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Groups > comp.sys.mac.system > #79088 > unrolled thread

spinning beach ball of death

Started byKen Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com>
First post2015-08-28 22:35 -0600
Last post2015-10-30 09:39 -0600
Articles 20 on this page of 137 — 18 participants

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Contents

  spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-28 22:35 -0600
    Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-08-29 17:25 +1200
      Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-29 09:10 -0600
    Re: spinning beach ball of death Leonard Blaisdell <leoblaisdell@sbcglobal.net> - 2015-08-28 22:49 -0700
      Re: spinning beach ball of death dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2015-08-29 16:09 +1000
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-08-29 18:55 +1200
          Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 07:35 -0400
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-29 09:56 -0600
              Re: spinning beach ball of death Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2015-08-29 17:46 +0000
                Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 14:17 -0400
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-08-30 12:44 +1200
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 20:44 -0400
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-30 02:00 +0000
              Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 14:17 -0400
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-29 22:47 -0600
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2015-08-29 22:04 -0700
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-30 01:10 -0400
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2015-08-30 03:17 -0700
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2015-08-30 15:09 +0000
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-30 01:07 -0400
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-30 11:07 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-30 13:18 -0400
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-08-30 15:18 -0400
                          Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-30 15:32 -0400
                            Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-08-30 15:51 -0400
                              Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-30 16:01 -0400
                                Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-08-30 20:50 -0400
              Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-08-30 10:17 +1200
                Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 18:17 -0400
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-29 22:32 +0000
          Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-29 09:41 -0600
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-08-30 10:12 +1200
              Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-30 09:36 -0600
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2015-08-30 22:57 -0700
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-31 15:09 +0000
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-31 10:00 -0600
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-31 09:50 -0600
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-30 11:02 -0600
      Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-29 09:12 -0600
        Re: spinning beach ball of death David Fritzinger <email@domain.com> - 2015-08-29 11:23 -0400
    Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 07:35 -0400
      Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-29 09:52 -0600
        Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 14:17 -0400
          Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-08-29 14:23 -0400
            Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 14:31 -0400
              Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-08-29 14:53 -0400
                Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 15:06 -0400
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-29 19:38 +0000
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2015-08-29 21:47 +0000
          Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-30 11:11 -0600
            Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-30 13:18 -0400
              Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-30 23:05 -0600
                Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-31 11:53 -0400
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-08-31 10:18 -0600
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-31 12:29 -0400
    Re: spinning beach ball of death J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2015-08-29 18:26 -0400
      Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 18:29 -0400
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-29 22:43 +0000
          Re: spinning beach ball of death J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2015-08-29 19:43 -0400
      Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-29 22:41 +0000
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-08-29 22:45 +0000
    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 16:58 -0600
      Re: spinning beach ball of death Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-09-02 16:25 -0700
        Re: spinning beach ball of death J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> - 2015-09-02 19:55 -0400
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 18:14 -0600
          Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 20:14 -0600
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-09-03 13:15 +1200
          Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 19:48 -0600
      Re: spinning beach ball of death dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2015-09-03 12:48 +1200
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 01:10 +0000
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 20:12 -0600
          Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-02 22:22 -0400
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 20:27 -0600
              Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-02 22:32 -0400
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 20:37 -0600
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-02 22:48 -0400
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 21:58 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-09-03 02:01 -0400
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 20:18 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2015-09-04 18:27 -0700
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2015-09-02 19:55 -0700
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 21:53 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 04:03 +0000
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 20:41 -0600
                          Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-04 03:36 +0000
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 04:01 +0000
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 20:43 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-04 03:44 +0000
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-09-03 16:15 +1200
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 20:47 -0600
              Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 03:59 +0000
                Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-03 00:01 -0400
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 04:04 +0000
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2015-09-03 12:21 -0400
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 16:55 +0000
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Fred Moore <fmoore@gcfn.org> - 2015-09-03 14:35 -0400
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death David Ritz <dritz@mindspring.com> - 2015-09-03 21:26 -0500
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-09-04 08:52 +1200
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 21:11 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-03 23:49 -0400
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 20:50 -0600
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-03 23:49 -0400
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-04 09:45 -0600
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-04 15:56 +0000
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-04 13:00 -0400
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2015-09-04 22:44 +0100
                          Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-04 17:13 -0600
                            Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-09-05 12:10 +1200
                              Re: spinning beach ball of death Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2015-09-05 08:29 +0100
                            Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-05 15:04 +0000
                              Re: spinning beach ball of death Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2015-09-05 11:03 -0700
                                Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-06 02:34 +0000
                        Re: spinning beach ball of death dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2015-09-05 10:09 +1000
                          Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-04 18:23 -0600
                            Re: spinning beach ball of death dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2015-09-05 10:33 +1000
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-03 20:48 -0600
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-03 23:49 -0400
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2015-09-04 18:20 +1200
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-04 09:21 -0600
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 03:58 +0000
          Re: spinning beach ball of death Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2015-09-03 03:57 +0000
      Re: spinning beach ball of death JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2015-09-02 21:35 -0400
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-09-02 20:24 -0600
      Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-09-02 22:22 -0400
    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-10-29 09:29 -0600
      Re: spinning beach ball of death Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2015-10-30 05:09 +0000
        Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-10-30 02:49 -0600
          Re: spinning beach ball of death Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2015-10-30 09:40 +0000
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-10-30 08:21 -0600
              Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-10-30 10:39 -0400
                Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-10-30 09:08 -0600
                  Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-10-30 11:13 -0400
                    Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-10-30 09:41 -0600
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2015-10-30 18:14 +0000
                      Re: spinning beach ball of death Leonard Blaisdell <leoblaisdell@sbcglobal.net> - 2015-10-30 20:42 -0700
          Re: spinning beach ball of death nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2015-10-30 10:39 -0400
            Re: spinning beach ball of death Ken Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com> - 2015-10-30 09:39 -0600

