A lot of beach balls recently. Why?

[tenashus1]

MBP 2009. Never had beach ball trouble before. Don't know why now. Using latest upgrade of Lion. Repaired my permissions this morning. Happens when I open Firefox or Pages for instance. Any explanation or solution for the beach ball frequency? Thanks.

 

[osxx]

Did you try running repair disk permissions it usually fixes apps behaving badly.

 

[tenashus1]

Did you try running repair disk permissions it usually fixes apps behaving badly.

I did.

 

[osxx]

Did you try reset Safari ?

 

[tenashus1]

Did you try reset Safari ?

Using Firefox, but what do you mean by "reset?" You mean closing it, and re opening the browser?

 

[osxx]

Using Firefox, but what do you mean by "reset?" You mean closing it, and re opening the browser?

Most browsers have a reset option that cleans out the cache,cookies and history. Not using Firefox right now but it should be in tools I think. correction in options for clear history and cache.

 

[tenashus1]

Most browsers have a reset option that cleans out the cache,cookies and history. Not using Firefox right now but it should be in tools I think.

Will do that. Thanks. But, it's happening with Pages as well.

 

[osxx]

Lion saves all copies of your work and I wonder if that might be causing it in Pages.

 

[tenashus1]

Lion saves all copies of your work and I wonder if that might be causing it in Pages.

Maybe. Whatever the reason, I'm not used to seeing the beach balls. Not thrilled about em.

 

[pigoo3]

Maybe. Whatever the reason, I'm not used to seeing the beach balls. Not thrilled about em.

In addition to what "osxx" mentioned above...the reason why you're seeing so many "beachballs" is most likely because:

- too many applications are open at once
- don't have enough ram relative to the # of simultaneous apps you have open
- the computer is not being restarted enough (this clears the ram)

Whenever you start seeing "beachballs":

- open "Activity Monitor" (Applications > Utility Folder)
- click on the "System Memory" tab
- take a look at the "page outs" and "swap used"

If these numbers are large & getting larger...this is why things are slowing down. "Page Outs" and the "Swap used" are indicators of how much info is being written to the hard drive because there's not enough ram to hold all the info. Writing info to the hard drive is EXTREMELY slow compared to the speed of ram.

In the ideal situation...you would want the "page out" and "swap used" values to be zero! I've upgraded the ram on my wife's MacBook, my MacBook Pro, and my Mac Pro...and all three now regularly have zero "page outs" and zero "swap used".

I also monitor these values regularly...and when they are no longer zero (maybe after a couple weeks of not restarting the computer)...I restart the computer and everything is back to zero. This restart...acts as a "brain dump" so to speak.

If someone has too many applications open at once, doesn't have enough ram, or doesn't restart their computer regularly...the "page outs" and "swap file" values start getting real high/real large...and this is when things slow down...and frequent "beach balls" start appearing.

Here are some articles on the topic as well:

Does my mac need more memory?
Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Does your Mac need more memory? How to know if you need a RAM upgrade

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. If nothing above works...how full is the hard drive (gigabytes used vs. gigabytes free)...and lastly...there is the possibility that the HD is failing.
p.p.s. Also try "Repairing Permissions" within "Disk Utility".

 

[tenashus1]

Thanks very much Nick. Appreciate it.

 

[Mike44]

In addition to what "osxx" mentioned above...the reason why you're seeing so many "beachballs" is most likely because:

- too many applications are open at once
- don't have enough ram relative to the # of simultaneous apps you have open
- the computer is not being restarted enough (this clears the ram)

Whenever you start seeing "beachballs":

- open "Activity Monitor" (Applications > Utility Folder)
- click on the "System Memory" tab
- take a look at the "page outs" and "swap used"

If these numbers are large & getting larger...this is why things are slowing down. "Page Outs" and the "Swap used" are indicators of how much info is being written to the hard drive because there's not enough ram to hold all the info. Writing info to the hard drive is EXTREMELY slow compared to the speed of ram.

In the ideal situation...you would want the "page out" and "swap used" values to be zero! I've upgraded the ram on my wife's MacBook, my MacBook Pro, and my Mac Pro...and all three now regularly have zero "page outs" and zero "swap used".

I also monitor these values regularly...and when they are no longer zero (maybe after a couple weeks of not restarting the computer)...I restart the computer and everything is back to zero. This restart...acts as a "brain dump" so to speak.

If someone has too many applications open at once, doesn't have enough ram, or doesn't restart their computer regularly...the "page outs" and "swap file" values start getting real high/real large...and this is when things slow down...and frequent "beach balls" start appearing.

