Fixing Wi-Fi Issues in OS X El Capitan. The solution to this is incredibly simple; wait it out. Even though the progress bar may get stuck on 1 minute remaining, 5 minutes remaining, 15 minutes remaining, or any other number, it may stay at that remaining number for several hours as the installation actually completes. In other words, sometimes the installation progress bar and time.
About half the time, the main problem that people report with the OS X installer (typically when installing from a USB flash drive) is that it stalls at some point during the process, and you just need to wait, even when it displays 'About a second remaining'. Sometimes the install takes another half-hour or so, and sometimes it requires several hours. Even when you're installing OS X onto a newly-erased solid state drive (maybe especially SSDs?), which you'd expect to be so fast that you wouldn't see these kinds of installation delays, sometimes people still experience this problem. I haven't seen a good explanation for this, though one possible explanation is that the installer is downloading files from the Internet, as if you'd booted into the Internet Recovery option, even though you're installing from a USB flash drive that's supposed to contain a complete, local copy of the OS X installer app.
But the problem you report is different, though not unheard of--you're getting an error message that says the installation failed, even onto a new SSD, and with new (presumably good) RAM. It's possible your Macbook has some other hardware issue (maybe a failing logic board), though another possibility is that your OS X installation USB flash drive has a problem, or maybe simply a bad copy of the OS X installer. You might want to format the USB installer flash drive and reinstall the OS X installer onto it, and try again. You shouldn't have to use an earlier version of OS X than El Capitan, since both of the 2007 Macbook Pros (the 15 inch and the 17 inch) are capable of running it. However, I've found that four gig of RAM will run El Capitan rather slowly, though your SSD will compensate for that significantly, since virtual memory swaps to the SSD will be a lot faster than to/from a mechanical hard drive. However, if you're still not satisfied with the speed, you might want to upgrade to six gig of RAM, which is the maximum that the Mid 2007 Macbook Pros can take. The best way to do this is to install two 4-gig RAM boards instead of just replacing one of your two 2-gig boards with a 4 gig board, since having two RAM boards of the same size (and preferably the same type, bought at the same time from the same source) will allow the Macbook to enable memory interleaving, which will allow a Mac to run about 15% faster. However, the Macbook will still see only 6 gig of that physical total of 8 gig.
Mar 7, 2016 5:36 AM
Is the latest OS X El Capitan slowing your Mac and causing all sorts of problems? Then you’ve come to the right place.
At MacPaw we are invested in Mac performance. Today we are focusing on El Capitan, the newest Mac OS X, because we continue to receive requests to help solve common El Capitan problems, which are harming Mac performance and user experience.
If you’ve been struggling with El Capitan problems, this handy guide will help you tackle some of the worst El Capitan OS X issues.
Do you have El Capitan issues?
El Capitan replaces Yosemite as the most current operating system for the Mac. El Capitan brings with it a host of incredible features like the ability to use two apps at once with a split screen, the introduction of Mission Control to better organize your virtual desk, a complete overhaul of the Notes app, and a ton of new features that make old favorites like Mail and Spotlight even more powerful.
El Capitan is bringing a lot of joy to Mac users, but it’s also bringing a lot of frustrating issues. El Capitan has a software version number of 10.11 and since its release, at the time of writing, there have been five updates (10.11.5 being the most recent) focused on addressing a long list of El Capitan problems.
Before we get started on our guide, it is recommend that you update to the latest and most stable version (10.11.5) before doing anything else. The next step should be the download, installation and scanning of your system by our Mac optimizing app, CleanMyMac X. When it comes to performance issues, there is no single solution that tackles more problems than CleanMyMac X. It’s free to download, so you can test it right away.
If you’ve updated El Capitan to 10.11.5 and cleaned your system with CleanMyMac X, it’s now time to look at the remaining issues. Below we have some of the most common El Capitan performance problems and solutions to help get your Mac performing as it should.
El Capitan Install About A Second Remaining
El Capitan problem with installation
The first problem that we need to talk about is the most annoying – you can’t enjoy the El Capitan OS X experience if you can’t even get it installed in the first place. The initial release of El Capitan had a number of users struggling with the actual installation of the OS X. Apple gave this a lot of focus and have lessened the problem with updates, so make sure you are installing from 10.11.5.
If updating to OS X El Capitan still leaves you with a frozen screen, error messages or an installation that seems to work until you actually reboot and see that your OS X hasn’t updated from the previous version, there are a few things you can do to help.
Solution
Sometimes your previous OS X is dealing with other problems and processes, so when you start an installation of El Capitan, problems may occur due to the resources of your current OS X being focused on other processes and apps in the background. To run a focused and clean installation of El Capitan, follow these easy steps:
- Save all open documents, and restart your Mac.
- Quit the apps that launch on after startup.
- Run the El Capitan installation right after that.
If you are still having freeze issues, you’re going to want to restart in Safe Mode:
- Restart your Mac or, if necessary, hold the power down to force a shutdown (wait 10 seconds after shutdown).
- When you hear the boot sound, hold down the Shift key.
- When a grey Apple logo will appears, you can release the Shift key.
El Capitan is slow
Many users have experienced a slower OS X experience after updating to El Capitan. Slowness can come from a number of sources, including the re-indexing of Spotlight, which occurs in the hours after an installation of El Capitan. So, 24 hours of slowness after you’ve updated to El Capitan is not unusual and it is temporary.
