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Slower Bootup Times

T

Tee.Nutter

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 9, 2009
103
0
UK
Hi,

I have been using my new iMac for about 4 weeks now and noticed that the boot time has increased and it does not seem to be as snappy as it was when I first turned it on. (first time mac user)

I have installed a whole host of programmes including FCP Studio, Adobe CS4etc... Would this have anything to do with the increased boot time or for the iMac to become less snappier?

Also is there an equivalent of the "msconfig" from windows to disable any start up programs? Looked in the startup folder in the library folder, but was only two things in there.

I have also watched and deleted quite big movie files on my computer, which will have caused fragmentation of the HD, but I have defragmented my HD, which did not make any difference.

Anyone else had these issues or know any resolutions?

Thanks

Tee :)
 
Hi
As you say the HD might be fragmented, some defrag solutions does not work well if you run them on the same HD that the OS is running, if you have another mac nearby, you could boot your in target disk mode and defrag it on the other mac... personally i don't like that, instead i erase my volume and restore it froma a backup. thats way more effective...

There's also a startup items list in System Preferences/Accounts on top there is a tab that says login items or something like that, just delete those entrys.

You could also try to zap the NVRAM, by pressing P+R+alt+command @ startup, i don't know, it might help....

:apple: Certified Support Professional
 
Thanks Hoodman,

Will try the NVRAM and deleting the startup items.

I did the fragmentation via booting from the application (Disk Genius) DVD, as it would not allow me to defrag because it was running from the same volume.
 
Tee.Nutter said:
I always shutdown the mac when i'm not using it, it this a bad thing?
Click to expand...

Some people says yes, others no.

I always shut it down for overnight but when I use it at day time and I know that I'll be using it again within 8 hours I put it to sleep.

My iMac boots up in ~40 seconds and that's enough for me, because when I boot it I always do something else too eg. Booting up my PS3, getting something to drink....
 
I always shut it down, saving energy, carbon foot print etc...

Thanks for the figure, when i first got mine it was was around 40 seconds and was telling the other half how quick it :D but now it's aleast double :mad:
 
Look in your console window for your boot up sequence and see if there is any stalls going on.
 
IIRC, Mac OS X is already defragging in the background? Also, if you REALLY feel like it's a slow boot up, delete the Caches folder from ~/Library. If it's as bad as you say it is, that will definitely speed things up.
 
The files I have been adding/deleting from my iMac are VERY BIG files and I was aware that the OS only fragmented files below 20mb, hence the reason for a defrag.

djjclark, sorry new to the Mac how would I look find the console window for the boot sequence?
 
Tee.Nutter said:
The files I have been adding/deleting from my iMac are VERY BIG files and I was aware that the OS only fragmented files below 20mb, hence the reason for a defrag.

djjclark, sorry new to the Mac how would I look find the console window for the boot sequence?
Click to expand...

i highly doubt that would make any difference, my computer has had multiple large files put on it over the last 3 years and its perfectly fine.
 
Tee.Nutter said:
I always shut it down, saving energy, carbon foot print etc...

Thanks for the figure, when i first got mine it was was around 40 seconds and was telling the other half how quick it :D but now it's aleast double :mad:
Click to expand...

Macs are VERY energy efficient even when in sleep mode... not a lot of difference between sleep and shutdown.

The money/piece of the environment you would save by shutting down instead of sleeping is negligible.
 
Slower bootup times

mattyb240 said:
Have you tried Onyx to run the OSX maintenance scripts manually?
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/onyx.html

Then try downloading monolingual, this removes all unnecessary languages from your mac and applications, this saved me over 4GB of hard drive space!

http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/

Hope this helps!:apple:
Click to expand...

I also use Onyx, a free app, about every two weeks to clean things up. I use the "Cleaning" tab and do each one except the fonts, and afterwards, maybe it's imagination, but find I have more free space and running smoother.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone, I have tried what everyone has suggested, but don't see a real difference :(
 
In your utilities folder is an application called Console. Running this allows you to see all kinds of log files. If you select "all messages" you should be able to see the boot process. The log contains things like enabling your Ethernet, listing your shared files on the network etc. It is all time stamped so if there are processes timing out you should be able to see them.
 
The only time I shut down my Mac is if I'm not going to be using it for more than 2 days. I have found too that using Disk Warrior weekly to rebuild the directory keeps the Mac running fast.

Rich :cool:
 
Perhaps you installed some trojan?

Why are you rebooting so frequently? OSX is designed to run / sleep well.

Also more RAM = longer time needed for ram check at boot up = longer boot.
 
In this entire thread you haven't yet indicated how long the machine actually takes to start up and get to the Leopard Desktop.

Providing this information might be useful in determining if there's even anything actually wrong with it.
 
Sorry, it takes around 1 minute 30 seconds. I know this is not a really long time, but the reason for the concern is that when I first got the iMac used to take around 40 seconds.

Also the programs seems to take longer to respond than before.

Tried an online anti virus scanner, which came back clean.
 
Well if its of any use my boot up times were slowing down a bit, and I had a problem with airport and had to do a PRAM reset holding a combination of buttons, this made the laptop restart once more, after that my dock and desktop loaded instantly! And do make sure you use Onyx and Monolingual to free up space and maintenance.

I can't remember reading but did you check what items you have that happen on startup? If you go system prefs>accounts>log in items or something like that?

Just to show how much monolingual removes on my fresh OSX install:
 

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reset the NVRAM on the iMac, did not see any difference.

Also ram Monolingual and it saved me over 10gb, and also done maintenance on Onxy. Unchecked login items in accounts
 
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