System is running our of application memory after yosemite install

I've recently encountered this same problem while editing video in Final Cut Pro X. While exporting a final video file as an mp4 out of FCPX, I get the error message "Your system has run out of application memory" and then FCPX shuts down without completing the video export.

Yosemite.

Mid-2014 15" MacBook Pro

16GB RAM

500 GB flash drive.

I am running into the same problem. Have Late 2013 Macbook Pro, 8 GB memory. I was scanning photos with image capture and having problems with image when saving to desktop. So I saved to iPhoto. Started getting the twirling rainbow. Then the ""Your system has run out of application memory". Read the post tried PRAM with no results. Checked activity monitor. No Problems. I opened iPhoto and chose photo to print. Showed 100% and then iPhoto not responding. Second screen shot.

I'm having a very similar issue.

Whenever I am running Final Cut Pro X (nothing else running) I get the "Your system has run out of application memory" and the only option I have is to force close FCPX. I tried the PRAM and it didn't help. Anyone know of anything that can be done? I bought this computer for this type of purpose and was never a problem until recently. I noticed when I use Photoshop it would randomly close itself and this only began after upgrading to Yosemite. I hope they come up with some kind of fix because I have a very important project I am working on FCP and this is slowing down my production greatly!

iMac 2014 27"

Yosemite

32GB RAM

i7 3TB Fusion drive.

The answer is easy, but you won't like it. You need to go back to an earlier OS X, like Mavericks 10.9.X (which some say had it's own set of problems) or to Mountain Lion (10.8.X). If you do not have the means (such as a CD or bootable USB stick) to do this yourself the Apple Store will do it for you at no cost, but you'll have to bring your machine in. Not too bad for a laptop, but lugging in a MacPro tower is a pain.

Note also that when "downgrading" to an earlier OS X you can only do this as a clean install--which means you'll have to have all your data files backed up somewhere, and you'll have to reinstall all your applications like Final Cut Pro. Sometimes the latter is challenging particularly for MS-Office when they kind of limit the number of installs per product key.

If you do this, however, your memory problems will go away.

Thanks for the advice. I needed to get it running so a week ago I took it to the local Maccentric repair and this is what they did. That did not seem to take of of the iPhoto problem. So they removed the iPhoto app and reinstalled .

I am back up and running. 🙂

I have not used iPhoto, but am a long time user of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS6. If iPhoto is still giving you trouble, a copy of even an earlier version of Photoshop Elements for the Mac will do you very well. Currently, the latest is V13. V12 is what I'm running, and V10 might be just fine for you if you tire of iPhoto or it doesn't work because of a memory issue. You can probably pick up an earlier version on eBay inexpensively.

I bought V12 a while back at a good price. Have not used yet, but I think now is the time. Especially since Apple is going to discontinue updating iPhoto. Question for you since you use it. When they updated the iPhoto I lost all albums. I have about 3000 photos that are now in just groups by dates imported. Do you think when I import with Organizer that I should import small sections instead of the entire library? I really value your opinion as a user of Elements.

Hi,

I've never used the Elements Organizer, I'm afraid. Many years ago, when I used a PC, and was using an early version of Elements, the Organizer (kind of without my knowledge or intervention) "took over" and started "importing" my photos into its library. I had no idea what it was doing, and since I had thousands of photos spanning many years, was aghast at this intrusion. I stopped it, and could not make one iota of sense out of what it did or why. There didn't seem to be any semblance of intuition in what it did. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, and reasonably savvy with a computer (be it a PC or Mac) but was dumbfounded, mystified and befuddled at what it did. Since that time, because this was so invasive, I have sworn off any kind of photo organizer because nobody can organize my own photos better than myself.

Since that time, I adhere to a simple, easy to understand system. Under the Photos or My Photos folder, I have years; and under each year another subfolder by date, or weekend or event or month, depending on what I've taken. Sometimes I violate this simple system, for example under "2012" I'll have "2012 Lacrosse Season" and under that will have folders for each game. Therefore, the entire subject of my child's sport season is in one folder. It doesn't matter where the photos come from--iPhone or camera, they end up properly nested.

