Unstable Imac

Question

Level 1

5 points

Unstable Imac

Hi, hope someone can advise on my issues!

Have an iMac 2017 27" and it was running absolutely fine until I upgraded to Monterey earlier in the year, at which point the hard disk started having problems and then gave up completely and I replaced it with an SSD (work carried out locally).

When they installed the SSD, I asked them to go back to Big Sur for the moment just to avoid any Monterey issues but things have been fairly unstable since I got it back and installed everything again. Seem to have a lot of apps crashing (Creative Cloud, Dropbox), browser pages constantly crashing (switched from Chrome to Firefox as thought that might be an issue, but FF is still crashing/failing to load random pages) and fairly regular random restarts that seem to be kernel panics.

Running Apple Diagnostics didn't flag up any hardware issues, so wondering if its related to having Monterey and then going back to Big Sur (in terms of compatibility of files etc), and should I update to Monterey to see if irons out any issues. Or should I reinstall Big Sur, and see if that helps? Assume I can reinstall Bug Sur without having to wipe the disk.

I've attached an Etrecheck report. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Ben

Etrecheck

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.7

Posted on Nov 2, 2022 3:39 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Owl-53

Level 10

100,759 points

Nov 2, 2022 2:22 PM in response to BenCLewis

Thank for 👍 being proactive and suppling the Etrecheck Report

Below is from the report and only the main points that stand out

Q - Kernel panics - This system has experienced kernel panics. This could be a sign of hardware failure.

Q - disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0032L 28.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Q - disk1 - CT1000MX500SSD1 1.00 TB (Solid State - TRIM: No)

A - Fairly certain the CT Drive was the replacement drive. Does it Support TRIM and was the actual work done by an Apple Authorized Service Centre ?

Q - qbittorrent.app 100 notifications

A - Great source for Malware and Adware without even the need of the User to give expressed permission to install anything

Q - CleanMyMac

A - This application is often referred to on these forums as " BrickMyMac "

A - Any Third Party Applications that will interfere with the normal operation of the OS, is an invitation for disaster and comprise the Operating System

Certain Applications maybe available on the Apple Apps Store - this only means the Developer is prepared to pay Apple a portion on each sale. What the Application may do to the computer is up to the User to check this out before purchase

Any of the below should be removed as per Developers Instructions

This will include CleanMyMac

Read some of the posting and arrive at your own conclusions.

Reply

Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

23,698 points

Nov 2, 2022 2:43 PM in response to BenCLewis

Here's what I noticed that should be addressed:

RAM - your RAM DIMMs are not properly aligned. Each bank should have a matched pair of DIMMs. I suggest putting both 8GB RAM DIMMs in Bank 0; both 4GB RAM DIMMs in Bank 1

CleanMyMac - get rid of it. It has a long history of creating more problems than it solves.

qbittorrent - a probable source of interruptions and malware

Did you previously have a Fusion drive? The 28GB disk0 looks mighty suspicious as the left over SSD portion of a Fusion drive. It's not mounted, anyway, so in any event it appears unavailable.

Reply

Answer 3

BenCLewis Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 3, 2022 2:00 AM in response to Owl-53

Thanks for taking the time to reply! Will remove those apps, and dump Clean My Mac, ha.

TRIM - SSD install was done locally, good reputation but not an authorised Apple centre (as far as I know). Looks like I can enable it through Terminal, would it be beneficial to do that?

Reply