Mac keeps freezing

[Nook3000]

Hi everyone,
I've got a MacBook Pro 2012. Yesterday, all of a sudden, it started freezing with every tiny thing I do. I can't even write one word without it getting stuck. I can't use any application as it freezes with every little click I'm doing.
Any advice?
Many thanks in advance.

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi everyone,
I've got a MacBook Pro 2012. Yesterday, all of a sudden, it started freezing with every tiny thing I do. I can't even write one word without it getting stuck. I can't use any application as it freezes with every little click I'm doing.
Any advice?
Many thanks in advance.

Before anything else, try booting into Safe Mode. Start up and hold down the Shift key until you get to the login screen. Go ahead and log in. You will notice that everything seems to be slow. This is expected. What a safe boot does is it will perform the equivalent of Disk Utility First Aid (fsck). It will also prevent startup items and system extensions from loading. System and font caches will be cleared, among other tasks.

Let it do its things for about 10 minutes and then reboot again, normal mode. If there is no apparent difference from before, try to launch Activity Monitor (located in /Applications/Utilities). Click to select CPU in the upper right list. Check to see if the % CPU column shows highest to lowest (arrow pointing down). The top entries will show processes that are taking up the most CPU power.

After several minutes of inactivity on your part, all or most of the processes listed will be part of the system. See which processes are creating a lot of CPU pressure. If certain things stand out, make a note even if they are unfamiliar to you. Share the information here.

If, on the other hand, the Mac is running well again, then we can assume that the Safe Boot fixed the problem(s). Another possible cause of slowdown is from shutting down the Mac every night. The system needs to run a set of housekeeping chores and they are usually timed overnight to not interfere with your day’s work. Try leaving the Mac running overnight instead of shutting down.

Hope this helps.

 

[Nook3000]

Okay, so I tried the safe mode, waited as you said and then restarted in normal mode. Now it's still veeeery slow (if not worse), nearly unusable.
I'm trying to open the Activity Monitor, but it crashes every time and goes back to the log in screen.
Any other ideas?

 

[Nook3000]

Okay, I managed to run the Activity Monitor. I have attached a photo of what I'm seeing. It keeps changing but what stands out to me is thr fluctuating high CPU load without me doing anything, and what sometimes takes a lot is "kernel_task" or "deleted" or "WindowServer". Does this provide any information on why my mac is not working?
Thank you again, your help is much appreciated.

 

[TonyAguila]

Okay, I managed to run the Activity Monitor. I have attached a photo of what I'm seeing. It keeps changing but what stands out to me is thr fluctuating high CPU load without me doing anything, and what sometimes takes a lot is "kernel_task" or "deleted" or "WindowServer". Does this provide any information on why my mac is not working?
Thank you again, your help is much appreciated.

From the photo, it’s obvious that “kernel_task” is taking up a great deal of CPU load. The problem is that kernel_task could be a number of things, from purging caches to temperature control and a lot more. If you are noticing obvious signs of the Mac overheating, it can be a hardware problem.

“deleted” indicates disc cache purging. It can kick in when disc caches have built up and taking time and energy to purge. It can happen if you don’t allow overnight tasks from happening when you regularly shut down the Mac overnight. A more serious problem is with SIP, but I’m not sure your Mac model is equipped with System Integrity Protection.

In your situation, I would first give it a chance to finish the background tasks for several hours. Quit Activity Monitor for now because it also takes up a lot of CPU load. If nothing improves, I would reinstall the system using Recovery (boot while holding down Cmd-R). Make sure you are connected to the internet. Use Disk Utility first to run First Aid on your drive. If successful, go ahead and reinstall macOS.

I’m assuming you have Time Machine backup(s), because if you have to resort to erasing the drive and reinstalling the system, you will need your Time Machine backup to restore your data. Good luck!

 

[Nook3000]

Thanks Tony!

I'm currently letting my Mac run the whole day. Funnily enough, very occasionally it runs normal, but then the next second it crashes again. One more question: If it doesn't fix itself from just running and I have to reinstall the system, wouldn't my backup, which I've done during my Mac having problems, transfer the problems on the new system too? Or is this not how it works? And one more question: Would the CleanMyMac Software help? Many thanks for your help again.

 

[TonyAguila]

Thanks Tony!

I'm currently letting my Mac run the whole day. Funnily enough, very occasionally it runs normal, but then the next second it crashes again. One more question: If it doesn't fix itself from just running and I have to reinstall the system, wouldn't my backup, which I've done during my Mac having problems, transfer the problems on the new system too? Or is this not how it works? And one more question: Would the CleanMyMac Software help? Many thanks for your help again.

I forgot to ask… what version of macOS are you on? If you are on Catalina or newer, the restore will migrate only your data files. The system partition will remain pristine. If, however, the problem is with a file in your data folder, e.g., an errant plist file, then it will be migrated back into your data partition. But it’s not likely from what has happened so far. If you were running in Safe Mode and still exhibiting the slowdown, then it can’t be due to your preferences. If the problem is due to an app that you reimported, then it can be more easily pinpoint.

