Dashboard/RAM and USB3/2 issues observed

[Shpongled1]

In case you need this: MBA 2012, 11' i7 2.0, 8GB RAM, Mountain Lion 10.8.2

I experienced on a few occasions that when I do anything in the dashboard, and by anything, I mean doing a few simple calculations in the calculator or in the converter, the Dashboard goes crazy (usually after a couple of minutes) and just sucks up a huge amount of RAM, for no visible reason. Do I need to add that it leads to (over)heating of the little, heat vulnerable MBA? Memory Clean doesn't help cleaning up the RAM in this case.

Fortunately quitting the Dashboard through the Activity Monitor helps. Weird issue, anyone else experienced similar thing? On the second picture you can see that a freshly started Dashboard takes only 33MB instead of over 1,7GB. The largest I observed was nearly 5GB. Now if this is not a system issue... do I have a virus or sth?






I hope the USB3/2.0 support will be fixed soon because it's quite ridiculous how it works currently . For instance I need to use a USB2.0 hub plugged to the USB3 port in order to use a mobile broadband modem (Huawei E353), otherwise it won't even see the device. Interestingly the very same device works flawlessly plugged directly to the very sam MBA when it's running Windows 7. Now another odd part - the USB3 drivers dedicated for this machine failed to install on Windows 7. Ergo, the USB3/2 drivers are screwed on the Mountain Lion and I'm afraid that the compatibility issues have nothing to do with the electrical output as suggested on some discussion boards.

Any suggestions or any input is very welcome, thanks

 

[justperry]

In case you need this: MBA 2012, 11' i7 2.0, 8GB RAM, Mountain Lion 10.8.2

I experienced on a few occasions that when I do anything in the dashboard, and by anything, I mean doing a few simple calculations in the calculator or in the converter, the Dashboard goes crazy (usually after a couple of minutes) and just sucks up a huge amount of RAM, for no visible reason. Do I need to add that it leads to (over)heating of the little, heat vulnerable MBA? Memory Clean doesn't help cleaning up the RAM in this case.

Fortunately quitting the Dashboard through the Activity Monitor helps. Weird issue, anyone else experienced similar thing? On the second picture you can see that a freshly started Dashboard takes only 33MB instead of over 1,7GB. The largest I observed was nearly 5GB. Now if this is not a system issue... do I have a virus or sth?

[url=http://s9.postimage.org/k4x3ocluj/Screen_Shot_2013_03_14_at_11_23_27_AM.jpg]Image[/url]

[url=http://s10.postimage.org/fdts4y7dx/Screen_Shot_2013_03_14_at_11_24_36_AM.jpg]Image[/url]


I hope the USB3/2.0 support will be fixed soon because it's quite ridiculous how it works currently . For instance I need to use a USB2.0 hub plugged to the USB3 port in order to use a mobile broadband modem (Huawei E353), otherwise it won't even see the device. Interestingly the very same device works flawlessly plugged directly to the very sam MBA when it's running Windows 7. Now another odd part - the USB3 drivers dedicated for this machine failed to install on Windows 7. Ergo, the USB3/2 drivers are screwed on the Mountain Lion and I'm afraid that the compatibility issues have nothing to do with the electrical output as suggested on some discussion boards.

Any suggestions or any input is very welcome, thanks

First to make it clear to you, you don't have a virus, read the next link first, I have OS X for over 10 years and never had any malware.

Mac Virus/Malware FAQ - Mac Guides


How many Widgets do you have running, might have one with a leak, best way to get rid of the problem is to remove all widgets from Dashboard, wait for 5 minutes and see if you still get RAM/Memory leaks, if not add one at a time and look how it goes, as soon as the Dashboard starts eating RAM you know which one it is.

As for the USB trouble, if you install USB drivers on the windows install and use them there it won't affect the other side at all, when you restart into OS X all settings are gone from Windows.

I have a Huawei USB stick as well, their drivers suck big time, and the software too, I had to use a hack to disable auto install otherwise I got back this crap again and again.
The only thing you need is the driver software, not the App itself, what is it called, mobileblahblah, can't remember this crap Apps name.

 

[Shpongled1]

Thanks for your reply!

I'll probably try disabling the widgets like you said, or I'll just stick to quitting the dashboard when the need occurs. I guess I have to live and deal on my own. But it's just odd...

I also use a hard drive to USB2.0 adapter for my old 2,5 inch hdd. It works when connected through the hub, doesn't work when connected directly to Mac... Works on Win7 without any issues. Just like the Huawei.

 

[justperry]

Thanks for your reply!

I'll probably try disabling the widgets like you said, or I'll just stick to quitting the dashboard when the need occurs. I guess I have to live and deal on my own. But it's just odd...

I also use a hard drive to USB2.0 adapter for my old 2,5 inch hdd. It works when connected through the hub, doesn't work when connected directly to Mac... Works on Win7 without any issues. Just like the Huawei.

Then it seems to me there are issues with the OS, and it most likely is, Mountain Lion is by no means the best nor stable OS X, lots of bugs.