Upgraded 2009 4,1 Issues in different OS's n Browesrs

[Krackle]

Upgraded a Mac Pro 2.66ghz early 2009 4,1''

The usual sort of upgrade..went to 5,1 firmware (no issues) >> installed a 3.33 ghz 6 core processor > added 32 gig of OWC RAM.

This machine seems solid when running Photoshop, Lightroom, my audio recording programs etc..

But, for the internet..driving me nuts..

I have Mavericks, Sierra and High Sierra across three different disks..in my browsers - Safari & Chrome..Video is always dodgy..will not play..looks like it tries to load..Doesn't will not play anywhere on the web.

If I'm in Mavericks, I can repair disk permissions and it works for a while..usually doesn't work again after sleep..in sierra and High Sierra..nothing...of course, no option to repair permissions so..

Everything else works across all of these OS's , far as i can tell..for what i use my computer for..

This issue is not new..been doing this since the upgrade and now it's gotten to me..frustrated.

 

[bookemdano]

What GPU do you have?

The fact that it's happening on different disks running different versions of macOS sort of rules out hard drive corruption, unless you've got extraordinarily bad luck with hard drives.

The only caveat I would say is if there's some kind of third party software you've got installed in all three OS'es that could be interfering. If you have another spare drive you might try a clean install of 10.13.6 on it and then test out video playback first thing--if it still has issues (and I assume you're trying multiple sites... YouTube at a minimum) then I would suspect your GPU.

Edit: What does CPU look like in Activity Monitor while you're playing video?

 

[Krackle]

What GPU do you have?

The fact that it's happening on different disks running different versions of macOS sort of rules out hard drive corruption, unless you've got extraordinarily bad luck with hard drives.

The only caveat I would say is if there's some kind of third party software you've got installed in all three OS'es that could be interfering. If you have another spare drive you might try a clean install of 10.13.6 on it and then test out video playback first thing--if it still has issues (and I assume you're trying multiple sites... YouTube at a minimum) then I would suspect your GPU.

Edit: What does CPU look like in Activity Monitor while you're playing video?

Hi and thanks..

..I have a
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB

I haven't tried a clean install on another disk..this behavior repeats across several OS..mavericks, Sierra, High Sierra..

Crazy repetitive beach balls on any click..click on a link..beach ball..

And of course, the video issue..which resolves itself after a repair of permissions..haven't yet tracked where it reverts back to having video issues..might be sleeping..but this issue is unresolvable in Sierra and High S..no way to repiar permissions etc..

 

[AliGT83]

The GT 120 is the issue

 

[tsialex]

The GT 120 is the issue

GT120 is slow as molasses with 10.13, but to me this seems more like disk problems, maybe RAM.

I had to reinstall my GT120 sometime ago to use it for a week, it's slow as hell but I didn't get beachballs at every link.

 

[Krackle]

I've got 32 gig of Ram in the machine

32 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC

ALl are checking out as "ok" in the system report..

Size: 8 GB
Type: DDR3 ECC
Speed: 1333 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x80CE
Part Number: 0x4D33393342314B37304448302D5948392020
Serial Number: 0x335E74B0

As for Graphics..I am running an NEC PA-272W ..it's a fairly high end monitor for printing..could that be stressing
the graphics card?

This feels different though..the beach balls on clicks is weird..

 

[tsialex]

As for Graphics..I am running an NEC PA-272W ..it's a fairly high end monitor for printing..could that be stressing
the graphics card?

This feels different though..the beach balls on clicks is weird..

NEC PA-272W default resolution is less then Apple Cinema 30" display (2560x1600).

• Superior screen performance (1000:1 contrast ratio, 2560x1440 native resolution, 340cd/m2brightness)

It's easy to install a newer GPU and check this. Btw, now it's time to buy RX560/RX580 - never saw better prices than the Newegg Labor Day promo.

 

[Krackle]

Seems odd to me that repairing permissions brings my Video back..then it goes away after sleep or time, or whatever..

Also seems odd that just clicking a link gives me constant beachballs..could that really be only a graphics card?

 

[bookemdano]

If you really want to test if this is HW or SW you need to do a clean install, preferably on a new disk. Even though you said it's happening on multiple macOS installs it may be that you have some software installed on all of them that could be the culprit.

That's the first thing I would do anyway.

Also, just because your RAM shows up properly in System Report doesn't mean it's not malfunctioning. It really needs to be tested to determine if it's OK or not.

 

[orph]

beach balls sounds like no SSD?
try firefox
check you have no extra add-ons in your web browsers that are braking things
use activity monitor to check there is nothing using lots of cpu
try the demo of this if you want to see what your hardware is doing https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/ (gpu ect)

sounds like the GPU is to old the PC RX 560 is a good option (apple recommends MSI i think?)

edit if you want try malware bites they have a free version https://www.malwarebytes.com/ and you can uninstall it after doing a scan if you want, thats more of a long shot