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#79099

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-29 07:35 -0400
Message-ID<290820150735192903%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79088
In article <mrrcqv$tgu$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
<wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:

> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it) 
> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball 
> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.

which mac and how much memory and does it have an ssd?

> Looked at a couple pages of troubleshooting, and both recommend using 
> Activity Monitor to troubleshoot.  Neither of us are that technically 
> oriented.  LOL

then that shouldn't be your first step.

> On another page, reference is made to changing power settings, of which 
> I doubt she's capable of.

what page is that? beachballing isn't a power issue.

> The same page lists decreasing space on the hard drive for swapping 
> files.  This may be a possibility, but I won't be able to check until 
> next Wednesday.

unless she's getting warnings about the drive being too full, it's not
an issue.

> Are there any other simple checks we can do for the initial 
> troubleshooting phase?

beachballing is usually specific to one app when it's unresponsive,
which can be determined by moving the mouse around and seeing when the
beachball appears and disappears. it will be a beachball when it's over
the problematic app and a normal cursor when not.

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#79115

FromKen Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com>
Date2015-08-29 09:52 -0600
Message-ID<mrskfu$j95$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#79099
On 8/29/15 5:35 AM, nospam wrote:
> In article <mrrcqv$tgu$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
> <wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:
>
>> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it)
>> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball
>> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.
>
> which mac and how much memory and does it have an ssd?

I will have to find out Wednesday, unless she is able to tell me.  And 
this I doubt.

>> Looked at a couple pages of troubleshooting, and both recommend using
>> Activity Monitor to troubleshoot.  Neither of us are that technically
>> oriented.  LOL
>
> then that shouldn't be your first step.

It will be my path of last resort.  LOL

>> On another page, reference is made to changing power settings, of which
>> I doubt she's capable of.
>
> what page is that? beachballing isn't a power issue.

It's an old Macworld article from 2010. 
http://www.macworld.com/article/1151583/spinningbeachballofdeath.html 
Just skimmed the page, but it appears it is talking about the system 
being in standby mode.

What I hate about articles like this is usually no date, and almost 
never tell you which version of an operating system they are talking about.

>> The same page lists decreasing space on the hard drive for swapping
>> files.  This may be a possibility, but I won't be able to check until
>> next Wednesday.
>
> unless she's getting warnings about the drive being too full, it's not
> an issue.

I don't know if she is or not.

>> Are there any other simple checks we can do for the initial
>> troubleshooting phase?
>
> beachballing is usually specific to one app when it's unresponsive,
> which can be determined by moving the mouse around and seeing when the
> beachball appears and disappears. it will be a beachball when it's over
> the problematic app and a normal cursor when not.

Man, a great idea, wish I'd thought of it.  I've noticed this behavior 
of OS X and have appreciated it.



-- 
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
      and it's gone!"

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#79125

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-29 14:17 -0400
Message-ID<290820151417029101%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79115
In article <mrskfu$j95$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
<wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:

> >> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it)
> >> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball
> >> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.
> >
> > which mac and how much memory and does it have an ssd?
> 
> I will have to find out Wednesday, unless she is able to tell me.  And 
> this I doubt.

do you know how old the mac is?

anyway, have her go to the apple menu, choose about this mac and read
what it says. 