Periodically I'll rename some photos that are very good, or ones that I use for enlargement, sending somewhere, etc. In that case the photo then will have a name besides DSC0001 or IMG0987 or whatever the camera or phone assigns.

Admittedly this is low-tech, and I should go through the Organizer one day and see if it works better, but my system works for me.

joetester wrote:

Using a high end Mac Book Pro LATE 2013. 16GB ram. No programs running except MAIL. Just updated to YOSEMITE and getting the error "Your system has run out of application memory". This make no sense,…

Dear Joetester,

I had problems with Yosemite 10.10.0-10.10.1, giving me this warning too. I tracked it down with the aid of (Apple app) Activity Monitor, and the early warning RAM flush app, Memory Cleaner (FIPLAB). In my case it was an issue with Mail and the account settings in it. My RAM would fill up rapidly when Mail tried to manipulate some IMAP servers (e.g., commercial servers like GoDaddy, not Google nor iCloud). Could this be yours too?

Went from 3-5Gb RAM to 0 very quickly when Mail was open. That's where I started my research. Once the settings were tweaked, the folders rebuilt and the memory cleaned out once. Have no further problems. It happened on two machines until I tracked it down.

Good luck.

Henry,

The Apple Store solved this for me by research they did while I had my computer there last year. They tracked the problem down, quite specifically to a setting on Apple Mail of "store drafts on server" checkbox. Remove that check (i.e. do NOT store drafts on server) and the problem was solved. It was with GoDaddy (secure server.net) servers on IMAP.

GoDaddy admitted that they are not about to put any effort into working on their servers. What is, is, and will be. That's because that's old legacy stuff for them. What they "sell" now is NOT their own mail servers but various forms of Office365. That system, using Outlook, doesn't employ POP or IMAP, but another kind of mail service called Exchange ActiveSync (from which MAPI was derived; MAPI is what some enterprise systems use).

As I mentioned in this thread earlier I couldn't deal with a firm like GoDaddy giving up on a product they offered; I can't wait for Apple to fix their memory leak issues (see other posts in this thread, iPhoto, and movie programs have it too; it isn't limited to mail) so I moved my mail domain over to Office365 Essentials for $5 per month. I also couldn't deal with the somewhat personal as opposed to professional aspect of Apple Mail as opposed to Outlook. So, I made the switch, I run it with my own domain name, on Yosemite-based MacPro; on Mavericks-based MacBook Pro; and iOS iPad and iPhone. It's been a smart decision as it hasn't missed a beat. Everything works the way it is supposed to.

Ditto on my 2012 MacPro with 16GB RAM, mail alone was up to 12GB while Mail was open and I was composing an email! Mail started out doing the same thing on my laptop (MBP). Even tried Memory Clean to see if any other apps were causing it. With Mail not being used (in the background but open, there seems not to be a problem.

What works for me in Yosemite... Earlier Mavericks had these issues as well. In non-Gmail, non-iCloud IMAP accounts (e.g., commercial server accounts specifically GoDaddy):

Set the Store Drafts option to not Server (local).

Set SMTP Servers> Advanced>Automatically detect and maintain... to off.

H

Thanks for the input. When I first installed V12 and clicked on organizer it started downloading and I stopped it. I am just going to keep it simple, use Adobe to retouch some old ones.

Has anyone tried unchecking 'enable power nap' yet? I enabled it because I like to leave my imac on all the time. Today, it started happening to me just as you all describe. It never used to display this behavior before when I didn't have powernap enabled. Just a thought that may lead to a solution.. Well, a band-aid, anyway until a patch comes out that solves the issue.

I think that its a Mac Mail issue. This only happens when I have mail and something else running. Never occurs when its just other apps running.

Rooster,

It's a big part of it--Apple Mail--but not the only program with the memory leak. There are 74 replies on this thread (and other threads in other subjects all having to do with the same basic issues), and other people are reporting similar kinds of things with other programs such as iPhoto. Apple hasn't admitted anything, and they are on the third iteration now of Yosemite, 10.10.2. The "issues addressed" with 10.10.1 and 10.10.2 don't touch the memory leak issue.