The slowest 2017 iMac on Earth - How to diagnose which is the issue?

[hamnickel]

EtreCheck report

EtreCheck version: 6.1.5 (6B036)
Report generated: 2019-12-07 18:17:13
Download EtreCheck from EtreCheck
Runtime: 9:16
Performance: Below Average

Problem: Computer is too slow

Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.
No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.
Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be adware and should be reviewed.
Gatekeeper disabled - Gatekeeper security protection is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.
No antivirus software - This computer does not have any antivirus software. It is at risk of malware infection.

Minor Issues:
These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.
Heavy RAM usage - Apps are using a large amount of RAM.
Apps crashing - There have been numerous app crashes.
Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.
Low performance - EtreCheck report took an unusually long time to run.
Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.

Hardware Information:
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)
iMac Model: iMac18,2
1 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-7400) CPU: 4-core
8 RAM - Upgradeable by an Apple Authorized Service Provider
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM 2400
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM 2400

Video Information:
Radeon Pro 555 - VRAM: 2 GB
iMac 4096 x 2304

Drives:
disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E632 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 1000.00 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 1000.00 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
disk1s1 - M******************s (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 46.01 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared - 108 MB used)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 529 MB used)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 5.37 GB used)
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 10.72 GB used)

disk2 - JMicron Generic 500.11 GB
External USB 480 Mbit/s USB
disk2s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk2s2 [APFS Container] 499.76 GB
disk3 [APFS Virtual drive] 499.76 GB (Shared by 4 volumes)
disk3s1 - C************* Data (APFS) (Shared - 54.33 GB used)
disk3s2 - C***********0 (APFS) (Shared - 10.75 GB used)
disk3s3 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared - 79 MB used)
disk3s4 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 534 MB used)

Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1 - M******************s [APFS Virtual drive]
1000.00 GB (Shared - 46.01 GB used, 943.97 GB available, 937.06 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM]
1000.00 GB (Shared - 5.37 GB used, 937.06 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm

disk1s5 - Macintosh HD
1000.00 GB (Shared - 10.72 GB used, 943.97 GB available, 937.06 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
Read-only: Yes

disk3s1 - C************* Data
499.76 GB (Shared - 54.33 GB used, 433.94 GB available, 433.91 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /Volumes/C************* Data
Owners enabled: No

disk3s2 - C***********0
499.76 GB (Shared - 10.75 GB used, 433.94 GB available, 433.91 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /Volumes/C***********0
Owners enabled: No

disk4s2 - E**************************d
37 MB (25 MB used, 12 MB free)
Mac OS Extended
Disk Image
Mount point: /Volumes/E**************************d
Read-only: Yes

Network:
Interface en0: Ethernet
Interface en1: Wi-Fi

Interface en5: iPhone
Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge
iCloud Quota: 0 B available
iCloud Status: 3 pending files

System Software:
macOS Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88)
Time since boot: About an hour

Notifications:
/Applications/Folx.app
3 notifications

(Deleted)
one notification

/Applications/Deezer.app
one notification

/Applications/Carbon Copy Cloner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CCC User Agent.app
one notification

/Applications/Path Finder.app
97 notifications

/Applications/HandBrake.app
12 notifications

Security:
System Status
Gatekeeper: Anywhere
System Integrity Protection: Enabled

Antivirus software: None!

Unsigned Files:
Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.cocoatech.PathFinder.SMFHelper7.plist
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.cocoatech.PathFinder.SMFHelper7

Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.DigiDNA.iMazing2Mac.Mini.plist
Executable: /Applications/iMazing.app/Contents/MacOS/iMazing Mini.app/Contents/MacOS/iMazing Mini

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.intel.haxm.plist
Executable: /Library/Extensions/intelhaxm.kext/Contents/Resources/haxm_start.sh
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.bombich.ccchelper.plist
Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.bombich.ccchelper
Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Login Item: /Applications/Carbon Copy Cloner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CCC User Agent.app
Login Item: /Applications/Path Finder 2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PathFinderLauncher.app
Login Item: /Applications/Boom 2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Boom2Daemon.app

Kernel Extensions:
/Library/Application Support/Logitech.localized/Logitech Options.localized
[Not Loaded] LogiMgrDriver.kext (8.02.1 - SDK 10.13)

/Library/Extensions
[Loaded] Boom2Device.kext (1.2 - SDK 10.12)
[Not Loaded] intelhaxm.kext (7.5.1 - SDK 10.9)
[Loaded] MovaviSoundGrabber2.kext (2.0.1)

System Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] 17 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 177 Apple tasks
[Running] 116 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:
[Not Loaded] 35 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 189 Apple tasks
[Running] 110 Apple tasks
[Other] 2 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:
[Running] com.logitech.manager.daemon.plist (Logitech Inc. - installed 2019-10-04)
[Other] com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa.plist (? e325755d - installed 2019-11-21)
[Other] com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangps.plist (? ce949a03 - installed 2019-11-21)

Launch Daemons:
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.daemon.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2019-12-05)
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.fans.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2019-12-05)
[Loaded] com.bjango.istatmenus.installerhelper.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2019-12-05)
[Loaded] com.bombich.ccchelper.plist (? bc948f55 - installed 2019-12-07)
[Loaded] com.cocoatech.PathFinder.SMFHelper7.plist (? bb4d243a - installed 2019-12-07)
[Loaded] com.intel.haxm.plist (? 42f307e7 - installed 2019-05-27)
[Other] com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpsd.plist (? fcd5eb13 - installed 2019-11-21)

User Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.DigiDNA.iMazing2Mac.Mini.plist (? 0 - installed 2019-11-27)
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.agent.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2019-12-05)
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.status.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2019-12-05)
[Other] com.epicgames.launcher.plist (? 0 - installed 2019-11-30)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2019-12-03)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2019-12-03)

User Login Items:
[Not Loaded] AppCleaner SmartDelete (Julien Ramseier - installed 2018-11-18)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/AppCleaner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/AppCleaner SmartDelete.app

[Running] Boom2Daemon (? - installed 2018-11-08)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Boom 2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Boom2Daemon.app

[Not Loaded] CCC User Agent (? - installed 2019-11-20)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Carbon Copy Cloner.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CCC User Agent.app

[Not Loaded] Folx Schedule Helper (ELTIMA LLC - installed 2019-11-25)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Folx.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/FolxScheduleHelper.app

[Not Loaded] Movavi Screen Recorder 10 (Movavi Software Inc - installed 2019-11-19)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Movavi Screen Recorder 10.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Movavi Screen Recorder 10.app

[Not Loaded] PathFinderLauncher (? - installed 2019-11-12)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Path Finder 2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PathFinderLauncher.app

[Loaded] Skitch Helper (App Store - installed 2019-11-20)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Skitch.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/J8RPQ294UB.com.skitch.SkitchHelper.app

[Loaded] StartUpHelper (Spotify - installed 2019-12-06)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Spotify.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/StartUpHelper.app

[Not Loaded] Translate Tab-Launcher (App Store - installed 2019-11-13)
Modern Login Item
/Applications/Translate Tab.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Translate Tab-Launcher.app

[Running] Android File Transfer Agent (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-10-17)
Application
~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app

Safari Extensions:
Folx - ELTIMA LLC (installed 2019-11-25)

Time Machine:
Time Machine Not Configured!

Performance:
System Load: 2.37 (1 min ago) 2.25 (5 min ago) 2.20 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 5.99 MB/s
File system: 33.14 seconds
Write speed: 70 MB/s
Read speed: 74 MB/s

CPU Usage Snapshot:
Type Overall
System 11 %
User 21 %
Idle 68 %

Top Processes Snapshot by CPU:
Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) (20) 24.84 % (Google, Inc.)
WindowServer 22.18 % (Apple)
Google Chrome Helper (GPU) 21.00 % (Google, Inc.)
EtreCheckPro 6.86 % (? - /Applications/EtreCheckPro.app)
Google Chrome 6.36 % (Google, Inc.)

Top Processes Snapshot by Memory:
Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) (20) 2.24 GB (Google, Inc.)
EtreCheckPro 504 MB (? - /Applications/EtreCheckPro.app)
Google Chrome 222 MB (Google, Inc.)
mds_stores 137 MB (Apple)
Google Chrome Helper (GPU) 116 MB (Google, Inc.)

Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:
Process (count) Input / Output (Source - Location)
mDNSResponder 1 MB / 347 KB (Apple)
netbiosd 24 KB / 558 B (Apple)
apsd 6 KB / 9 KB (Apple)
rapportd 2 KB / 553 B (Apple)
SystemUIServer 0 B / 40 B (Apple)

Top Processes Snapshot by Energy Use:
Process (count) Energy (0-100) (Source - Location)
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer) (20) 6 (Google, Inc.)
WindowServer 6 (Apple)
mds_stores 3 (Apple)
System Information 2 (Apple)
Google Chrome Helper (GPU) 2 (Google, Inc.)