> >> Looked at a couple pages of troubleshooting, and both recommend using
> >> Activity Monitor to troubleshoot.  Neither of us are that technically
> >> oriented.  LOL
> >
> > then that shouldn't be your first step.
> 
> It will be my path of last resort.  LOL
> 
> >> On another page, reference is made to changing power settings, of which
> >> I doubt she's capable of.
> >
> > what page is that? beachballing isn't a power issue.
> 
> It's an old Macworld article from 2010. 
> http://www.macworld.com/article/1151583/spinningbeachballofdeath.html 
> Just skimmed the page, but it appears it is talking about the system 
> being in standby mode.

there are some good tips but also some not so good ones. for instance,
the putting hard disks to sleep setting won't matter with the internal
drive and would only cause a couple second delay with external drives
(if any are connected) as it spins up.

> What I hate about articles like this is usually no date, and almost 
> never tell you which version of an operating system they are talking about.

for a lot of things, that doesn't make much difference. 

> >> The same page lists decreasing space on the hard drive for swapping
> >> files.  This may be a possibility, but I won't be able to check until
> >> next Wednesday.
> >
> > unless she's getting warnings about the drive being too full, it's not
> > an issue.
> 
> I don't know if she is or not.

would she know to do something about it if she did get those warnings?

i also doubt that's the reason for beachballing. if the disk does fill
up the system will probably crash. it's a design flaw of unix.

> >> Are there any other simple checks we can do for the initial
> >> troubleshooting phase?
> >
> > beachballing is usually specific to one app when it's unresponsive,
> > which can be determined by moving the mouse around and seeing when the
> > beachball appears and disappears. it will be a beachball when it's over
> > the problematic app and a normal cursor when not.
> 
> Man, a great idea, wish I'd thought of it.  I've noticed this behavior 
> of OS X and have appreciated it.

if it beachballs everywhere, that is also a clue that it could be
hardware, such as a failing hard drive. however, if the mac is recent,
it may have an ssd, which could still fail but not as likely.

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#79128

FromJF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca>
Date2015-08-29 14:23 -0400
Message-ID<55e1f88a$0$17128$b1db1813$2411a48f@news.astraweb.com>
In reply to#79125
On 15-08-29 14:17, nospam wrote:

> if it beachballs everywhere, that is also a clue that it could be
> hardware, such as a failing hard drive. however, if the mac is recent,
> it may have an ssd, which could still fail but not as likely.


NFS disk access attempt to a non responsive remote host will also freeze
the mac.  A file section dialogue can cause that even if you don't
navigate to that disk (in my experience).  I realise few people use NFS
these days.


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#79129

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-29 14:31 -0400
Message-ID<290820151431180451%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79128
In article <55e1f88a$0$17128$b1db1813$2411a48f@news.astraweb.com>, JF
Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:

> NFS disk access attempt to a non responsive remote host will also freeze
> the mac. A file section dialogue can cause that even if you don't
> navigate to that disk (in my experience).  I realise few people use NFS
> these days.

almost nobody.

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#79133

FromJF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca>
Date2015-08-29 14:53 -0400
Message-ID<55e1ffbf$0$3444$b1db1813$145976f0@news.astraweb.com>
In reply to#79129
On 15-08-29 14:31, nospam wrote:

> almost nobody.

Correct. But it shows that low level file access software can
"beachball" when trying to access remote files if the remote server is
not reacheable or not providing data.

AFP seems to handle this relatively well, not sure about Samba though
(and SMB is used much more than NFS).

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#79134

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-29 15:06 -0400
Message-ID<290820151506226683%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79133
In article <55e1ffbf$0$3444$b1db1813$145976f0@news.astraweb.com>, JF
Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:

> > almost nobody.
> 
> Correct. But it shows that low level file access software can
> "beachball" when trying to access remote files if the remote server is
> not reacheable or not providing data.

which means that for everyone except the 14 people who still use nfs, a
beachball could be due to a failing hard drive (although not always,
since there are other possibilities too).

