4 ms·

I switched from a Dell Studio XPS running Windows 7 to a new mbp running OS X 10.6 a month ago, and the mbp is noticeably less stable -- I have to reboot every

by jbellis 17y ago

I switched from a Dell Studio XPS running Windows 7 to a new mbp running OS X 10.6 a month ago, and the mbp is noticeably less stable -- I have to reboot every few days to avoid Spinny Wheel Of Hell for no apparent reason. (I prefer linux to both Windows and OS X, so I don't think I'm particularly biased here. :)

pyre 17y ago
If you're using mounted network file systems (smbfs,cifs,nfs,etc), that could be the cause.
jsolson 17y ago
As a general rule the spinny wheel should by tied to a particular application. Are you noticing this somewhere specific, or does it appear to be system wide? I ask because if it appears to be system wide it could be indicative of a hardware problem or a misbehaving 3rd party driver. Healthy stock Macs running stock software don't go tend to go spinny system wide (excepting the disappearing network filesystem mentioned elsewhere in this thread, although even that is less of an issue in 10.6), at least in my considerable experience. Your mileage may vary with 3rd party software and drivers (although in my experience, most of those play quite well). I've had similar experiences with Windows: if you stick to software supplied by Microsoft, the system tends to be fairly stable. Perhaps I'm just lucky.
- jws 17y ago
  When mine started doing this, it was because the drive was developing bad sectors and mapping them out. The drive becomes unresponsive for some time while doing that, so as each application would need a disc io it would beachball. Sadly the Apple supplied interface to S.M.A.R.T. data only gives the rosiest outer level summary so it showed "verified". Third party tools that show all the data confirmed the failing sectors, including another half dozen as I refreshed my backup.
sjs 17y ago
There is something wrong either with your Mac or some software you're running. I would send or take it in for service with problems like that.

by jbellis 17y ago

pyre 17y ago

If you're using mounted network file systems (smbfs,cifs,nfs,etc), that could be the cause.

jsolson 17y ago

As a general rule the spinny wheel should by tied to a particular application. Are you noticing this somewhere specific, or does it appear to be system wide? I ask because if it appears to be system wide it could be indicative of a hardware problem or a misbehaving 3rd party driver. Healthy stock Macs running stock software don't go tend to go spinny system wide (excepting the disappearing network filesystem mentioned elsewhere in this thread, although even that is less of an issue in 10.6), at least in my considerable experience. Your mileage may vary with 3rd party software and drivers (although in my experience, most of those play quite well). I've had similar experiences with Windows: if you stick to software supplied by Microsoft, the system tends to be fairly stable. Perhaps I'm just lucky.

jws 17y ago
When mine started doing this, it was because the drive was developing bad sectors and mapping them out. The drive becomes unresponsive for some time while doing that, so as each application would need a disc io it would beachball. Sadly the Apple supplied interface to S.M.A.R.T. data only gives the rosiest outer level summary so it showed "verified". Third party tools that show all the data confirmed the failing sectors, including another half dozen as I refreshed my backup.

sjs 17y ago

There is something wrong either with your Mac or some software you're running. I would send or take it in for service with problems like that.