Your System has Run out of Application memory

All of these problems began after I had been using Mavericks for a couple of months, but they started at different times. The time delay makes them very weird bugs. I hope they are fixed soon, but I might have to put up with them for a long time. I can't upgrade to the next version of 10.9 until I can determine that it doesn't break Pages 4. (I made the mistake of relying on Apple software.)

System ran out of application memory

This happens on my computer, but it is infrequent. It doesn't seem to be associated with any particular program. I can recover quickly by force quiting the non-responsive application and restarting it.

com.apple.internetaccounts wants to use the keychain

This is a dialog box that is on top of all the other windows and the text box has the focus, but won't accept keystrokes. Other people have the same issue, but for them, com.apple.internetaccounts has an extension. ESC will get rid of the dialog box. It doesn't seem to have any adverse affect if I just dismiss it. Apparently, com.apple.internetaccounts doesn't know that it doesn't need this. It is just a weird nuisance.

Slow FInder windows

The solution was to go into the Time Machine disk (through the file system, not through Time Machine) and copy the contents of the Library folder from a date before the problem began, and paste it into the current Library folder. The side effect was that a lot of software thought I was running it for the first time. This also solved the next problem.:

Show item info (cmd+J) shows nothing

If I checked the box to display item info in the Finder window, it resulted only in white space. This problem was fixed as a side effect of fixing the Slow Finder windows problem.

Finder won't relaunch after force quit (or killall Finder)

I couldn't fix this one, but all I have to do is click on the Finder icon on the dock to relaunch it. Weird.

Folders don't update

If I drag and drop a file into a Finder window, the file doesn't appear in the folder, and isn't selected with CMD+A, even though it appears when I do a directory listing in Terminal. Closing and opening the window makes the file visible.

All of these problems show up on my Late 2013 iMac, even after emptying caches, rebuilding databases, repairing permissions, checking disks, restarting into single-user mode, reinstalling Mavericks, and burying my fingernail clippings under a full moon while not thinking about a hippopotamus. Only the application memory problem appears on my Mid 2012 MacBook Pro.

My own issues with this, while still running 10.8.5 mind you, seem to be disk space related.

If I drop below 1/3 of hard drive spae free, it happens more frequently. If I move files off the drive and free up space, it hapens less frequently. It happened today with 317 GB free on the hard drive. It used to happen only when I got down to around 200 GB free. Now if I get anywhere close to 300 GB free, it happens.

I decided to look and see if 10.9 fixed the issue. It apparently has not.

Since I do a lot of video and audio editing, I tend to have a lot of files on my main drive after recording them. Moving them off the drive frees up space, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what is taking up so much space on my hard drive in the first place. I routinely move large movie files from my main drive, but can never get the free space to get above 500 GB. I thought it might be my downloads folder, but that is only 31 GB. My movies folder is the largest, with 101 GB, but after I take what I need out of what I record, I move the edited footage off the drive and delete the unneeded files, so that is constantly in flux.

It also doesn't help that OS X decides I, for some ungoly reason, need a VM size of over 200 GB and it also decides to constantly hold RAM as inactive for programs I might open once a week (when I can keep it on for that long)... and STILL swaps, even though that inactive memory is supposed to be freed when something else needs it.

I shouldn't have to watch my free hard drive space like a hawk when I have between 300 to almost 500 GB free at any given time or risk haveing the OS tell me I have no available memory for running programs. That's just insane.

It's also the reason that after a decade of using Macs, I am going back to Windows on my next computer. The video and audio editing programs there are just s good, now, and I know that I won't have to watch my hard drive space as closely when I have plenty of free RAM and hard drive space available.

Face it, OS X has some horrible memory management issues and has for a while, now (at least since 10.7). I've been dealing with its running out of memory for applications issue for a year or more on 10.8, with activity monitor not showing anything is taking up GBs of memory. And now more people are dealing with the issue since upgrading to 10.9.

