Question

Why is my macbook so slow all of a sudden?

Asked by: aaftmb

hey

Last night, my little sister was using my computer for who knows what.  I opened my computer this morning and all of a sudden it's been so slow, it's unbearable. Starting my computer took 5 minutes for everythign to lead. everything i do takes two minutes, and then the spinning beach ball pops up. What I've done so far is restart/reboot the computer. I've done this like 5 times, and it gets slower and slower each time. I've also tried going to disk utility. It seems like firefox is the culprit, but I don't know. the spinning beach ball thingy as my cursor is driving me insane.

 i was looking around for some help and i saw someone said to check the console.app on the utilities folder and this is what i found for my console.log...
      
Mac OS X Version 10.4.11 (Build 8S2167)
2008-08-11 18:04:24 -0400
2008-08-11 18:04:27.226 HPEventHandler[286]: DebugAssert: Third Party Client: (NULL != m_lock && 0 == errno)  Can't create semaphore lock[/Volumes/Development/HP/Mac-Sirani/mac-software/components/HPEventHandler/Sources/Core/HPTMNotificationManager.cpp:62]
2008-08-11 18:04:32.437 SystemUIServer[280] lang is:en
2008-08-11 18:35:35.616 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.650 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.652 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.653 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.654 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.655 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.657 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.658 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.659 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.660 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.661 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.662 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.663 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.664 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.665 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.666 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.667 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.668 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.669 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.670 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.671 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.672 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.673 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.674 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.675 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:35:35.676 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: BestCalendarDateFromString - can't interpret: 'Mon 11 Aug 2008 11:35:01 -800'
2008-08-11 18:36:26.639 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:26.640 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:26.640 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQL query failed:
DELETE FROM Articles WHERE id IN (7336,7337,7338,7339,7340,7341,7342,7343,7344,7354,7355,7356,7357,7358,7359,7360,7361,7362,7374,7375,7376,7377,7378,7379,7380,7381,7382,7421,7422,7423,7424,7425,7433,7434,7435,7436,7442,7453,7454,7455,7456,7457,7458,7459,7462,7463,7464,7465,7466,7467,7468,7478,7480,7481,7488,7489,7490,7491,7492,7493,7494,7495,7496,7497,7498,7499,7500,7501,7502,7503,7504,7505,7533,7534,7538,7541,7542,7543,7544,7545,7566,7567,7568,7569,7570,7571,7572,7578,7579,7588,7593,7594,7595,7596,7597,7598,7599,7600,7601,7602,7603,7604,7605,7606,7607,7630,7631,7632,7633,7634,7635,7636,7637,7638,7639,7640,7641,7651,7652,7655,7656,7660,7663,7667,7670,7671,7683,7684,7685,7686,7687,7688,7689,7690,7691,7692,7693,7694,7695,7703,7704,7707,7708,7709,7710,7711,7712,7713,7714,7715,7716,7717,7718,7720,7727,7753,7754,7755,7762,7763,7764,7765,7766,7767,7768,7769,7770,7799,7800,7801,7802,7803,7804,7805,7806,7807,7808,7809,7810,7811,7812,7813,7814,7816,7817,7818,7819,7820,7821,7836,7837,7838,7839,7840,7841,7842,7843,7845,7846,7847,7848,7894,7895,7896,7897,7898,7899,7900,7901,7902,7911,7912,7914,7915,7916,7936,7937,7938,7939,7940,7941,7942,7944,7945,7959,7960,7961,7962,7963,7964,7965,7966,7967,7968,7969,7970,7971,7973,7986,7987,7988,8000,8001,8002,8003,8004,8005,8006,8007,8008,8009,8011,8012,8030,8031,8032,8033,8034,8035,8036,8037,8038,8039,8040,8041,8042,8047,8048,8049,8050,8051,8052,8053,8054,8055,8056,8057,8058,8059,8079,8080,8081,8084,8085,8086,8087,8088,8089,8090,8091,8092,8093,8094,8095,8096,8097,8098,8099,8100,8101,8102,8103,8104,8139,8140,8141,8142,8143,8144,8145,8146,8147,8160,8161,8162,8163,8164,8165,8166,8167,8168,8169,8178,8179,8181,8182,8183,8184,8185,8186,8187,8188,8189,8190,8191,8192,8193,8194,8195,8225,8226,8227,8228,8229,8230,8231,8232,8233,8234,8235,8237,8238,8239,8240,8241,8242,8243,8244,8245,8254,8255,8256,8257,8258,8266,8267,8268,8280,8281,8282,8283,8285,8288,8290,8291,8292,8297,8298,8299)
2008-08-11 18:36:50.135 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:50.135 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQLite error 11: database disk image is malformed
2008-08-11 18:36:50.136 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: SQL query failed:
DELETE FROM Articles WHERE id IN (7391,7392,7393,7394,7395,7396,7397,7398,7399,7400,7401,7402,7403,7404,7405,7406,7407,7408,7409,7410,7411,7412,7413,7414,7415,7416,7417,7418,7419,7420,7728,7729,7730,7731,7732,7733,7734,7735,7736,7737,7738,7739,7740,7741,7742,7743,7744,7745,7746,7747,7748,7749,7750,7751,7752)
2008-08-11 18:36:50.400 SyndicationAgent[804] WARNING: ArticlesStore: Fatal database error: exiting!



 could this be the culprit ? if it is what do i do about it?





 if not what else could be the problem?

