MacBook Pro is very slow.. but bootcamp works fine

[CharleyNapalm]

Hey folks, just looking for some help here!

I have an early 2011 MBP, 512GB SSD, 16go RAM. I replaced the battery a couple months ago and the MacBook is now very slow when on MacOS Sierra. When I run Windows 7 on Bootcamp, the computer works perfectly fine just like if it was brand new.

On MacOS Sierra, it is just impossible to do a simple task. Whenever I press a letter on the keyboard, it takes 5-10 seconds to appear on the screen. When I move the mouse around, it looks like a 2 FPS old video game.

Another weird thing, sometimes I'm able to be on MacOS Sierra for 2 hours and everything works just fine. At some point for no apparent reason, everything becomes very laggy. On bootcamp, it is always 100% stable.

I tried so far:
- Reset PRAM
- Reset SMC
- Reinstall MacOS Sierra from scratch
- Reinstall El Captain from scratch

No success so far. Wondering why Windows 7 is working perfectly but having so much trouble with the mac portion...

Thank you for your help.

Charles

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Did you purchase and install a genuine Apple OEM battery, or a third-party unit?
-The issue started after the battery replacement, correct?
-Did the MBP come with the SSD and 16 GB RAM, or did you upgrade them yourself?
-Do you have any third-party utilities such as MacKeeper/CleanMyMac, or an antivirus app installed?

C

 

[honestone]

In addition to what Cory asked, what version of Sierra do you have? V10.12.3 came out on Tuesday. If you need it, you can get the Combo Updater from here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1905?locale=en_US

Also, have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs?

And, how much free space is on the Mac partition?

Finally, are you making backups of your Mac partition to an external device?

 

[CharleyNapalm]

Thanks for your help.

Cory:
-Did you purchase and install a genuine Apple OEM battery, or a third-party unit? It is a third party unit
-The issue started after the battery replacement, correct? Correct
-Did the MBP come with the SSD and 16 GB RAM, or did you upgrade them yourself? Upgraded them myself
-Do you have any third-party utilities such as MacKeeper/CleanMyMac, or an antivirus app installed? No.

honestone:
In addition to what Cory asked, what version of Sierra do you have? V10.12.3 came out on Tuesday. If you need it, you can get the Combo Updater from here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1905?locale=en_US /// Will try to update. The problem was originally on El Captain, made a fresh install with Sierra and still not working.

Also, have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? Not that I can remember

And, how much free space is on the Mac partition? About 44GB free right now

Finally, are you making backups of your Mac partition to an external device? No.

This is my EtreCheck report when it is very laggy, I noticed that Kernel task is using +600% of the CPU but not sure where that could come from

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)
Report generated 2017-01-29 13:29:06
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 16:00
Performance: Poor

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information: ⓘ
    MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
    [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
    MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2
    1 2 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-2635QM) CPU: 4-core
    16 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            8 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 48

Video Information: ⓘ
    Intel HD Graphics 3000
    AMD Radeon HD 6490M - VRAM: 256 MB
        BenQ GW2255 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz

System Software: ⓘ
    macOS Sierra  10.12.2 (16C67) - Time since boot: about one hour

Disk Information: ⓘ
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB disk0 : (500.11 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: No)
    [Show SMART report]
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        SSD 500GB (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 199.11 GB (44.86 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 784 MB
        BOOTCAMP (disk0s4) /Volumes/BOOTCAMP : 300.00 GB (132.29 GB free)

    MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898   ()

USB Information: ⓘ
    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
    CHICONY USB KEYBOARD
    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Logitech USB Receiver
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Configuration files: ⓘ
    /etc/hosts - Count: 15

Gatekeeper: ⓘ
    Mac App Store and identified developers

System Launch Agents: ⓘ
    [not loaded]    8 Apple tasks
    [loaded]    180 Apple tasks
    [running]    92 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
    [not loaded]    42 Apple tasks
    [loaded]    168 Apple tasks
    [running]    101 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ
    [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2017-01-01) [Support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist (2017-01-01) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ
    [loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (2017-01-01) [Support]
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-12-16) [Support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2014-05-09) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ
    [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2017-01-02) [Support]
    [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2017-01-29) [Support]
    [loaded]    com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2017-01-29) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ
    Steam    Application 
        (/Applications/Steam.app)
    iTunesHelper    Application   (2017-01-29)
        (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
    uTorrent    Application 
        (/Applications/uTorrent.app)
    Caffeine    Application 
        (/Applications/Caffeine.app)
    Spotify    Application Hidden
        (/Applications/Spotify.app)
    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist    MachInit 
        (/etc/mach_init_per_user.d/com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist)
    Mach Init items are deprecated

