Spinning beach ball, I've tried everything..

[bebenut123]

Or have I ?!

My 10.6.8 starts ok and once logged in I can open a few windows but then I get the spinning ball after a few minutes and/ or if I try to open an app.

It is only half full and was running fine till this happened a few weeks ago.
(Maybe the result of turning it off at power point a few times?)

After researching the issue I have tried the following :

- Dsable all ' open at login' app.
- Run disk utility.
- Look at the keychain.
- Dump all recent preferences on desktop.
- Restart from install cd.
- Restart with command S. ( can't remember name of procedure but it all appears ok)

It works on safe boot fine bit that's no use to me as it is not connected to internet then.

What else is there to try???!

Please help me!

Thanks,
Brigitte

 

[JohnDS]

When you say you "disabled" open at log on items, did you remove them completely by highlighting them and clicking on the minus button, or did you just uncheck them? Unchecking them does not disable them. It just makes them load in the background.

You have to remove them by highlighting and clicking on the minus button so they no longer appear in the preference pane at all.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Here's something you can try:

Open terminal, and enter this:
sudo mdutil -a -i off

Enter your password (you will not be able to see it as you type in terminal) and hit return.

Then reboot.

Does anything change?

What you have done is to turn off Spotlight indexing. If this makes no difference, you can re-enable Spotlight by entering in terminal:
sudo mdutil -a -i on

But you asked "what else is there to try?"
So.... try this, and get back to us with your report.

 

[danwestbrook]

Back up all data and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X

 

[Weaselboy]

It works on safe boot fine bit that's no use to me as it is not connected to internet then.

If it works fine in safe mode, but not in regular mode, that is a big clue. Safe mode stops all third party launch items from running (not just login items). So it sounds like you have a third party launch or startup item causing a problem.

Try starting normally, not safe mode, and run the app Etrecheck to create an anonymized report of everything running. Then post that report here for us to have a look.

 

[bebenut123]

When you say you "disabled" open at log on items, did you remove them completely by highlighting them and clicking on the minus button, or did you just uncheck them? Unchecking them does not disable them. It just makes them load in the background.

You have to remove them by highlighting and clicking on the minus button so they no longer appear in the preference pane at all.

Hi John,

I did uncheck them in my dock originally, so after reading your post, I went into the system preference but the login items box was empty. Is there another place for those login items?
[doublepost=1466226255][/doublepost]

Hi John,

I did uncheck them in my dock originally, so after reading your post, I went into the system preference but the login items box was empty. Is there another place for those login items?

[doublepost=1466226346][/doublepost]

When you say you "disabled" open at log on items, did you remove them completely by highlighting them and clicking on the minus button, or did you just uncheck them? Unchecking them does not disable them. It just makes them load in the background.

You have to remove them by highlighting and clicking on the minus button so they no longer appear in the preference pane at all.

[doublepost=1466226551][/doublepost]

Back up all data and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X

My very, very last resort..
[doublepost=1466227097][/doublepost]

If it works fine in safe mode, but not in regular mode, that is a big clue. Safe mode stops all third party launch items from running (not just login items). So it sounds like you have a third party launch or startup item causing a problem.

Try starting normally, not safe mode, and run the app Etrecheck to create an anonymized report of everything running. Then post that report here for us to have a look.

Unfortunately I can't get to that app, the spinning ball freezes everything before I have a chance to download it
[doublepost=1466228538][/doublepost]

OP:

Here's something you can try:

Open terminal, and enter this:
sudo mdutil -a -i off

Enter your password (you will not be able to see it as you type in terminal) and hit return.

Then reboot.

Does anything change?

What you have done is to turn off Spotlight indexing. If this makes no difference, you can re-enable Spotlight by entering in terminal:
sudo mdutil -a -i on

But you asked "what else is there to try?"
So.... try this, and get back to us with your report.

Hi, I've just tried that.
I was able to login. open Firefox and make it as far as opening the Etrecheck page .
Then it stops just after I clicked on ' download '.
Weird thing is that on Firefox I don't have the beach ball, just the regular black arrow. It morphes to beach ball as soon as it hits the desktop or the finder menu.
I can move the Firefox window around and even open tabs ( that do not connect, just white page)
I can also click on items on the dock but nothing opens.