Here are some articles on the topic as well:

Does my mac need more memory?
Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Does your Mac need more memory? How to know if you need a RAM upgrade

HTH,

- Nick

thanks I have zero page outs and zero swap used but still clunking and beachballs a go go.......

 

[pigoo3]

thanks I have zero page outs and zero swap used but still clunking and beachballs a go go.......

I sure hope that we're not talking about your 800mhz iBook that's listed in your profile! Because when we're talking computers that are 9 years-old (2003)...trying to do "modern" things in what's almost 2012...that's a whole different "rulebook"!!!

- Nick

 

[Marrk]

In addition to what "osxx" mentioned above...the reason why you're seeing so many "beachballs" is most likely because:

- too many applications are open at once
- don't have enough ram relative to the # of simultaneous apps you have open
- the computer is not being restarted enough (this clears the ram)

Whenever you start seeing "beachballs":

- open "Activity Monitor" (Applications > Utility Folder)
- click on the "System Memory" tab
- take a look at the "page outs" and "swap used"

If these numbers are large & getting larger...this is why things are slowing down. "Page Outs" and the "Swap used" are indicators of how much info is being written to the hard drive because there's not enough ram to hold all the info. Writing info to the hard drive is EXTREMELY slow compared to the speed of ram.

In the ideal situation...you would want the "page out" and "swap used" values to be zero! I've upgraded the ram on my wife's MacBook, my MacBook Pro, and my Mac Pro...and all three now regularly have zero "page outs" and zero "swap used".

I also monitor these values regularly...and when they are no longer zero (maybe after a couple weeks of not restarting the computer)...I restart the computer and everything is back to zero. This restart...acts as a "brain dump" so to speak.

If someone has too many applications open at once, doesn't have enough ram, or doesn't restart their computer regularly...the "page outs" and "swap file" values start getting real high/real large...and this is when things slow down...and frequent "beach balls" start appearing.

Here are some articles on the topic as well:

Does my mac need more memory?
Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Does your Mac need more memory? How to know if you need a RAM upgrade

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. If nothing above works...how full is the hard drive (gigabytes used vs. gigabytes free)...and lastly...there is the possibility that the HD is failing.
p.p.s. Also try "Repairing Permissions" within "Disk Utility".

Is there some way to zero out the Swaps Used value without ReStarting?

 

[pigoo3]

Is there some way to zero out the Swaps Used value without ReStarting?

Not that I'm aware of.

- Nick

 

[Marrk]

Not that I'm aware of.

- Nick

Okay.

Care to comment on the advisability of ReStarting frequently?I always understood that it stresses the computer, a wear-and-tear issue. But I am not a tech expert.

 

[pigoo3]

Care to comment on the advisability of ReStarting frequently?I always understood that it stresses the computer, a wear-and-tear issue. But I am not a tech expert.

We purchase devices to use them. If someone wants to keep an item in pristine like-new condition…don't use it. And if someone is not going to use it…then don't buy it.

It's like buying a new automobile…and not driving it because there is a concern that the tires will get worn out.

Restarting a computer once every week (for example)…is not going to stress the computer unnecessarily. A computer could probably be restarted once/week for 20 years…and not be a problem.

Believe me…a computer is going to be obsolete LONGGG before it gets worn out due to the occasional restart (if this is even possible).

- Nick

 

[Marrk]

Got it. Thanks.

 

[pigoo3]

I wanted to add, that the part that probably incurs the most wear & tear (because of it's mechanical nature) is a traditional spinning hard drive. This wear & tear is mostly due to the "spin-up" from zero to approx. 5000+ rpm's.

During a Restart...this "spin-up" does not actually occur...since the HD was already spinning before the restart. So before, during, and after the restart...the HD continues to spin. When the computer is actually shut-down or awoke from sleep...this spin-up does occur.

Thus EVERY TIME the computer is woken from sleep...this HD spin-up occurs. I'm willing to bet that most computers today are "woken from sleep" much more often than restarted/rebooted. So the cumulative wear & tear on a computers spinning HD is due MUCH more to "wake from sleep" than restarting.

The positive thing with traditional HD's...they are replaceable & relatively inexpensive!

- Nick

 

[Marrk]

Duly noted, Nick. Thanks. I've never had a hard drive fail on me. I understand that HD failure is common. So, I thought maybe my hard drives were doing a little better than everyone else's was because of the way I treat my computers, which, by the way, is not based on knowledge or fact, but pure superstition.

Another Question: I have 4 gb of RAM, two gb in each slot, I believe (see attached). How hard would it be for me to open up the machine and max out the RAM? What is the max? 8 gb?

View attachment RAM Memory.pdf