You can see the size of the swapfiles with the following in Terminal…

ls -lh /private/var/vm/swapfile*

I suspect a 'sleepimage' file may be larger (if you have hibernation mode active). That will be in the same directory…

ls -lh /private/var/vm/

Also take a look at WhatSize or GrandPerspective

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

http://www.whatsizemac.com/index.php (not free)

They should show you where disk space is used if you give them time to index it all. Have a look to see if there are any logs that are spiraling out of control (examine /Library/Logs, ~/Library/Logs, /var/log). Sometimes they can eat space out of sight. I'd look at the cache sizes in your library too, but they may only be regenerated if you delete them.

If you have a spinning HD you should probably take a look at some benchmarks, this has some great info…

http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-WhyYouNeedMoreThanYouNeed.html

I don't know how relevant it is to you but I found that running with half empty spinning disks gave better performance than when they are getting full.

SSD's don't have the speed decrease so consider an upgrade if you think it will help. Work out the disk model you have installed & search for some benchmarks, you may find it's all disk IO that is slowing you down.

http://etresoft.com/etrecheck lists the disk model along with a lot of other info (use it to review your kernel extensions & other system level stuff).

Activity Monitor should show you everything if you select the 'all processes' option, You can also see 'real memory' & virtual memory per process if you select the headings & enable those columns. Try keeping a record of the disk IO & transfer speeds when it slows down too.

Sorry if this is no help, I don't know what is going on with your Mac but it sounds 'more disk' than 'memory'?

PS video apps work best if you can keep media on a separate fast internal or external disk. Streaming large files to and from the same disk as the OS can be problematic.

I am also having the same issue... system has run out of application memory. I ran etrecheck, and here is what my system looks like...

I sure would appreciate any help that some of you experts may have with this... thanks in advance...

Here is the report:

Hardware Information:

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)

iMac - model: iMac12,1

1 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4 cores

8 GB RAM

Video Information:

AMD Radeon HD 6770M - VRAM: 512 MB

System Software:

OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 0:18:51

Disk Information:

ST31000528AS disk0 : (1 TB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 999.35 GB (698.59 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5690H

USB Information:

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Seagate Backup+ BK 1 TB

EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Seagate Backup Plus Drive (disk1s2) /Volumes/Seagate Backup Plus Drive: 999.86 GB (459.66 GB free)

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Wacom Co.,Ltd. Intuos PTM

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

FireWire Information:

Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Kernel Extensions:

Problem System Launch Daemons:

Problem System Launch Agents:

Launch Daemons:

[System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.barebones.textwrangler.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.crashplan.engine.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.flipvideo.FlipShareServer.launchd.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link

[invalid] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

[System] com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.backupd-auto.plist 3rd-Party support link

Launch Agents:

[System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist 3rd-Party support link

[invalid] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

[System] com.wacom.pentablet.plist 3rd-Party support link

[System] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link

[not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist 3rd-Party support link

[not loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link

[not loaded] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

Dropbox

To-do Lists 2

CrashPlan menu bar

To-do Lists

Internet Plug-ins:

WacomNetscape: Version: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 3rd-Party support link

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 3rd-Party support link

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.2.3 3rd-Party support link

WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 3rd-Party support link

Silverlight: Version: 4.0.60531.0 3rd-Party support link

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.1 3rd-Party support link

GarminGpsControl: Version: 2.7.1.0 Release 3rd-Party support link

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Outdated! Update

Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

User Internet Plug-ins:

WebEx64: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link

Move_Media_Player: Version: npmnqmp 071301000022 3rd-Party support link

WebEx: Version: 1.0 3rd-Party support link

Picasa: Version: 1.0 3rd-Party support link

3rd Party Preference Panes:

ADOView 3rd-Party support link

Fan Control 3rd-Party support link

Flash Player 3rd-Party support link

Flip4Mac WMV 3rd-Party support link

Growl 3rd-Party support link

Perian 3rd-Party support link

PenTablet 3rd-Party support link

WacomTablet 3rd-Party support link

Bad Fonts:

None

Old Applications:

Microsoft Language Register: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools/Microsoft Language Register/Microsoft Language Register.app

QIF Master: Version: 10.3 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

/Users/[redacted]/Documents/SOFTWARE/QIFMaster10.3/QIF Master.app

Solver: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins/Solver.app

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/WebEx Folder/1224

Cisco WebEx Meeting Center: Version: 11.24.32.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

asannotation2: Version: 8.25.31.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

atmsupload: Version: 4.14.29.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

convertpdf: Version: 1.2 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011

Microsoft PowerPoint: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Excel: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Outlook: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Word: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Document Connection: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office

Microsoft Graph: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Database Utility: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Office Reminders: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Upload Center: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

My Day: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

SyncServicesAgent: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Open XML for Excel: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Alerts Daemon: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Database Daemon: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Chart Converter: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Clip Gallery: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

Wondershare Helper Compact: Version: 2.2.6.4 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Helper/Wondershare Helper Compact.app

/Applications/iWork '09

Network Recording Player: Version: 2.2.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/WebEx Folder/500/Network Recording Player.app

Coda: Version: 1.7.5 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

/Users/[redacted]/Documents/SOFTWARE/CODA/Coda.app

Microsoft AutoUpdate: Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0

Microsoft Error Reporting: Version: 2.2.9 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

Microsoft Ship Asserts: Version: 1.1.4 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link

Senuti: Version: 1.2.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link

/Users/[redacted]/Documents/SOFTWARE/Senuti.app

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 930.71 GB Disk used: 280.10 GB

Destinations:

Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 931.19 GB

Total number of backups: 61

Oldest backup: 2013-01-28 22:16:45 +0000

Last backup: 2014-02-17 13:09:26 +0000

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 931.19 GB > (Disk used 280.10 GB X 3)

Time Machine details may not be accurate.

All volumes being backed up may not be listed.

/sbin excluded from backup!

/usr excluded from backup!

/System excluded from backup!

/bin excluded from backup!

/private excluded from backup!

/Library excluded from backup!

/Applications excluded from backup!

Top Processes by CPU:

3% WindowServer

2% firefox

1% Activity Monitor

0% EtreCheck

0% sysmond

Top Processes by Memory:

344 MB firefox

188 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent

123 MB mds_stores

106 MB CrashPlanService

90 MB WindowServer

Virtual Memory Information:

4.35 GB Free RAM

1.79 GB Active RAM

865 MB Inactive RAM

1.01 GB Wired RAM

398 MB Page-ins

0 B Page-outs

Old kernel extensions & startup items have been a cause for issues with other users, you don't have any, so I'd look at the system jobs…

Anything labled [System] is running 'across the entire OS'.

Launch Daemons, Launch Agents, User Launch Agents:

These are all background jobs, they are not necessarily bad, but if they are loading old code it could be doing untold damage to the performance & stability of the entire OS. Focus on the System level jobs (the ones inside /Library - the system level).

I would remove the 2 invalid Oracle jobs (probably in /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons )…

[invalid] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

…

[invalid] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Be aware that Oracle's updater has been failing to run - that means Java is not up to date. If you use Java update it otherwise remove it, it poses a potential security risk, especially when left at old versions.

For each of the other listed jobs check that the software is up to date, if you don't use it, find out how to uninstall it via the developers site - leaving active software behind may not help matters.

User login items:

Applications and helpers that are managed inside 'Systems Preferences > Users and groups > Login Items tab'.

These are loaded at the 'User level', consider removing all of them whilst you troubleshoot. When you decide to re-add them ensure the software is up to date.

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

Dropbox

To-do Lists 2

CrashPlan menu bar

To-do Lists

Do you need 2 copies of To-do lists running at login?

3rd Party Preference Panes: & Internet Plug-ins:

/Library/PreferencePanes/ and ~/Library/PreferencePanes/

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ and ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/

Update these items or remove them from your system. If the prefpanes manage additional software use the uninstaller or see the developers site for uninstall instructions. You can also right click to remove 3rd party preference panes in System preferences.

