NEW MacBook Air M1 8gb 256gb: "your system has run out of application memory"

Samesies. I JUST purchased the most expensive MacBook Air. 16GB 1TB storage. Using Chrome (and every single other application closed), I get an error that my system has run out of application memory. Never happened on my 2017 MacBook Pro. Disappointing because I replaced this as a founder of company and it's supposed to be my fancy new computer to run my business from. My Zoom quit video and crashed in the middle of an interview after getting this error also.

One question, do you have google drive file stream installed? The shop wiped my computer and I haven’t installed it again and have been using Firefox and it’s been working ok since. Pita though as I have everything in google

Halliday,

You say that the "VM Volume can grow to the Available size on your SSD". I have recently replaced my SSD with a new one of twice the capacity. I now have more than 256GB spare capacity. Yet Big Sur is repeatedly locking up, apparently through running out of memory, with only a few GB of virtual memory in use. If what you say is true, then how do you explain what I am observing?

In my opinion, the cause of all these problems lies in system recovery/time machine that fills first disko volume. I found that this volume sometimes is down (unmount) so recovery fills RAM. I am not sure for this, but when I mount this disk, and periodically make time machine update to external SSD, all problems vanish.

AusMacU wrote:

Halliday,

You say that the "VM Volume can grow to the Available size on your SSD". …

That is absolutely true.

… I have recently replaced my SSD with a new one of twice the capacity. I now have more than 256GB spare capacity. Yet Big Sur is repeatedly locking up, apparently through running out of memory, with only a few GB of virtual memory in use. If what you say is true, then how do you explain what I am observing?

It’s not «through running out of memory». What causes you to make this «apparently» connection or assertion?

Instead, your case of «Big Sur is repeatedly locking up» is being caused by something else.

Unfortunately, there are many things that can cause such an apparent misbehavior: running incompatible software, especially as System/Kernel Extensions, Drivers (even for USB or Bluetooth devices), or other background processes.

”Anti-Virus”, “Cleaning”, “Speed Up”, “Optimization”, etc. “Utilities” are an extraordinarily common cause of the sorts of problems you are reporting (and many others).

I, and many others, make sure I don’t run any “junk” on my systems.

Halliday,

Why I say that it is because it is because Big Sur is running out of memory is because I have been monitoring the use of memory via Activity Monitor. What I have discovered that the Apple News app keeps taking up more and more memory over time. I don't think that that in itself should cause Big Sur to freeze because it should draw on virtual memory. However, the amount of virtual memory that is used seems to very very small. If I keep on closing down Apple News and re-opening it, then this doesn't happen. I haven't observed any other applications doing this but then I don't use a lot of different applications.

When I say that the system "locks up", this isn' entirely true. What seems to happen is that it becomes extremely slow. By this I mean that it may take 5-10 minutes to do anything. When people talk about the use of virtual memory slowing down the OS I don't think that they mean to this extent. I interpret this observation to mean that the amount of used memory of any type that is available to the OS has become extremely limited but that what little remains is used to do what can be done in whatever time it takes.

This behaviour only started when I upgraded from Catalina to Big Sur some time ago. I never had the issue under Catalina. My pattern of use hasn't changed to any significant extent.

If I can throw the question back to you, why do you claim, without any evidence, that the problem I'm reporting is "not "through running out of memory?"" I know that other things can often cause such problems but the fact that they CAN cause such problems doesn't mean that they ARE the cause of the problems. You are making that claim without a shred of evidence.

AusMacU wrote:

Halliday,

Why I say that it is because it is because Big Sur is running out of memory is because I have been monitoring the use of memory via Activity Monitor. What I have discovered that the Apple News app keeps taking up more and more memory over time. I don't think that that in itself should cause Big Sur to freeze because it should draw on virtual memory. However, the amount of virtual memory that is used seems to very very small. If I keep on closing down Apple News and re-opening it, then this doesn't happen. I haven't observed any other applications doing this but then I don't use a lot of different applications. …

When you say «the Apple News app keeps taking up more and more memory over time», are you referring to the use of your system RAM, or the amount of “Memory” that Activity Monitor claims «the Apple News app» is using?