So it's marginally better than it was before but I still cannot use my computer.

Where to from here?!

 

[Weaselboy]

I did uncheck them in my dock originally, so after reading your post, I went into the system preference but the login items box was empty. Is there another place for those login items?

Can you boot to safe mode again then download and install Etrecheck, then restart to regular mode and try to run the Etrecheck report?

Startup and launch items can also be in these folders.

~/Library/LaunchAgents (~ is your users fodler)
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/Extensions/

 

[bebenut123]

Can you boot to safe mode again then download and install Etrecheck, then restart to regular mode and try to run the Etrecheck report?

Startup and launch items can also be in these folders.

~/Library/LaunchAgents (~ is your users fodler)
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/Extensions/

Unfortunately in safe mode I am not connected to the internet

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Something else to try.

Boot back to "regular" mode (you old account).

Go to the "users and groups" preference pane.

Click the lock icon and enter your administrative password.

Just above the lock, click the "+" icon to create a NEW account.

At the very top, set it to be "Administrator".

Enter the account info. Since this is to be a "test account", just give it a simple name like "test" and a very-easy-to-remember password.

When done, click "Create user".

Now log out of your "problem" account, and log into the newly-created account.

You DON'T have to set up an Apple ID, or anything else.
Just "log in and look around".
Try Safari. Try a few other apps.

Are you still have the same problems?

The idea of doing the above is to see if a DIFFERENT account works when your regular one doesn't.
If that's the case, there is SOMETHING in your regular account that is messing things up.

When you're done with the temporary account, you can just delete it.

 

[bebenut123]

OP:

Something else to try.

Boot back to "regular" mode (you old account).

Go to the "users and groups" preference pane.

Click the lock icon and enter your administrative password.

Just above the lock, click the "+" icon to create a NEW account.

At the very top, set it to be "Administrator".

Enter the account info. Since this is to be a "test account", just give it a simple name like "test" and a very-easy-to-remember password.

When done, click "Create user".

Now log out of your "problem" account, and log into the newly-created account.

You DON'T have to set up an Apple ID, or anything else.
Just "log in and look around".
Try Safari. Try a few other apps.

Are you still have the same problems?

The idea of doing the above is to see if a DIFFERENT account works when your regular one doesn't.
If that's the case, there is SOMETHING in your regular account that is messing things up.

When you're done with the temporary account, you can just delete it.

Unfortunately still no luck.
If it is a third party issue ( by that you mean an added program, or app ?) should I remove some one by one? Which program is more likely to cause that type of issue? I'm a graphic designer so I have all the usual suspects, photoshop, illustrator etc

Ps: thank you for trying to help, really appreciate it.

 

[DeltaMac]

Unfortunately still no luck.
...

hmm.
Which part did not work? :
Making a new user?
Logging out, then logging in to your new user?
Or, everything else worked OK, and you were able to log in to the new account, but you still had immediate spinning ball, even with the new user?

 

[bebenut123]

hmm.
Which part did not work? :
Making a new user?
Logging out, then logging in to your new user?
Or, everything else worked OK, and you were able to log in to the new account, but you still had immediate spinning ball, even with the new user?

I couldn't complete the procedure of making a test account in normal mode.
It seems that I can only do a few things before I get the spinning ball.
In that case I create the new account, then got the spinning ball just as I clicked on ok.
I then rebooted on safe mode and was surprised to see the test account there, that it actually got created.
So went back to normal mode, login in test account and then got the spinning ball, again.
Aaaarrgh !!!!

 

[Fishrrman]

I scanned through the entire thread and can't find this basic information:

- What mac do you have?
- What year was it made?

 

[DeltaMac]

According to OP, it's running 10.6.8 - so old enough to have a failing hard drive as an initial diagnosis.

 

[Weaselboy]

I couldn't complete the procedure of making a test account in normal mode.
It seems that I can only do a few things before I get the spinning ball.
In that case I create the new account, then got the spinning ball just as I clicked on ok.
I then rebooted on safe mode and was surprised to see the test account there, that it actually got created.
So went back to normal mode, login in test account and then got the spinning ball, again.
Aaaarrgh !!!!