Virtual Memory Information:
Physical RAM: 8 GB

Free RAM: 57 MB
Used RAM: 5.96 GB
Cached files: 1.99 GB

Available RAM: 2.04 GB
Swap Used: 3 MB

Software Installs (past 30 days):
Install Date Name (Version)
2019-11-19 Gatekeeper Configuration Data (181)
2019-11-19 XProtectPlistConfigData (2108)
2019-11-19 Movavi Screen Recorder 10 (10.4.0)
2019-11-20 Skitch (2.8.4)
2019-11-21 GlobalProtect (0)
2019-11-26 Movavi Video Editor 15 (15.2.0)
2019-11-29 Movavi Sound Grabber (1.0)
2019-11-30 The Unarchiver (4.1.0)
2019-12-03 Logitech Options (8.02)
2019-12-07 Disk Speed Test (3.2)
2019-12-07 EtreCheck (5.4.6)

Clean up:
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa.plist
/Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/MacOS/GlobalProtect
Executable not found
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpsd.plist
/Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/Resources/PanGPS
Executable not found
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangps.plist
/Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/Resources/PanGPS
Executable not found
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.epicgames.launcher.plist
'/Applications/Epic Games Launcher.app'
Executable not found


Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):
2019-12-07 11:49:11 GlobalProtect.app Crash
Executable: /Applications/GlobalProtect.app

2019-12-06 16:15:18 WindowServer Crash
Executable: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/SkyLight.framework/Versions/A/Resources/WindowServer

2019-12-05 19:27:41 Path Finder.app High CPU Use
Executable: /Applications/Path Finder.app

2019-12-05 17:17:04 logd Crash
Executable: /usr/libexec/logd
Details:
dyld3 mode
BUG IN LIBTRACE: Bad timesync db entry, file rotated

2019-12-05 12:54:15 MTLCompilerService Crash
Executable: /System/Library/Frameworks/Metal.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/MTLCompilerService.xpc/Contents/MacOS/MTLCompilerService
Details:
dyld3 mode
abort() called

2019-12-05 12:42:16 DiskImageMounter.app High CPU Use
Executable: /System/Library/CoreServices/DiskImageMounter.app

2019-12-01 00:54:22 HotlineMiami2.app High CPU Use
Executable: /Applications/HotlineMiami2.app


End of report

 

[pm-r]

I'm not sure if the system is running through the external SSD. I'll google how to check that. If anyone knows please give me a tip!

When booted and running, select your "About This Mac" under the Apple logo in the menu, and it should say what the name of the boot disk is under the "Startup disk" info.



- Patrick
======

 

[hamnickel]

Just an update: I thought that by running the system via an external SSD connected with a SATA to USB 3.0 cable adapter would do the trick for me. I ordered the cable and today I used Carbon Copy to copy my HD to the SSD. I did some quick speed test with the external SSD using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and it was giving me around 450 MB/s on writing and reading. I changed my startup disk in System Settings to the SSD and rebooted. The system now is even worse running through the external SSD. [...]

Shame on me! The first I tried to reboot with the SSD the computer didn't reboot (it turned off instead). I turned it on and thought it was booting from the SSD since I selected it as the startup disk on System Preferences. I tried again and the system actually restarted this time. Now I'm really running from the external SSD -- thanks @ferrarr and @pm-r

As far as I tested it seems like a new computer. The problem was almost definitely the mechanical HD inside it. Thanks everyone for all the help and tips you gave me!
I hope to open this guy and update it with an internal SSD and 2x8GB of RAM.

 

[chscag]

@hamnickel:

Replacing the hard drive with an SSD may not be as easy as you think with that model iMac. Be sure to check with iFixit: The Free Repair Manual for instructions. I suspect that you're going to need an adapter and possibly a bracket plus cable for the replacement SSD. (Unless there is already a position for it internally)

Also, you mentioned adding memory. Again, this is a difficult process since the modules are located internally and not easy to get at. Be sure to read all instructions at ifixit first before opening up your iMac.

 

[pm-r]

Replacing the hard drive with an SSD may not be as easy as you think with that model iMac.

As Charlie states, you may want to do some checking.