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#79136

FromJolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com>
Date2015-08-29 19:38 +0000
Message-ID<d4eg1hF1vb5U1@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#79128
On 2015-08-29, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:
> On 15-08-29 14:17, nospam wrote:
>
>> if it beachballs everywhere, that is also a clue that it could be
>> hardware, such as a failing hard drive. however, if the mac is recent,
>> it may have an ssd, which could still fail but not as likely.
>
> NFS disk access attempt to a non responsive remote host will also freeze
> the mac.  A file section dialogue can cause that even if you don't
> navigate to that disk (in my experience).  I realise few people use NFS
> these days.

The Mac, or just the Finder?

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#79139

FromHuge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid>
Date2015-08-29 21:47 +0000
Message-ID<d4enj9F3sa0U3@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#79128
On 2015-08-29, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> wrote:
> On 15-08-29 14:17, nospam wrote:
>
>> if it beachballs everywhere, that is also a clue that it could be
>> hardware, such as a failing hard drive. however, if the mac is recent,
>> it may have an ssd, which could still fail but not as likely.
>
>
> NFS disk access attempt to a non responsive remote host will also freeze
> the mac. 

Even if the drive is mounted "soft" rather than "hard"?

I liked NFS & much prefer it to CIFS. But, as usual, the market
chose the shittier "solution".


-- 
Today is Sweetmorn, the 22nd day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3181
                  I don't have an attitude problem.
    If you have a problem with my attitude, that's your problem.

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#79210

FromKen Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com>
Date2015-08-30 11:11 -0600
Message-ID<mrvdfl$uih$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#79125
On 8/29/15 12:17 PM, nospam wrote:
> In article <mrskfu$j95$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
> <wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:
>
>>>> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it)
>>>> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball
>>>> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.
>>>
>>> which mac and how much memory and does it have an ssd?
>>
>> I will have to find out Wednesday, unless she is able to tell me.  And
>> this I doubt.
>
> do you know how old the mac is?

I don't, but just based on casual conversation, I gather it may not be 
more than a few months old.

> anyway, have her go to the apple menu, choose about this mac and read
> what it says.
>
>>>> Looked at a couple pages of troubleshooting, and both recommend using
>>>> Activity Monitor to troubleshoot.  Neither of us are that technically
>>>> oriented.  LOL
>>>
>>> then that shouldn't be your first step.
>>
>> It will be my path of last resort.  LOL
>>
>>>> On another page, reference is made to changing power settings, of which
>>>> I doubt she's capable of.
>>>
>>> what page is that? beachballing isn't a power issue.
>>
>> It's an old Macworld article from 2010.
>> http://www.macworld.com/article/1151583/spinningbeachballofdeath.html
>> Just skimmed the page, but it appears it is talking about the system
>> being in standby mode.
>
> there are some good tips but also some not so good ones. for instance,
> the putting hard disks to sleep setting won't matter with the internal
> drive and would only cause a couple second delay with external drives
> (if any are connected) as it spins up.
>
>> What I hate about articles like this is usually no date, and almost
>> never tell you which version of an operating system they are talking about.
>
> for a lot of things, that doesn't make much difference.

But it's good web page design practice.

>>>> The same page lists decreasing space on the hard drive for swapping
>>>> files.  This may be a possibility, but I won't be able to check until
>>>> next Wednesday.
>>>
>>> unless she's getting warnings about the drive being too full, it's not
>>> an issue.
>>
>> I don't know if she is or not.
>
> would she know to do something about it if she did get those warnings?

Not likely.  But as she's mentioned nothing but the beachball, I doubt 
she's getting any warning similar to this.

> i also doubt that's the reason for beachballing. if the disk does fill
> up the system will probably crash. it's a design flaw of unix.
>
>>>> Are there any other simple checks we can do for the initial
>>>> troubleshooting phase?
>>>
>>> beachballing is usually specific to one app when it's unresponsive,
>>> which can be determined by moving the mouse around and seeing when the
>>> beachball appears and disappears. it will be a beachball when it's over
>>> the problematic app and a normal cursor when not.
>>
>> Man, a great idea, wish I'd thought of it.  I've noticed this behavior
>> of OS X and have appreciated it.
>
> if it beachballs everywhere, that is also a clue that it could be
> hardware, such as a failing hard drive. however, if the mac is recent,
> it may have an ssd, which could still fail but not as likely.
>


-- 
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
      and it's gone!"