Like I said before... that fact you have no issues in safe mode is proof positive your issue is a login or startup item. If you can't get Etrecheck to work, then manually go into the folder I listed in post #7 and start removing launch/startup items until you find the offender.

If it was me, I would boot to safe mode and remove everything from any of those folders by dragging the item to the Desktop, then restart to normal mode. If that fixes it, then start adding back the items you removed and restart each time. This will pin it down for you.

 

[bebenut123]

Like I said before... that fact you have no issues in safe mode is proof positive your issue is a login or startup item. If you can't get Etrecheck to work, then manually go into the folder I listed in post #7 and start removing launch/startup items until you find the offender.

If it was me, I would boot to safe mode and remove everything from any of those folders by dragging the item to the Desktop, then restart to normal mode. If that fixes it, then start adding back the items you removed and restart each time. This will pin it down for you.

Hi, I have just tried to do that but I'm not able to, the files in the folder get copied onto the desktop, not removed. Is there a trick?
[doublepost=1466502037][/doublepost]

Like I said before... that fact you have no issues in safe mode is proof positive your issue is a login or startup item. If you can't get Etrecheck to work, then manually go into the folder I listed in post #7 and start removing launch/startup items until you find the offender.

If it was me, I would boot to safe mode and remove everything from any of those folders by dragging the item to the Desktop, then restart to normal mode. If that fixes it, then start adding back the items you removed and restart each time. This will pin it down for you.

I had a look at the permissions of those files, I'm only able to read them.

 

[Weaselboy]

Hi, I have just tried to do that but I'm not able to, the files in the folder get copied onto the desktop, not removed. Is there a trick?
[doublepost=1466502037][/doublepost]
I had a look at the permissions of those files, I'm only able to read them.

You should be able to just drag them over. Is your account an admin account or a "standard" account when you look at it in Users & Groups in System Preferences?

When you get info on those files it will show you as read only, buy system will be read / write and that is fine.

Are you doing this in safe mode?

 

[Fishrrman]

Final advice to the OP:

Get ANOTHER drive, install a clean copy of the OS onto it, put a new account onto it.

See how that runs.

If it runs better, swap drives with your internal drive.

 

[bebenut123]

You should be able to just drag them over. Is your account an admin account or a "standard" account when you look at it in Users & Groups in System Preferences?

When you get info on those files it will show you as read only, buy system will be read / write and that is fine.

Are you doing this in safe mode?

Hi, Sorry for delay, I've been very busy, I' have now tried to removed everything from system library launch agents and nothing works anymore.
I get signup screen and after that the default desktop image galaxy and nothing else, it's really bad.
I guess now I don't have any other choice than reinstall everything, which I don't even know how to do.
This really sucks
[doublepost=1467014213][/doublepost]Command + R doesn't work either

 

[DeltaMac]

10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) would not have a recovery partition, so command-R would not work.

STILL need to know which Mac you have, with as much detail as you can give (what year, how much RAM is installed, etc)
This will help us to help YOU, so please give us some more information...

 

[Mokis]

Hi,

Sorry to resurrect this old thread...I have the exact same problem and would appreciate some help please!

I have 10.6.8 running on Macbook 2,1 (Core 2 duo, 2006, 2GB RAM) and the specs mean I have not been able to do any further upgrade for some time. Recently, I've been getting the spinning beachball a few minutes after the computer starts (just as described by the threadstarter). Everything works fine on safe mode but not on regular boot. I've tried all known solutions including those suggested in this thread and have gotten nowhere.

I have since decided to reinstall the OS - but again exact same problem happens with the fresh install.

I have even tried booting from an external cloned drive (cloned atleast a year ago, so the macbook's current issues shouldn't be replicated on it) and have the same issue.

Any advice?

 

[JohnDS]

If you don't have the problem when you safe boot, then the problem is some third party software, or an external device. Have you disconnected all external peripherals, and if so does the problem persist?

You could try creating second admin account and booting into it. If you don't have problems with the new account, then that confirms the problem is some software in your original account. Let us know how that works

Also, download and run the free diagnostic tool EtreCheck https://etrecheck.com/#download from your old account and post the report back here.

 

[Mokis]

Thanks. As this is a fresh install, there is no third party software to speak of. No peripherals either. For good measure, I have uninstalled flash player anyway.

