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mkerr64 · 12:41 AM

Hi there

I currently have a Mac Pro Quad 2.66 with 2GB RAM (from apple)
I am barley using any of my apps and my RAM free is: around 50mb
Also some programs such as Word do not open

I have no idea what is slowing it down so much

Any suggestions what the problem could be?
and how could i fix it?

note the:
Page ins/outs: 48368/138
roughly 10 min ago

and currently its
63460/779

I apologize for asking all of these questions it just that my Mac Pro has been acting up this month
i am planning to get my stuff backed up fairly soon and then sent to Apple

mduell · May 6, 2007, 01:20 AM

You shouldn't have much, if any, free RAM on a modern operating system. RAM not needed by an application is used for caching files and such. Free memory is wasted memory.

The page in/out ratio is strange, as is Word not opening. Did you use Migration Assistant from an older Mac to your Mac Pro?

I'd try reinstalling OS X. I don't see anything here that Apple is going to fix.

bearcatrp · 08:53 AM

Boot off your install disk. Use disk utility and verify your hard drive. If good, then repair permissions. If any were corrected, do it again. Then when rebooting back to the hard drive, reset the pram. I went through something similar recently with my new (refurb) mac pro. Tried reinstalling and it came to a crawl. Called apple and was sent a new hard drive. So far, seems to work smooth now. I have 2gb ram (4x512) from apple too. Does you system seem to hesitate when launching a program?
Randy

Edit: Just looked at your photo. I see you have temp monitor installed. I had that to when I was having problems. I contacted the maker and they replied stating no known issues with the mac pro. I haven't put it back on my new hard drive.

mkerr64 · May 6, 2007, 10:49 AM

this is my first Mac ever so the migration assistant wont be the problem.
also lately (last week) i had some kernel panics and that was cause of MSN and TechTool fixed that problem

first i am going to backup all of my stuff on and external drive and then run the installer disk-- holding D and etc..

if all fails i will probably just send her in and hope for the best

im still quite confused about the number of page ins/out ?

mkerr64 · May 6, 2007, 04:27 PM

just a few min ago the Temperature Monitor gave me a kernel panic for the first time. i've deleted that program and restarted and it seems to be running smoother (592mb free ram)
but the pages ins/out is still messed up
36,205/0 ????

bearcatrp · May 6, 2007, 05:23 PM

As long as the page outs are not more than 10-20 percent of page ins, your ok. Page outs is when you don't have enough memory and the overflow gets written to the hard drive thus writting twice to the hard drive meaning slower system performance. The closer to zero for page outs, the better. I still think that temp monitor is a problem on the mac pro. I do use fmc tempcontrol to speed up the fans a little to keep it cooler.
Randy

mkerr64 · May 6, 2007, 06:56 PM

i wish there was a program that told you which app is slowing down your Mac

mkerr64 · 12:11 AM

AGAIN it running at 28MB free ram??
this time im only running Messenger, Safari, Finder and thats it

Please help again

Note: that DIsk Activity is close to its max and i am not doing anything
--------------------------------------
does anyone else have the Logitech MX Revolution?
cause im thinking its giving me some problems, but im not sure

right now the pages ins/out is 67384/27789 ---- does this mean i would need more ram? if so how much would you suggest i get? 2gb or 4?
and wich configuration? (512, 1, 2 gb)?

bearcatrp · May 7, 2007, 08:56 AM

You definately need more ram but something isn't right. Go into activity monitor, take a look at your active processes. Here you will see what is actively running. Have another computer hooked to the internet and use google to search what each one means. With only those apps running, something is running in the back ground eating up your resources.
Randy

OreoCookie · May 7, 2007, 11:18 AM

At first, I thought your bittorrent client is the culprit. They have a tendency to screw up the system (same goes for Windows, by the way). But now, I would run the Apple Hardware Test (insert your install DVD, restart and press D).

CatOne · May 7, 2007, 11:47 AM

Well, you DO have a lot of dashboard widgets running. I see 10 of them on the screen, how many more do you have?

The number of page outs you have though, 138 on the screen shot and later rising to 700, isn't excessive.

mkerr64 · 11:36 PM

i restarted and i noticed the TechTool Pro 4 was running 99.4%.
since then i've deleted the program and still my comp is running at 23mb

Here are all of my stats from active monitor with more detail:
1 pic) without azureus
2 pic) with azureus

almost a 50mb differece

i am still confused what is clogging the RAM up

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i am also thinking about upgrading the ram. im not sure which one to go with 2gb or 4?

somthing like:
eBay: 4GB APPLE MAC PRO DDR2 667 RAM MACPRO MEMORY 4X 1GB ECC (item 290111671794 end time May-08-07 18:30:00 PDT)

eBay: 4GB 2X2GB DDR2 OPTIVAL� RAM MEMORY APPLE MAC PRO NEW!!! (item 180113433355 end time May-08-07 02:44:47 PDT)

eBay: 2GB 2X1GB DDR2 HYPERFORMANCE� RAM MEMORY APPLE MAC PRO (item 180112073937 end time May-08-07 16:09:46 PDT)

are there any companies to avoid?

OreoCookie · May 8, 2007, 12:09 AM

Ok, again: Bittorrent clients tend to fcuk with your system (which is true on any platform). Then: unless you feel that your system is slow, you probably don't need RAM and it's normal that OS X will use all available RAM to make your system faster (by caching stuff in the RAM). A large number of page ins isn't really a problem, a large number of page-outs is. Since your page-out count on one occasion was 0 (which caused confusion), this is something good, because it says that your system has so much RAM at its disposal that it didn't need to put anything on your harddrive (virtual memory). On the last two pics, you had only 175 page-outs, hardly anything to worry about.

I still think that both, LimeWire and particularly your Bittorrent client are the most likely culprits here. Then, perhaps a faulty harddrive or faulty RAM might be to blame. Since you have TechTool, you can use that to check whether your harddrive is working. The Apple Hardware Test should be run as well.

EricTheRed · May 8, 2007, 02:18 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

You shouldn't have much, if any, free RAM on a modern operating system. RAM not needed by an application is used for caching files and such. Free memory is wasted memory.

The page in/out ratio is strange, as is Word not opening. Did you use Migration Assistant from an older Mac to your Mac Pro?

I'd try reinstalling OS X. I don't see anything here that Apple is going to fix.

I'm wasteful.

richwig83 · May 8, 2007, 05:13 AM

Free RAM is wasted RAM... Dont get screwed up about it

mkerr64 · May 8, 2007, 05:02 PM

ive used the torrent and limewire applications since august and i had no problems

OreoCookie · May 8, 2007, 05:49 PM

Apparently you do have problems and bittorrent seems like a prime suspect to me. I've compiled a small list above, why don't you try to check each point and tell us what happens?

mkerr64 · May 8, 2007, 06:44 PM

i will preform the Hardware test as soon as i purchase a 1tb external drive to back up most of my stuff
and then i can only hope for the best

thanks for the advice guys
i will tell you what happens after this test

cgc · May 8, 2007, 07:12 PM

After looking at what processes you have open I think you do need more memory or you need to kill some of those Dashboard widgets. Each one uses a couple meg, add up all the memory used on the Activity Monitor screenshot and it's >1MB.

mkerr64 · 11:43 AM

oh boy
one person says not to upgrade while the other person says to upgrade