Do I need more ram? 878,842 Page Ins, 267,732 pageouts

Hey everyone. I'm running a Late 2006 Macbook, 2.0 C2D, 2GB ram. After 3 days uptime, I have 878,842 Page Ins, 267,732 pageouts, and I think that's bad? I seem to be getting a lot of beachballs when even doing simple things, like Safari... On the whole, the system doesn't seem very fast, but it should be... Running 10.5.6, All the updates. 120GB, >40GB free.

Any thoughts? Permissions/Filesystem all fine.

costabunny said:

WHat other apps do you have loaded?

Click to expand...

I've got a ton of apps total, but I don't super multitask or anything. Even just with using Safari, playing iTunes, and no background apps, it seems to be slowing, but I don't know why.
Edit: Mail is also always running.

r.j.s said:

You can never go wrong with more RAM, and for your MB, all you need is one 2GB DDR2 667. (Assuming you have 2x1GB installed ...)

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have 2x1 right now. Is getting a 1x2 and a 2x1 advisable, or?

Sun Baked said:

Depends on which app you need if for, but 3 days uptime can skew the results.

You need to restart and run an app test for the app you are worried about. Or an app with a typical load of background processes.

Simply loading 30 memory hungry apps might skew the result, since it'll pageout to swap another app into active memory. But not while the apps are running.

---

Could be stuff in your current user that is slowing stuff down, with the 10.5.6 update -- i'd check the logs to see if there is an recurring error.

Click to expand...

I just restarted, and have free ram now, obviously. That said, Safari even beachballed when I came to post this. when I got to the website, it beachballed about 30s after clicking th link... There are basically no apps running, and iStat is hovering ~~90% free CPU...
I checked the logs, ScreenSaverEngine has crashed today, that's it.

r.j.s said:

Well, since you have 2x1, all you need is 1x2GB in combination with 1x1GB you already have to make 3GB, unless you want to get 2x2GB to max out at 3.3GB.

Click to expand...

Makes sense, thanks.
EDIT: One other thing... I can't find my 10.5 disk, can I use my 10.4 disk to re-repair the filesystem?

Sun Baked said:

What are the log in items, hopefully no soul sapping crap like Norton.

And the logs should show more, when I check Console Messages, All Messages, and System.Log I can usually see if something is causing problems in the OS.

Click to expand...

Just Mail. What should I be looking for/where for the other logs?

Sun Baked said:

Utilities/Console.app/Show Log List

Click to expand...

There's a ton of stuff in here, where do I go after that?

Sun Baked said:

Looks like an unresolved current 10.5.6 issue with people trying to link it to

.Mac sync?

Time Machine?

ancient usb/FW devices?

Dock crashes and torrent downloads?

Can try a SMC reset to see if it is loosely related to the 10.5.6 update causing SMC issues.

Click to expand...

I don't use .Mac
I have a FW connected TM drive, but it's not plugged in right now, still having issues.
Same for two external USB 2.0 drives. ~~18 months old, not now plugged in, still having issues.

SMC reset done. The fans seem quieter, but I don't know if that's a coincidence or not. They aren't fully spun up, as they seem to randomly do.


Even when I clicked quote to make this reply, the mouse icon stayed on the hand for about 5s, then beachballed about 10s, then started loading.

Thanks for the help though, should I re-screengrab the console?

Good news.
After doing everything you all suggested, I went ahead and ordered a 1x2GB stick, so I now have 3GB total. I also took a hairdryer on cold, blew ALL of the dust out of my machine (I think that realllly helped). The machine is now MUCH smoother, it's running much cooler, and the fans are wonderfully silent now.

Currently at 26hrs uptime, 230 pageouts, and very, very few beachballs. Overall system response is greatly improved.

Thanks much, everyone.