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Re: Beach Ball Blues

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On 2014-06-24, Charles H. Sampson <csampson@inetworld.net> wrote:
>      I know its a pinwheel, not a beach ball, but I like the
> alliteration and the catchy subject.
>
>      I'm still using an old G4 runnng Tiger. I know it's almost at
> retirement age but that's more because of software rather than hardware
> (I think). Nobody has updated their software for Tiger in a long time
> and the machine is functioning poorly in a changing environment.  What I
> mean by that is when I access any part of the Internet that can change
> with time, all bets are off. Safari hangs up on a number of web sites,
> for example.
>
>      However, as a desktop personal computer, it's still got plenty of
> oomph. For me, that means that I can use Microsoft Office (2008),
> FileMaker Pro (8.0v3), Eudora (POP doesn't change), and MacSOUP (SOUP
> doesn't change). I use my MacBook Pro when I need to go to the
> non-longer-working websites or use Google Earth.
>
>      Given that the software hasn't changed in years, I expect things to
> be stable as long as I stay away from the Internet. What I've noticed,
> however, is that it takes forever to perform some really basic, simple
> tasks. The pinwheel spins and spins. One such task is opening folders,
> even some that contain only ten or so items. That can take as long as 30
> seconds. Stickies opens nicely (It's a startup item) but I have to wait
> minutes to be able to modify a stickie; more pinwheel spinning.
>
>      This is just an informational question. Does anyone have any idea
> what's going on? I thought that maybe the main disk is failing,
> requiring a bunch of retries, but it's a S.M.A.R.T. disk and Disk
> Utility says that it's reporting everything fine.

Well the symptoms you describe are certainly within range of a
malfunctioning disk drive; but it's best not to jump to conclusions
without first having a quick look at your system. Unfortunately, SMART
often doesn't tell you much until after the disk fails. I would first
look for messages that are posted to the console and system logs at the
time of the sluggishness. Messages that have a time stamp that is close
to or during the sluggish event (while the beach ball is on screen, for
instance) may give you an indication of what is causing the performance
issue. For instance, you might see messages about IO or disks,
indicating a failing disk. Or you might see error messages about network
services or something else entirely. If needed, you can post the
relevant messages here and we can help you figure out what's going on.

-- 
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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Beach Ball Blues csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2014-06-24 12:24 -0700
  Re: Beach Ball Blues Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-06-24 20:03 +0000
    Re: Beach Ball Blues csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2014-06-26 17:42 -0700
      Re: Beach Ball Blues Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> - 2014-06-26 20:48 -0400
      Re: Beach Ball Blues Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-06-27 01:56 +0000
        Re: Beach Ball Blues csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2014-08-05 17:35 -0700
          Re: Beach Ball Blues Kevin McMurtrie <mcmurtrie@pixelmemory.us> - 2014-08-05 22:28 -0700
  Re: Beach Ball Blues "Jonathan L. Parker" <jlparker001@GOAWAYSPAMMERsbcglobal.net> - 2014-06-24 18:02 -0500
    Re: Beach Ball Blues Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2014-06-25 13:22 +1200
      Re: Beach Ball Blues "Jonathan L. Parker" <jlparker001@GOAWAYSPAMMERsbcglobal.net> - 2014-06-25 00:39 -0500
        Re: Beach Ball Blues Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2014-06-25 18:10 +1200
    Re: Beach Ball Blues Mike Smith <fake.address@fake.com> - 2014-06-27 01:21 +0000
  Re: Beach Ball Blues Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2014-06-25 13:28 +1200
    Re: Beach Ball Blues csampson@inetworld.net (Charles H. Sampson) - 2014-06-25 10:04 -0700
    Re: Beach Ball Blues Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> - 2014-06-27 07:40 -0700
      Re: Beach Ball Blues Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2014-06-28 12:28 +1200
    Re: Beach Ball Blues Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2014-07-08 08:34 -0400
      Re: Beach Ball Blues Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2014-07-09 09:32 +1200
        Re: Beach Ball Blues nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-07-08 19:19 -0400
    Re: Beach Ball Blues Paul Magnussen <magiconinc@earthlink.net> - 2014-08-06 08:30 -0700
      Re: Beach Ball Blues android <here@there.was> - 2014-08-06 18:26 +0200
        Re: Beach Ball Blues Paul Magnussen <magiconinc@earthlink.net> - 2014-08-06 11:16 -0700
          Re: Beach Ball Blues nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-08-06 14:19 -0400
            Re: Beach Ball Blues Paul Magnussen <magiconinc@earthlink.net> - 2014-08-06 11:48 -0700
              Re: Beach Ball Blues Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-08-06 18:59 +0000
                Re: Beach Ball Blues Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@yahoo.com> - 2014-08-06 15:54 -0400
              Re: Beach Ball Blues dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2014-08-07 11:16 +1200
                Re: Beach Ball Blues Paul Magnussen <magiconinc@earthlink.net> - 2014-08-07 08:36 -0700
          Re: Beach Ball Blues android <here@there.was> - 2014-08-07 16:06 +0200
      Re: Beach Ball Blues nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2014-08-06 22:52 -0400
        Re: Beach Ball Blues Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2014-08-06 21:25 -0700
  Re: Beach Ball Blues Rick Blaine <boss@cafeamericain.ma> - 2014-06-25 09:58 -0400

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