However, if your Mac has been slow for more than 24 hours, the problem is not Spotlight indexing. There is a good chance that one of your apps is not working well with El Capitan, and slowing down the whole system as a result.
Start by ensuring that all your apps are up-to-date:
- Click on the App Store icon in your Dock.
- The numbered red badge shows you how many updates are available.
- Click it to launch the App Store and update all apps.
If all your apps are up-to-date and the problem persists, follow these steps:
- Click on Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Click on Extensions.
- Identify a problematic app by systematically disabling extensions to see if performance improves.
If this doesn’t help, make sure that you’ve run the cleaning processes of CleanMyMac.
- Download CleanMyMac X for free.
- Install the application.
- Run the cleaning processes to fix problems and speed up your Mac.
Wi-Fi issues in El Capitan
What is it about a Youtube video that won’t stream, which makes you feel like your life is ruined? Unfortunately, as much as we love Wi-Fi, it can often go wrong. Certainly, OS X Yosemite users had a lot of Wi-Fi problems, but the Apple developers have been working hard to address them.
About A Second Remaining El Capitan Game
Even though things have greatly improved, Wi-Fi problems can still exist with El Capitan. If you are one of the unfortunate people that are having to deal with the frustration of a slow El Capitan Wi-Fi connection, it’s time to take a look at our solutions below.
Solution
This is a hard problem to troubleshoot so here are a few things you should try to fix your slow Wi-Fi:
- Make sure El Capitan and your router firmware is up-to-date.
- Unplug your router and modem for a minute.
- Click the Wi-Fi icon on your Mac and turn it “off” for a minute and then back “on”.
- Go to System Preferences > Network > Advanced and under Wi-Fi delete your network connection. Turn Wi-Fi “off” and then “on” again to set up a new connection from scratch.
El Capitan issues with Handoff
We love Handoff. If you have a lot of Apple devices, Handoff is the perfect feature for users that want to stay efficient and productive while on the go. Start work on your Mac in the office and then finish it on your phone in the elevator. What could be cooler than that?
However, when it doesn’t work, you’re left feeling like a relay runner whose teammate dropped the baton. If Handoff has stopped working since you upgraded to El Capitan, and logging out and back in on your devices doesn’t help, it’s time to look for a fix.
Solution
This is a really simple fix that has worked for a lot of users struggling with similar El Capitan Handoff problems:
- Turn off Bluetooth on your Mac.
- Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist or ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
- Turn Bluetooth back on.
El Capitan problem with AirDrop
Another great productivity feature is AirDrop, a native app to make file sharing between your Mac and other Apple devices as easy as can be. When it works it enables you to feel in control of your digital world. But when it doesn’t work it leaves you feeling rather frustrated.
If AirDrop no longer works and you’ve tried the usual rebooting and logging in and out of devices, it’s time to try a proper solution
Solution
The AirDrop not working on El Capitan fix is the same fix that we posted above for users experiencing problems with Handoff:
- Turn Bluetooth off on your Mac.
- Delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist or ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
- Turn Bluetooth back on.
Crashing apps cause El Capitan issues
We know this feeling. A new Mac OS X version feels like Christmas, but the joy of the occasion can turn sour when you notice that not all of your apps are working as they once did. If you have certain apps that are crashing or behaving strangely on El Capitan, compared to how they worked on your previous OS X, then you’ve got a problem that needs to be addressed.
Luckily, we have some solutions that may help to get your apps and El Capitan working together as they should.
Solution
The most important step is to make sure that all of your apps are up-to-date, as these updates could contain the fixes you seek. If you’ve updated an app and it is still crashing, try uninstalling and performing a fresh installation of the app. This will often solve the app crashing problem.
You should also download and run CleanMyMac X, as it will remove the kinds of conflicts that can cause apps to crash. You can also use its Uninstaller tool to reset the problematic application.
Safari crashes and El Capitan freezes
Safari has been something of a disaster on El Capitan. The 10.11.4 update introduced some nasty Safari crash problems that had users, of both low-end and high-end systems, fleeing to Chrome and Firefox in order to simply browse the internet.
Unfortunately, much to the annoyance of the Mac community, update 10.11.5 has not solved the problem, leaving many users unable to use Safari on El Capitan. For some it is so bad that Safari actually freezes up their entire system.
Before you change to a different browser, there are a few things you can try.
Solution
There are three solutions that could be just the fix you are looking for. Starting from easiest to most complicated.
Option 1 – Download CleanMyMac X and use it to clean your Safari cache and history. This has been shown to help some of the users affected by the El Capitan Safari problem.
Option 2 - Turning off Safari Suggestions has been successful for a number of users experiencing the problem. To turn it off, follow these steps:
- Launch Safari and click on “Safari” in the Mac menu.
- Select “Preferences” or ?,
- Click on the “Search” tab.
- Uncheck the “Include Safari Suggestions” box.
Option 3 - We once again turn to CleanMyMac X’s bag of tricks, only this time we are going to use the Uninstaller to select Safari and then choose to Reset Application. This will be a completely fresh install of the app so be aware that you will lose your bookmarks and settings.
What we’ve learned about El Capitan issues
We want to be clear, El Capitan is a great operating system and we use it ourselves. These days we have to accept that our operating systems aren’t going to be perfect, which is why we will continue to develop tools like CleanMyMac X to help improve your Mac performance and squash those annoying bugs.