What does Activity Monitor report if you bring up the App Information window, for «the Apple News app», and look at how much Memory is reported for each of its memory categories, such as Virtual Memory.

Along with this, how much Swap memory does Activity Monitor report as being used, for everything being run on your system?

What does the Memory Pressure graph show?

What color is the Memory Pressure graph?

How close to the top (100%) is the Memory Pressure graph?

(These two indicators do not track one-to-one.)

When I say that the system "locks up", this isn' entirely true. What seems to happen is that it becomes extremely slow. By this I mean that it may take 5-10 minutes to do anything. When people talk about the use of virtual memory slowing down the OS I don't think that they mean to this extent. I interpret this observation to mean that the amount of used memory of any type that is available to the OS has become extremely limited but that what little remains is used to do what can be done in whatever time it takes. …

What sort of drive are you running your macOS from? A Hard Disk Drive (HDD, spinning disk)? Fusion drive (a little better, but, often, not by much)? A Solid-State Drive (SSD)?

Swapping will, typically, slow a HDD or a Fusion drive, quite a bit.

An SSD will show much less slowing.

This behaviour only started when I upgraded from Catalina to Big Sur some time ago. I never had the issue under Catalina. My pattern of use hasn't changed to any significant extent. …

I actually had slower performance, and far more issues with running out of memory (and High Memory Pressure, often running in the Red), running under Catalina, up until the last Catalina update just before Big Sur came out.

I have had no issues under Big Sur more than what I had under Catalina just before the upgrade to Big Sur.

(Note, however, that I made certain not to upgrade to Big Sur with any incompatible software.)

If I can throw the question back to you, why do you claim, without any evidence, that the problem I'm reporting is "not "through running out of memory?"" I know that other things can often cause such problems but the fact that they CAN cause such problems doesn't mean that they ARE the cause of the problems. You are making that claim without a shred of evidence.

Not only have I had no such troubles with Big Sur, on my 8 GB RAM Intel Mac mini (minimal configuration); I have helped many others clean up their incompatible software (inherited from Catalina), to find that their systems run at least as well under Big Sur as they used to under Catalina.

(Admittedly, not everyone with such issues have been willing to work through cleaning up their systems.)

Halliday,

I have a mid-2103 4 GB MacBook Air with a 480 GB SSD.

I was referring to the amount of memory that Activity Monitor claims Apple News is using. I have sometimes seen this being reported as over 2 GB.

I have tried checking the Memory Pressure graph while using Apple News. During the period I was checking what was happening the amount of memory reported by the Activity Monitor rose to over 1 GB. During that period the Memory Pressure graph turned yellow but then over time reverted to green. However, towards he end of the period it started to turn yellow again.

The problem I have in following what is happening is that when the system "locks up" it is not possible to open Activity Monitor. So, unless I have had Activity Monitor open I can't check the memory situation at the most critical time.

I accept that although it seems that Apple News is responsible for the problem, what I am observing could just be coincidental. However I am not using much third party software on a regular basis. I use LibreOffice for word processing etc and Avira Antivirus. I have now removed Avira to see whether that makes a difference.

As I have said, if I close Apple News regularly then the system doesn't lock up. Just closing the current Apple News window is not sufficient, Apple News needs to be closed down completely.

From what you report, AusMacU, it doesn’t sound like you are actually experiencing a Memory issue.

It is probably good that you have removed «Avira Antivirus», though I cannot guarantee that it was causing your issue(s).

Running slow (what you have been calling «lock up»), is usually traced to some process (usually a background process) making heavy use of your CPU.

Have you tried looking at the CPU tab, in Activity Monitor, with the View set to show All Processes, rather than the default of “My Processes”?

(By the way, decades ago, I got in the habit of running CPU, and other system monitors, all the time, especially on Windows systems. I do the same on my Macs.)

