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Luis_Mercado Author

Level 1

46 points

Guide: How to solve Yosemite memory leaks and CPU usage

I post this hoping to help those users who, like me, are experiencing high CPU usage and massive memory leaking with OS X core services and apps, leading to slow performance and battery drain.

I've tried everything mentioned, but found the right combination of steps to follow. I've tried this with seven different Apple computers, including mine, and has worked well so far. I applied this method yesterday to give these process a 24 hour window to fail again, so far everything good.

First step: disconnect any external or secondary monitors, if any is present. The video memory allocation leak can also happen if you have a system with an integrated card, like Intel, with no external monitors attached.

Second step: Shut down your machine and enter Safe Mode (press shift once you turn on your computer again, more info below). Once you're there, fix your disk permissions.

Guide of how to access Safe Mode: OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?

Third step: From Safe Mode turn off your machine again and reset your System Management Controller (SMC). There are different methods, depending on machine, to do this. To know what method applies to yours read the following guide.

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Fourth step: Once your machine completes a full boot after resetting the SMC turn it off again and reset your PRAM (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP, BUT THE PREVIOUS ONES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR THIS ONE TO WORK). The PRAM stores small bits of data that indicate our Apple computer how to interact with the devices connected to it, including monitors and video cards. It also affects software.

To reset it you should hold the OPTION, COMMAND, P and R keys in your keyboard immediately after turning on your machine again.You'll hear the start up chime, continue pressing the keys until the machine boots and the chime starts A SECOND TIME, then release. IF YOUR YOSEMITE INSTALLATION LOCKS UP AT A BLACK SCREEN AFTER THIS, DONT PANIC! It's normal, just turn off your computer and let it boot again.

More info about PRAM: OS X Mavericks: Reset your computer’s PRAM

Voila, reconnect your external displays and enjoy your system.

Message was edited by: Luis_Mercado

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 23, 2014 10:45 AM

557 replies

Nov 9, 2014 2:28 AM in response to Baresaidwhat

Here's what seems to have fixed the problem for me:

I reinstalled Yosemite (shut down, Cmd + R on start)
Having done that, App Store reported available updates, one of which Version 5 beta. This surprised me as I was definitely running 10.10, but realising I had little to lose at this point I played along and let it install.
Having done that, App Store reports Version 6 beta as available. So I installed that too.
On reboot, my MBP immediately feels as responsive as it should and reports as running 10.10. RAM usage initially looked higher than I'd expect, but performance was fine, and gradually the numbers have begun to look more normal (currently running two Safari tabs, iTunes, Evernote, Mail and App Store with about 3.5GB of RAM free – prior to this process, the free RAM would be measured in MB). Also interestingly, App Store is now reporting the availability of 10.10.1 beta seed, which wasn't happening before despite having the machine set to continue receiving betas.

So in my case, I'm guessing that the RAM problem arose from some problem with upgrading from the beta release to the public release. I'd be interested to know how many others with the RAM issue were also in the beta programme.

Hope this helps at least some of you.

Csound1

Level 9

60,033 points

Nov 9, 2014 3:12 AM in response to JansVanGild

What is the build number of Yosemite on your Mac?

14A389 is Yosemite 10.10 public release version.

Nov 9, 2014 8:13 AM in response to Luis_Mercado

In Mission Control, disable the option "Displays have separate spaces", this solved the issue for me. Nothing else worked.

bkolas

Level 1

15 points

Nov 10, 2014 1:55 AM in response to Luis_Mercado

This solution actually did help resolve some of the issues in Yosemite, in particular the Wifi seems to be working much better. That said the Mail programs drain on CPU continues. On my MacBook Air 2012 I barely get over 3 hours on a full charge now! When you look up Actively Mail is frequently over 100%, which I do not understand even how this is possible?

