2012 MacBook Pro EXTREMELY SLOW after 10.11 upgrade

[viperGTS]

Finally bit the bullet and upgraded my 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro from Mavericks to El Capitan and I'm slowly starting to regret it.

The upgrade process went smoothly until I needed to log in. I logged in to my account, but was stuck with a spinning wheel and beach ball for about 5 minutes. The spinning beach ball turned into a normal cursor, but the spinning wheel remained. It was taking too long, so I reset the computer only to find it still at the installation bar and Apple logo (implying to me that the installation never fully finished).

I reset the computer about 5 times, only to find it stuck each time. So, I reset the NVRAM and my computer was able to finish the installation.

I again logged in to my account and was able to go through the set up process, but it was painfully slow, taking about 2-3 minutes to go from one step to the next.

My computer now logs in fine, but the entire OS is extremely slow. Opening a 1 page, lightweight PDF takes my computer about 2 minutes to do so. In fact, my computer is so unusable that I have to use my iPad to type up this post.

Any advice on how to make my computer perform well again? I thought this update was supposed to improve performance, not degrade it...

 

[treekram]

It's probably Spotlight re-indexing. You can check what processes are running in Activity Monitor and I think the two main Spotlight indexing processes would be mdworker and mds. If they are taking a lot of CPU, then it's indexing. You can chill and wait for Spotlight to finish. If you want to disable the indexing for now because you need to use the computer, see:

http://www.iclarified.com/49187/how-to-disable-and-reenable-spotlight-indexing-on-your-mac

I haven't done this but other places suggest the same thing. This mentions OS up to Yosemite, but the article was written before El Capitan and the procedure would be the same.

I just bought the base (4GB memory, 500GB HDD) 2012 MBP non-Retina a couple of weeks ago. It had El Capitan and didn't have the problems you're having so the problem isn't the 2012 MBP and El Capitan on it's own.

EDIT: You shouldn't disable Spotlight permanently without researching the implications of doing that first.

 

[viperGTS]

It's probably Spotlight re-indexing. You can check what processes are running in Activity Monitor and I think the two main Spotlight indexing processes would be mdworker and mds. If they are taking a lot of CPU, then it's indexing. You can chill and wait for Spotlight to finish. If you want to disable the indexing for now because you need to use the computer, see:

http://www.iclarified.com/49187/how-to-disable-and-reenable-spotlight-indexing-on-your-mac

I haven't done this but other places suggest the same thing. This mentions OS up to Yosemite, but the article was written before El Capitan and the procedure would be the same.

I just bought the base (4GB memory, 500GB HDD) 2012 MBP non-Retina a couple of weeks ago. It had El Capitan and didn't have the problems you're having so the problem isn't the 2012 MBP and El Capitan on it's own.

I'm checking Activity Monitor right now, and Spotlight is only taking up .3% of the CPU. It seems to be between .3% and 3%.

There's another task, IMDPersistanceAgent, taking up anywhere from about 54% to 90% of my CPU though. I'll have to look into this more.

 

[ssmed]

Have you got a HD or and SSD in your MBP?
How full are the disks?

Also see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imdpersistenceagent-what-is-it.1749096/

 

[b0fh666]

do you have the stock HDD in still? if yes, spotlight indexing is *really* painful due to all the disk access.

i have SSDs on my 2012 barely noticed it.

 

[viperGTS]

do you have the stock HDD in still? if yes, spotlight indexing is *really* painful due to all the disk access.

i have SSDs on my 2012 barely noticed it.

Yes. I've been itching to upgrade my HDD to an SSD, I should probably get on that. Lol but spotlight indexing appear to be done and on Mavericks it never took terribly long to complete.

Have you got a HD or and SSD in your MBP?
How full are the disks?

Also see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imdpersistenceagent-what-is-it.1749096/

HD, with about 200 GB free.

Thank you for that link! I will check it out.

My Mac appears to be performing better now, but it's still leaving a lot to be desired.

 

[b0fh666]

go for the SSD. 2012s are pretty capable of running el cap, i have 2 myself, a 15" and a 13", both i7s with 16 gigs and that SSD + HDD mod. they run el cap like champs, not even considering up(?)grading to the newer ones yet.

 

[viperGTS]

go for the SSD. 2012s are pretty capable of running el cap, i have 2 myself, a 15" and a 13", both i7s with 16 gigs and that SSD + HDD mod. they run el cap like champs, not even considering up(?)grading to the newer ones yet.

You have a 13" with an i7? How? Can I upgrade the processor?

 

[ssmed]

An SSD upgrade will revolutionise your mac. I fitted on to my last cMBP and it was like a new machine and is still very capable.
Highly recommended and not very difficult to DIY.

It sounds like you need to give your Mac a bit of time. Turn off all energy saving settings, plug it in and put it in a darkened room

SS

P.S. you can't upgrade the processor - the processor differences were BTO options

 

[b0fh666]

it was offered as an option back then... i7 2.9 GHz with 8GB and 750GB hdd

 

[treekram]

A quick look at the web says that IMDPersistenceAgent is involved with messaging. I saw a log on a website which shows that one task it does is indexing messages. But I would think that you'd have to have a TON of messages for it to slow down your computer for long. If your problem persists and IMDPersistenceAgent is taking up a lot of CPU, I think there's some problem - maybe it got confused with all the reboots.

 

[viperGTS]

A quick look at the web says that IMDPersistenceAgent is involved with messaging. I saw a log on a website which shows that one task it does is indexing messages. But I would think that you'd have to have a TON of messages for it to slow down your computer for long. If your problem persists and IMDPersistenceAgent is taking up a lot of CPU, I think there's some problem - maybe it got confused with all the reboots.

Perhaps. Messages is working fine now, thankfully but thank you for this information! I had a feeling it had to do with indexing too.

it was offered as an option back then... i7 2.9 GHz with 8GB and 750GB hdd

Darn, well this i5 will have to do

An SSD upgrade will revolutionise your mac. I fitted on to my last cMBP and it was like a new machine and is still very capable.
Highly recommended and not very difficult to DIY.

It sounds like you need to give your Mac a bit of time. Turn off all energy saving settings, plug it in and put it in a darkened room

SS

P.S. you can't upgrade the processor - the processor differences were BTO options

Everything is performing fine now, except for Safari. I'll just give it more time.

Thank you all for your help! I will post again if more performance problems persist, but I think it was a matter of giving my Mac some time to index.