ⓘ
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.avast.secureline.update-agent.plist
/Library/Application Support/AvastSecureLine/components/update/com.avast.secureline.update-agent
Executable not found!
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper.plist
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper
Executable not found!
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spotify.webhelper.plist
~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/SpotifyWebHelper
Executable not found!
3 orphan files found. [Clean up]

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Library/Extensions
[loaded] at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch (3.7 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.kairos.driver.DuetDisplay (1.1.2 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBCDCACMData (ZTEDriver_MacV1.3.33) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.ZTE.driver.ZTEUSBMassStorageFilter (ZTEDriver_MacV1.3.33) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.driver.JRDMassStorageDriver32 (1.0.3) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.driver.JRDMassStorageDriver64 (1.0.3) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.driver.JRDUSBModemData32 (1.0.1) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.driver.JRDUSBModemData64 (4.0.8) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.focusrite.driver.usb2audio (1.8 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.9 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.1394HP (1.0.11 - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.1394_64HP (1.0.1 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.USBHP (1.0.11) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.wdc.driver.USB_64HP (1.0.0 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.zte.driver.cdc_ecm_qmi (1.0.23) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.zte.driver.cdc_usb_bus (1.0.23) [Lookup]

/System/Library/Extensions/PACESupportFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.leopard (5.9 - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.panther (5.9 - SDK 10.-1) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard (5.9 - SDK 10.6) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.tiger (5.9 - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks
[loaded] 183 Apple tasks
[running] 93 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 39 Apple tasks
[loaded] 172 Apple tasks
[running] 107 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ
[running] at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist (Objective Development Software GmbH - installed 2016-10-02) [Lookup]
[failed] com.avast.secureline.update-agent.plist (? 4f732c42 0 - installed 2015-06-16) [Lookup] - /Library/Application Support/AvastSecureLine/components/update/com.avast.secureline.update-agent: Executable not found!
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? c3a2a448 be93c7fb - installed 2016-11-16) [Lookup]
[running] com.rosettastone.rosettastonedaemon.plist (Rosetta Stone Ltd. - installed 2016-10-02) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2012-09-27) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[loaded] PACESupport.plist (Shell Script ab6b5614 - installed 2012-07-11) [Lookup]
[not loaded] PT.updd.plist (? 0 ? - installed 2016-11-15) [Lookup]
[running] at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist (? 4ffc17c9 249815ba - installed 2016-10-02) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 a0305b84 - installed 2017-06-14) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.apple.aelwriter.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2013-05-30)
[running] com.apple.qmaster.qmasterd.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2010-08-25)
[running] com.freemacsoft.appcleanerd.plist (? f7188468 7d92d211 - installed 2013-05-19) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e afb3bef0 - installed 2010-08-25) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2016-04-11) [Lookup]
[running] com.nordvpn.NordVPN.Helper.plist (TEFINKOM & CO S.A - installed 2017-02-28) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (Shell Script e3fefdd2 - installed 2016-09-22) [Lookup]
[running] com.paceap.eden.licensed.plist (? 31c2e993 dfd5a873 - installed 2013-06-08) [Lookup]
[running] com.prey.agent.plist (Shell Script 714c4ad6 - installed 2017-03-02) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.sfr.sfr3g.plist (? 3439e71 86bdc726 - installed 2013-06-30) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.surteesstudios.Bartender.BartenderInstallHelper.plist (Surtees Studios Limited - installed 2016-12-24) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper.plist (? 9f7f4405 0 - installed 2016-10-02) [Lookup] - /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wdc.WDPrivilegedHelper: Executable not found!
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2012-09-27) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[loaded] com.dropbox.DropboxMacUpdate.agent.plist (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2017-07-19) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-03-28) [Lookup]
[failed] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (? b76f297e 0 - installed 2014-07-17) [Lookup] - ~/Library/Application Support/Spotify/SpotifyWebHelper: Executable not found!
[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (? cd870406 f03ac3b1 - installed 2017-07-02) [Lookup]

