2010 Macbook Pro Slow

Simmo

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Hi,
I’ve got a 2.66 GHz2010 Macbook Pro which has started to go very slow & the fan seems to be cutting in a lot more than normal.

Last year & replaced the 500gb hard drive with a Samsung 500 gb SSD hard drive (I copied everything from the original disc & did not do a fresh install, as I was not sure how to do this).

I have El Capitan OSX installed with all updates done & I regularly back up to time machine. I have about 270gb on the hard drive free.

Would it me a good idea to do a fresh install of the OSX or is there something I should be doing first?

If I need to do a fresh install could someone please point me in the direction of a good guide?

Thanks in advance.
 
Run activity monitor in the applications/utilities folder, and see if there's a particular process using a lot of cpu... And report back.

The fan coming on is in response to cpu getting hot.
 
Do what ianf asked.

activitymonitor.jpg


In the meantime, are you using any Adobe applications by any chance? The Creative Cloud application (the one that runs in the background) tends to hog the CPU up to 100% in certain cases. It is pretty annoying.

Firefox can cause the same. Damn shame as it was a good browser.
 
Thanks for the replies, here is a snapshot of the activity monitor
 

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As listed most Adobe products are not happy with El capitan with limited focus by Apple or Adobe looking for a fix.

One other item I have seen to maybe worth dropping the bottom panel off you machine to ensure the air intakes / heat sink or fan are not full of fluff. I have witnessed that a small amount of fluff has quite a lot of impact on natural and fan cooling.
 
No obvious culprit applications. Check for fluff inside as suggested.

There are 110 threads in the kernel task process. I'll have a look at mine later to see if that's normal.
 
My 2008 Macbook got really slow, then I added additional RAM and it absolutely transformed it!!!
 
I put 2 x 4gb ram into it a few years ago, looks like that’s the most you can fit.
 
I thought that until I looked at the crucial.com website and downloaded their Macbook memory scanner. I ordered the 16GB upgrade and it works perfectly..
 

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I have currently 155 threads for the Kernel task. Seems ok.

You have a Flash Plugin running within Safari. I bet that could be the culprit when being used (it might be a background tab at the moment). Give it a go.
You should run Activity Monitor when the fans are running.
 
Ian, I’ve not turned trim support on for the SSD is that the right decision. (Mainly because I didn’t know what it was!)

Erminio, should I delete the flash plug in?

I’ve had the base off & clean out any fluff, there was hardly any.

Thanks for your help
 
You can trust crucial. My normal build is don't mess about with 4 or 8 - get 16gig in - its only about 30 quid more.

If my machine was running slow as yours the the things I would do.

1) ensure you have a backup - your hard drive could be on its way out. get a time machine or similar backup asap then,

2) do a disk health check via utilities under the apps menu to see if your hard drive is corrupt or poss failing?

3) I have experienced in the past an issue where the spotlight service gets into a paddy and consumes resource and makes machine run like dog. Only ever seen and dealt with it once on a Snow Leopard box. You may want to google it for your machine and run any tests it suggests.

Good luck
 
http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/macbook-pro-(15-inch,-mid-2010) still only 8gb supported by the memory controller.

Actually - uninstall flash :) nothing uses it any more, and it's a great way to pick up something nasty anyway. None of my systems have it any more.

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html

Trim support should be fine, it allows the ssd to know a block is unused in the file system. Hdds can have a block overwritten without nulling the whole sector, ssd needs an empty extent to have the data placed into even if it's only a single bit. Trim lets the controller have empty ones available before a write is issued.

Until recently OS X only issued them for Apple supplied internal ssds, but it's worth doing for any swap-outs or external devices too.

You should get a time machine backup at some point, just in case.
 
Mine was running slow. Jon at Bramley Computers (Chesterfield) fitted a new 1TB Hybrid disk (part ssd part conventional HD) Revived the MBP.

Now quicker then ever.

For those who are unaware. The OS puts the OS on the SSD along with regularly used files so that they are accessed quickly, lesser used files get put on the conventional spinning disk. Makes a huge difference and only cost about £100 although I did back up and reinstall myself.
 
Thanks everyone for your help.
Ian I’ve uninstalled flat as per your link - thanks. I did back it up a couple of weeks ago, but I’ll do it again to be sure.
I’ve also been getting the spinning ‘beach ball’ recently not really noticed this in the past, is it normal?
Cheers
 
Erminio, should I delete the flash plug in?

Check if that is the culprit. Just to be sure there in not something else slowing the mac down.
But, as a rule of thumb, as ian says... disable it. It's going to be phased out.

90% of the everyday's user flash usage was banner ads.
It has been a few months already, where major ad networks switched to html5 banners, so that helps.
 
Mine has got worse recently but Im running only 4Gig RAM and Ive never cleaned the hard disc. I must get that RAM upgraded and a disc clean has to be good.

PS How do I check if Ive got the Flash plugin?

PPS I've just looked on Crucial and 16G of RAM for my machine is £56 delivered. The price has dropped a lot over the last year.
 


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