Chosen Solution
Hi - I have a Mid 2010 13” MacBook Pro, currently running High Sierra 10.13.6. Never had problems and never replaced any parts. Original owner. General use and video-streaming only (no gaming). Recently downloaded a version of DropBox via an email a friend sent. I never downloaded anything and this one time was a big mistake. My system slowed to a crawl and had to hard-power it down. I immediately removed any/all files related to DropBox, ran Disk Utility. Problem: Since the download, my laptop freezes every 10 minutes for 10-12 seconds (it’s a pattern - I’ve tracked this). I reinstalled High Sierra (10.13.6) and still the same problem. Question: Not sure how to go about trouble-shooting this as I’d like to keep my system running a while longer until I figure out the next MacBook Pro I purchase (maybe Air? I’m reading the reviews). I trouble-shooting things, but don’t know where to begin for this. I know many of you have more experience, so I would appreciate advice/direction. FYI, I’ve posted this same message on another Mac site - has lots of views but zero replies. So, either my question is unique (think not) or too much of a newbie status. But, I gotta begin somewhere, right? Thanks in advance.
Lets do this locate the Activity Monitor app in your utilities folder. Launch it and leave it on your desktop with CPU column active with the highest on top so you can see it as you continue to use your system. Did you see a given process hit the top at the point your system froze up? Update (07/13/2019) What happens when you just use Safari instead of FireFox for your web browsing? What is your drive and how big is it and how much free space?
Just to sum up; no obvious cpu load or stuck processes meant that it had to be below the level of kernel instrumentation, in this case a failing hard drive.
