Ok computer dummy needs help again. Spinning rainbow wheel of death.

[MARTINSR]

I have done some searching and I don't find answers I understand. I am sorry, you guys have been such a big help with my problems in the past I hate to ask a question that could probably be found here many times, I just couldn't.

I have a problem where it got slower and slower and will get locked up every few minutes. My wife figured out how to clear out the cache (took all night long and then some) and it works a bit better but still locking up every few minutes where we have to leave it and come back to it working.

Can someone pass me on to a link to show this total dummy how to correct it?

Here is my MAC's info.



Thanks so much for putting up with me.

Brian

 

[McBie]

Brian,

Is your machine getting slower in all applications or just one of them.

Cheers ... McBie

 

[geezerhiker]

Could it be old age?

I notice that your machine is getting a little long in the tooth and has a minimal amount of RAM memory. Mine is a bit newer and faster (iMac 10,1 and 3.06 GHz) with 8GB memory and it is not exactly what you would call "perky" running the newest versions of OS X.

What version OS do you have?

P.S. Memory is cheap.

 

[cradom]

What size hard drive and how much space left?
With only 2 gig it will page out like mad if lots of apps running.

 

[MARTINSR]

Brian,

Is your machine getting slower in all applications or just one of them.

Cheers ... McBie

It is slow in everything I use (which isn't much). But online with Safari or Google chrome it locks up, with iPhoto it locks up, so it appears to be everything. What I mean by "locks up" is there is a lot of noise from the hard drive I guess, and then the curser and mouse do nothing and then the spinning rainbow wheel comes up and I walk away for a few minutes coming back to it working.

Thanks so much for the help.

Brian

 

[McBie]

Brian,
As the 2 other members above suggested, I also believe that your machine needs more RAM.
At least go for 8 GB if your machine supports it.
This is not an expensive update and will result in a much faster machine.

To verify what we are suggesting you could open ActivityMonitor.App and look at the memory tab.
Your machine will be swapping like mad.

Cheers ... McBie

 

[geezerhiker]

there is a lot of noise from the hard drive I guess

Any sort of noise from an iMac is never a good sign. Could be a failing hard drive.

P.S. Hard drives are pretty cheap, too.

 

[MARTINSR]

Geezerhiker and Craig as far as the hard drive I did replace a few years ago with a 1.5 TB at 5400 RPM.

The RAM is 2 GB 800 Mhz DDR2 and the operating system is OS X 10.6.8.

My son helped me with this info being I know NOTHING.

It happened during this post, friggin thing.

Brian

 

[MARTINSR]

Brian,
As the 2 other members above suggested, I also believe that your machine needs more RAM.
At least go for 8 GB if your machine supports it.
This is not an expensive update and will result in a much faster machine.

To verify what we are suggesting you could open ActivityMonitor.App and look at the memory tab.
Your machine will be swapping like mad.

Cheers ... McBie

McBie, this is what it looks like.

The fact that it says there are 1.98 used and 2 available tells a heck of a story I guess!

Brian

 

[geezerhiker]

That 22.4MB is a very, very tiny amount of free memory. I have nothing very unusual going on right now and my machine is using 5.63 GB. That's gigabytes! Your machine is using 1.978 GB of the available 2.000 GB.

I don't think that there can be any question that you are memory-bound.

But I still don't like the "noise" thing. Is it a nasty noise or just a whirring, like a hard working fan?

 

[MARTINSR]

That 22.4MB is a very, very tiny amount of free memory. I have nothing very unusual going on right now and my machine is using 5.63 GB. That's gigabytes! Your machine is using 1.978 GB of the available 2.000 GB.

I don't think that there can be any question that you are memory-bound.

But I still don't like the "noise" thing. Is it a nasty noise or just a whirring, like a hard working fan?

It's most certainly not the fan, it's hard drive noise. Not real loud or "nasty" but it's the hard drive for sure like you usually hear with a PC but it's not right on the desk like my MAC. But I would only hear this once in a while and not I don't believe as loud as it is.

Thanks so much for the info. ;D

Brian

 

[pm-r]

I have to admit that saying that iMac is choked on it's lack of memory would be an huge understatement!!

For the interim, try shutting down and restarting more often, that will help purge wasted memory and any memory leaks and some surplus stuff. OS X SL 10.6.8 would be a better choice and cleans up better when you get there. I assume it's running OS X 10.5.x at present.

