Twirling multi-colored ball

[facory]

While on the internet I get the rotating multi-colored ball and frequently have to restart the computer to continue. Is there anything to do to fix this problem?

 

[pigoo3]

Restarting the computer is actually one very effective way of remedying things. One other way is to install additional ram.

Your post was a bit short on details. If you told us how much ram your computer has, what OS version is installed, and how often you restart the computer to fix the problem…we would have a greater understanding of your situation.

- Nick

 

[facory]

OSX: Yosemite 10.10.2
MacBook Pro
Processor: 2.3 GHz intel Core i7
Memory: 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk: Macintosh HD
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the info. Although you didn't mention how often you need to restart the computer.

The frequency of restarting to "cure" the beach balls problem depends on a number of things:

- what tasks are being done
- hours/day the computer is used
- amount of installed ram

I can tell you I also have a MacBook Pro with 4gig of ram…I usually have 2-3 apps open at the same time, and I probably use the computer about 8-12 hours/day. I find that I need to reboot the computer (to restore performance)…about every 4-7 days.

But…if I do something like a lot of online gaming…I need to restart more often. Thus what I'm saying is…different activities have different effects on how often the rebooting is necessary.

I have another MacBook Pro with 8gig of ram…and I have to reboot FAR LESS often. So a ram upgrade (4 to 8gig) can help a lot. A ram upgrade most likely will help a lot in your situation.

One other thing. If your HD is getting full (more than 80-90% full)…this can also be problematic.

- Nick

 

[facory]

I am using only 48 out 500 Gigs of the HD. Nowhere near capacity. The majority of my use is on the internet for email and purchasing various things from Amazon, eBay and using Facebook. No gaming, no streaming, no videos except what gets put on Facebook. I am having to reboot several times a week, sometimes twice in one day. When I get the beach ball it locks my computer and I cannot initiate any action with the cursor (beach ball), the only choice then is to reboot.

 

[pigoo3]

Next time you have the beach-ball problem:

- Open up the "Activity Monitor" app
- Click on the "Memory" tab at the top center of the Activity Monitor Window
- Then in the bottom left of the Activity monitor window…tell us the "Swap Used" value (see photo below)

- Nick

 

[facory]

I will try that, but the problem may be that when I have the beach ball I cannot click on anything to make it work. It locks everything so I can't click on anything to make things happen. I probably won't be able to bring up the activity monitor even though I will keep it in the background.

I'll try it and let you know.

Thanks