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Asked On
2008-08-11 at 16:13:42ID23639701
Tags

apple

,

macbook

,

mac os X

,

14 inch 2.16 ghz 1gb memory

Topics

Apple Laptop

,

Mac OS X

,

Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger)

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-11 at 16:21:35ID: 22209048

also there is no application taking up a high % of cpu on my activity monitor the highest thing right now is firefox as a 6.20% followed by like activity monitor at .80%. Also i have 58.26 gb used  and 58.26 gb free on my macintosh HD

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-11 at 16:37:42ID: 22209141

Try restarting with the shift key held down to force a disk repair.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-11 at 16:39:25ID: 22209151

how do you do this?  hold the shift key down while restarting manually? or like pressing shift and then apple restart?

also strung, you're the person who i saw recommending finding out the console.app thing..  would you happen to know what do i do since it says all these errors everywhere

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-11 at 16:51:14ID: 22209209

According to other posts I have seen, those errors are harmless and have to do with Safari RSS feeds.

Just pull down the Apple menu to Restart, then hold down the shift key until you get a message saying the computer is safe booting.

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-11 at 16:58:00ID: 22209241

You can let up on the shift key as soon as you see the Apple Logo and the spinning wheel. It will take a LONG time to reboot into safe mode.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-11 at 17:56:33ID: 22209449

in safemode everything is really fast and back to normal.. so what do you think cxould be the problem

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-11 at 17:56:58ID: 22209450

did my sister download a virus or soemthing? how do i delete or clear the history and stuff

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-11 at 18:03:26ID: 22209477

is there anyway to like undo or delete or revert back to my computer as it was 2 days ago? like a system restore on a pc?

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-11 at 18:30:26ID: 22209555

What happens when you reboot in regular mode? Is the speed back?

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-11 at 19:38:19ID: 22209763

No it's not. i'm trying to do a virus scan with Norton antivirus in the safe mode. so far it's been taking about 2 hours and yet it's done with about 5% of the way. hopefully this will help solve it. Also in safe mode it's back to normal speed, so i'm glad it's not exactly the harddrive that's the problem, i hope. is there anything i can do ion safemode that will fix it in nomral mode?

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 05:55:01ID: 22212524

There are no Mac viruses. Try uninstalling Norton. Norton might well be what is causing your problems.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:29:15ID: 22214137

No norton has been there since day 1 of my laptop, and it's been used for over a year. But i'm wondering if there is a way to undo everything i've done on my macbook the past few days, etc.

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:33:32ID: 22214194

Not that I am aware of.

You say you have "have 58.26 gb used  and 58.26 gb free on my macintosh HD". Are you sure you are reading that right? It seems an odd coincidence that you have used exactly 50% of your drive. You could have the problems you describe if you were running out of free space on your drive.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:41:23ID: 22214266

on another note i just realized spotlight is not working.. this might be because iw as tryiong to clear my desktop and started putting big folders into other folders? again is there a way to UNDO something done on my mac?

Why is spotlight not working is there a way to fix this? On safe mode, spotlight is not working, maybe this is why my macbook is so slow?

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:42:07ID: 22214271

sorry i meant 53.26 gb used and 58.26 gb free

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:44:02ID: 22214294

everytime i search something on spotlight nothing comes up even tho i know there are files with that name

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:45:33ID: 22214302

Your Mac might be slow because spotlight is trying to re-index your drive.  

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:49:38ID: 22214342

The Spotlight database may be corrupted. You can force Spotlight to rebuild it by adding the affected disk to the Spotlight Privacy exclusions in System Preferences, closing System Preferences, then removing it from the exclusion list. Spotlight will begin rebuilding the Spotlight database immediately. (This may take several hours.)

Suggest you try this and let the computer re-index overnight, then see if performance is better in the morning.

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:55:50ID: 22214419

You could also try downloading the freeware Onyx:  http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/onyx_tiger.html

and running the various cleanup and maintenance routines from it.

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 08:58:50ID: 22214447

The instructions I gave you to force a re-index of Spotlight were for Leopard. Not sure they will work in Tiger. If not, try this utility:  http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26842

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 09:05:31ID: 22214500

To force a re-index in Tiger, open the Terminal application (in the \applications\utilities folder) and copy and paste the following line into the terminal window, then hit return:

sudo mdutil -E /

(You may be asked for your system password).

Reboot your computer and Spotlight should start to re-index.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 09:13:12ID: 22214569

can i do this in safe mode?

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 09:14:10ID: 22214578

I don't see why not.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 09:36:16ID: 22214757

sudo mdutil -E /

line does not work, it says error, no index found for volume

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 09:59:56ID: 22214983

Okay. If you followed the instructions in my earlier post of 08:49, that may already have deleted the spotlight index.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 11:00:16ID: 22215429

hm, no i tried adding my HD to the privacy list, however it can't be added. like it physically won't be added to the privacy list no matter how many times i tried dragging it to the privacy list. even when i try to add my hd to the list, it does not get added to the list. also when i do the sudo mdutil -E / it says volume not found. I think i found my problem though, spotlight indexing.

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 12:47:24ID: 22216451

I couldn't do it in safe mode, but I could do it in regular mode although getting to it was so slow. Now that  my HD is under the privacy tab on my spot light preferences, my computer is back to normal speed. Thank god!! phew. all i have to do is reformat everything. IF not, I don't even need spotlight. i hope this forum helps others with slow macbooks!!

 

by: aaftmbPosted on 2008-08-12 at 12:48:26ID: 31485609

Thank you so much!! I was so scared I would have to get a new computer since if I took it to the apple store, they would see the water damage/ banged up status of my computer! thanks !!

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-08-12 at 12:50:58ID: 22216475

Try running sudo mdutil -E / in regular mode, reboot, turn spotlight indexing back on and let it index over night. Everything should be back to normal in the morning.

I suspect that moving around big folders may have confused Spotlight, but it should be okay if it re-indexes from scratch.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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