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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Mac Pro & Beachballs.

Mac Pro & Beachballs.
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Dedicated MacNNer
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Jun 25, 2007, 10:48 AM
 
Hey all,

I just got a new Mac Pro to replace my constantly breaking G5, and now have a question.
I have been having lots of spinning wheel issues. I am going to try to narrow it down a bit today, but I am often getting the spinning wheel and having the system go unresponsive. Because this is a stock machine with only one GB ram I have ordered a 4GB upgrade from OWC, but the computer will become unresponsive even with 0 page outs and 532mb of free ram. I did install one of my hard drives from my old G5, and am wondering if that might be a problem. Thinking it might be, I connected an external and cloned the G5 drive then reformatted it inside the Mac Pro then cloned it back. ( Carbon Copy Cloner ). I do notice that when I first start the computer that it will be beautiful until I double click the second HD, that will almost always make the beach ball come out. But at other times it will stall even without the other HD being involved.
I ran a loop of the AHT with no results, it ran 14 passes of the test.
Any thoughts?
SAm
     
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Jun 25, 2007, 10:58 AM
 
Same here. Lots of beachballs. Just think intels are the best on Tiger right now.
"Life is the crummiest book I ever read. There isn't a hook, just a lot of cheap shots, pictures to shock, and characters an amateur would never dream up." (Bad Religion)
     
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Jun 25, 2007, 11:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by freudling View Post
Same here. Lots of beachballs. Just think intels are the best on Tiger right now.
It is running 10.4 Tiger, unless I am mistaken all intels are. My MBP with Core Duo has never to my knowledge had a beach ball.

SAm
     
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Jun 25, 2007, 11:50 AM
 
Are you doing heavy disk usage? The Mac Pro, for some stupid reason, beachball on heavy disk usage. Mine does
Linkinus is king.
     
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Jun 25, 2007, 12:31 PM
 
This happens all the time, whether I am actually trying to work the machine or not. It took nearly 4 mins to open a less then one MB pdf from my desktop the other day. Most of the time it is fine, but once that spinning starts I have to leave the room cause I don't have the patience to wait for the computer to get over whatever the problem is.
SAm
     
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Jun 26, 2007, 04:17 AM
 
My MacPro 3ghz beach balls, but not to that extent like some of the users here. Most of my work files are stored on the 2nd HD (750gb) some files are as big as 1.5gb, it only beachballs when the set started up and I am trying to access files from there. After that, there are only a minimal BBs.
     
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Jun 26, 2007, 05:09 AM
 
What make and manufacturer is that drive from the G5?
Try checking the console next time a beachball pops up to see if something is being outputted there.
     
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Jun 26, 2007, 07:13 AM
 
I think the drive from the G5 was a Maxtor, but I wasn't paying close attention. Yesterday afternoon I took the G5 drive out of the Mac Pro and put it in an external HD case that I already had and so far not a single beachball. I'll post back by the end of the day and say if it is still good.
SAm
     
cgc
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Jun 27, 2007, 10:17 AM
 
Originally Posted by brokenjago View Post
Are you doing heavy disk usage? The Mac Pro, for some stupid reason, beachball on heavy disk usage. Mine does
Yup, same here...the only annoyance on my MacPro.
     
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Jun 27, 2007, 10:40 AM
 
I get that occasionally, but only when my Mac Pro begins to access the RAID 0 drives for data stored there. Those things apparently go to sleep, and need to wake up when I access them if they haven't been hit for awhile. I can hear them spinning up in conjunction with the beach ball.
     
cgc
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Jun 27, 2007, 04:50 PM
 
If I copy a lot of files on my MacPro my system will slow down even though CPU utilization is <10%.
     
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Jun 28, 2007, 07:17 AM
 
Since removing the drive that I installed from my G5 I have not had a single beachball. I don't understand how that could have been an issue, but it certainly did the trick. This thing is fast as hell now.
SAm
     
   
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