I have the iMac M1 that i purchased when it first was released. I too am having the same problem. I have the 16 gig Ram M1 Chip with 1 TB hard storage. I'm getting this same message that I'm running out of memory with no application running. I do have some backgroup apps (i.e. boom, PIA VPN, dropbox). I reinstalled the software 3 times to no success. Very annoying and disappointing from Apple. I want to return the computer and go with an older model if this M! chip is going to be a problem.

[Edited by Moderator] 

Welcome, Javaman64, to Apple Support Communities!

When you get «this same message that I'm running out of memory with no application running», what processes (applications or otherwise) does it present within the dialogue box that informs you of this “out of memory” condition?

Admittedly, when the memory is “filling up” too fast, the system may not have time to ask you what processes you wish to terminate.

Have you tried looking at the CPU tab, in Activity Monitor, with the View set to show All Processes, rather than the default of “My Processes”?

This will help you see what it going on, even before the error message.

(By the way, decades ago, I got in the habit of running CPU, and other system monitors, all the time, especially on Windows systems. I do the same on my Macs.)

Incidentally, this issue is not unique to the M1 processor. It occurred even on Intel processors prior to the Catalina update that came out just before Big Sur.

I have to work very hard to try to get this behavior on my M1 Mac mini (16GB RAM, 2TB SSD). However, I will say that when I succeed, I’m disappointed to find that the error message appears to be unwarranted, at least, at the technical level.

Welcome, lmahlstrom, to Apple Support Communities!

Have you tried looking at the CPU tab, in Activity Monitor, with the View set to show All Processes, rather than the default of “My Processes”?

This will help you see what it going on, even before the error message.

(By the way, decades ago, I got in the habit of running CPU, and other system monitors, all the time, especially on Windows systems. I do the same on my Macs.)

Incidentally, this issue is not unique to the M1 processor. It occurred even on Intel processors prior to the Catalina update that came out just before Big Sur.

I have to work very hard to try to get this behavior on my M1 Mac mini (16GB RAM, 2TB SSD). However, I will say that when I succeed, I’m disappointed to find that the error message appears to be unwarranted, at least, at the technical level.

Welcome, Kevin Geiss, to Apple Support Communities!

So long as you «have activity monitor running …, showing memory usage for all processes. [where] the memory pressure at the bottom is always green», then you are having no actual problems at the Operating System (OS) level.

Do make sure you are viewing “All Processes”, not just the default of “My Processes”, so you can see what is going on with all your «background things running».

My M1 Mac mini is up-to-date (11.5.2; had no trouble with even earlier updates), and still has no issues with «"your system has run out of application memory"» errors or warnings, unless I try very hard to use huge amounts of virtual memory (like well over 32 GB of Swap space, as I can see by watching the VM partition).

Tip: Make sure none of your «background things running» are Intel code (trying to use Rosetta). Such will run very poorly, if they run at all.

I also recommend you check all your software for updates, and try to minimize how much Intel based software you are running. (Same goes for any software not explicitly compatible with Big Sur: older software may have worked before an OS update, but could fail afterward, if not specifically designed for Big Sur.)

this whole thing about rosetta 2 is a red herring. do you know how it actually works? it takes the intel binary, and translates it once (using compiler techonology) into an arm binary, and saves that translation for future runs. if you give the source code of the app to the compiler (i.e., you're a developer and you re-compile the app), yes, you end up with a slightly better arm binary (I've seen differences in performance of 10 or 20%). but just because an app was an intel binary doesn't mean it's going to run poorly or leak memory that it didn't leak before when it was running an an intel chip.

Yes, Kevin Geiss. You are correct that «just because an app was an intel binary doesn't mean it's going to run poorly or leak memory that it didn't leak before when it was running an an intel chip.»

That is not what I was talking about. (Though it does not nullify the recommendation for trying «to minimize how much Intel based software you are running.»)

Rosetta 2 is simply not intended for background processes.

In addition, It has not been working well with App plugins. (As of the latest information I have seen. Nor have I seen any information, from Apple, or others, that Apple has been trying to improve how Rosetta 2 works with App plugins.)

Rosetta 2 is only intended to be used at the App level, where your statement applies.