Experiencing beach balls after RAM upgrade

[countfufu]

I use a macbook pro 13'' early 2011 running OS X 10.9.5. I upgraded my RAM from 4 GB to 8 GB after experiencing beach balls, system freezing and the fan working overtime after a hard drive replacement and clean install. It hasn't improved that much though, the beach balls, freezing and fan issues still occur even after a shutdown and only opening one program. I used the crucial.com scanner to choose the RAM so I doubt that the chips themselves are the problem
Is there any way to fix this? Would an upgrade to Yosemite help?

 

[pigoo3]

You mentioned two things...hard drive replacement & ram upgrade. One or possibly even both could be responsible. First thing I would do is...remove the new ram & reinstall the old ram.

- Nick

 

[Slydude]

At the very least check to ensure that the new ram is the proper spec and has been seated properly.

 

[chscag]

Are you telling us that you had the beach ball problem even before installing the new memory? If so - and that's what I gather from your post, then there's something else going on. You're also telling us that even after replacing the hard drive, the fan is still spinning fast and the system is freezing?

 

[pigoo3]

Yes...as chscag mentioned...I think that we need clarification on when these beachballs were/are occurring.

- The thread title says "beachballs after ram upgrade"
- The thread posting sounds like the beachballs are occurring before the ram upgrade.

* Nick

 

[countfufu]

I apologize for the confusion. The beach balls were occurring after the new hard drive and clean mavericks was installed. I had 4 GB at the time and was told that this was probably the cause of the beach balls because mavericks need 8GB minimum to run smoothly. I put in 8 GB and the beach balls persisted

 

[chas_m]

Are they constant, or is there a particular pattern to them? Do they happen if you use a different user account? Do they happen if you use your own usual account, but in Safe Mode?

 

[countfufu]

sometimes they appear after 30 mins, other times after every 2 secs [one beachball after another]. I use one account but I will make another one if it persists. I'll give safe mode a try. I re-placed the chips and took photos. I think they are seated properly because the clips made the clicking sound

 

[countfufu]

the transmission app seems to have a part to play in the beach ball problem. the fan noise and freezing is not as frequent, but still happens. it doesn't take up that much memory according to the activity moniter though, is there any reason why it would cause problems?

 

[countfufu]

The beach balls have reduced after the safe mode boot and regular boot up. However when I play large media files like 720p and 1080p the videos freeze often. Finder relaunches it self for some reason. The fan also makes a lot of noise associated with the mac overworking even when one or two programs are running, in some cases immediately after the mac boots up. Are these issues associated with the age of the mac or maverick's inability to handle large files?

 

[chscag]

If the beach balls were reduced or gone while you were running in safe mode, that means there is some other program or process running in the background when you're in normal mode. You installed more memory and have a new hard drive so I think both of those can be eliminated as reasons for the beach balls. Use your Activity Monitor app which is located in Applications, Utilities, to try to determine what could be going on.

 

[countfufu]

there is something called kernel_task that seems to take up space compared to other programs. even after starting up it takes up about 500 MB. it's always at the top of activity monitor's list. is this normal?

here's a screenshot of the activity monitor

 

[pigoo3]

Nothing wrong with the kernel task. Those stats are normal.

- Nick

 

[countfufu]

Here is a scan of my mac, maybe this might help out

Problem description:
System slow, freezing, beach balls

EtreCheck version: 2.0.8 (95)
Report generated October 31, 2014 at 9:36:48 AM GMT+3

Hardware Information:
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information:
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800

System Software:
OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Uptime: 2:9:25

Disk Information:
WDC WD10S12X-55JTET0 disk0 : (1 TB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 999.35 GB (576.50 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

MAT****ADVD-R UJ-8A8

USB Information:
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information:
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:
Anywhere

Kernel Extensions:
/Applications/Magican.app
[not loaded] com.magican.iokit.filemon (1 - SDK 10.7) Support
[not loaded] com.magican.iokit.netmon (1 - SDK 10.7) Support

/Applications/Parallels Desktop.app
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.hidhook (9.0 24172.951362) Support
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.hypervisor (9.0 24172.951362) Support
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.netbridge (9.0 24172.951362) Support
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.usbconnect (9.0 24172.951362) Support
[not loaded] com.parallels.kext.vnic (9.0 24172.951362) Support

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned
[loaded] com.avast.AvastFileShield (2.1.0 - SDK 10.9) Support

/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned
[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (1.4 - SDK 10.9) Support

/Library/Application Support/Hotspot Shield
[not loaded] com.anchorfree.tun (1.1.1 - SDK 10.8) Support

/System/Library/Extensions
[loaded] com.netralia.driver.VBMicDriver (1.0.0 - SDK 10.7) Support
[loaded] com.netralia.driver.VBSpeakerDriver (1.0.0 - SDK 10.7) Support
[not loaded] com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.master (5.9 - SDK 10.6) Support
[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (5.3.3 - SDK 10.8) Support

