----------------------------------- Insectoid Sun Sep 04, 2011 1:16 pm Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Long story short, I was on my macbook pro today when it stopped working right. After much investigation I discovered that somehow my computer had reached the maximum number of processes. Because of this I was unable to launch a terminal session to check what was hogging all my processes! I did eventually manage (quitting an app and launching a terminal session right away afterwards) and found the culprit to be none other than the Google Chrome helper! There were hundreds of chrome helper processes that were doing nothing. My CPU was only at around 5% usage. Anyone know what could cause this? I really don't want it to happen again. I'm on OS X 10.6.8. ----------------------------------- DemonWasp Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:03 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- You could try this: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=200311151254441 or this: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050709233920660 I'm not sure why OSX ships with such a low process-per-user limit, but there are ways to increase it. ----------------------------------- Insectoid Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:34 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Why would I want to increase it? Those processes shouldn't have existed at all. I've never reached the cap before. ----------------------------------- DemonWasp Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:37 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Because if the limit is only 100 (OSX default), it doesn't take very long to hit that limit, even with reasonable use. Chrome, for example, will easily launch 30 processes. Add in another few for SSH clients, development environments, desktop environment processes, etc...you could hit 100 pretty easily. For example, my Windows 7 desktop is sitting at 87 processes with only Firefox, Chrome and some background programs (Skype, Steam, ...). If you want to reduce the number of processes Chrome spawns, you may be out of luck; I couldn't find anything on Google in 5 minutes. ----------------------------------- ProgrammingFun Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:53 pm Re: RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Because if the limit is only 100 (OSX default), it doesn't take very long to hit that limit, even with reasonable use. Chrome, for example, will easily launch 30 processes. Add in another few for SSH clients, development environments, desktop environment processes, etc...you could hit 100 pretty easily. For example, my Windows 7 desktop is sitting at 87 processes with only Firefox, Chrome and some background programs (Skype, Steam, ...). If you want to reduce the number of processes Chrome spawns, you may be out of luck; I couldn't find anything on Google in 5 minutes.Same here...Chrome is running 12 processes to keep only CompSci.ca open. Total processes for me right now are 92 with some background programs (not a lot). ----------------------------------- Insectoid Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:57 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- That wasn't the issue. I had no tabs open. Only a single helper process and the application process should have been there. I have like, 30 processes total with iTunes + 2 tabs in Chrome + IRC + IM. I've never had this issue before. This is the kind of thing I was talking about: http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=32004 Now, raising the process limit wouldn't have helped. This is like trying to fix the economy by raising the debt ceiling. All that would do, is allow Chrome to spawn more processes. There is no reason to have 60-70 processes when Chrome has no tabs open. I do appreciate the effort though DemonWasp. ----------------------------------- ProgrammingFun Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:00 pm Re: RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Now, raising the process limit wouldn't have helped. This is like trying to fix the economy by raising the debt ceiling. All that would do, is allow Chrome to spawn more processes. There is no reason to have 60-70 processes when Chrome has no tabs open.Sounds like some country I happen to know :lol: ... ----------------------------------- Insectoid Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:05 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Haha, yeah ProgrammingFun. Exactly like that. Didn't work well did it, though? And ProgrammingFun- if you want to talk on IRC you need to stick around longer than a minute. I'm always in there as Soup. ----------------------------------- ProgrammingFun Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:40 pm Re: RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- And ProgrammingFun- if you want to talk on IRC you need to stick around longer than a minute. I'm always in there as Soup. I always go onto IRC to check reaction times :D ...seriously though, it feels...so...empty there with no-one talking... Anyways, I'll try again :vi: ----------------------------------- chrisbrown Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:57 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- @Insectoid: If you haven't already, take a look at Chrome's internal task manager (Cmd + Opt + Esc). It seems that each enabled plugin gets its own process as well. ----------------------------------- Insectoid Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:01 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Cmd + Opt + Esc are you aware that this is an OS shortcut to open the force-quit menu? @ProgrammingFun- I was in a full-screen app when you were in IRC, so I didn't get the notification that you were there. You kinda have to lurk. Conversation is sporadic. Mostly just me, timmy (timmytheturtle) and rdrake. Sometimes Dan or Bigbear too. ----------------------------------- chrisbrown Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:15 pm Re: Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Ugh that's what I get for skimming instead of reading. I got that from Mun_Jocko's comment Anyway try Menu button > Tools > Task Manager. In case I'm wrong again, I'm sure you can figure out how to get there on your own. ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:25 am Re: Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- I was on my macbook pro today. Well there's your problem. ----------------------------------- Insectoid Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:58 am Re: Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- I was on my macbook pro today. Well there's your problem. That's quite unnecessary. ----------------------------------- ultimatebuster Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:20 am Re: Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- I was on my macbook pro today. Well there's your problem. That's quite unnecessary. Well. I'm just pointing out the problem of a system when I see one. ----------------------------------- Tony Mon Sep 05, 2011 11:38 am Re: Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- I was on my macbook pro today. Well there's your problem. That's quite unnecessary. Well. I'm just pointing out the problem of a system when I see one. Well there's your problem. ----------------------------------- ProgrammingFun Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:27 pm Re: Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- I was on my macbook pro today. Well there's your problem. That's quite unnecessary. Well. I'm just pointing out the problem of a system when I see one. Well there's your problem.Well there's your problem. lolwin... ----------------------------------- Insectoid Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:28 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- This isn't 4chan guys. Go spam/troll somewhere else. ----------------------------------- ProgrammingFun Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:08 pm Re: RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- This isn't 4chan guys. And that is your problem :lol: ...I'll stop now. ----------------------------------- Insectoid Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:14 pm RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Back on topic, this seems to happen either when I open an xhtml file on my drive in Chrome, or enter full-screen. ----------------------------------- ProgrammingFun Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:10 am Re: RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- Back on topic, this seems to happen either when I open an xhtml file on my drive in Chrome, or enter full-screen. Use firefox or safari for those two things then... :vi: ----------------------------------- Insectoid Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:30 am RE:Chrome Helper out of control! ----------------------------------- I might just do that. Damn browser ebooks!