Also with only 2GB RAM, you can only run one or two apps at once, any more and it will no doubt hang and cause the hard drive noise you're hearing as it tries to use it to store memory.

That iMac can use Maximum RAM: 6 GB, and even though Apple says it supports the latest OSX, I wouldn't suggest doing so, and maybe even just get Snow Leopard and stick with that. Definitely NOT Yosemite OS X 10.10.

For more details, see this for your particular iMac model:
Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com

 

[MARTINSR]

Thanks guys, I guess some more RAM is where I will start.

Brian

 

[harryb2448]

Brian OWC and Crucial are the recommended suppliers here.

 

[pm-r]

Maybe some Mac memory gurus could comment, but something seems amiss here.

I'm sure not saying that more memory won't help MARTINSR's problem, but that iMac seems to be using way more memory than necessary according to the image in post #9, and seems out of line with the number of page outs.

I have no idea how many applications were running or when the iMac was last restarted, but it just struck me as odd for an iMac running OS X 10.5.x and just wondering if something else may be lurking and causing the problem.

Just wondering here, and 2GB used to be considered adequate for running OS X Leopard 10.5.x. …

 

[MARTINSR]

Maybe some Mac memory gurus could comment, but something seems amiss here.

I'm sure not saying that more memory won't help MARTINSR's problem, but that iMac seems to be using way more memory than necessary according to the image in post #9, and seems out of line with the number of page outs.

I have no idea how many applications were running or when the iMac was last restarted, but it just struck me as odd for an iMac running OS X 10.5.x and just wondering if something else may be lurking and causing the problem.

Just wondering here, and 2GB used to be considered adequate for running OS X Leopard 10.5.x. …

That is exactly what my son said, it has worked fine up until a short while ago when it started going slower and slower, just a month or so?

Brian

 

[MARTINSR]

Maybe some Mac memory gurus could comment, but something seems amiss here.

I'm sure not saying that more memory won't help MARTINSR's problem, but that iMac seems to be using way more memory than necessary according to the image in post #9, and seems out of line with the number of page outs.

I have no idea how many applications were running or when the iMac was last restarted, but it just struck me as odd for an iMac running OS X 10.5.x and just wondering if something else may be lurking and causing the problem.

Just wondering here, and 2GB used to be considered adequate for running OS X Leopard 10.5.x. …

Excuse my mind numbing ignorance but what are "applications"? I think in my world it's an "programs"? How can I find what applications are running? Because all I know that is open are google chrome for instance right now, that's it. I will have a few things open like iPhoto or something like that along with a browser but that's it.

I don't usually shut it down for many days, where now I am doing it more. I do have an external hard drive using time machine that I added about a year ago.

Brian

 

[pm-r]

OK, and thanks, so that make two of us with the same opinion.

Have you tried doing a shutdown and then boot up using Safe Boot method?

Worth a try and see how most things work and while you're there, use Disk Utility and run Repair permissions and Verify disk.

Not all things will work that need extra extensions etc., as they won't get loaded, but it should give an idea if memory and other things work better.

Then just re-boot to get back to "normal".

PS: how many applications were running whey you took that screenshot?

 

[pm-r]

Seems like our posts are passing and crossing like ships in the dark of night!!

Applications, or Programs in the Windows world, are those things in your Applications and Utilities folders plus some others.

When running and obvious to the user, they will be in the Dock with a black or maybe white triangle under the application icon. And also shown in Activity Monitor.

Also if you hit command+tab, you should see their icons shown in a row on your monitor display.

 

[MARTINSR]

OK, and thanks, so that make two of us with the same opinion.

Have you tried doing a shutdown and then boot up using Safe Boot method?

Worth a try and see how most things work and while you're there, use Disk Utility and run Repair permissions and Verify disk.

Not all things will work that need extra extensions etc., as they won't get loaded, but it should give an idea if memory and other things work better.

Then just re-boot to get back to "normal".

PS: how many applications were running whey you took that screenshot?

I'll try to start it under safe boot if I can figure it out. Right now I just opened the activity monitor and go this.

Checked what was open using the command and tab and got Google, the Activity monitor and Safari but Safari wasn't open when I first checked so that was pretty odd. I then closed Safari.

Brian