I downloaded Etrecheck from another computer (the problem mac beachballs and becomes unuseable pretty soon after normal boot). I ran it on safe boot mode and normal boot mode and saved the report to USB just before it crashed again. I don't know where to go from here. I've attached the reports from Etrecheck. Any thoughts?

 

[JohnDS]

The uploaded reports are unreadable because a lot of rtf formatting has somehow been added. I think this must be a problem with the forum software. Please post two new messages and copy and paste one of the reports into the body of each post.
[doublepost=1482759733][/doublepost]Never mind. I got the Etrechecks to work by downloading them and changing the suffix from .txt to .rtf.

 

[Mokis]

Sure. Here goes.

Etrecheck safe boot report:

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)
Report generated 2016-12-26 13:17:45
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 1:29
Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Beachballing

Hardware Information: ⓘ
MacBook with Intel Core 2 Duo processor available in black or white.
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook - model: MacBook2,1
1 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Core(TM)2) CPU: 2-core
2 GB RAM - Insufficient RAM!
BANK 0/DIMM0
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM1
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Video Information: ⓘ
GMA 950 - VRAM: spdisplays_integrated_vram
Color LCD 1280 x 800
spdisplays_display_connector

System Software: ⓘ
OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 (10A432) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ
SAMSUNG HM160HI disk0 : (149.05 GB) ()
[Show SMART report]
Astral Queen (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 159.70 GB (152.09 GB free)

USB Information: ⓘ
Micron Built-in iSight
Kingston DataTraveler SE9 14.64 GB
Mac OS X Install DVD (disk1s1) /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD : 15.72 GB (8.80 GB free)
Apple Computer Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 3 Apple tasks
[loaded] 57 Apple tasks
[running] 8 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 49 Apple tasks
[loaded] 85 Apple tasks
[running] 24 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
QuickTime Plugin: 7.6.3 (2016-12-25)

Audio Plug-ins: ⓘ
iSightAudio: 7.6.3 (2016-12-25)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
None

Time Machine: ⓘ
Time Machine information requires OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion" or later.

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
16% WindowServer
3% fontd
1% Dock
0% coreservicesd
0% usbmuxd

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
47 MB Finder
29 MB SystemUIServer
27 MB Dock
27 MB WindowServer
23 MB kextd

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
1.08 GB Available RAM
1.08 GB Free RAM
942 MB Used RAM
0 B Cached files
0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
Dec 26, 2016, 01:11:00 PM Self test - passed
[doublepost=1482759826][/doublepost]Etrecheck regular boot report:

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)
Report generated 2016-12-26 13:22:22
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 1:31
Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Beachballing

Hardware Information: ⓘ
MacBook (13-inch Late 2006)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook - model: MacBook2,1
1 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Core(TM)2) CPU: 2-core
2 GB RAM - Insufficient RAM!
BANK 0/DIMM0
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM1
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: ⓘ
GMA 950 - VRAM: spdisplays_integrated_vram
Color LCD 1280 x 800
spdisplays_display_connector

System Software: ⓘ
OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 (10A432) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ
SAMSUNG HM160HI disk0 : (149.05 GB) ()
[Show SMART report]
Astral Queen (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 159.70 GB (152.07 GB free)

USB Information: ⓘ
Micron Built-in iSight
Kingston DataTraveler SE9 14.64 GB
Mac OS X Install DVD (disk1s1) /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD : 15.72 GB (8.80 GB free)
Apple Computer Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 3 Apple tasks
[loaded] 56 Apple tasks
[running] 9 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 48 Apple tasks
[loaded] 83 Apple tasks
[running] 27 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
QuickTime Plugin: 7.6.3 (2016-12-25)

Audio Plug-ins: ⓘ
iSightAudio: 7.6.3 (2016-12-25)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
None

Time Machine: ⓘ
Time Machine information requires OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion" or later.

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
6% WindowServer
4% fontd
2% SystemUIServer
1% Dock
0% usbmuxd

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
43 MB Finder
31 MB SystemUIServer
29 MB mdworker(3)
29 MB WindowServer
23 MB cvmsComp_x86_64(2)

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
1.03 GB Available RAM
1.03 GB Free RAM
991 MB Used RAM
0 B Cached files
0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
Dec 26, 2016, 01:19:59 PM Self test - passed