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.4.2 - SDK 10.6 (2016-07-20) [Support]
    FlashPlayer-10.6: 24.0.0.194 - SDK 10.9 (2017-01-29) [Support]
    QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-12-21)
    Flash Player: 24.0.0.194 - SDK 10.9 (2017-01-29) [Support]
    JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 - SDK 10.7 (2017-01-01) Check version
    MeetingJoinPlugin: Unknown - SDK 10.6 (2016-07-20) [Support]

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
    Flash Player (2016-12-16) [Support]
    Growl (2017-01-01) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ
    Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
       635%       kernel_task
        17%       system_profiler
         6%       WindowServer
         4%       trustd(3)
         2%       com.apple.AmbientDisplayAgent

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
    960 MB        kernel_task
    311 MB        Safari
    164 MB        mdworker(6)
    115 MB        Finder
    98 MB         com.apple.WebKit.Networking

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
    12.51 GB      Available RAM
    8.17 GB       Free RAM
    3.49 GB       Used RAM
    4.35 GB       Cached files
    0 B           Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
    Jan 29, 2017, 12:19:40 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent_2017-01-29-121940_[redacted].cpu_resource.diag [Details]
        /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
    Jan 29, 2017, 12:04:57 PM    ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Adobe Photoshop CS5_2017-01-29-120457_[redacted].crash
        com.adobe.Photoshop - /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS5/Adobe Photoshop CS5.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Photoshop CS5
    Jan 29, 2017, 11:50:39 AM    Self test - passed

Files deleted by EtreCheck: ⓘ
    Jan 29, 2017, 11:47:02 AM - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist

 

[CharleyNapalm]

The computer was running very slow and I tried to unplug the power cord for 5 secs and plug it again (guessing that the problem is my battery)... the CPU load went from 98% to 3% and now everything is working fine again...



Just looking if there is something I could do to prevent this.



Thank you for you help.

 

[honestone]

Thanks for the information. Actually, your EtreCheck report (I have EtreCheck also) shows that you have V 10.12.2 of Sierra, which is not the latest version. You can download the Combo Updater via the link I provided, launch it, and it will upgrade Sierra to the latest version, V10.12.3. However, sounds like that might not fix your issue.

Regarding Sierra, how exactly did you do the re-installation? If you could describe that process in detail, that would be helpful. Also, if you use any third party software, are such products compatible with Sierra? If not, you might need to download and install updates for such products, or in the case of Onyx (mentioned below), download a specific version for use with Sierra.

I suspect Cory will "chime in" about you using a third party battery with your MacBook Pro machine, but that seems to be a typical problem with any Mac laptop for which one can replace the battery. Also, I see where you have a Samsung 850 EVO SSD. I actually have 4 Samsung SSDs myself: a Samsung 840 Pro 256 gig SSD inside my Mac Mini (installed it myself), a Samsung 840 EVO 252 gig SSD inside my mid 2013 13" MacBook Air, and (recent additions) two Samsung 850 Pro 512 gig SSDs each inside its own nice and slim Orico external enclosure. As I suspect you'll agree, Samsung makes the best SSDs out there.

However, besides your battery issues, I wonder if it would be better for you to do a clean, "virgin" installation of Sierra. That would involve first using Disk Utility to Erase and Format your Mac partition (I believe you can do that; I have always used Disk Utility to Erase and Format the entire drive (again SSDs in my case)), then do a clean, "virgin" installation of Sierra, and then use Migration Assistant to "migrate"/copy needed stuff from a backup. However, as you can see, you'll need to make a backup first. In fact, backups are just about a necessity.

Also, you really should start doing daily disk cleanup, and periodic disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. While SSDs have less mechanical parts than a standard HDD, it's still both beneficial and necessary to do disk-related maintenance "stuff". There are both free and commercial products you can use to assist with those tasks. Myself, I use the excellent freeware program Onyx (been around a long, long time, is a solid performer, and has had numerous stellar reviews), and the commercial product TechTool Pro (another excellent mainstay in the Mac "world").

As for backups, you basically have 2 choices: Time Machine (comes free with the Mac OS) or a backup/cloning program like either SuperDuper! (costs $27.95) or Carbon Copy Cloner (costs $39.95). Either of those products makes a bootable backup/clone of your system, and it's just like having a second machine. I use SuperDuper! myself to back up both of my Macs to both of my external Samsung 850 Pro 512 gig SSDs, and it works flawlessly. In fact, I have at times used SuperDuper! to recover from issues that cause me problems. For myself, it is easier to recover from a disaster with such a backup. The difference between those two programs is that Carbon Copy Cloner also backs up the (hidden) Recovery HD partition, whereas SuperDuper! does not. However, for myself, using SuperDuper! is not a detriment, as 1) the Recovery HD partition can be easily re-created (gets created anyway on a clean installation of the Mac OS, or there are other methods to re-create it), and 2) I have the much better eDrive partition created by TechTool Pro which contains way more tools than Disk Utility. As it is, I have Disk Utility on the (bootable) backup anyway.

In any event, let us know the exact steps you went through with re-installing Sierra.