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#79213

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-30 13:18 -0400
Message-ID<300820151318191659%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79210
In article <mrvdfl$uih$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
<wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:

> >>>> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it)
> >>>> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball
> >>>> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.
> >>>
> >>> which mac and how much memory and does it have an ssd?
> >>
> >> I will have to find out Wednesday, unless she is able to tell me.  And
> >> this I doubt.
> >
> > do you know how old the mac is?
> 
> I don't, but just based on casual conversation, I gather it may not be 
> more than a few months old.

then it's likely it has an ssd and not a hard drive. it's also unlikely
to be failing. 

if she's near an apple store, have her take it in for someone to look
at it. that's what they're there for. they'll do that even if it's out
of warranty.

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#79294

FromKen Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com>
Date2015-08-30 23:05 -0600
Message-ID<ms0nba$qcl$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#79213
On 8/30/15 11:18 AM, nospam wrote:
> In article <mrvdfl$uih$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
> <wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:
>
>>>>>> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it)
>>>>>> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball
>>>>>> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.
>>>>>
>>>>> which mac and how much memory and does it have an ssd?
>>>>
>>>> I will have to find out Wednesday, unless she is able to tell me.  And
>>>> this I doubt.
>>>
>>> do you know how old the mac is?
>>
>> I don't, but just based on casual conversation, I gather it may not be
>> more than a few months old.
>
> then it's likely it has an ssd and not a hard drive. it's also unlikely
> to be failing.
>
> if she's near an apple store, have her take it in for someone to look
> at it. that's what they're there for. they'll do that even if it's out
> of warranty.

"Near" is a relative term.   LOL  About 99% sure this won't happen, at 
least not for the beachball issue.



-- 
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
       and it's gone!"

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#79341

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-31 11:53 -0400
Message-ID<310820151153088897%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79294
In article <ms0nba$qcl$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
<wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:

> > if she's near an apple store, have her take it in for someone to look
> > at it. that's what they're there for. they'll do that even if it's out
> > of warranty.
> 
> "Near" is a relative term.

how near is near?

> LOL  About 99% sure this won't happen, at 
> least not for the beachball issue.

why not? does she want help or not?

they can quickly tell what the problem is and run hardware diagnostics
if necessary.

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#79343

FromKen Springer <wordworks@greeleynet.com>
Date2015-08-31 10:18 -0600
Message-ID<ms1up6$n2n$1@news.albasani.net>
In reply to#79341
On 8/31/15 9:53 AM, nospam wrote:
> In article <ms0nba$qcl$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
> <wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:
>
>>> if she's near an apple store, have her take it in for someone to look
>>> at it. that's what they're there for. they'll do that even if it's out
>>> of warranty.
>>
>> "Near" is a relative term.
>
> how near is near?

Time is a better method of defining "near" than mileage is.  Assuming 
one hour spent at the Apple Store, standing in line, etc., a trip to the 
Apple Store would be about 5 hours round trip for her.  The monthly Mac 
group meeting is 2 hours, I'm a paid member and go to as many as I can, 
and for her that would mean a 6 hour round trip in the evening.

I just wrote a reply to Michael Vilain with a bit more info.

>> LOL  About 99% sure this won't happen, at
>> least not for the beachball issue.
>
> why not? does she want help or not?

She wants help, that's why she's asking me.   <G>


>
> they can quickly tell what the problem is and run hardware diagnostics
> if necessary.
>


-- 
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 36.0.4
Thunderbird 31.5
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
      and it's gone!"

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#79344

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-31 12:29 -0400
Message-ID<310820151229450686%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79343
In article <ms1up6$n2n$1@news.albasani.net>, Ken Springer
<wordworks@greeleynet.com> wrote:

> >>> if she's near an apple store, have her take it in for someone to look
> >>> at it. that's what they're there for. they'll do that even if it's out
> >>> of warranty.
> >>
> >> "Near" is a relative term.
> >
> > how near is near?
> 
> Time is a better method of defining "near" than mileage is.  Assuming 
> one hour spent at the Apple Store, standing in line, etc., a trip to the 
> Apple Store would be about 5 hours round trip for her.  The monthly Mac 
> group meeting is 2 hours, I'm a paid member and go to as many as I can, 
> and for her that would mean a 6 hour round trip in the evening.

then have her call applecare support and they can walk her through
various tests to help determine the problem.

if it's determined to be a hardware issue, they will dispatch a box
overnight to her. she then would pack the computer in the box and call
for a pickup (or drop it off, either way). it's then overnighted to a
repair depot, fixed and overnighted back. she won't need to go
anywhere.

usually it takes two days from the time it leaves until it shows up at
her door unless there are parts shortages or some other issue. since
you say it's a relatively new macbook, it's highly unlikely there will
be parts shortages.