User Login Items: ⓘ
CheatSheet Programm
(/Applications/CheatSheet.app)
NordVPN Programm
(/Applications/NordVPN.app)
iTunesHelper Programm (? 0 - installed 2017-05-16)
(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Flux Programm
(/Applications/Flux.app)
Dropbox Programm
(/Applications/Dropbox.app)
AppCleaner Helper Programm (? 0 - installed 2013-05-19)
(/Applications/AppCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/AppCleaner Helper.app)
WDDriveUtilityHelper Programm
(/Applications/WD Drive Utilities.app/Contents/WDDriveUtilityHelper.app)
Alfred 2 Programm
(/Applications/Alfred 2.app)
Actions Server Programm
(/Applications/Actions Server.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
FlashPlayer-10.6: 26.0.0.131 (installed 2017-06-17) [Lookup]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-07-10)
Flash Player: 26.0.0.131 (installed 2017-06-17) Outdated! Update
JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 111 build 14 (installed 2016-11-16) Check version
SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.0.0 (installed 2010-08-25) [Lookup]

Safari Extensions: ⓘ
[enabled] AdBlock
[enabled] WikiWand
[enabled] Zotero Connector

Audio Plug-ins: ⓘ
DVCPROHDAudio: 1.3.2 (installed 2013-06-08)
Hear: 1.1.3 (installed 2014-12-08) [Lookup]
BartenderAudioPlugIn: 1.0.0 (installed 2016-09-14) [Lookup]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (installed 2017-06-14) [Lookup]
Java (installed 2016-11-16) [Lookup]

Time Machine: ⓘ
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: ON
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 748.93 GB Disk used: 642.70 GB
Destinations:
Time Machine Backup [Local]
Total size: 999.86 GB
Total number of backups: 2
Oldest backup: 23.12.16, 09:15
Last backup: 10.07.17, 08:50
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 642.70 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
6% WindowServer
4% kernel_task
2% mdworker
1% ps
1% Little Snitch Agent

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
786 MB kernel_task
176 MB Dropbox
168 MB Google Chrome
125 MB Finder
122 MB mds_stores

Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ
Input Output Process name
177 MB 8 MB openvpn
231 KB 212 KB mDNSResponder
56 KB 18 KB Dropbox
4 KB 4 KB netbiosd
0 B 184 B SystemUIServer

Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ
7.64 WindowServer
3.68 AddressBookSourceSync
0.94 Google Chrome
0.88 accountsd

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
3.83 GB Available RAM
950 MB Free RAM
4.17 GB Used RAM
2.91 GB Cached files
512 KB Swap Used

Software installs: ⓘ
Microsoft OneNote: 15.35.1 (installed 2017-06-19)
OneDrive: 17.3.6916 (installed 2017-06-24)
OneDrive: 17.3.6919 (installed 2017-07-02)
Wunderlist: 3.4.7 (installed 2017-07-10)

Install information may not be complete.


Many thanks in advance and have a great day!!
T

 

[pigoo3]

A week ago or so, my beloved sturdy workhorse (Macbook Pro model A1278 mid-2012) became suddenly and unreasonably slow, freezing constantly and beachballing while performing even the easiest tasks. However, before I managed to assess the situation, the infamous flashing question mark on boot appeared, warranting the change of the HDD cable as per these instructions:

MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Hard Drive Cable Replacement - iFixit

After successfully replacing the HDD cable, I was relieved to see that my files were intact, but the laptop was still running extremely slow, albeit semi-reliably and not crashing no more.

I'm not sure you came to the correct conclusion with this project. If the computer was super slow before & after replacing the hard drive cable...then the hard drive cable is not the issue. The issue is the hard drive is either extremely full...or the hard drive is failing.

If you don't have a backup...start backing up now before the HD completely fails & you lose all your data.

- Nick

 

[chscag]

Welcome to our forums. We moved your post here to the "Notebooks" forum where it belongs.

