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WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
#59535 09/26/21 04:50 PM
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ryck Online OP
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A mouse got into the outside box and chewed the fibre optic cable so we lost everything....TV, Internet, Landline phone. It wasn't discovered and fixed for 24 hours but, I figured, in the meantime I can at least do stuff that doesn't require external sources.

I was wrong. The iMac started operating extremely slowly (e.g. Word took nearly 3 minutes to load) so I booted from a Recovery drive and ran Disk Tools, which reported nothing amiss. I booted from my internal drive and I used Cocktail to run the Daily, Weekly and Monthly scripts. I also had it rebuild Launch Services - all of which was painfully slow. Then, all boots got weird. I had boots that didn't display stuff on the desktop; a boot that said it was a Carbon Copy Cloner version; one that was a totally blank screen; and finally, boots with everything in the Dock except an icon of the hard drive. I thought I should re-install the system, except it wasn't possible without an internet connection.

When service was restored, magically the iMac resumed working just fine and has been since. So, it appears I don't need assistance but I'd sure like to hear some theories of why a loss of fibre optic service would cause a loss of performance.

Last edited by ryck; 09/26/21 04:54 PM.

ryck

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Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
ryck #59536 09/26/21 05:38 PM
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Maybe look at the Console logs to see what was running or trying to connect to the internet that may have slowed things down.

Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
ryck #59537 09/26/21 08:17 PM
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It appears that as part of its security routines Apple does do a lot of phoning home. Not to send data but to download things like the latest XProtect signatures database, verify application checksums and signatures to b4r duty sped str legitimate and unmodified, verify subscriptions are current, establish iCloud links and be sure try have the latest data, etc. Because you had/have a WiFi network connection those various tasks each attempt to connect to the internet and eventually time out if a connection cannot be established. Thus making start up and application launch feel glacial. Of course if there is no network connection that can be determined quickly and these phone home tasks are skipped so there is no slowdown. At least that is the explanation I gave myself last week when my internet connection was doing a great job emulating a yo-yo (ie. going up and down 🤯 ) and I was seeing similar inexplicable performance issues. 🤷‍♂️

As to the switching between versions, I suspect you may have been re-booting. I have long held the opinion that reboots are not the same as cold boots (shutting down, pause ten seconds, then boot) and can lead to variable, sometimes often undesirable results, so I vastly prefer cold booting. (Installer boots, re-boots are an exception.)


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
ryck #59538 09/26/21 08:18 PM
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I wonder if it was an "after-shock" of the loss?

Did you try shutting down & restarting?

More: Crossed with joemike.

Last edited by artie505; 09/26/21 08:20 PM. Reason: More

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
joemikeb #59539 09/26/21 08:43 PM
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Originally Posted by joemikeb
It appears that as part of its security routines Apple does do a lot of phoning home. Not to send data but to download things like the latest XProtect signatures database, verify application checksums and signatures to b4r duty sped str legitimate and unmodified, verify subscriptions are current, establish iCloud links and be sure try have the latest data, etc. Because you had/have a WiFi network connection those various tasks each attempt to connect to the internet and eventually time out if a connection cannot be established. Thus making start up and application launch feel glacial.
Thanks. That sounds absolutely logical to me, so I'm going with that explanation....and good to know for future reference. Or, if someone else has the problem and asks me, I get to look clever. grin

Originally Posted by joemikeb
As to the switching between versions, I suspect you may have been re-booting. I have long held the opinion that reboots are not the same as cold boots (shutting down, pause ten seconds, then boot) and can lead to variable, sometimes often undesirable results, so I vastly prefer cold booting. (Installer boots, re-boots are an exception.)
Actually, I did both. The cold starts had time between 'shut off/turn on' as I thought an SMC reset might help.

Last edited by ryck; 09/26/21 08:44 PM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

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Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
ryck #59540 09/26/21 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by ryck
A mouse got into the outside box and chewed the fibre optic cable so we lost everything....TV, Internet, Landline phone. It wasn't discovered and fixed for 24 hours....
That's my BIG!!! rub with my Fios. I haven't got a cell phone, so if it goes down, I'm dead in the water, and either have to impose on a neighbor with whom I'm not friendly enough to take the liberty, or wander around the neighborhood looking for an Internet cafe, which may be a non-option. frown

It went down twice (in the middle of the night) shortly after I got it, causing in immediate panic, but the outages lasted only two hours and were apparently just Verizon maintenance related. It's now been several years since it last happened.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
artie505 #59541 09/26/21 10:16 PM
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Originally Posted by artie505
That's my BIG!!! rub with my Fios. I haven't got a cell phone, so if it goes down, I'm dead in the water, and either have to impose on a neighbor with whom I'm not friendly enough to take the liberty, or wander around the neighborhood looking for an Internet cafe, which may be a non-option. frown

It went down twice (in the middle of the night) shortly after I got it, causing in immediate panic, but the outages lasted only two hours and were apparently just Verizon maintenance related. It's now been several years since it last happened.
That is a major reason I prefer my iPad Pro to a MacBook. It has 5G cellular capability that is often faster than hotel or public WiFi networks and handy for use at home during power or cable outings. ⚡️👌


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
artie505 #59542 09/26/21 11:38 PM
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ryck Online OP
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Originally Posted by artie505
I haven't got a cell phone, so if it goes down, I'm dead in the water, and either have to impose on a neighbor with whom I'm not friendly enough to take the liberty, or wander around the neighborhood looking for an Internet cafe...
Aah, for the old days when you just walked down the street to a booth where you dropped a quarter in a slot.....

Last edited by ryck; 09/26/21 11:39 PM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
ryck #59543 09/27/21 12:17 AM
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Originally Posted by ryck
Aah, for the old days when you just walked down the street to a booth where you dropped a quarter in a slot.....
A quarter? In my version of the good old days it was a dime! And at least some booths had phone books. And information was free. And...

I wonder how much change I'd need to deal with Verizon from a phone booth?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
joemikeb #59544 09/27/21 12:25 AM
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Originally Posted by joemikeb
That is a major reason I prefer my iPad Pro to a MacBook. It has 5G cellular capability that is often faster than hotel or public WiFi networks and handy for use at home during power or cable outings. ⚡️👌
Under any circumstances, though, you've got an iPhone in case of emergencies.

For that matter, I could activate my iPhone, but power outages are sooo infrequent in New York, that unless the cost is extremely minimal it will be prohibitive.

I once looked into buying a throwaway for emergencies, but if I remember correctly, they don't come with unlimited life, which is what I"d want, although I guess I could buy phone after phone after phone, which would add up to its own prohibitive cost.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: WiFi down, iMac performance affected. What?
artie505 #59545 09/27/21 01:49 PM
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ryck Online OP
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Originally Posted by artie505
A quarter? In my version of the good old days it was a dime! And at least some booths had phone books. And information was free. And...
And... comfort stations were only a nickel. I wasn't going back quite that far....just to the last time I had occasion to use a pay phone, which was roughly mid 90s.


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C

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