Mini Just Running Slow And Beachballing? Any Suggestions?

[fletch33]

been awhile since i posted on here and appreciate any suggestions.

2.5 GHz i5
4GB Ram
10.8.2
Dual 23" monitors

i use this machine at work and it is just making me wait all the time lately. i am also getting beach balls on occasion which I use to never see. During the day i keep open:

Mail
Messages
Chrome
Address Book
iCal
Pages
Skype
Preview
Numbers (on occasion)
Various Task Bar items like Little Snitch, iStat, Drive, Dropbox, GV

nothing appears out of whack though as my averages are:

Temp = 150F
CPU = 10%
Ram = 1.8GB Free


the only thing i am not sure about is that iStat under CPU shows me that the GPU AMD Radeon HD 6630M looks to be full on memory usage (pic below)



some symptoms are:

- changing email accounts and email takes a minute to show emails
- download something on Chrome and it beach balls before it initiates
- open a Pages doc and it takes forever
- general sluggishness

i dont keep but about 150GB on 500GB drive and do the same things everyday and so i am puzzled why it would start to slow down like this?

i consider myself fairly educated on these things so since i didnt have any ideas i thought i would throw it out there for you guys.

thanks for any feedback

[Smithcraft]

For 10% CPU, 150° seems pretty hot to me. Maybe open it up and blow any dust out that might be causing it to cycle down due to heat build up. You can also use the Activity Monitor to see what all might be running behind the scenes on the mini that might be taking up CPU time.

Anyway, you can always try the new user account trick to see if the system is having issues, or if there is something wrong with your user account.

Also, maybe give Onyx a spin and see if running all the maintenance stuff helps clear out some detritus from the OS.

I've read that with the newer versions of OS X, 4 GB is a bit on the low side. Maybe it's time for an upgrade?

SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.

[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8

[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)

Make sure it has pins!

[macmanmacman]

whats the o.s you are using just outta thought because it could be a program

[ez061111]

[fletch33]

ran Onyx as mentioned above (thanks) and had forgotten about that program. did a deep cleanse and it seems to be a bit better now.
_________________
"I believe Louisiana is the pelican state"

[macmanmacman]

good to here sorry i didn't see that you where running 10.8 makes a whole lot of issues pop up most computers running mountain lion are setup with 8 gig's or more ram because the o.s takes 2 gig's of ram just to boot and run the beach balling can be caused by simply having to many applications opened at once

[fletch33]

i thought about adding more ram but i am never maxing it out. i watch it in my task bar and it rarely gets below 1GB available when you combine free and inactive.

if i used photoshop or anything taxing like that i would certainly upgrade but i just use mail and standard work stuff.

here is a snapshot with everything open that i mentioned i use daily:




i am going to go ahead and order 2 x 4GB sticks to take this to 8GB and i will report back. i just didnt think it was necessary.

my Air with the 1.8 i7 with 4GB ram runs 10.8.2 with VM running W8 inside it with each getting 2GB and runs better than my Mini these days. hmmm?

thanks for everyones help.

as a side note my last major participation here was more than a few years ago when you all helped me find the parts to upgrade a 1.8GHz single core to a 2.16 Dual Core 2 and that thing is still running great. not sure but it is prob 8 years old?
_________________
"I believe Louisiana is the pelican state"

[Smithcraft]

Glad to hear the old mini is still rocking!

Otherwise, I hope it is just the memory that might be at fault, 'cuz debugging OS X is getting to be a pain.

SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.

[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8

[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)

Make sure it has pins!

[b0bb]

Noticed you had Skype running, it sometimes does strange things on my 2006 Mini running snow Leopard, suggest you shut it down to see if things improve.

Sophos or a similar virus scanner is useful to make sure you have not got a virus onboard. Sophos is free for home use.

[fletch33]

well i added the 8GB ram this morning since for $35 (Crucial) it is nice to have anyway.

i cant yet respond to performance but man was that easier than grabbing my putty knife and mentally preparing for a frustrating ram upgrade. i have taken apart my mini's for years so i can do it in my sleep but this seriously took me less than 10 minutes and that was from power down to power up with upgrade. very nice!

i also have noticed with the 45 mins i have been on it today that when given more ram it seems to be showing (iStat) that it is using more ram so i have to believe that using the programs i mentioned above that given some more room it will take a little more since its there. just a hunch and no technical reasoning for saying that.

anyway i will report back.

thanks to this great forum for always being friendly
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"I believe Louisiana is the pelican state"

[fletch33]

update:

thanks all problem solved.

after letting my Mini settle in with 8GB ram and allowing my daily apps to all be open and running my Mini is comfortably using about 4.5GB of ram but running GREAT again.
_________________
"I believe Louisiana is the pelican state"

[macmanmacman]

awesome to here