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pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL
ARRIS DG1670

pcdebb

Premium Member

[OS X] iTunes issue on iMac

I just acquired myself an iMac today, and I'm getting settled in to using it. I'm very new to mac os but quickly learning.

I'm having performance issues with iTunes. Once I open it, the computer is extremely sluggish and keeps freezing up. I have to wait to be able to click on things. If I close iTunes, everything works flawlessly. Is this normal? Is something being setup in the background since I'm just setting it up? I've been dealing with this for a few hours, so whatever is happening should be done with by now.

I opened Activity Monitor, and for the iTunes process, the CPU% is 0, Threads is 17, Real Mem is 62.4mb.

brhalltx
Premium Member
join:2002-12-09
Cypress, TX

brhalltx

Premium Member

What else is taking up CPU time?

Do you have iTunes Match?

How old is the iMac? How much RAM does it have?

What happens if you leave iTunes running overnight?

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero to pcdebb

Premium Member

to pcdebb
SSD or Mechanical?

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL
ARRIS DG1670

pcdebb

Premium Member

mromero See Profile i will assume it's mechanical

brhalltx See Profile I dont know, but I will tell you it's definitely iTunes. That app is closed and i'm happily browsing the system with no issues. I've discovered the app store so i can get apps for the system, but i do want to get around to syncing my music on my phone or my ipad mini. I did find a discussion on the apple site where someone said they closed genius and that helped, but it seems that genius is closed for me.

I have 4GB of RAM, I dont know the age of the iMac. I havent gotten as far to be able to tell you specifics. I dont even know my specific OS. I know it's not Mountain Lion because I have the option to upgrade to it. At the very least, I will try leaving iTunes open when I goto bed and see what happens. Just wanted to see if I can figure out what the deal was.

I have a million questions otherwise

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero

Premium Member

Click the Apple Logo in the upper corner
Choose About This Mac from the Apple Menu.

gimme processor and memory and version number
then click more info

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL
ARRIS DG1670

1 edit

pcdebb

Premium Member

 
ive still been trying to find solutions, but nothing i find is fixing my problem. You would think that iTunes would work flawlessly on an iMac

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero

Premium Member

ha, thats a sandy bridge mac. Here's what I'd recommend, upgrade the ram 16 GB minimum. here's a link to the type
»eshop.macsales.com/shop/ ··· _21.5_27

4gb is nooooooooo where near enough.

and if you can afford it.install a SSD in that thing.

oh and normally I would say upgrade the OS for 20 bucks to Mountain Lion but Mavericks OS is due in the Fall and will probably be the same price. Lion Sucks to be honest.

Using Apple Hardware Test on computers with OS X 10.7 or later

Mac NoteBook and Desktop computers shipping with OS X 10.7 or later have a partition on the hard drive or flash storage that contains AHT. To start AHT on these computers please follow these instructions:

Press the power button to turn on your computer.
Press and hold the D key before the gray startup screen appears.
It takes a minute or so for AHT to start up and inspect your hardware configuration. While this is taking place, an icon appears on the screen:
When the process is complete, select your language and click the right arrow. If you aren't using a mouse, you can use the up and down arrows to select a language and then press the Return key.
The AHT console appears. You can choose which sort of test or tests to perform:
To perform all of the basic tests, click the Test button or press the "T" key or the Return key.
To perform a more thorough diagnostic test, select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox under the Test button before you click the Test button.

Note: Your test results will appear in the window in the bottom-right of the console.
To exit AHT, click Restart or Shut Down at the bottom of the window.

Some Macintosh computers that shipped with OS X Lion and later support the use of Apple Hardware Test over the Internet. These computers will start up to an Internet-based version of AHT if the hard drive does not contain AHT. An Internet-enabled connection via Ethernet or Wi-Fi is required to use this feature. Internet-based AHT functions the same as AHT on the hard drive or flash storage outlined above.

The Mac NoteBook and Desktop computers listed in Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery will require a firmware in order to support the Internet version of AHT. Without this update you may see the behavior discussed in this article.

brhalltx
Premium Member
join:2002-12-09
Cypress, TX

brhalltx to pcdebb

Premium Member

to pcdebb
said by pcdebb:

ive still been trying to find solutions, but nothing i find is fixing my problem.

Run Activity Monitor (in the Applications/Utilities folder).

Click on the "System Memory" tab. Take a screen shot.

Get SMARTReporter (from www.macupdate.com or the App store); does it show that the drive is OK?

Run Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder), click on the hard disk on the left, and click on "Repair Disk." Does it show any problems? You can repair permissions too; that probably won't fix the problem.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan to pcdebb

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to pcdebb
Bottom line is the machine should run great with iTunes, even with a conventional disk drive and 4GB of RAM. My minis ran great with iTunes, even before their SSD and RAM upgrades. SSD would be awesome but in a 2011 iMac isn't the simplest thing to do. Upping RAM is easy but frankly that is a Band-Aid as there is something else going on. More RAM is better but the machine should be working fine in its "as shipped" configuration.

