Q: Lion - Memory Usage Problems

I knew it was open because I took the screenshot as I was replying.  Safari is definitely the biggest culprit for losing memory.  When it is closed, my computer most times runs okay.  But, there are those times where I'll have my computer open, and suddenly, I'll get that message.  But, when that happens, I can't even move my mouse.  I have to hold down the power button and restart my computer.  It just completely locks up.

A few days ago, I was doing a restore with Carbonite.  I couldn't tell you how many times I had to restart the restore process because my computer was running out of memory, and then freezing up.  And that was the only thing running.

This is why I upgraded to 16GB.  For what I do, that is an insane amount.  But I figured, if I went to 16GB, I wouldn't have to deal with this again.  Yet, here we are.

Also, last night I took another screenshot while Safari was open.  Look how much it was consuming then...

Hi JeepRuby101,

There's something wrong with one of the web pages you are looking at. Your Safari has pegged one of your CPUs and is consuming RAM as quickly as your OS will allow it. No amount of RAM will solve this problem. You are on some website that has a bug. So, can you share the website with us so we can see what's going on?

If your computer were messed up BECAUSE it's low on memory you'd see different behavior. Your computer is screwed up because Safari is pegging the CPU (just one of them, but that's because JavaScript runs on a single thread), and it is consuming your memory up the wazzoo. The time to quit (or force quit, in this scenario) Safari is as soon as you see the CPU pegged like that.

So please, share the website you are often using when this happens.

And I say again, just because the window is closed, it does not mean it is not stuck, consuming memory and CPU like in your screen shot. You absolutely have to quit it, so there is no little "dot" under the safari icon in the dock, and if the process is running away as seen in your screenshot, Quit from the menu is not enough, and you need to Force Quit it (which you do by pressing the Option/Alt key after you right-click on the safari dock item).

Let me out this to you another way: if Safari shows up in Activity Monitor, it's running. So kill it from there if you want.

This problem is solvable. Let's just do it.

While everything that Jonathan has said is correct, the only thought I would add is Carbonite. In my testing of Carbonite I found that when you use it to recover files, the recovered files may not work properly. It appears the recovered files have some extreme subtle so that they no longer work properly on the Mac.

Allan

The only site I had open, was this forum. Nothing else.

You had something else open previously then. This is what you need to do:

1) kill safari and convince yourself you have done that properly

2) leave activity monitor running for future reference so you can tell when Safari starts misbehaving

2a) In other words, look for one of your CPUs pegging

3) Make a note of the website you are on when you first notice the problem, OR, think about websites you were PREVIOUSLY on.

Until you successfully kill and restart Safari, there is no hope of tracking this down. There's no way this website is causing you your problems.

JeepRuby101 wrote:

 

The only site I had open, was this forum. Nothing else.

That's not Safari the culprit.

Apple works quite well on that app.

I think it's a java problem, try turning off javascript in the browser

No - do not turn off JavaScript - then no modern web pages (including this one) will work anymore.

Let's just figure out what site is causing the problem.

And let's make sure JeepRuby figures out how to quit his browser properly.

You can turn off java to test the issue, then turn it back on. - There have been a few Java releases that are known to be a problem.  This includes a security vulnerabiliy which happens to manifest in exactly the same manner.

Well not to **** off all the observers of this thread with too much email, but:

1) Java and JavaScript are two separate things.

2) Javascript is definitely the problem here.

3) The only thing we need to do is make sure jeepruby exits safari all the way and then some time in the future notice which website is causing JavaScript to run in an infinite loop consuming as much memory as possible.

That is literally what is goign on here, so turning off JavaScript will just confirm what we already know without giving us any insight into what website is causing the problem.

Come on JeepRuby, don't leave us hanging ;-)

Java / Javascript - same framework... Do a bit of research and you will understand the JAVA vulnerability that causes this particular problem.  

Don't mean to upset anyone - just trying to enlighten

I worked on the original Java project at Sun Microsystems back in 1992 before anybody had ever heard of Java. Not the same framework. Only thing in common is the name.

I can write a piece of JavaScript that causes the CPU to peg at 100% AND grow the memory unbounded. In fact, right at this very moment I am programming in JavaScript for my current project and just the other day I made that exact mistake.

I am pretty sure of my facts here.

Cheers mate!

Jonathan, I'm not trying to be argumentative here, nor debate credentials - I've given readers a few pointers regarding this problem so now it's up to the folks reading this blog to decide on next steps.  

BTW, this problem will occur on many sites, not just a "broken" one, so waiting for someone to get back to you regarding a particular site is pointless.

http://www.informationweek.com/security/application-security/java-vulnerability- affects-1-billion-plu/240007985

Good luck all!

I delayed upgrading to Lion because of following this thread, in fact I never upgraded to Lion.  A week or so ago I upgraded from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion and so far no issues at all.  I would tend to agree that those still having problems with Mountain Lion have some sort of issue going on that doesn't affect everyone.  So far I've mostly been using Safari, Mail with some VMware Fusion thrown in, all with no problems.

I hope those of you running into issue can identify the cause and get it corrected.  At least with Mountain Lion things are working well for me.

Curious as to why CPU issues are appearing in a thread about memory utilization problems?  I guess they can be related....but in my situation I posted here about a virtual memroy leak that eventually causes the system to seize up and I have to reboot.  Not a big deal - as long as I remember to just reboot the system every few days so it never gets to that point.  Obviously there are one or more system processes or apps that are creating this issue - and have been for some time for a number of people.  But there's a simplel workaround - so not a big deal.   Anybody heard about fixes to this issue?