As far as startup items are concerned, you may have to create a second user to see if the Mac will still have the slowdown. If the new account is running fine, then it’s probably one of your default startup items. I should have thought about this earlier. Before going through a system re-installation, doing the second user trick will be less complicated, although reinstalling macOS basically overhauls your system, and doing so is always a learning experience. I try to keep an up-to-date installer file so I don’t have to do a Recovery, but with a beta system, the installer file is not readily available for download except through Recovery.

 

[TonyAguila]

I missed you question regarding CleanMyMac X. I do have that app, from the App Store, and have run it a number of times. It provides some possibly useful information, but I haven’t felt the need for it myself. I prefer to do troubleshooting and housekeeping first with the basic tools that come with macOS. At $40.00, I just don’t feel that it’s worth that. Also, doing your own troubleshooting is great learning experience, and after a while, a lot of fun.

 

[Nook3000]

Thanks Tony!

I'm running the re-installation now. Is it normal that it takes hours? It's been running for about three hours now and still has about 80% to go.

 

[TonyAguila]

Thanks Tony!

I'm running the re-installation now. Is it normal that it takes hours? It's been running for about three hours now and still has about 80% to go.

That seems a bit slow, but the speed primarily depends on your internet connection. It also depends on the size of the installer file. Mojave is about six gigabytes, Catalina over eight, Big Sur and Monterey over 12 gigs.

 

[Nook3000]

Thanks, I've got a new problem. See photo attached. Kernel seems still to cause issues. Does this mean I need a new SSD?

 

[Nook3000]

Okay I managed to erase the disk, but there's still only 90ish GB of 500 GB free. How's this possible? How can I free up the whole space?

 

[TonyAguila]

Okay I managed to erase the disk, but there's still only 90ish GB of 500 GB free. How's this possible? How can I free up the whole space?

I need to see the structure of the drive. Is this your original internal drive? You can use Disk Utility to show the layout of the disc. Like so…

 

[Nook3000]

Okay, please find a picture attached. The original disk needed to be replaced 2019. It runs with a Samsung MZ-76E500B 500GB SATA 2.5
Again, thank you so much for your help.

 

[Nook3000]

I've got it! Managed to free up the space. Now running the re installation again. Will keep you posted. Many thanks!

 

[Nook3000]

Hi again,
So the reinstallation failed twice.
First time it showed an error saying the Internet connection got lost, second time just suddenly restarting showing the flashing folder with a question mark. I restarted in recovery mode, now is disk utility it came up with an error during verification of the disk, but the button "repair" could fix it.
Problem: When I try to reinstall it doesn't show the disk anymore, so I don't have anything to install it to.
Back in the disc utility I tried to erase the disk properly and give it the required format and a name, but then it comes up with an error (photo attached). So now I'm stuck in recovery mode. Any advice please?

 

[TonyAguila]

Hi again,
So the reinstallation failed twice.
First time it showed an error saying the Internet connection got lost, second time just suddenly restarting showing the flashing folder with a question mark. I restarted in recovery mode, now is disk utility it came up with an error during verification of the disk, but the button "repair" could fix it.
Problem: When I try to reinstall it doesn't show the disk anymore, so I don't have anything to install it to.
Back in the disc utility I tried to erase the disk properly and give it the required format and a name, but then it comes up with an error (photo attached). So now I'm stuck in recovery mode. Any advice please?

There is a high probability that the Samsung drive has failed. When you selected it and clicked on “Erase” in Disk Utility, from the picture it looks like it defaulted to Mac OS Extended for the format. Can you instead select APFS? (I’m assuming that your Mac can run Catalina or later.) If you are able to reformat the drive as APFS, you can then try reinstalling macOS again. Either way, Mojave can still run on APFS. But the Disk Utility that came with Mojave had problems. The copy loaded in Recovery should be the latest version.

 

[Nook3000]

I could choose APFS before the last reinstallation of Catalina failed. Now the whole layout of the recovery mode changed, the disc lost it's name and format of APFS. I can only erase the disc to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, which then however fails. And reinstallation is only possible in Montain Lion, but I can't choose the disk. Any other ideas?

 

[TonyAguila]

I could choose APFS before the last reinstallation of Catalina failed. Now the whole layout of the recovery mode changed, the disc lost it's name and format of APFS. I can only erase the disc to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, which then however fails. And reinstallation is only possible in Montain Lion, but I can't choose the disk. Any other ideas?

I suspect that the drive was starting to fail from the start and this procedure only proved that it has finally failed. If that Samsung drive is the internal, and if you have the tools and expertise to open up the MacBook Pro, I can only suggest replacing it with a new one. And while you’re at it, why not get a 1-terabyte SSD for a replacement.

If you have an external USB drive available, you might, in the meantime, try installing the system on the external first, just to rule out any other hardware problems with the Mac. If your MBP is a 13-inch mid 2012, it should be able to run Catalina, and I assume that Recovery will offer to install it. It usually defaults to the maximum OS version that the Mac will take.

 

[Nook3000]

Okay, I installed a new disc now and was able to reinstall the software. However it only allowed for reinstallation of Version 10.8.5. When I try to search for software updates it opens the app store which is for whatever reason not able to connect (see photo attached). I had Catalina before, so I should definitely be able to update. Any idea why it won't let me update?