[Solved] System Out of memory - how to clear? simple-scan

[hehemrin]

Hi,

I have trouble with the tool simple-scan.
I executed one scanning and saved, no issue.
I executed another one, but simple-scan stopped working when executing Save. I suspect this was because of the relatively large file and I only have 2 GB RAM.
However, after several re-boots, simple-scan does not start.
I have reinstalled with Synaptic and rebooted, not helping.
The System Log states: "System Out of memory: Kill process 1946 (simple-scan) score 389 or sacrifice child"
System Out of memory, without applications running.
My "conclusion": It feels as my old scanning still takes memory when Simple-Scan try to start.
Can it be so?
How to clear then?
Or what to do?

Reference: Linux Mint 19.2 Xfce 64-bit

[LanceM]

2 commands to run so we can get have a look:

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inxi -Fxz

and

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sudo df -Th

Then post the results
Also what is make model of scanner.
And is it connected direct to the USB or thru a hub or wireless?

[hehemrin]

Epson Perfection 2400 Photo. Directly USB connected.

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henrik@henrik-Lenovo-ideapad-100S-14IBR:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:
  Host: henrik-Lenovo-ideapad-100S-14IBR Kernel: 4.15.0-65-generic x86_64 
  bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.4.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 
  Distro: Linux Mint 19.2 Tina base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 80R9 v: Lenovo ideapad 100S-14IBR 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: LENOVO model: Aristotle 14 v: SDK0K04663 WIN serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: Lenovo v: E4CN36WW date: 03/28/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 32.0 Wh condition: 32.0/33.1 Wh (97%) 
  model: Intel SR 1 Harris Beach status: Full 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Celeron N3050 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Airmont rev: 3 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 6400 
  Speed: 480 MHz min/max: 480/2160 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 480 2: 480 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx 
  Integrated Graphics 
  vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 400 (Braswell) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series 
  High Definition Audio 
  vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-65-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 1040 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 29.12 GiB used: 23.07 GiB (79.2%) 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: DB4032 size: 29.12 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 26.39 GiB used: 10.95 GiB (41.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 
  ID-2: /boot size: 704.5 MiB used: 433.7 MiB (61.6%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2 
  ID-3: swap-1 size: 979.5 MiB used: 768.9 MiB (78.5%) fs: swap 
  dev: /dev/dm-3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 196 Uptime: 10m Memory: 1.80 GiB used: 941.8 MiB (51.1%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.4.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.20 
  inxi: 3.0.32 

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henrik@henrik-Lenovo-ideapad-100S-14IBR:~$ sudo df -Th

Filsystem                 Typ      Storlek Använt Ledigt Anv% Monterat på
udev                      devtmpfs    889M      0   889M   0% /dev
tmpfs                     tmpfs       185M   1,4M   183M   1% /run
/dev/mapper/mint--vg-root ext4         27G    11G    15G  44% /
tmpfs                     tmpfs       922M   1,7M   920M   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs                     tmpfs       5,0M   4,0K   5,0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs                     tmpfs       922M      0   922M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p2            ext4        705M   434M   220M  67% /boot
/dev/mmcblk0p1            vfat        511M   6,1M   505M   2% /boot/efi
tmpfs                     tmpfs       185M    36K   185M   1% /run/user/1000
/home/henrik/.Private     ecryptfs     27G    11G    15G  44% /home/henrik

[LanceM]

Looks like your little 32 GB eMMC Hard Drive is just about full. How many Timeshift snapshots do you have? Try freeing up some space and see what happens.

[hehemrin]

I don't understand where you read my eMCC hard drive 32 GB is almost full?
It has 15.1 GB free. No TimeShift or any other backup on that drive (it's on an external USB drive). Very little data at all (far less that 1 GB incl trash) and very few sw beside installation (I recently shifted from Cinnamon to Xfce for this low spec laptop).

[Larry78723]

From your inxi report:

Drives:
Local Storage: total: 29.12 GiB used: 23.07 GiB (79.2%)
ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: DB4032 size: 29.12 GiB

[hehemrin]

Ok, I see. Although I don't understand how that value should be understood in comparison to the next table (I need to learn Linux better):
How come the 2nd command sudo df -Th then eg states home/henrik has 15G free ("ledigt" in Swedish)?

Does the encryption confuse any command result?

Furthermore, I just installed Xsane, and that starts and scanning works and can be saved. So, shouldn't Xsane also fail if it was a general memory issue?