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

Startup Items:
FanControlDaemon: Path: /Library/StartupItems/FanControlDaemon
TuxeraNTFSUnmountHelper: Path: /Library/StartupItems/TuxeraNTFSUnmountHelper
Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X

Launch Agents:
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist Support
[loaded] com.divx.dms.agent.plist Support
[loaded] com.divx.update.agent.plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support
[running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist Support
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist Support

Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[invalid?] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist Support
[loaded] com.anchorfree.ajaxserver.plist Support
[loaded] com.avast.init.plist Support
[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist Support
[loaded] com.avast.update.plist Support
[loaded] com.barebones.authd.plist Support
[not loaded] com.barebones.textwrangler.plist Support
[running] com.cleverfiles.cfbackd.plist Support
[invalid?] com.eset.esets_daemon.plist Support
[not loaded] com.fernlightning.fseventer.plist Support
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support
[running] com.magican.castle.plist Support
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support
[invalid?] com.prosoftnet.idrivedaemon.plist Support
[invalid?] com.prosoftnet.idwebdaemon.plist Support
[loaded] com.sharpcast.xfsmond.plist Support
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist Support
[loaded] PACESupport.plist Support

User Launch Agents:
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
[invalid?] com.avast.home.userinit.plist Support
[invalid?] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist Support
[invalid?] uk.co.markallan.clamxav.freshclam.plist Support

User Login Items:
AdobeResourceSynchronizer ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)

Internet Plug-ins:
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 25 Check version
WacomNetscape: Version: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 Support
OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 Support
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
AdobeExManDetect: Version: AdobeExManDetect 1.1.0.0 - SDK 10.7 Support
WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 Support
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
DivX Web Player: Version: 3.2.3.1164 - SDK 10.6 Support
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20913.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.2.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.09 - SDK 10.6 Support
DirectorShockwave: Version: 11.6.8r638 Support

User Internet Plug-ins:
Folx3Plugin: Version: 3.0.1 - SDK 10.6 Support

Safari Extensions:
AdBlock
iTube Studio
Avast Online Security
OpenIE

3rd Party Preference Panes:
Fan Control Support
Flash Player Support
FUSE for OS X (OSXFUSE) Support
Java Support
Perian Support
Tuxera NTFS Support
PenTablet Support

Time Machine:
Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:
5% coreaudiod
4% plugin-container
1% WindowServer
1% AdobeReader
1% firefox

Top Processes by Memory:
696 MB firefox
318 MB AdobeReader
283 MB plugin-container
232 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent
137 MB mds_stores

Virtual Memory Information:
306 MB Free RAM
3.51 GB Active RAM
3.28 GB Inactive RAM
1.49 GB Wired RAM
2.83 GB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs

 

[pigoo3]

Have you ever run the free maintenance app "Onyx"? If not...give it a try.

- Nick

 

[countfufu]

i went through the onyx maintenance and cache cleaning. here were the plist files with issues

after cleaning the cache and restarting finder wouldn't load. an error log kept appearing forcing me to boot up in safe mode, which had a few beach balls in the log in page. it's very strange

 

[pigoo3]

I for one am getting confused. And whenever I get this confused…I like to start fresh with a computer.

I think that you mentioned installing a new HD…and I believe that you said that you did a fresh install of the OS (which is what would need to be done if this was a brand new HD).

So if the computer has a brand new HD…and new ram…and these beach balls are still occurring…then:

- the new HD is bad
- the ram is bad
- the new ram and the HD are both bad
- there is a hardware problem with this computer

With a new HD, a fresh install of the OS, and 8gig of new ram…you should not be getting beach balls (if everything is good). So something is bad/wrong.

And logically…if the beach balls were happening before with the old HD and the old ram (and also with the new HD and new ram)…it's very possible that the old HD and the old ram were fine. Which only leaves one problem…something is wrong with the hardware…and many times this is the logic board.

- Nick

 

[countfufu]

yeah it's looking like i'll have to replace the entire machine. the old HD was failing the smart status test and was about to die which caused all the beach balls

 

[pigoo3]

yeah it's looking like i'll have to replace the entire machine. the old HD was failing the smart status test and was about to die which caused all the beach balls

I like to try just about everything before really declaring a computer D-E-A-D/faulty!

But we have tried quite a bit. A new HD, new ram, and fresh OS install should not have beach balls from a freshly booted computer. The only way I can think of that would cause beach balls under these conditions would be if too many apps are open at the same time. But with 8gig of ram…even 5-6 apps open shouldn't be too much of an issue. And if only one app is open (like Safari)…no problems at all.

If we are still getting beachballs…like I mentioned…either a bad HD (even the new one), bad ram…or "bad" computer.

- Nick

 

[harryb2448]

Uninstall Avast for starters. It is a resource hog complete with adware.