Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown Apps
On my machine, with Parallels installed, the llipd process seems to interrupt some of the processes and slow down the machine even when Parallels is not being used. Many people have been uninstalling and reinstalling whenever they need to use Parallels. I have found this is not necessary if you do this. I paused the process with the following command, and it definitely makes everything run faster when not running Parallels. Here is how to pause the llipd process:
sudo kill -STOP 130
The 130 number at the end is the process ID number of the llipd process, and you can find it with this command:
ps -wwax | grep llipd
If you want to run parallels, you must unpause the process by running this command:
sudo kill -CONT 130
NOTE: Although you are using the kill command, if you use the -stop and -continue signals, you will only be pausing the active process. It will not really kill it.

[robg adds: I watched the llipd process on my machine for a while this morning, and it was always sitting at 0% CPU when Parallels wasn't running. I'm not sure what might cause this issue, but if you're seeing slowdowns, this might be worth a try.]
    •    
  • Currently 1.00 / 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  (2 votes cast)
 
[13,844 views]  

One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown | 12 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: ghay on Jul 18, '07 08:23:20AM

I'm curious, is there a marked improvement over using the built-in pause function of parallels?



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: maddys_daddy on Jul 18, '07 12:37:24PM
The hints author explicitly stated that he experiences this problem when Parallels is not running. Thus the built in "Pause" feature of parallels isn't apropos here.

[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: jsutton on Jul 25, '07 11:18:30AM

THis hint is referring to a process by the name of "llipd" that runs even when parallels is not running. (it is a daemon... meaning it run all the time. when you installed parallels, it probably told you to restart... when you restarted, this llipd daemon ran and remained running).

The pause button in the parallels interface is just a way to "pause" the state of the virtual OS you are running. It saves the state and allows you to resume the state when you unpause it.

This pause is different than running the "kill -stop" command. the kill -stop command is a os x system command to tell the llipd daemon to pause its activity. When you run the kill -stop command, the llipd daemon is still "running" but doesn't ask the system for processor time because it is running in a paused state.



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: gil on Jul 18, '07 09:30:35AM

I don't know how well this hint works, but I can say that the command to stop/continue it can be replaced by killall so we have:

sudo killall -STOP llipd

and

sudo killall -CONT llipd



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: zbfelt on Jul 18, '07 10:46:15PM

OK. I'm an extreme noob to OS X. I don't have any idea what you guys are talking about, but I do have Parallels and would like to apply this tip. Is this for automator? Even if it is I've never used it before so could some please explain this to me in a way that there is no way I could not understand?



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: magir on Jul 18, '07 10:56:39PM

You have to issue those commands from the Terminal. The program "Terminal.app" is located in the Utilities folder.

If you're not familiar with a unix shell, take extra care.



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: morespace54 on Jul 19, '07 07:07:39AM

...Or better yet, if you don't experience any issue or slowdown, just leave it as is... ;)



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: heavyboots on Jul 19, '07 02:34:39PM
Re: an automated way to do it, it's like a one-line Applescript, right? (Okay, two lines with a comment.)
--STOP the llipd process
do shell script "killall -STOP llipd" with administrator privileges
and:
--CONTINUE the llipd process
do shell script "killall -CONT llipd" with administrator privileges
Just paste each of them into Script Editor and save as an application...

[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: müzso on Jul 20, '07 01:50:36PM

I have Parallels on my MBP for quite some time now, but I experienced the described slow-down only recently (for the last couple of days and only occasionally). The fix worked like a charm. Btw. Vmware's Fusion seems to be a lot more "stable" to me, than Parallels. The latter is more "cutting-edge" (it supports DirectX9), but it causes a lot more headache, than it's worth.



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: jsutton on Jul 25, '07 11:11:52AM

I am the person who posted the info regarding how to run a "kill -stop" command on the llipd process (it is listed as being posted as anonymous... not sure why though). Not that I really care that I get "credit" for it... I wanted to clarify a little bit more as related to the comment by robg:

I also see that llipd is using little or no "processor" time, but it seems to "pause" the system a tiny bit of time every so often when it is running. I noticed it when I was right-clicking on items... there was a tiny pause before the context window opened.

At first I thought I was imagining things, but then I ran a fs_usage command:

"sudo fs_usage"

When you run this command, you see what the system is doing real-time. And I noticed that every time that llipd was listed, there was a pause before listing the next task.

So, I ran the sudo kill -stop command. I did some speed testing and responsiveness testing with various tasks and there was definitely a lag with llipd running. So, I have been pausing it whenever I am not running parallels. I also disable the 2 parallels network configs in the network system prefs (Parallels Host-Guest and Parallels NAT)... of course you will have reenable them and llipd if you want to run parallels.




[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: mart_teenie on Jul 31, '07 01:40:01PM

i installed parallels today. noticed mega slow internet connections as opposed to usual. but, cannot find llipd in command line.

(had a major panic when i did the fs_usage command and loads of lines of scripts started appearing - plus I am so very painfully new to Macs that I had to just terminate the terminal to get out of it so didn't get much use out of the info there)

in windows you do the CTRL+ALT+DEL to get to the processes, how do you do that on a mac?



[ Reply to This | # ]
One potential fix for a Parallels-related slowdown
Authored by: |2uso on Jul 31, '07 09:45:45PM

While I can confirm this annoying Parrallels-4560-only bug(feature?) I can't stop it with this "llipd" tip.

This bug it's preaty obvious when you switch to one cpu (the only "easy" way to cancel the freaking MacBook Pro's electric noise). It generate a 2-5 seconds system pause, delay, freeze, you name it... Really annoying indeed.

The only way I found to resolve this issue was uninstalling Parallels 4560 and rolling back to 4124. Kinda drastic uh?

I'll dig on Parallels forums about this problem. Any useful discovery that obtains I'll post it here to complement "Anonymous" thread... hehehehe...



[ Reply to This | # ]