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User profile for user: anshuman116
anshuman116 Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Macbook Pro running slow and becomes unresponsive

I have macbook pro mid 2012 with 10GB RAM (in great condition) and currently running it on macOS Catalina. I have 2 questions:

1) I have noticed my mac keeps loading and becomes unresponsive quite frequently while opening apps especially. What could be the reason?

2) My suspicion is Apple on purpose makes the older models slow to force consumers to buy their latest models. Could this be the case? What's the latest stable OS I should install to have my mac runs smoothly.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 24, 2020 11:38 AM

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
152,254 points

Posted on Nov 29, 2020 10:30 PM

Ok, thanks. Here are my observations/suggestions, based on the provided report:

  • Symantec Endpoint Security/Norton Security - Macs do not get viruses and I would suggest removing any third-party AV apps. These tend to cause more issues (including performance degradation) than solve them. It has embedded itself as numerous Launch Agents and Daemons.
  • Google Backup and Sync - It would be typical to note performance issues when backing up to the Cloud. Google's offering would be no different.
  • Google Chrome - Chrome is a noted memory hog. Your system has an unusual memory configuration (I'm assuming that you, or someone else, added/replaced the original RAM memory modules on this notebook.) Although the unusual memory configuration would not necessarily be an issue, using Chrome could. If you like the Chrome interface, I would suggest that you try the Opera browser. It is based on the same Chromium engine as Google's web browser and works in a similar fashion.
  • Using a HDD for your system drive. You will note that the read/write speeds for this drive, is well, somewhat dismal. You may find that you can get better overall performance by upgrading it with a SSD.
  • Under the "Top Processes" category. At the time of the report, you can see that both Google Chrome & Symantec/Norton is taking up a considerable amount of CPU processing power.
  • Under the "Virtual Memory Information" category, note that the "Swap Used" value is not zero. Even with 10 GB of RAM, apps are still switching out to the slow HDD to run.
  • The report did not include any diagnostics or kernel panic reports. This could mean that there were none (a good thing) or that you elected to not include them. No problem. It's just that they can help uncover any other issues your notebook may be experiencing.
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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
152,254 points

Nov 29, 2020 10:30 PM in response to anshuman116

Ok, thanks. Here are my observations/suggestions, based on the provided report:

  • Symantec Endpoint Security/Norton Security - Macs do not get viruses and I would suggest removing any third-party AV apps. These tend to cause more issues (including performance degradation) than solve them. It has embedded itself as numerous Launch Agents and Daemons.
  • Google Backup and Sync - It would be typical to note performance issues when backing up to the Cloud. Google's offering would be no different.
  • Google Chrome - Chrome is a noted memory hog. Your system has an unusual memory configuration (I'm assuming that you, or someone else, added/replaced the original RAM memory modules on this notebook.) Although the unusual memory configuration would not necessarily be an issue, using Chrome could. If you like the Chrome interface, I would suggest that you try the Opera browser. It is based on the same Chromium engine as Google's web browser and works in a similar fashion.
  • Using a HDD for your system drive. You will note that the read/write speeds for this drive, is well, somewhat dismal. You may find that you can get better overall performance by upgrading it with a SSD.
  • Under the "Top Processes" category. At the time of the report, you can see that both Google Chrome & Symantec/Norton is taking up a considerable amount of CPU processing power.
  • Under the "Virtual Memory Information" category, note that the "Swap Used" value is not zero. Even with 10 GB of RAM, apps are still switching out to the slow HDD to run.
  • The report did not include any diagnostics or kernel panic reports. This could mean that there were none (a good thing) or that you elected to not include them. No problem. It's just that they can help uncover any other issues your notebook may be experiencing.
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User profile for user: Z_conda_Z
Z_conda_Z
User level: Level 1
8 points

Nov 29, 2020 11:02 PM in response to Tesserax

Hey!!! Sorry but this is not related to this discussion, but I was looking for you personally lol. If you don't mind could you please type this in the search bar "Tesserax Hope your still around. Have a pressing question! Finder isn't working. Permissions a mess!" I posted hoping you would see this. I saw a post of your from years back, then further research got me here to your 25 min old post! I would very much appreciate your advice!

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User profile for user: anshuman116
anshuman116 Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Dec 5, 2020 9:55 AM in response to Tesserax

Hi Tessarax,

I was wondering if you could help me out with one annoying thing that has been occurring on my mac - When my mac is out of battery and restarts on its own, it shuts down completely instead of hibernating function and when it restarts I get a message that "an encounter occurred" and I always choose to report. I don't know if this is how it supposed to be but I remember this wasn't the case.


Thanks,

Anshuman

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User profile for user: anshuman116
anshuman116 Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Dec 13, 2020 6:35 PM in response to anshuman116

It just happened again so thought of sharing the error log report. Please see below. Thanks in advance... much appreciated.


------------

Sleep Wake failure in EFI


Failure code:: 0xffffffff 0x0000001f


Please IGNORE the below stackshot


================================================================

Date/Time: 2020-12-12 10:54:35 -0500

OS Version: ??? ??? (Build ???)

Architecture: x86_64

Report Version: 29


Data Source: Stackshots

Shared Cache: 0x508c000 0FE34038-0DB8-3353-B293-6897693E83AE


Event: Sleep Wake Failure

Duration: 0.00s

Steps: 1


Time Awake Since Boot: 84s




Process: swd [318]

Architecture: x86_64

Footprint: 372 KB

Start time: 2020-12-12 10:54:35 -0500

End time: 2020-12-12 10:54:35 -0500

Num samples: 1 (1)


Thread 0x910 1 sample (1) priority 4 (base 4)

<thread QoS background (requested background), thread darwinbg, process darwinbg, IO tier 2>

1 start + 1 (libdyld.dylib + 109769) [0x7fff6c375cc9] 1

1 ??? [0x108602454] 1

1 ??? [0x1086021dd] 1

1 __stack_snapshot_with_config + 10 (libsystem_kernel.dylib + 135862) [0x7fff6c4d72b6] 1

*1 ??? [0xffffff80002bf206] 1

*1 ??? [0xffffff8000982437] 1

*1 ??? [0xffffff800089afc1] 1

*1 ??? [0xffffff80002e29e7] (running) 1


Binary Images:

0x7fff6c35b000 - 0x7fff6c391fff libdyld.dylib (750.6) <789A18C2-8AC7-3C88-813D-CD674376585D> /usr/lib/system/libdyld.dylib

0x7fff6c4b6000 - 0x7fff6c4e2fff libsystem_kernel.dylib (6153.141.2.2) <5CDBBC06-6CA6-3432-9FDA-681047866F3E> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib

Model: MacBookPro9,2, BootROM 233.0.0.0.0, 2 processors, Dual-Core Intel Core i5, 2.5 GHz, 10 GB, SMC 2.2f44

Graphics: kHW_IntelHD4000Item, Intel HD Graphics 4000, spdisplays_builtin

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x0000, 0x393930353432382D3135352E4130304C4620

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 2 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x484D54343235533641465236412D50422020

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0xF5), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.190.33 AirPortDriverBrcm4360-1601.1)

Bluetooth: Version 7.0.6f7, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1

Serial ATA Device: APPLE HDD HTS545050A7E362, 500.11 GB

Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS41N

USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

USB Device: IR Receiver

USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus

Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Pro, Apple Inc., 25.1


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Macbook Pro running slow and becomes unresponsive

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