Please help!!!! MacBook Pro super slow

[Ninshinobi]

I have a 2008 MacBook Pro and I was completely fine and out of the blue it crashed. It turned itself off and restarted only getting half way through the Apple logo loading bar before crashing again getting this screen (image 1) then restarting again starting with the screen in (image 2). The whole cycle would just repeat over and over.
I decided to go into recovery and disk utility to erase the hard drive and reinstall OS X El Capitan from a usb I made a while ago. This worked but everything was unbelievablely slow to the point the screen display would go into sleep mode before getting to the next screen so you had to keep it awake or it would lose it progress.
It took me the best part of a day to set it up and when it was done I restarted it to see if it would help and it didn’t. I also tried first aid in disk utility and redstarting it again but no change.

I don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it, somebody please help?

Sorry it’s so long, I thought more details would help diagnose the problem.

Thank you in advance.

 

[lclev]

This is a 2008 so that makes it 13 years old with an old core 2 duo processor - which were workhorses in their day. If you still have the original hard drive in it I imagine it is failing. The symptoms you describe indicate it probably is. Yes, you can reinstall and maybe get it up and running but it is taking a lot of time to move and write data around bad disk sectors. Those sectors will continue to fail either way.

If this were mine and I was determined to get it working, I would order a replacement SSD from OWC and while I was installing it I would re-thermal paste the CPU.

Without more specific information on your 2008 MBP (like if it is a late or early model) I can only give you a link to how to's at fixit.com:

2008 Macbook pro — Search - iFixit

Repair your electronics yourself. iFixit is the repair manual you can edit. We sell tools, parts and upgrades for Apple Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and MacBook as well as game consoles.

www.ifixit.com

Lisa

 

[ferrarr]

You could run EtreCheck Pro, just don't purchase until after you have tested it.

EtreCheck

it will scan your Macs hardware and software, and notify almost all issues/.

 

[pigoo3]

The 2nd image with the multi-language message is usually due to kernel panic...which many times can be due to some sort of hardware failure.

I would do as Lisa expertly advised...try installing a new/different hard drive (or maybe even boot the computer from an external hard drive...and see if this helps.

Another area to troubleshoot is the RAM. One of the RAM modules may have an issue. If you can troubleshoot with just one RAM module installed...give that a try.

Also try reseating the RAM (take it out & put it back in).

If the issue is not solved by:

* Using a different drive.
* Testing with the RAM.
* Fresh macOS install on the different drive.

...then I would say it's pretty much time to retire this computer. It's 13 years old & worth $100 or less. Any $$$ put into it would much better be put towards the purchase of something newer.

HTH,

Nick

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I don’t know what’s wrong or how to fix it, somebody please help?

It's an older Mac, so it's reasonable to suspect that the hard drive is failing.

I recommend that you download the following free demo and run it to comprehensively check your hard drive's health:

DriveDx - the most advanced drive health diagnostics and monitoring utility

If that isn't the problem, there are many more suggestions on these two Web sites:

Macintosh Slowdown Solutions

Macintosh OS X Beachballs!