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Continuing our in-depth look at how to fix your troublesome Mac, we go deeper with our potential solutions. This list is being integrated into the master solution database at iSensei’s Mac Emergency Room.

Run Disk Utility

Select your main drive in the lefthand column (as it’s named, not the model name and capacity above it). Select Repair Disk Permissions (yes, you could select Verify Disk Permissions first, but why bother?) Let it run. It could take a few minutes or longer. Be patient. Hopefully, at the end it will say “permissions repair complete”. If not, try running it again. Then quit and restart. This repairing permissions option isn’t a bad thing to run every once in a while anyway. You can help clean up little glitches that get introduced into the system from installing and uninstalling software.

Deactivate AntiVirus software

Now the debate still rages on as whether or not it’s worth it for Macs to even run one of these. There have been a few threats but they’re still relatively miniscule. The choice is up to you but I have found that AV software can be problematic. For example, if you’re not careful, it can make the installation of new software difficult. I recently had a different problem. I started having serious problems with my iMac where I kept getting the cursed spinning wheel all the time and couldn’t do anything until it went away. This was months after I had installed an AV program. (I was trying out Intego Virus Barrier X6). After experimenting with a whole lot of my own solutions unsuccessfully a friend recommended I get rid of the AV software. And that did it. The problem went away. Your mileage may vary.

Disconnect all external devices

We’re talking about scanners, printers, external hard drives, mice & keyboard. You will need to shut down first, obviously. Then unplug the Mac from the back. (this last step we’re talking iMacs primarily here, not MacBooks). Hold in the power button for 10 seconds. This “flushes out” the Mac’s system. Reconnect the power, mouse and keyboard and start up again without any additional devices plugged in. Test the system and see how it works. If everything is copacetic, try reintroducing the other external devices one at a time. This way you may find out whether the problem is caused by one of them.

Use Recovery Mode

Restart with the Option key held down. In 10.8 (Mountain Lion) you get the option of booting off your regular hard drive (“Macintosh HD” or whatever you’ve renamed it) or a built-in, and normally hidden “Recovery” Disk. From the popup there select which WiFi network to use. Choose the one you usually use and enter the password. Now select Recovery Disk. Chose language (English, perhaps?). The new window, OS X Utilities, is where you chose what work you need done.

Options are: 1] Restore from Time Machine Backup (you HAVE been backing up, right??), 2] Reinstall OS X, your operating system, 3] Get Help Online and 4] Disk Utility.
Best thing to do at this stage is select 4] Disk Utility and follow directions above under Run Disk Utility. After you’ve done that, quit Disk Utility. That will take you back to the previous window. If all seems well now, quit OS X Utilities, select your hard drive and Restart.

The other options are fairly self-explanatory. If your hard drive is really messed up then Option 1 may be what you need to do, but I wouldn’t do that until I had tried everything else. It can be very time-consuming. Option 2 isn’t as severe a choice as it may sound and is often helpful when other tricks don’t work. And Option 3 is obviously where you would look for answers to your questions. Your particular circumstances will undoubtedly vary.

Create a New user Account

Try creating a secondary account by going through System Preferences>Users & Groups. It’s pretty easy to do but we’ll walk you thru it. Unlock the little lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of Users & Groups, click on the plus sign and put in your Full Name and a distinctive Account name. Use a password if you like. Select Create User. Close out Users & Groups.
Your original account name should appear in the upper right-hand corner of the Main menu near the magnifying glass. Select your new account name from the drop-down menu and start testing things out in this new environment.
See if you can recreate your problem or behavior. Possibly your primary account has gotten corrupted somehow. (it’s happened to iSensei… but then what problem hasn’t??) If the new account has no problems, you could just move all your documents over to the new account and use that as your primary. Don’t move any System stuff or Applications. They stay at the top level, accessible to all users. If you’re using Dropbox tho, do not drag that over. Just change the default location to the new account thru DropBox’s Preferences.

Bad RAM

By this point you must be pretty darn frustrated. All this testing and you’re still having problems. Well, if you’ve tried most of these potential solutions and the problem still has not gone away, it becomes highly likely that you may have bad RAM. Unfortunately, this is an incurable disease. No, just kidding! But it will mean taking your computer to one of those lovely Geniuses at the Apple Store and having them look at it. I have found bad RAM to be the source of a number of serious problems over the years.

RAM chips are pieces of the hardware that can be removed and replaced. They allow you to run more programs, more quickly. Guidelines? You can never have TOO much RAM. Unless all you’re doing is web browsing and email. Then, more is less.

Oh, there’s more, surely, but we’ll save that for a VERY rainy day. iSensei believes that the solution to your problems lies within the tips we’ve offered so far. Mostly. Probably. BUT, if YOU have suggestions of how to troubleshoot a Mac from your experiences, please let us know here! We’ll all be grateful.