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#79144

FromJ Burns <burns4@nowhere.com>
Date2015-08-29 18:26 -0400
Message-ID<mrtbei$507$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#79088
On 8/29/15 12:35 AM, Ken Springer wrote:
> A new friend has a fairly new (sorry, don't know how long she's had it)
> Mac laptop with Yosemite, and she reports that the spinning beach ball
> has been steadily making itself more known as the computer ages.
>
> Looked at a couple pages of troubleshooting, and both recommend using
> Activity Monitor to troubleshoot.  Neither of us are that technically
> oriented.  LOL
>
> On another page, reference is made to changing power settings, of which
> I doubt she's capable of.
>
> The same page lists decreasing space on the hard drive for swapping
> files.  This may be a possibility, but I won't be able to check until
> next Wednesday.
>
> Are there any other simple checks we can do for the initial
> troubleshooting phase?
>
When I get a beach ball, I move the cursor off the app window onto the 
desktop. If it turns to an arrow, it's the app, not the computer, that's 
stalled. For me, it's usually Safari or Firefox.

Menu Meters, which is free, will monitor memory, disk access, network 
traffic, and CPU use, on the menu bar. If I slow down, it's usually 
because something is accessing the disk a lot.  Sometimes I can get to 
the bottom of it by opening Activity Monitor. My first step is to look 
at the dock to see what apps are running.

I believe clearing caches with Onyx has helped when my Mac has gotten 
slow.  It's supposed to be harmless, but they recommend backing up.

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#79145

Fromnospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
Date2015-08-29 18:29 -0400
Message-ID<290820151829187248%nospam@nospam.invalid>
In reply to#79144
In article <mrtbei$507$1@dont-email.me>, J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com>
wrote:

> I believe clearing caches with Onyx has helped when my Mac has gotten 
> slow.  It's supposed to be harmless, but they recommend backing up.

clearing caches can slow things down because what was cached has to be
reloaded again.

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#79148

FromJolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com>
Date2015-08-29 22:43 +0000
Message-ID<d4eqs4F46o8U8@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#79145
On 2015-08-29, nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> In article <mrtbei$507$1@dont-email.me>, J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I believe clearing caches with Onyx has helped when my Mac has gotten 
>> slow.  It's supposed to be harmless, but they recommend backing up.
>
> clearing caches can slow things down because what was cached has to be
> reloaded again.

Yes. You can notice this especially during the first system restart
after clearing caches, because during startup the system needs to
rebuild some of them. You can also notice it later on, though, when
various third-party applications/services have to rebuild caches
on-demand. I typically clear caches only after I have exhausted other
options.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#79150

FromJ Burns <burns4@nowhere.com>
Date2015-08-29 19:43 -0400
Message-ID<mrtfv0$i54$1@dont-email.me>
In reply to#79148
On 8/29/15 6:43 PM, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2015-08-29, nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>> In article <mrtbei$507$1@dont-email.me>, J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I believe clearing caches with Onyx has helped when my Mac has gotten
>>> slow.  It's supposed to be harmless, but they recommend backing up.
>>
>> clearing caches can slow things down because what was cached has to be
>> reloaded again.
>
> Yes. You can notice this especially during the first system restart
> after clearing caches, because during startup the system needs to
> rebuild some of them. You can also notice it later on, though, when
> various third-party applications/services have to rebuild caches
> on-demand. I typically clear caches only after I have exhausted other
> options.
>

I last did it a month or two ago.  It wasn't for beach balls.  At some 
time since I installed Yosemite, I started getting interrupted for 
restarts (something went wrong), or logged out.  There were increasing 
numbers of error messages on the system log. I tried other remedies. 
Cleaning caches reduced the error messages, and I haven't been 
interrupted by a restart or logout since.

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#79147

FromJolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com>
Date2015-08-29 22:41 +0000
Message-ID<d4eqooF46o8U7@mid.individual.net>
In reply to#79144
On 2015-08-29, J Burns <burns4@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
> When I get a beach ball, I move the cursor off the app window onto the 
> desktop. If it turns to an arrow, it's the app, not the computer, that's 
> stalled. For me, it's usually Safari or Firefox.

Yep, same here. That's a great first diagnostic step!

> Menu Meters, which is free, will monitor memory, disk access, network 
> traffic, and CPU use, on the menu bar. 

Yep. Keep in mind the built-in /Utilities/Activity Monitor application
will show you this information as well.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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