OWC (macsales.com) shows various upgreade available for that stlye iMac, just choose your specific model here:
Upgrades for iMac (3.60 GHz, Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017) (courtesy everymac.com)



- Patrick
======

 

[BethJones]

Not sure if this will help, I'm not very techy and you may have already done this, but can you back up your mac, restore it to factory settings then re download all your stuff?

 

[twizzard]

Hi all!

Thanks for your help and for reading this post. I’ll try to be as short as possible. I have an iMac 2010 and it’s still running like a champ today. This machine became very sluggish twice, once in 2016 when I installed Mavericks on it. So I bought some RAM, upgraded it to 14GB of RAM and then it ran like new. Last year it became very slow again but the issue went away when I emptied my 1TB HD which was almost totally full.

This year I finally had some money to upgrade this old machine. After months searching I found a great deal, a 2017 iMac (4K retina, core i5, Radeon Pro 555 2GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD) for 1.250 USD (yes, that’s what we call a pretty good deal here in Brazil). I bought it. When I tested it I noticed that it was running poorly, the system was sluggish but I thought “well, I’m going to format this, install Catalina and everything will run smoothly”. I went home and did that but, oh, I was wrong. Since I formatted and installed Catalina this machine is running very poorly. Compared to my 2010 iMac it’s super annoying to use this and there were times I wished to throw it in the wall.

I have screens freezing / unresponsive and loading icons all the time. I’m using it as a regular user for daily chores (Chrome browser with a few tabs opened and very lightweight apps opened like Spotify and Notes). I’d like to know if there’s a way to inspect the hardware via software to check if there’s some faulty component causing those issues. I already installed iStats Menu but I can’t see anything wrong judging by its stats.

I already bought two 8GB of RAM and I have a SSD that I want to install on it. I bought a kit to open it as well. These things are coming from China and they’ll take a long time to get to my house (2 months or so). It’s my fist time doing that and I know it’s not going to be an easy task but companies here charge 250 USD just to install RAM and SSD on an iMac (if you already bought the RAM+SSD, if not they can charge you up to 500 USD or more for this job).

I’m trying to work using this computer but it’s such a chore. I don’t have those problems with my old iMac and that bothers me. Both are running mechanical HDs so I don’t think that this machine is slow because of the HD. There are cases here in Brazil from people selling old 2013/2014 MacBook Pros that are actually 2009/2010 MacBooks. They change the About screen on the system to pass it as a newer model. So after knowing this, anything is possible, and this machine is so slow that I really doubt about its specs.

Anyway, if anyone can help me with that I’ll be very glad and grateful!

Thank you so much if you read all this rant. If you don’t want to waste your time just read the TL-DR.

TL-DR: I bought an used 2017 iMac (MRT32BZ/A) last month and it’s running slow as ****. It seems very inferior compared to my iMac 2010. I have screens freezing / unresponsive and loading icons all the time. I’m using it as a regular user for daily chores (Chrome browser with a few tabs opened and very lightweight apps opened like Spotify and Notes). I’d like to know if there’s a way to inspect the hardware via software to check if there’s some faulty component causing those issues.

Reading the thread, the most likely problem is with the hard drive. I have had great luck with SpinRite 6, a superb way to test and restore data on HDD and SDD from grc.com - the worst hard drive I used it on had over 256,000 uncorrectable disk errors. SpinRite took days, and said it fixed all but 4 bits (yes, bits, not sectors, not clusters), and the PC booted and ran Windows after the fix. However, SpinRite comes as a Windows program that generates a boot disk/USB drive for a PC. It can be run on a Mac but it is complicated see Running SpinRite 6.0 on MacOS (Part 1) – Kevin's tech blog . If you purchase SpinRite 6 now you will get a free upgrade to the next update which will run natively on Macintosh.

 

[chscag]

By the time he buys SpinRite and goes thru hoop jumping to get it to work on a modern Mac, he could replace the HDD with a SSD and add memory if he's up to it. SpinRite is a waste of time in my opinion especially since hard drives and even SSDs are much less expensive than they used to be.

 

[jpdemers]

Mojave and Catalina assume the presence of an SSD, and have been optimized for that sort of fast I/O. In particular, there's a lot of swapping between RAM and the drive, and virtual memory is used extensively. Combine that with an old, slow, and possibly failing HD - the very opposite of what the OS is expecting - and it's not hard to imagine a system that slows to a crawl when it attempts to use the drive for what should be routine operations.