IMac only works well in Safe Mode

[Oriana]

Hi, tried googling this but all the links are about how to boot in safe mode, not what one can possibly do in safe mode to fix issues.

Started having issues with sluggish machine, beachball, apps crashing, etc. Using a late 2013 iMac with 16GB ram, running Mojave. Lots of disk space. I also use Adobe software. Only had two start-up items and both have been removed. Ran Disk Utility in safe mode and didn't have any errors. Zapped the Pram.

I checked some system and user library extension folders but don't see anything out of the ordinary - although I'm by no means an Apple tech wiz.

So what can I do now? How can I figure out why the machine is running fine in safe mode and not in regular mode?

Thanks so much for any help!

 

[TonyAguila]

Safe Mode loads the system but with extensions turned off. This hints at maybe one or more of your extensions are the cause. Safe Mode also disables a number of system processes, so if it’s not one of your extensions, maybe macOS is the problem.

Try Activity Monitor (inside Utilities folder). Launch it and once the main window is up, click on the % CPU column if not already selected, and make sure the sort order is from highest to lowest (the arrow to the right of CPU should be pointing down).

The list of processes should change very often, about every five seconds, but take note of which ones are prominent. Look at the ones that are appearing on top a lot (e.g. md, mdsync, lsd, launchd, etc.) You can then google what these processes are so you can make an educated guess as to which ones are hogging the CPU.

If the User column shows the process as [you], then you have control over them and can elect whether you can turn them off. Processes owned by root are more difficult because you don’t have direct control over them. Even then, you can see if they are maybe using up too much load on the system.

Recently, I found that “lsd” was creating a lot of load, even after the Mac was booted for a while. Launch Services should not be running that much all the time since after it has done its calibration, the process should die down. I found the terminal command to reset Launch Services, and after I ran it, I haven’t had trouble with it any longer… for the moment, anyway.

mds, mdsync, mdworker… pretty much every one starting with “md” has something to do with Spotlight. It’s hard to judge if the process is runaway or just normal. But once you become familiar with Activity Monitor, you should be able tell better.

You can also try Onyx. It can perform a lot of troubleshooting tasks that might fix your problem.