Read the list of Internet plug-ins carefully, if Safari or browsers misbehave it could be because of a plugin.

Don't forget to also update Safari's extensions in it's preferences (if you have any).

Re-run EtreCheck after cleaning up to see if items have returned (some apps will reload the background jobs when re-opened, so either update or remove the software).

Also check for updates to any apps you use all the time like Firefox and check that any plugins or extensions are up to date within Firefox, if the developers site doesn't say 10.9 is supported consider removing it if you can live without it.

I am also seeing this happen fairly frequently.

In my case I have a pretty new Late 2013 15" Macbook Pro with 16GB RAM, and also the discrete GPU.

I didn't migrate over a previous computer, just installed a few things as needed - so I don't really have old system extenstions.

For me I get this "out of application" error primarily when running Aperture. It happens a few times a week. I am not 100% sure but it seems like runnign Safari makes the problem worse, generally I close most other things when runnign Aperture, but I do leave Mail and Safari open.

I would be nice to figure out how to monitor for this problem, or end it - a number of times it's locked up the system enough I had to manually power off, which at times has meant a library rebuild for Aperture.

Well, join me to the chorus here. I've done everything up and down and no result, and agree with many digging into what the issues may be or what may exacerbate the symptom.

With all my experience, this certainly does seem to be something between Mavericks and the new iWork apps (iWork could exacerbate it just as much too).

This is really the most disappointed I've been with Apple in as far as I could remember.

iWork is avery good guess. I was just about to fire up Aperture, and looked at the system activity app for memory use. kernel_task was using about 6.5 GB, typical of what I see aorund the time I get applcaition memory errors.

I had Numbers open, so quit that - immediate reduction down to 2.13 GB in kernel_task.

Another odd thing I've noticed having Numbers open is constant disk activity, again visible in Activity Monitor, and vanishing when I close Numebrs.

Having this issue with 2013 13" Retina MBP. Just bumping the issue so it might be fixed.

I don't think bumping threads works that way, Apple don't seem to change things by number of posts, but whatever.

If you want to do some actual troubleshooting I'd suggest you provide more info about the Mac, or go to a genuis bar.

Not necessarily - I don't have iWorks etc on my Mac Air 1.8 Ghz i5 10.9.2

But it's annoying and has only just started for me.

I just got a late iMac 2013. I got this same message. 3TB fusion drive and 32GB of ram so I don't see how that is possible.

I noticed it happens when running a time machine backup. I haven't been able to run a backup since moving my data to this iMac from the previous backup on a MacBook pro

I held off on the upgrade but when the latest security issue hit, I did it. Now I am seeing this all the time. I'm getting it when I'm not even doing much of anything (web browsing, email, etc.)

Something is badly wrong with the upgrade.

I got the message just a few minutes ago and tried go ignore it as I was working on something important at the time. About 2 seconds later (literally) I got a bluescreen. Or, in the case of Apple, a gray screen and forced reboot.

What's going on?

Is it easy to roll back my latest update?

luthersboy wrote:

What's going on?

Is it easy to roll back my latest update?

It could be older software that is loading into the system if you used Migration Assistant or upgraded from an earlier OS to 10.9 or it could be any of the 'normal' reasons computers break - failing hardware, misconfigured software, damaged files…

You can try the regular troubleshooting like repairing the disk in recovery mode…

Recovery mode

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Reset the PRAM

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Using Apple Hardware Test

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

Reset the SMC

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Safe mode

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

EtreCheck reports are an easy way to show what is running (but please make a new thread so people can focus on your issues).

Roll back will depend on what backups you have. A full system clone before the update makes it easy, Time Machine will allow you to pick a point in time but it less easy because you must install 10.9.1 first.

10.9.2 fixed a risky security hole, so you really want to avoid rolling back if at all possible.