When you got it was it a clean OS installation or did you get it from a friend and just created a new user account and such.

That said, the only time my iTunes hangs up is when trying to connect to problematic iPods. Everything seems to hang up syncing, particularly with my 240GB hack job of an iPod 5.5 video I have. iTunes hates that thing. If I unplug it, everything returns to normal.
kitsune
join:2001-11-26
Sacramento, CA

kitsune to pcdebb

Member

to pcdebb
It is most likely a corrupt iTunes library or the app itself is corrupted. You do NOT need 16gb of RAM to make it run normally. (I have an 09 mac running 10.8 with 8GB and it runs fine even with a number of daemons running for file downloads) Though you might want to bump it up to 6.

Here is an article that tells you how to rebuild the Library:
»support.apple.com/kb/HT1451

To reinstall iTunes on 10.7 is easy. Just dump the app in the trash and then redownload and reinstall.

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero to pcdebb

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to pcdebb
yeah, i agree with the follow up responses. out of the box, it should run fine with itunes. but I still think you should upgrade the ram from 4 GB and if you can afford it install an SSD.

Still, run that apple hardware test just to be safe. if everything checks out, since it is new you might consider doing a fresh install of lion.

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL
ARRIS DG1670

pcdebb to brhalltx

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to brhalltx
Click for full size
both disk utilitles says the disk is fine
pcdebb

pcdebb to kitsune

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to kitsune

said by kitsune See Profile
To reinstall iTunes on 10.7 is easy. Just dump the app in the trash and then redownload and reinstall.

:

How do I do that? i try to drag the icon from where it is in launchpad to the trash and it doesnt go in it.

pcdebb

pcdebb

Premium Member

i tried reinstalling the os. i guess i did the "in place" type, it is now a slightly older version of itunes, but it's still laggy.

brhalltx
Premium Member
join:2002-12-09
Cypress, TX

brhalltx

Premium Member

You have plenty of RAM (for what you're doing now, that is).

I'd try rebuilding the iTunes library next.

Did you create a new computer account, or is this an "inherited" account? Try creating a new account and run iTunes from that.

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL
ARRIS DG1670

pcdebb

Premium Member

said by brhalltx:

Did you create a new computer account, or is this an "inherited" account? Try creating a new account and run iTunes from that.

I logged in with my own info. when you say "account" are you talking itunes/apple or for the computer?

brhalltx
Premium Member
join:2002-12-09
Cypress, TX

brhalltx

Premium Member

said by pcdebb:

said by brhalltx:

Did you create a new computer account, or is this an "inherited" account? Try creating a new account and run iTunes from that.

I logged in with my own info. when you say "account" are you talking itunes/apple or for the computer?

For the computer. The user account that you log into the computer with.

You can create a new one in System Preferences (under the Apple menu) / Users & Groups.

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL

pcdebb

Premium Member

it shows my name so I guess it's my account
pcdebb

pcdebb

Premium Member

okay so here is what I did. I reinstalled mac os again, but before I did that, I erased the hard drive so I can get a true clean install. iTunes is 10.6.3 and I may just keep it there for now as I never got fully used to the new version. So far it's behaving as it should, no freezing or lagging at all. gonna work on library and see what happens.

brhalltx
Premium Member
join:2002-12-09
Cypress, TX

brhalltx

Premium Member

Good answer. I doubt it was the iTunes version; probably something else. But it's easier and quicker to wipe it and start over than to find the problem.

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL

pcdebb

Premium Member

hmmm, it's doing it again. Need to research what's been downloaded. is there a task list or something I can refer to to see what's been installed/updated? I left it open and walked next door, come back, and the system is freezing up again

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero

Premium Member

did u do the apple hardware test?

»support.apple.com/kb/ht1509

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL

pcdebb

Premium Member

yes.

this is not making sense at all. I'm trying any and everything. As much as I hate iTunes, I really need it. I shouldnt have to walk to my mom's house and use her windows computer to do anything.
pcdebb

pcdebb

Premium Member

i tried the hardware test again, holding down the D key and waited. went straight to my desktop

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero

Premium Member

hmmm should not go straight to the desktop. Should have given you options.

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL

pcdebb

Premium Member

it didnt. I held the key forever it seems.

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

mromero

Premium Member

try holding down Option+D
not just D
mromero

mromero

Premium Member

Here's what you SHOULD see
»www.maclife.com/article/ ··· properly

pcdebb
birdbrain
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Brandon, FL

pcdebb to mromero

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to mromero
i didn't hold down the Option key.

I'm in safe mode right now and it's working perfectly. ho hiccups at all, no problems. will post back in a minute
pcdebb

pcdebb

Premium Member

okay so working in safe mode I was able to do everything except play a song. I was able to work on my library, create my playlists, etc. of course in the syncing it wiped out my ringtones but it was time for a new one anyway not sure how i'm going to be able to make my ringtone if i cant listen to the song in iTunes in safe mode. I'm not going to attempt it in regular mode, i've pulled out too much hair since yesterday trying to get it to run.

there has to be a solution to this mysterious problem tho