Mac 27" late 2015

I bought this mac over a year ago. And absolutely love it. My one complaint is I am getting the spinning beachball on Lightroom and Quicken. I have 4 memory slots with only 2 being filled with 8GB cards for total of 16GB. Is this the problem? Do I need to fill the other 2 or replace all 4 with bigger cards?

Thanks!

MPC wrote:I bought this mac over a year ago. And absolutely love it. My one complaint is I am getting the spinning beachball on Lightroom and Quicken. I have 4 memory slots with only 2 being filled with 8GB cards for total of 16GB. Is this the problem? 

Thanks!

No,the problem is somewhere else. I'd check HD first.

Definitely repair the disk permissions and if that doesn't do it, try a PRAM reset.  Boot the computer while holding down the Option and P key and hold it down until you hear the boot up chime. Let go of the keys and the computer will complete a normal boot.  These two things can solve many weird Mac problems.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Definitely repair the disk permissions and if that doesn't do it, try a PRAM reset.  Boot the computer while holding down the Option and P key and hold it down until you hear the boot up chime. Let go of the keys and the computer will complete a normal boot.  These two things can solve many weird Mac problems.

E.J.,

Is this something that should be done occasionally, or only if you are having memory issues?

Brian 

Repairing disk permissions should be done regularly, say once a month or so. PRAM reset only if the machine is obviously doing something it shouldn't. For example on the Ecuador trip, one person had a Mac that would just spontaneously shut down every once in a while. PRAM reset resolved it - it can resolve many weird behavior issues.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Definitely repair the disk permissions and if that doesn't do it, try a PRAM reset.  Boot the computer while holding down the Option and P key and hold it down until you hear the boot up chime. Let go of the keys and the computer will complete a normal boot.  These two things can solve many weird Mac problems.

It's Command-Option-R-O (letter O, not number 0). Best done with left hand pressing Command and R, and right hand pressing Option and O.

Press those keys the moment you hear the boot up chime - not before - and hold them until you hear the boot up chime for a second time, which is usually louder. Then let go and the computer will start up normally with the Parameter RAM (PRAM) reset.

The Disk Permission Repair function is no longer available in later operating systems ( I think they threw it out in Yosemite or El Capitan).

Jens Peermann wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Definitely repair the disk permissions and if that doesn't do it, try a PRAM reset.  Boot the computer while holding down the Option and P key and hold it down until you hear the boot up chime. Let go of the keys and the computer will complete a normal boot.  These two things can solve many weird Mac problems.

The Disk Permission Repair function is no longer available in later operating systems ( I think they threw it out in Yosemite or El Capitan).

They do, it's just called First Aid now.

"Beginning with OS X El Capitan, system file permissions are automatically protected. It's no longer necessary to verify or repair permissions with Disk Utility."

direct from Apple.... having said that, have just run First Aid on my WD and Seagate, as a routine...

E.J. Peiker wrote:

Jens Peermann wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Definitely repair the disk permissions and if that doesn't do it, try a PRAM reset.  Boot the computer while holding down the Option and P key and hold it down until you hear the boot up chime. Let go of the keys and the computer will complete a normal boot.  These two things can solve many weird Mac problems.

The Disk Permission Repair function is no longer available in later operating systems ( I think they threw it out in Yosemite or El Capitan).

They do, it's just called First Aid now.

First Aid does not include a Disk Permission verification or repair function. Apple removed that in El Capitan because it is basically an unnecessary utility and rarely needed. It is still available, though, but has to be started via a command line in the Terminal application.

More information here.

What's the difference between Command-Option-R-O and Command-Option-P-R? I thought the latter was the key combo to reset PRAM ...

Martin 095 wrote:What's the difference between Command-Option-R-O and Command-Option-P-R?  I thought the latter was the key combo to reset PRAM ...

It is Command-Option-P-R. I was multi tasking at the time I typed that and got things mixed up. To my knowledge there is no Command-Option-R-O command. Sorry for the confusion.

Hi Jens,

No worries, that's what I thought but wanted to make sure.

Thanks for the advice, I tried both resets and still  seem to get the beachball on closing Quicken. 

As for the 2 empty slots of memory if I fill them with 8GB cards would it make Lightroom run better? It seems to freeze up sometimes after using it for awhile!

Thanks

MPC wrote:Thanks for the advice, I tried both resets and still  seem to get the beachball on closing Quicken. 

As for the 2 empty slots of memory if I fill them with 8GB cards would it make Lightroom run better? It seems to freeze up sometimes after using it for awhile!

Thanks

Lightroom has had this "freeze up" problem for some time. Its resources get overwhelmed when used for extended periods especially when doing lots of local adjustments. Closing and restarting LR makes most of these problems disappear till the cycle repeats itself with continued extended use. LR, PS and any other memory intensive program benefits from additional RAM. If your regularly using large files more RAM will be a help.