APC Software can cause kernel panics, memory problems on Mac OS X 10.2.5 and higher

It appears that PowerChute Personal edition, software for interfacing with APC's uninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices, can cause problems with swelling memory usage on versions of Mac OS X 10.2.5 and higher. MacFixIt reader Tom Arnold writes:

"I was having crashes of my Mac OS X server every few days due to kernel panics when zalloc failed (translation: out of memory). This surprised me because Mac OS 10.2.6 is supposed to have a real, robust virtual memory environment. But it happened every few days, like clockwork. I started running 'top' and 'zprint' every 30 minutes, logging to a file. I found that 'hard wired' kernel memory use grew by about .1 mb every ten minutes.

"I looked around for something that might be problematic and found that PowerChute Personal edition which had been recommended to me by APC, its publisher, is listed as "compatible" only up to Mac OS X 10.2.4. So I uninstalled it. The problems stopped immediately and I have had no further crashes nor unexplained memory leaks."

If you are having problems similar to Arnold's with your Mac OS X installation, you may want to try a third-party UPS management application such as BenaTong's PowerGuardian 1.0.7. The software works with most popular UPS's from manufacturers such as APC, Belkin, TrippLite, and Best. With the addition of a USB-to-serial converter from Keyspan, PowerGuardian will work with other models that do not support USB.

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