skoobey

Q: Mac pro 4,1 2009 every OS but the Snow Leopard takes 6gb of RAM just on boot? Yosemite unusable

I have a 2009 Mac Pro quad 2.66 ghz with original 12gb of ram(an option at time of pruchace, but I also have different modules for 6gb from another machine of the same series, problem is not related to the RAM modules). I also have multiple hard drives and tried installing everything from Lion onwards to any of those (even having a single drive in the system), and the problem presists.

 

The issue:

When I boot up Snow Leopard system takes around 1.5-2gb of ram and that is perfectly fine. Everything works great.

When I boot up Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, the system itself takes 6gb of RAM or more just too boot. This can't be right, how would any newer Mac even work with their 4gb.

I noticed that in Activity monitor system automatically opens a ton of apps that have no use on my system like WiFi(that I don't have). Seems like it automatically boots every single app that is part of the system, it takes it like 30 minutes to load all those useless features, and system is crawling then, works ok 30 minutes in but I have half my ram wasted.

 

How do I stop it from doing this? Everything is fine with Snow Leopard, but I am stuck in it, and I can't purchase a lot of apps that I would if I could actually use newer software?

Mac Pro

Posted on Apr 3, 2015 10:29 AM

Close

Q: Mac pro 4,1 2009 every OS but the Snow Leopard takes 6gb of RAM just on boot? Yosemite unusable

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next
  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad Apr 3, 2015 10:34 AM in response to skoobey
    Level 10 (141,137 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 3, 2015 10:34 AM in response to skoobey

    Download and run Etrecheck.  Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here (and recommended by Apple Support personnel) in the ASC to help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

     

    OTsig.png

  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Apr 3, 2015 10:53 AM in response to skoobey
    Level 6 (14,355 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 3, 2015 10:53 AM in response to skoobey

    If the RAM is not installed properly, it may not be registering correct at the highest speed.

    And if any of the RAM is less than ideal, under the load of the processor series, it may balk.

     

    Maximum Memory    48 GB (Quad-Core Actual)  128 GB (8-Core Actual) 16 GB (Quad-Core Apple)  32 GB (8-Core Apple)

    Memory Slots    4 (Quad-Core) or 8 (8-Core) - 240-pin PC3-8500 (1066MHz) DDR3 ECC SDRAM

     

    •Mac Pro (Mid 2012 and earlier): How to remove or install memory - Apple Support

     

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

     

    {according to - http://mactracker.ca - based on early 2009 Mac Pro information as follows}

     

    Model Identifier    MacPro4,1

    Model Number    A1289

    EMC    2314

    Order Number    MB871LL/A (2.66 GHz), MB535LL/A (two 2.26 GHz)

     

    Depending on the configuration of hardware based on order number & options, specs may vary.

    Another item to check may be everymac.com and their ultimate lookup guide to confirm specs.

    Of course the results of the suggested report may be helpful. So would Console logs and a look

    into the system itself from a command-line report, such as Mr Davis suggests.

     

    Were there any curious results from any diagnostic tests or hardware tests in the system?

     

    Good luck & happy computing!

  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 11:08 AM in response to Old Toad
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 11:08 AM in response to Old Toad

    Problem description:

    Yosemite takes up 4.5-6gb of ram just on boot compared to the 1.5-2 gb that Snow Leopard takes on the same system

     

    Mac pro 2009 4,1 quad.

     

    EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)

    Report generated 3 Apr 2015 19:51:26 GMT+2

    Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

     

    Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

    Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

     

    Hardware Information: ℹ️

        Mac Pro (Early 2009) (Technical Specifications)

        Mac Pro - model: MacPro4,1

        1 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon CPU: 4-core

        12 GB RAM Upgradeable

            DIMM 1

                4 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

            DIMM 2

                4 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

            DIMM 3

                4 GB DDR3 ECC 1066 MHz ok

            DIMM 4

                Empty

        Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

     

    Video Information: ℹ️

        NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 - VRAM: 512 MB

            LED Cinema Display 2560 x 1440

     

    System Software: ℹ️

        OS X 10.9.5 (13F34) - Time since boot: 0:10:33

     

    Disk Information: ℹ️

        HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N

     

        OCZ-VERTEX PLUS R2 disk0 : (61,86 GB)

            EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            System (disk0s2) /Volumes/System : 61.51 GB (17.77 GB free)

     

        WDC WD15EVDS-63V9B0 disk1 : (1,5 TB)

            EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            15 (disk1s2) / : 1.42 TB (103.13 GB free)

            Recovery HD (disk1s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

            Untitled (disk1s4) /Volumes/Untitled : 83.00 GB (62.76 GB free)

     

        WDC WD6400AAKS-41H2B0 disk2 : (640,14 GB)

            EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            OSX (disk2s2) /Volumes/OSX : 639.79 GB (66.55 GB free)

     

    USB Information: ℹ️

        Western Digital My Book 1 TB

            My Book (disk3s1) /Volumes/My Book : 1.00 TB (253.61 GB free)

        Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

            Logitech USB Receiver

            Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard

        WALTOP International Corp. Media Tablet

        Apple Inc. Display Audio

        Apple Inc. Display iSight

        Apple Inc. Apple LED Cinema Display

        Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

     

    Configuration files: ℹ️

        /etc/sysctl.conf - Exists

        /etc/hosts - Count: 29

     

    Gatekeeper: ℹ️

        Mac App Store and identified developers

     

    Kernel Extensions: ℹ️

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [loaded]    com.nvidia.CUDA (1.1.0)

     

            /Volumes/OSX/Applications/Capture One.app

        [not loaded]    com.Leaf.driver.LeafFwXDriverMatcher (1.2.0d1)

     

            /Volumes/System/Applications/iShowU HD.app

        [not loaded]    com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.3.1)

     

    Startup Items: ℹ️

        CUDA: Path: /System/Library/StartupItems/CUDA

        Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

     

    Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️

        [running]    com.blackmagic-design.DaVinciResolveTangentPanelDaemon.plist [Click for support] - WHAT is this??? I installed Da Vinci resolve from the Da Vinci site, it's a free app for single core use and an industry standard, how can it be problematic?

     

    Launch Agents: ℹ️

        [not loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]

        [loaded]    com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist [Click for support]

        [running]    com.canon.MFManager.plist [Click for support]

        [loaded]    com.nvidia.CUDASoftwareUpdate.plist [Click for support]

        [running]    com.penpad.penpadtablet.plist [Click for support]

        [failed]    com.waltop.waltoptablet.plist [Click for support]

     

    Launch Daemons: ℹ️

        [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

        [loaded]    com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist [Click for support]

        [running]    com.edb.launchd.postgresql-8.4.plist [Click for support]

     

    User Launch Agents: ℹ️

        [loaded]    com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist [Click for support]

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]

     

    User Login Items: ℹ️

        iTunesHelper    Application  (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

        iTunesHelper    Application  (/Volumes/OSX/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

        Activity Monitor    Application  (/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app)

        FKeyHandlerX    Application Hidden (/Applications/FKeyHandlerX.app)

     

    Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️

        Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

        FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 11.9.900.170 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

        Flash Player: Version: 11.9.900.170 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update

        QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

        JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.9.0 - SDK 10.7 Check version

        Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️

        CUDA Preferences  [Click for support]

        Flash Player  [Click for support]

        Growl  [Click for support]

     

    Time Machine: ℹ️

        Time Machine not configured!

     

    Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️

             5%    WindowServer

             1%    fontd

             0%    mds_stores

             0%    Activity Monitor

             0%    Google Chrome

     

    Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️

        283 MB    Finder

        193 MB    Google Chrome

        168 MB    mds_stores

        168 MB    com.apple.IconServicesAgent

        52 MB    WindowServer

     

    Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

        9.50 GB    Free RAM

        1.65 GB    Active RAM - WRONG, I ONLY WISH, it's more like:Screen-Shot-2015-04-03-at-19.57.jpg

        834 MB    Inactive RAM

        892 MB    Wired RAM

        653 MB    Page-ins

        0 B    Page-outs

     

    Diagnostics Information: ℹ️

        Apr 3, 2015, 07:39:26 PM    Self test - passed

     

    Basically, 5GB of my RAM is gone just because I turned my computer on, and ok this is on HHD, but even then Snow Leopard is completely functional one minute after I push the power button, Yosemite takes that long too boot, too, but then it takes it another half hour to stop spinning the hard drvie for it's unused apps and actually let me load non-system apps and files and start working.

     

    I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT! How do I stop the system from cache-ing recent files?

  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 11:06 AM in response to K Shaffer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 11:06 AM in response to K Shaffer

    Well, I admit, I am too dumb to do anything on a computer, but all I did was pull the RAM out to get rid of the dust, and pop it back in. It worked fine.

  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Apr 3, 2015 11:44 AM in response to skoobey
    Level 6 (14,355 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 3, 2015 11:44 AM in response to skoobey

    You can't ask more than that, except be nice and polite while

    dusting off the internal components, & not static charge 'em!

     

    PS: You may need to check on the amount of unused capacity in

    the boot hard drive, as that looks like it's getting fuller than ideal.

  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 11:56 AM in response to K Shaffer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 11:56 AM in response to K Shaffer

    I use another SSD as a boot drive, and change the HHDs a lot. Anyway, I find that "Recent files cache" never get's emptied, and that it bites into my RAM, I know it supposed to be cleared for actual current processes, but it never is, I tested over and over again. It holds system files of the apps I never use, like I mentioned WIFi etc, but never my recent documents or apps.

     

    I really would like to go for a Photoshop CC, but performance is just lag-y on Yosemite even on my CS5.

