Schuyler Kuhl
asked on
Programs hanging on Mac Book Pro
Greetings,
I have a mac book pro running 10.6.2 with 4 gb or ram. Its a pretty nice laptop.
Anyway the most basic programs seem to hang and then come back to life. I am looking at mac mail, safari and firefox. For example I will open firefox and browse to a web site. The beach ball will appear and in the force quit applications window it will say (not responding) next to the application for a few minutes and then it will return and be responsive again.
I know that this can happen sometimes but this is just not normal. I use disk utilty to verify the hard drive and it says that the hard drive seems fine.
I am trying to narrow down the problem but I haven't figured any specific thing that is causing this.
Any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot this type of issue on a mac will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sky
I have a mac book pro running 10.6.2 with 4 gb or ram. Its a pretty nice laptop.
Anyway the most basic programs seem to hang and then come back to life. I am looking at mac mail, safari and firefox. For example I will open firefox and browse to a web site. The beach ball will appear and in the force quit applications window it will say (not responding) next to the application for a few minutes and then it will return and be responsive again.
I know that this can happen sometimes but this is just not normal. I use disk utilty to verify the hard drive and it says that the hard drive seems fine.
I am trying to narrow down the problem but I haven't figured any specific thing that is causing this.
Any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot this type of issue on a mac will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sky
Do you have enough free space left on your hard drive?
Is this a new install of 10.6.2? Recently updated?
Can you recall anything being done to your system just before this started happening? (i.e. added hardware or software)
Can you recall anything being done to your system just before this started happening? (i.e. added hardware or software)
Also try downloading and installing the 10.6.3 combo updater: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1017
ASKER
Thank you.
Ok I have been looking at the activity monitor and I haven't noticed anything really hogging resources. I will look at the console logs and look at that update.
Ok I have been looking at the activity monitor and I haven't noticed anything really hogging resources. I will look at the console logs and look at that update.
ASKER
It also takes a very long time to start.
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ASKER
I mean like 15-20 minutes. its very abnormal. What I am wondering is how to determine if it is related to hard ware or if I should try reinstalling the os.
Run the hardware diagnostics as per the link in my earlier post
Slow startup troubleshooting: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10332743-263.html
ASKER
Here are some selections from the console log during startup, which took over 25 minutes.
at the bottom is also two entries from starting firefox.
I see that it says bus error. I think that could indicate a hard ware issue as well like a hard drive failure. I agree that this is the most likely thing. However when i ran disk verify it did say that the disk appears to be ok.
I will try your uother suggestions. Thank you.
4/15/10 7:04:03 AM com.apple.ReportCrash.Root
4/15/10 7:05:17 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.FontWorker[91])
4/15/10 7:05:17 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10011aa50.mach_init.mdw
4/15/10 7:05:17 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10011aa50.mach_init.mdw
4/15/10 7:07:46 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.loginwindow[98]
4/15/10 7:10:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.loginwindow) Throttling respawn: Will start in 8 seconds
4/15/10 7:31:34 AM com.apple.loginwindow[881]
4/15/10 7:52:18 AM Console[978] *** CFMessagePort: dropping corrupt reply Mach message (0b100101)
4/15/10 8:02:20 AM [0x0-0x1b01b].org.mozilla.
4/15/10 8:02:20 AM [0x0-0x1b01b].org.mozilla.
at the bottom is also two entries from starting firefox.
I see that it says bus error. I think that could indicate a hard ware issue as well like a hard drive failure. I agree that this is the most likely thing. However when i ran disk verify it did say that the disk appears to be ok.
I will try your uother suggestions. Thank you.
4/15/10 7:04:03 AM com.apple.ReportCrash.Root
4/15/10 7:05:17 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.FontWorker[91])
4/15/10 7:05:17 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10011aa50.mach_init.mdw
4/15/10 7:05:17 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x10011aa50.mach_init.mdw
4/15/10 7:07:46 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.loginwindow[98]
4/15/10 7:10:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.loginwindow) Throttling respawn: Will start in 8 seconds
4/15/10 7:31:34 AM com.apple.loginwindow[881]
4/15/10 7:52:18 AM Console[978] *** CFMessagePort: dropping corrupt reply Mach message (0b100101)
4/15/10 8:02:20 AM [0x0-0x1b01b].org.mozilla.
4/15/10 8:02:20 AM [0x0-0x1b01b].org.mozilla.
Try deleting the contents of the /Library/Caches folder.
By the way, will it start more quickly if you safe boot by holding down the shift key when you boot?
update it.
then go to your home folder/library/caches (delete the folder)
also, go to /library/caches(delete the folder)
restart the computer.
also, download Onyx and run it. seems to fix many smaller issues.
then go to your home folder/library/caches (delete the folder)
also, go to /library/caches(delete the folder)
restart the computer.
also, download Onyx and run it. seems to fix many smaller issues.
Also, leave Activity Monitor (also found in the utilities folder) open and see if it shows some app. hogging your CPU cycles when this happens.