You're running lots of unnecessary stuff. Get rid of Avast and the Western Digital helper mass storage driver. Neither is needed. You're also running "Little Snitch" which is OK but it does suck up some resources. There are other drivers being loaded that I'm not familiar with but you need to access whether all that load up is really needed. Startup in safe mode to see if your MBP runs better.

You might want to run First Aid on your hard drive to see if there are any errors being reported. And good advice from Nick about making a backup!

 

[TitoPartija]

I'm not sure you came to the correct conclusion with this project. If the computer was super slow before & after replacing the hard drive cable...then the hard drive cable is not the issue. The issue is the hard drive is either extremely full...or the hard drive is failing.

If you don't have a backup...start backing up now before the HD completely fails & you lose all your data.

- Nick

Hi Nick, thanks for the swift reply! MBP was working fine until a week or so and THEN it suddenly became slow and ultimately failed to even boot properly - which prompted me to replace the HDD cable. After replacing the cable I was able to start and use the laptop (I'm writing from it right now, yay!), although it is still very slow, hence my main question. Hope that makes it clearer. I'm mopping up my HD and will do one more backup today. Thanks again!

 

[TitoPartija]

Welcome to our forums. We moved your post here to the "Notebooks" forum where it belongs.

You're running lots of unnecessary stuff. Get rid of Avast and the Western Digital helper mass storage driver. Neither is needed. You're also running "Little Snitch" which is OK but it does suck up some resources. There are other drivers being loaded that I'm not familiar with but you need to access whether all that load up is really needed. Startup in safe mode to see if your MBP runs better.

You might want to run First Aid on your hard drive to see if there are any errors being reported. And good advice from Nick about making a backup!

Hello!

First off, sorry for posting in the wrong subforum and thank you for having me here!

I will get rid of the stuff you mentioned, I though I removed them ages ago and I'll give it a try running in safe mode. I already used two other programs (SMART Utility and DriveDx) trying to determine the state of my HDD, but I haven't actually used First Aid, thanks. I'll start with a fresh backup shortly and will report accordingly. Thanks again and have a good one! T

 

[pigoo3]

After replacing the cable I was able to start and use the laptop (I'm writing from it right now, yay!), although it is still very slow, hence my main question.

As you said. The computer is still slow after replacing the HD cable...this means that the cable is very likely not the problem. The fact that the computer is working now (but slowly)...does not eliminate hard drive failure as the REAL problem. Hard drives that are in the process of failing can sometimes work...and sometimes not. And eventually will not work at all. My conclusion is still that the hard drive is failing.

- Nick

 

[TitoPartija]

Hi Nick, thank you so much for your inputs, I will definitely look up some solid state drives and backup and swap my HDD with a new SSD.

I will report here in a couple of days, so that the others with a similar issue could hopefully benefit from it in the future.

Thanks again and have a great weekend!
T

 

[pigoo3]

Good deal T. That SSD will be a nice upgrade!

- Nick

 

[TitoPartija]

It took me more than 'a couple of days', but in case somebody stumbles upon this thread in the future, I'd like to offer a quick review of things how they happened, maybe it will be of some help:


1. After replacing the HDD cable; HD worked, but was still extremely slow and unresponsive
2. I replaced my original HD with a Samsung SSD - however the problem explained above persisted even with a new HDD cable and a new SSD
3. Returned the replacement HDD cable, ordered three different ones off the Internet and one out of three did the trick!
4. Returned three (yes, three!) replacement HDD cables that didn't work, the laptop runs smoother and faster than ever.


If there is a bottom line to my little adventure, it'll probably be the fact that the HDD (now SSD, wohoooo!) cables are most obvious culprit for flashing question mark issue and that the first one you order might not be working properly. It could also be due to the fact that I did something wrong in my attempt to replace the cable, but snooping some more around the forums made me realize that is sadly a common issue. Good luck and thank you all once again!