The Error message in the log file regarding simple-scan actually has two rows;
Killed process 2009 (simple-scan) total-vm:1584796kB, anon-rss:631284kB, file-rss:0kB, shmem-rss:0kB
Out of memory: Kill process 2009 (simple-scan) score 388 or sacrifice child

[LanceM]

You never answered my Timeshift question. Snapshots can take up a lot of space if allowed to accumulate. You can launch Disks and look drive usage. As far as encryption is concerned, I'm no fan of it, but it should not disable simple scan. I just don't see the need unless really stopping someone with physical access to the machine and has very advanced skills. The home directory can be encrypted, and root login disabled as a nice alternative. Try and free some space and see what happens. Please launch System Monitor (can download thru software manager; it's called gnome-system-monitor) and click the resources tab. How much of you Swap is being used and how much RAM is being used. Also, have you tried rebooting, which flushes memory.
Also Epson makes software for that printer. Did you use it?
http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/searc ... archModule The instructions are in the readme file.
When you say you uninstalled "it" in your 1st post, were you referring to simple scan or the printer software?

[hehemrin]

No TimeShift on this drive, or any other backup. They are on an external drive.

In my home directory I have two photos total 1.3 MB, 1 KB text file on desktop, nothing in trash,4.5 MB in Documents, 1 MB in Download, nothing in Music or Video. And only a few SW installed, like Deja-Dup, Gparted, Chromium, Evolution and a few more small software. So almost nothing more than basic LM 19.2 Xfce installation.

When I wrote uninstalled "it", I referred to simple-scan. I e it was the "reinstallation" in Synaptec I executed for the simple-scan package.

System monitor results:
Memory: 856.2 of 1.8 GiB
Swap: 0 byte of 979.5 MiB
When I launch simple-scan but never starts, monitor results:
Memory: 1.7 GiB (96.9%)
Swap: 768.0 KiB (0.1%)
Comparison When Xsane is launched and started, monitor results:
Memory 820 MiB (44.5%)
Swap: 0 byte (0.0%)

I have not installed any additional Epson software. Until the crash, simple-scan was working ok.
Xsane works normally without any additional software. I have not checked what happens with Xsane such a big file as I was working on when simple-scan crashed.

In the current state of simple-scan, when the software doesn't start at all, I doubt the Epson sw will make a difference. And simple-scan worked without Epson package before the crash, and Xsane still works without the Epson package.

I will look into installing the Epson driver. But I post this reply first, if this already can give a clue to why simple-scan does not working any more. Thanks for proposals so far!

[LanceM]

I'm puzzled why so much of your free space is used. My full install of 19.2 cinnamon only uses 13GB and includes a GB of data in Home. How about winding it back with Timeshift to when it was working?

[hehemrin]

Yes, that may absolutely be the way forward to go backward first.
And the Thunar File manager states I have 15 GB free, which make sense considering what I have installed and data. Which deviates from the other analyse.
By the way, GParted states my encrypted 27.7 GB partition is full; 0.0 free. I encrypted the full drive at Mint installation, not only home. This value from GParted was the reason why I wondered if the encryption "confuse" analyse for some commands; that those commands can't read "behind" the encryption.

So yes, maybe the best is to roll back.
I'll sleep on it first.

[LanceM]

Make a snapshot 1st and then you can come return to where you are now.

[hehemrin]

Conclusion: I have re-installed Linux Mint 19.2 Xfce. Tested simple-scan directly - it works again.
The winding road from yesterday:
1) With Synaptic: I uninstalled simple-scan fully. Restarted. Installed simple-scan again. Restarted.
Same issue as before: when I launch simple-scan, it try to start, screen freezes but program is never started. If I wait enough, the system kills the application.
2) One of my trials, instead of waiting for the system to kill the process, I forced with the power switch turn off (like I've done many times before).
Strange thing happened this time: When starting again, It was not the Mint start menu & logo, instead it was Xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin!
3) I travelled back in time with Time-Shift, to a time before I got the issue with simple-scan. It worked to go back in time, but the issue with simple-scan remained. Oddly also the Xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin instead of Mint Start menu.
4) I used TimeShift twice again, two further steps back in time. Same result as 3) above.
5) I decided I solve by re-installing Linux Mint 19.2 Xfce (via Live-USB). After installation, simple-scan works again.

So, problem is gone (for this time at least) by the work around to re-install LM.

[hehemrin]

I close this topic as Solved. The root cause why the issue happened is not understood. Nor is any solution known how to eg repair. The issue is solved with the work-around; make a complete re-installation of Linux Mint 19.2 Xfce.

[deepakdeshp]

If you need to forcefully shut down Mint, dont use the power switch. Instead give

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sync 

command first.
Then hold ctrl,alt and prtsc these 3 keys and type reisub to reboot.

[hehemrin]

Thanks for the tip! Always more to learn.
(In this case, however, all was frozen, so then I believe the only option is to wait until the system kill the process)