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2010 Macbook Pro suddenly shows beachball

L

laopengyou

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2010
5
0
Hi, I wasn't able to find any answers in oder threads, so here is the situation. I updated my Macbook Pro 17 inch (2010, I know its old) to 10.11.5 from 10.11.3 and it worked fine for 2 days, no problems at all and I could work perfectly on it like I always used to. Then suddenly, after each click on a file or button the beachball appears. For example it takes 10 seconds or longer to open up a folder. To playback a music file the same, and it can't playback without interruption, including beachball. If I try to change the volume also the same, the beachball appears and after a while I can change the volume button. One remarkable thing is, that after a restart, sometimes I can use the computer without any problems for about 20 seconds or so. Then it starts behaving as mentioned before. I have a 500GB HDD in there btw. Any hints would be very appreciated, thank you!
 
Has the HDD ever been replaced? By the age of the drive alone, it's possible that it may be failing. You can verify this by downloading SMART Utility here. Also, how much RAM do you have in the machine?

If the hard-drive is OK, there are still a few things we can try, so please quote this to let me know the news either way and we'll go from there.
 
laopengyou said:
Hi, I wasn't able to find any answers in oder threads, so here is the situation. I updated my Macbook Pro 17 inch (2010, I know its old) to 10.11.5 from 10.11.3 and it worked fine for 2 days, no problems at all and I could work perfectly on it like I always used to. Then suddenly, after each click on a file or button the beachball appears. For example it takes 10 seconds or longer to open up a folder. To playback a music file the same, and it can't playback without interruption, including beachball. If I try to change the volume also the same, the beachball appears and after a while I can change the volume button. One remarkable thing is, that after a restart, sometimes I can use the computer without any problems for about 20 seconds or so. Then it starts behaving as mentioned before. I have a 500GB HDD in there btw. Any hints would be very appreciated, thank you!
Click to expand...

It's probably a dying hard drive, replace it with an an SSD for better than new performance.
 
I agree with the others. It sounds like a bad or failing HDD. A bad SATA cable could also cause similar problems.

If your Mac is still performing the way you'd like aside from the current issues, upgrading to a SSD would make a huge difference in actual noticeable speed.
 
Agree with posts above.

Put an SSD into it -- it's an easy procedure.
NOTHING else you try is going to give you the improvement in performance you'll see from an SSD.

You'll need the right tools -- Phillips #00 and a TORX T-6 (I believe)
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.

Right now you can get a 480gb Crucial or Sandisk Plus in the $110+/- range.

DON'T bother with a high-end Samsung -- a 2010 MacBook can't support the speeds. You're going to see the same speeds no matter which SSD you install, because of bus speed limiitations in a 2010 MBPro.
 
laopengyou said:
I updated my Macbook Pro 17 inch (2010, I know its old) to 10.11.5 from 10.11.3 and it worked fine for 2 days[...]. Then suddenly, after each click on a file or button the beachball appears. For example it takes 10 seconds or longer to open up a folder. To playback a music file the same, and it can't playback without interruption, including beachball. If I try to change the volume also the same, the beachball appears and after a while I can change the volume button.
Click to expand...

This sounds like what we went through when I upgraded my neighbor's 2010 Mac Mini to 10.11.4 and 10.11.5 from an earlier OS X. Just beachball after beachball. I fixed it by installing a much older OS X - the system now flies with no problems.
 
Backup asap if you haven't already. Sort an ssd if you want them - will be a decent speed boost :)
 
keysofanxiety said:
Has the HDD ever been replaced? By the age of the drive alone, it's possible that it may be failing. You can verify this by downloading SMART Utility here. Also, how much RAM do you have in the machine?

If the hard-drive is OK, there are still a few things we can try, so please quote this to let me know the news either way and we'll go from there.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I just checked with the smart utility, 144 Bad Sectors and 31000 Total Errors ... sounds like I need a new Harddrive, SSD I guess then. Thanks again!
[doublepost=1467932173][/doublepost]
Fishrrman said:
Agree with posts above.

Put an SSD into it -- it's an easy procedure.
NOTHING else you try is going to give you the improvement in performance you'll see from an SSD.

You'll need the right tools -- Phillips #00 and a TORX T-6 (I believe)
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.

Right now you can get a 480gb Crucial or Sandisk Plus in the $110+/- range.

DON'T bother with a high-end Samsung -- a 2010 MacBook can't support the speeds. You're going to see the same speeds no matter which SSD you install, because of bus speed limiitations in a 2010 MBPro.
Click to expand...

Thanks all, guess I will try a SSD then ...
 
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