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Mac OS 9 running out of RAM

My PowerMac 7500 running OS 9 seems to be running out of RAM.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/macmemory.png


I have 1GB of RAM installed.


Only extension I have even installed not stock is the ATI driver. I disabled the USB and firewire drivers mainly because I don't have those kind of ports on this computer.


But why is OS 9 starving itself so bad? It keeps causing error type 1 errors.

PowerMac, Mac OS 9.2.x

Posted on Mar 25, 2012 11:02 AM

Reply
2 replies

Mar 25, 2012 12:35 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

The picture you posted shows the OS consumption at 45.5MB, which is not a high amount for OS 9; depending on the number of fonts, extensions, etc, that could be installed, it is not unusual for OS 9 to routinely use around 60MB of RAM. The actual amount also depends upon the total amount of RAM available.


This Apple KBase article has info re Type 1 memory errors and OS 9 -

support.apple.com/kb/TA21578


If it is the same program which returns a Type 1 error all the time, consider that it, or its preference file(s), may be damaged. To address a damaged preference file, throw away the existing one and restart. A new prefs file with default setting will automatically be created when the program next tries to access it.


A damaged font can cause such an error, and can cause the error to appear in more than one program.


If it is Finder that is returning the error, consider rebuilding the Desktop file. To do that, restart, hold down the Shift key until you get the "Extensions Off" message. Then release Shift and press both the Command and Option keys, keep them held down until you get the splash screen asking if you want to rebuild the Desktop. OK that, wait for it to complete, then do a normal restart.


*****


In OS 9, the OS (including Finder) uses dynamic memory, meaning it has the ability to adjust the memory allocation set aside for it to use; it will do that on the fly, such as when printing and it needs more memory.


Internet Explorer in particular has a memory leak. The longer it runs, the more memory of its allocation it will eat. When there is no more left in its allocation, it will crash. The solution for that is to increase the memory allocation for IE. You can do that via the Get Info window for IE, selecting the Memory tab and increasing the "Preferred" amount. In the case of IE, adding 40 or 50 thousand is not out of line; more is better if it can be afforded.


Similarly, if other programs routinely exhibit out-of-memory conditions, try increasing their memory allocations. For word processors, a 50% increase to the original amount is often sufficient; for graphics apps, doubling or tripling may be sufficient.

Mar 30, 2012 5:24 PM in response to Don Archibald

No other application complains about Memory, except Unreal Tournament when playing on the internet, but I took care of that..


But are you sure Finder is dynamic? Cause it just gave me a "Finder is running low on memory and needs your attention", but is the only thing open, and shows it's using 47MB RAM, out of the 1GB of RAM this computer has installed.


I really do think something is wrong with Finder and is causing memory leaks of it's own.. It's on 9.2.2..


Specs have changed since last post, I now installed a Sonnet Tempo card with a solid state drive. The SCSI drive is no longer used.

Mac OS 9 running out of RAM

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