  • by kahjot,

    kahjot kahjot Apr 3, 2015 12:04 PM in response to skoobey
    Level 4 (1,347 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 3, 2015 12:04 PM in response to skoobey

    Going to 24GB of RAM would help, as would increasing the amount of free HD space available for Photoshop's scratch disk needs. A 2009 Mac Pro should be fine, but yours is a little under-equipped.

  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 4:14 PM in response to kahjot
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 4:14 PM in response to kahjot

    More RAM would solve my problem with the system eating up 6gb of ram just to boot up, but not the actual boot up time.

     

    What happens is because it's taking all the time to read those 6 gb and implement it into ram, the system is real sluggish for the first 10 minutes to half an hour upon a startup, now imagine restarting the computer 2 times a day, that's an hour of productivity or fun just gone out of the window.

     

    Oh well, I guess there is no solution, I'll just stick with Snow Leopard for now.

  • by kahjot,

    kahjot kahjot Apr 3, 2015 8:03 PM in response to skoobey
    Level 4 (1,347 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 3, 2015 8:03 PM in response to skoobey

    What you are describing is not normal. The machine shouldn't be sluggish for 10 minutes on startup, regardless of the OS. What was installed when you generated the report above appears to be a very small SSD, and two small Western Digital drives with not much free space left on them. This could account for some of your problems.

     

    You said that you switch HDs a lot. What is the reason for that?

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Apr 3, 2015 8:47 PM in response to skoobey
    Level 5 (7,952 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 3, 2015 8:47 PM in response to skoobey

    That's normal, you're not understanding how OS X memory management has been changed since Snow Leopard. What you're actually seeing is an advancement in memory management.

     

    Maybe this will help: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1582?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 8:51 PM in response to kahjot
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 8:51 PM in response to kahjot

    It boots in 12 seconds and is ready to go on Snow Leopard.

    My System and programs are on SSD, nothing else. HDDs I fill up quite easily because my PSD files are big (1-2gb a file is the average per image) + all the raw files from every shoot, and I don't delete anything, so I shelf them and replace them with new ones until those get filled up and so on. I had two HHDs in the tray because I couldn't remember what was the one I had the Yosemite on and didn't want to go through the download process all over again.

  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 9:02 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 9:02 PM in response to Lanny

    It never let's other apps use that "cache" space, it keeps it unavailable to apps, and instead forces the system to go into virtual memory to give apps the RAM they need. That can't be normal, I've used the Mac book Air with 4gb of ram that runs perfectly and system only uses 1.5gb, so how come it takes Yosemite 5gb to run on a much more powerful machine.

    There must be some setting I'm missing.

     

    P.S. Yes, first I went with the Lion, and the issue started, I tried mountain Lion and the same thing was still ongoing. So I forgot about the whole deal and thought maybe now they finally managed to get this fixed in Yosemite. But no. Or maybe I just don't know how to work around this glitch.

    Let's say I get more ram, I can't wait for the system to load some random files into the ram memory(and is there a limit to how much it's cache-ing?) every time I boot up. If the system took 30% of my 12 gb for this cache that I'm not using, that means it would be loading 12 gb every time I boot up once I update my ram to 32gb, so what an hour of booting up? I'm just confused.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Apr 3, 2015 9:06 PM in response to skoobey
    Level 5 (7,952 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 3, 2015 9:06 PM in response to skoobey

    IAW your own report, you're not using any virtual memory. Read through the report from the link I provided. You're still missing the point. Your memory pressure is low. The system uses more memory on purpose because it is designed to use your available RAM more efficiently.

     

    Screen Shot 2015-04-03 at 11.56.40 PM.jpg

     

    A quote from the explanation:

     

    It should be noted that there are times when Memory Used will be very close to your Physical Memory value, but this does not mean your system doesn’t have enough memory. Instead that memory might be used by the File Cache, which can be quite large. As long as memory pressure is green, don’t worry if it looks like all your memory is being “used”.
  • by skoobey,

    skoobey skoobey Apr 3, 2015 9:17 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 9:17 PM in response to Lanny

    Only because I have opened up nothing.

    Example:

    I open a certain file/s in Snow leopard, it's taking a lot of the memory, but I'm not using my virtual memory.

    I open the same file in Yosemite, oh it's already going into virtual memory, while "cache" stays intact.

    Same PS CS5, same everything, no other apps running.

    I've already gotten used to having "inactive" memory build up on Snow Leopard, and it can't be purged, so I reboot once it starts taking like 40% of RAM, but Lion and above just takes that away from the start. There has got to be a way to stop this cache-ing from occurring???

     

    This is the issue, as many have described: RAM memory filling up soon on my iMAC, after upgrading to OS X 10.9 Mavericks..

    Seems like it has to do with this memory management not working right, I mean there are people with 2014 Mac Pros and 32gb complaining about sluggish systems with no apps running.

    I guess I'll have to try out Lion and see if it works, but as far as I can remember that issue started with Lion, or Maybe I went straight to Mountain Lion, can't remember right now.

Page 1 Next