Nov 10, 2014 4:47 AM in response to Luis_Mercado

Hello guys, it seems that turning "increase contrast" option on in accessibility settings fixes my exposé choppiness and system lag. Memory leaks are still here and if i have a bunch of open apps the system still lags a bit but nowhere near the previous "slow motion" state. Can anyone confirm this?

ps. i did try turning just transparency off before and did not help very much

Nov 10, 2014 4:49 AM in response to bkolas

Just a heads up to all..I reported this to Apple Support a day after the release candidate was made available. I called it a known issue since I saw hundreds of postings reporting the same situation as I was experiencing - BIG mistake on my part since (as I was chastised) a problem isn't a known issue until one of their engineers says so. Whatever. Anyway, getting a lecture while my business equipment is experiencing rather severe technical issues didn't set well and I was a tad irate at best. I got bumped higher and higher up the chain when it was clear to them that I wasn't about to just let this rest. When I had made it up to the engineering department they were able to document what was going on with my machine and we went through all the typical gymnastics (safe mode, reinstallation etc.) and finally they had me taking screenshots of the activity monitor real-time as the "episodes" occurred. I was sent diagnostic software and ran reports over the next few days as these episodes were happening. Finally they said I provided what they needed and they hoped to have a resolution by Friday - that would be Friday October 31st. That Friday came and I got a call from the supervisor I was assigned to and he said that there was nothing as of yet but he would check in with me next Friday. Well, last Friday came and went with no word. Looking on the bright side, at least Apple does know about this and is actively (I hope) working towards resolution. Downside, this must be a bear of an issue to correct otherwise there would have been a patch by now.

CielDark

Level 1

0 points

Nov 10, 2014 7:19 PM in response to Luis_Mercado

Thank you! the mac now is much faster than before。But it is still very slow while typing Chinese......

So，I don't know whether my operation is correct.

I boot mac after reset smc，then I reboot it again to reset PRAM。Is this opreation correct？

I operated as below：

1.disconnect with monitor,

2.restart mac and get into safe mode

3.fix disk permissions.

4.shut down mac

5.remove battery,press start button to reset smc then connect the battery again。

6.restart and login system。
7.restart and hold the OPTION, COMMAND, P and R keys for 1 second than macbook auto restart again。

Nov 10, 2014 11:31 PM in response to Luis_Mercado

That worked, WindowServer is now always below 8%. I'm happy

CoinOP1

Level 1

5 points

Nov 11, 2014 5:45 AM in response to Luis_Mercado

Doing this was the biggest mistake. After PRAM the only choice I had was reinstall Yosemite or use Time Machine.

Now my whole system is ******! Apps don't work, activate tons of liscenses again, reinstall soundlibraries just to name a few......

grdh20

Level 1

78 points

Nov 11, 2014 7:29 AM in response to Luis_Mercado

Has the 2nd beta of 10.10.1 helped anyone with any of this?

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,227 points

Nov 11, 2014 12:10 PM in response to grdh20

grdh20 wrote:

Has the 2nd beta of 10.10.1 helped anyone with any of this?

Anyone in possession of such a beta would be restricted from discussing any aspect of it by their Non-Disclosure Agreement with Apple.

Nov 11, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Luis_Mercado

While I have not been experiencing memory leaks with 10.10, as of yet. Luis' steps are good practice. I have been doing above initialisation-scenario for years (Aside from unplugging all periphery) sometime several times a month. This really works. Kudos to Luis for putting it up for everyone to see !

Nov 11, 2014 4:12 PM in response to Luis_Mercado

Really, really helpful Luis - this solved my extraordinary issues with fans whirring and mail using well over 100% of CPU at times. I systematically worked it all through. A couple of additional points for those using MacBook Airs 2013+:

a) Booting into safe mode didn't work for me holding the shift key down. I had to run the commands in terminal to get it to work. The way to do this is explained on Luis' link above if you click through to the Guide.

b) You'll need to reverse those terminal commands once you've booted again to get out of safe mode (also explained in that guide).

c) In safe mode I found that there wasn't an option to fix permissions from the login screen (at least I couldn't find one) so log in as the usual user and then find "disk utility" and repair permissions there before shutting down again.

d) The steps are fairly laborious but I carefully followed them and I now have a quiet tame MBA for the first time in a little while.

Thanks Luis.