Comments on: Mac running out of resources? http://aralbalkan.com/1872 Passionate geekisms. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:52:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Andrea Trasatti http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203766 Andrea Trasatti Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:50:17 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203766 It happened to me 5 or 6 times. It normally happened when running many applications and "switching apps quickly using command-tab", I would say. Most of the times what happened to me is that I click on command-tab, the app switcher is visualised, but the application is not switched and I cannot do anything else. As it happens to Louis, all the applications seem to be running nicely in background it's just the screen that is not updated anymore. Of course, I am also unable to start any application, or rather, I have no clue if it is actually started. :) I have not found any solution other than cold-rebooting. It happened to me 5 or 6 times. It normally happened when running many applications and “switching apps quickly using command-tab”, I would say. Most of the times what happened to me is that I click on command-tab, the app switcher is visualised, but the application is not switched and I cannot do anything else. As it happens to Louis, all the applications seem to be running nicely in background it’s just the screen that is not updated anymore.

Of course, I am also unable to start any application, or rather, I have no clue if it is actually started. :) I have not found any solution other than cold-rebooting.

]]> By: KM http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203717 KM Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:29:08 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203717 Its a Mac, step away from the Kool-Aid ;). Hey if you do find the issue. make sure to post on non-Apple boards. Don't want it to disappear next time they make an update and think its a non-issue. Unfortunately agree, grepping is probably best. Activity monitor really does not reveal enough. Its a Mac, step away from the Kool-Aid ;). Hey if you do find the issue. make sure to post on non-Apple boards. Don’t want it to disappear next time they make an update and think its a non-issue.

Unfortunately agree, grepping is probably best. Activity monitor really does not reveal enough.

]]> By: Jason Langdon http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203666 Jason Langdon Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:53:02 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203666 And I thought these problems only existed in PC land. Maybe Vista (which I use) isn't looking so bad after all... Out of curiosity (as I am interested in making the switch) is everything else running as you think it should be on the system? Obviously having the system become totally unresponsive is bad news, but am wondering whether there's other little things that are bugging you on what would be quite an expensive system. And I thought these problems only existed in PC land. Maybe Vista (which I use) isn’t looking so bad after all…

Out of curiosity (as I am interested in making the switch) is everything else running as you think it should be on the system? Obviously having the system become totally unresponsive is bad news, but am wondering whether there’s other little things that are bugging you on what would be quite an expensive system.

]]> By: Louis Muloka http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203586 Louis Muloka Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:18:55 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203586 last week I had this happy to me on my new macbook pro (2.8 Ghz / 4 GB of RAM / 320 GB HD). I lost the ability to do command + tab, could not use exposé or any of the mouse gestures, and could not shutdown my machine. So I had to hold the power button to reboot my machine. Ironically enough all my programs seemed to be running perfectly fine. It was mostly just plain annoying not being able to command + tab. and I haven't had the problem again. last week I had this happy to me on my new macbook pro (2.8 Ghz / 4 GB of RAM / 320 GB HD). I lost the ability to do command + tab, could not use exposé or any of the mouse gestures, and could not shutdown my machine. So I had to hold the power button to reboot my machine.

Ironically enough all my programs seemed to be running perfectly fine. It was mostly just plain annoying not being able to command + tab.

and I haven’t had the problem again.

]]> By: John B http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203581 John B Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:32:20 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203581 It's probably unrelated, but look in Activity Monitor and see if iCal Helper is running. If it is, check its memory use. I've been having issues lately where it'll take over all free RAM and cause the computer to be nearly unresponsive. I believe it is related to the system clock being reset, but not 100%. It’s probably unrelated, but look in Activity Monitor and see if iCal Helper is running. If it is, check its memory use. I’ve been having issues lately where it’ll take over all free RAM and cause the computer to be nearly unresponsive. I believe it is related to the system clock being reset, but not 100%.

]]> By: Richard Leggett http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203571 Richard Leggett Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:22:42 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203571 I've had this start occurring this week, also 4gb RAM here (only 3.2 addressable), I put it down to Flash CS4 due to some 30 very large bitmaps on stage at once but Firefox was open at the same time and it has recently been updated along with some add-ons updating. However this machine is 26 months old, I've never had a computer last this long without any noticeable slowdown (apart from the last couple of days) even though I generally don't reboot. Firefox has been unexpectedly bombing without reason recently, and looking at my Console I can see Photoshop CS4 and Flash CS4 have been positively spamming the log with the error that is usually followed by the error you report, "CGSResolveShmemReference" - "reference offset exceeds bounds". It is also happening for lower memory footprint apps like Skype, but probably for that reason it's less frequent. This post (last message) explains a related command-tab crash problem and a possible fix, rebulding the launchservices database: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1553093 I’ve had this start occurring this week, also 4gb RAM here (only 3.2 addressable), I put it down to Flash CS4 due to some 30 very large bitmaps on stage at once but Firefox was open at the same time and it has recently been updated along with some add-ons updating.
However this machine is 26 months old, I’ve never had a computer last this long without any noticeable slowdown (apart from the last couple of days) even though I generally don’t reboot. Firefox has been unexpectedly bombing without reason recently, and looking at my Console I can see Photoshop CS4 and Flash CS4 have been positively spamming the log with the error that is usually followed by the error you report, “CGSResolveShmemReference” – “reference offset exceeds bounds”. It is also happening for lower memory footprint apps like Skype, but probably for that reason it’s less frequent.

This post (last message) explains a related command-tab crash problem and a possible fix, rebulding the launchservices database:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1553093

]]> By: Adam http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203568 Adam Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:29:31 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203568 Perhaps check your firefox plugins, on it's own it's not too bad but with a multitude of plugins each gobbling resources it can be a pig. Try disabling them all then adding them back one by one to find the culprits. Perhaps check your firefox plugins, on it’s own it’s not too bad but with a multitude of plugins each gobbling resources it can be a pig. Try disabling them all then adding them back one by one to find the culprits.

]]> By: Jim O'Donnell http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203564 Jim O'Donnell Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:06:02 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203564 Firefox 3 causes regular problems on my macbook (osx 10.4). It's slow, uses a hell of a lot of memory and regularly hangs when quitting - Firefox stops responding after the browser window closes and the CPU fan starts to whir like mad. Fortunately I can still command-tab to the finder and force quit Firefox. My workaround has been to use Safari for web browsing and only start up Firefox when I need to use firebug. I don't know if that's of any use, but I'd suspect Firefox as the cause of your problems. Firefox 3 causes regular problems on my macbook (osx 10.4). It’s slow, uses a hell of a lot of memory and regularly hangs when quitting – Firefox stops responding after the browser window closes and the CPU fan starts to whir like mad. Fortunately I can still command-tab to the finder and force quit Firefox.

My workaround has been to use Safari for web browsing and only start up Firefox when I need to use firebug.

I don’t know if that’s of any use, but I’d suspect Firefox as the cause of your problems.

]]> By: Mark Wubben http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203562 Mark Wubben Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:56:42 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203562 An issue I've seen is where there are so many zombie processes, no new processes can be started. A quick look for zombies with Terminal is: `ps x | grep Z`. You can use Activity Monitor in hierarchical view to find the process spawning these zombies. An issue I’ve seen is where there are so many zombie processes, no new processes can be started. A quick look for zombies with Terminal is: `ps x | grep Z`.

You can use Activity Monitor in hierarchical view to find the process spawning these zombies.

]]> By: Adam http://aralbalkan.com/1872/comment-page-1#comment-203561 Adam Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:44:14 +0000 http://aralbalkan.com/1872#comment-203561 Maybe it's time to upgrade your mac and get a PC? Maybe it’s time to upgrade your mac and get a PC?

]]>