Extreme Lag and Blocking when ram reaches 80%

[logx7]

Hello,

i have 8GB of ram. When my ram usage reaches around 70%, my computer starts to lag. When it reaches 80%, it gets blocked, and it doesn't work unless i restart it.

20% of ram is more than 1GB so how come mint blocks when it gets to 80% ram usage ? and how can i fix this ?

Information:

RAM : 8GB
CPU : AMD A8-5600K
MINT : 19.2
DE : CINNAMON 4.0.10

APPLICATION THAT I USE OFTEN: Caprine, Mailspring, VSCode, Chrome, Skype, Spotify

EDIT 1 :
I already have

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vm.swappiness = 10

EDIT 2 :
Here 's a screenshot of top and free when the system is at 84%, i clicked the PRINT SCREEN button when it was on 80% then the system blocked, i waited for a couple minutes, then i had to do CTRL + ALT + F1, kill some programs (code, chrome, caprine) for it to unblock.

https://i.imgur.com/xRoVfzg.png

EDIT 3 :

this is the result for

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inxi -Fxz

https://i.imgur.com/UsjLWdi.png

[Spearmint2]

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free -h

When you think it's near 80%, run that in terminal, copy the results. You also need to know the difference between GiB and GB.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=8+GiB+%3D+GB

https://www.bing.com/search?q=8+GB+%3D+GiB

[thx-1138]

...high utilization of swap i'd assume?

[Agarthon]

Hello,

i have 8GB of ram. When my ram usage reaches around 70%, my computer starts to lag. When it reaches 80%, it gets blocked, and it doesn't work unless i restart it.

20% of ram is more than 1GB so how come mint blocks when it gets to 80% ram usage ? and how can i fix this ?

We seem to have the exact same problem. It looks like there is no real fix for it, although I've discovered a couple of methods that can alleviate the problem. Take a look at my last post in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=299809&start=20#p1696469

[Spearmint2]

Sometimes RAM is shared to onboard video, and if you aren't using that, can reclaim it in the BIOS.

[logx7]

Code: Select all

free -h

When you think it's near 80%, run that in terminal, copy the results. You also need to know the difference between GiB and GB.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=8+GiB+%3D+GB

https://www.bing.com/search?q=8+GB+%3D+GiB

1 - can you share why this command should be used ? instead of just writing an unclear answer ..
2 - to my knowledge i have 8GB of ram .. that's what's written on it

[RIH]

The

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top

command in the terminal will show what functions are consuming RAM & CPU in descending order.

Code: Select all

free -h

shows what the system sees as RAM & Swap & how much (in total) is being used/free.
Both are worth doing & sharing when you hit the 80%.

[logx7]

The

Code: Select all

top

command in the terminal will show what functions are consuming RAM & CPU in descending order.

Code: Select all

free -h

shows what the system sees as RAM & Swap & how much (in total) is being used/free.
Both are worth doing & sharing when you hit the 80%.

thank you for explaining !!

so here 's a screenshot of top and free when the system is at 84%, i clicked the PRINT SCREEN button when it was on 80% then the system blocked, i waited for a couple minutes, then i had to do CTRL + ALT + F1, kill some programs (code, chrome, caprine) for it to unblock.

https://i.imgur.com/xRoVfzg.png

[RIH]

The only posts that I have read concerning Cinnamon using very large amounts of CPU seem to centre around video card/driver issues.

I think that a copy of the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

put into the terminal would be very useful here.
That command lists out the full details of your equipment without showing any personal data.

(Note the capital 'F').

Copy the output in the terminal then Paste it back here inside the Tag (</>) marks as that makes for far easier reading than a screen shots..

[Petermint]

8 GB is double the worst case I see in Linux outside of Simplescan and Google Chrome. Chrome eats memory when it opens multiple pages in the background. Instead of waiting for the lockup at 80%, look at resource usage a couple of minutes after startup. You can use the System Monitor under Admin to show processes and select the memory column heading to display the processes with the worst at the top.

You might find unused application starting automatically.

Keep the display open while starting and using each application. Find the big memory munchers before your machine locks up.

You might also make your swap file bigger if it is filling up. Can you add more memory? If not, can you update your system disk to a fast SSD to make paging less painful?

[Spearmint2]

check your swappiness, that seems low for the amount of RAM installed, like it's not flushing data from RAM to swapfile. It's definitely using all the RAM.

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cat /etc/sysctl.conf

when you run the "top" command, you want the mem column lined up, so click on it once or twice to bring the most memory use
to the top, and make a screen capture of that.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/103915/ ... swappiness

[logx7]

The only posts that I have read concerning Cinnamon using very large amounts of CPU seem to centre around video card/driver issues.

I think that a copy of the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

put into the terminal would be very useful here.
That command lists out the full details of your equipment without showing any personal data.

(Note the capital 'F').

Copy the output in the terminal then Paste it back here inside the Tag (</>) marks as that makes for far easier reading than a screen shots..

this is the result for

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

https://i.imgur.com/UsjLWdi.png

[logx7]

check your swappiness, that seems low for the amount of RAM installed, like it's not flushing data from RAM to swapfile. It's definitely using all the RAM.

Code: Select all

cat /etc/sysctl.conf

when you run the "top" command, you want the mem column lined up, so click on it once or twice to bring the most memory use
to the top, and make a screen capture of that.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/103915/ ... swappiness

after installing mint (a couple of months ago), i set this

Code: Select all

vm.swappiness = 10

[gittiest personITW]

This doesn't answer your original question, but at a rough guess, your browser is taking up about 2 to 2.5GB of RAM.
This should also be addressed.
Have you got many extensions/addons?

[logx7]

This doesn't answer your original question, but at a rough guess, your browser is taking up about 2 to 2.5GB of RAM.
This should also be addressed.
Have you got many extensions/addons?

i do have many extensions installed, but i'm not looking to reduce memory usage as i already know what's taking so much ram, i'm looking to find out why my desktop gets blocked when memory usage reaches 80%.

[Spearmint2]

after installing mint (a couple of months ago), i set this

Code: Select all

vm.swappiness = 10

Maybe consider kicking it up to 30 or 40?

[gittiest personITW]

i have 8GB of ram. When my ram usage reaches around 70%, my computer starts to lag]/quote]
[quotei do have many extensions installed, but i'm not looking to reduce memory usage as i already know what's taking so much ram, i'm looking to find out why my desktop gets blocked when memory usage reaches 80%.]

Its not just the fact that your RAM is being used up, it is 'what is using up the RAM?' should be the main question.
Reason is that it might not be the fact that you are using 80% or the RAM, but that what you are using is clashing. Some of your open programs might be clashing with others. That goes for some of your many extensions.

Try as an example, disabling ALL your extensions, then trying to make your computer use all your RAM - see if it lags then or not.
Also, reduce that swappiness - but I would do that if you need to - as in the above sentence doesn't work.

[logx7]

i have 8GB of ram. When my ram usage reaches around 70%, my computer starts to lag]/quote]
[quotei do have many extensions installed, but i'm not looking to reduce memory usage as i already know what's taking so much ram, i'm looking to find out why my desktop gets blocked when memory usage reaches 80%.]

Its not just the fact that your RAM is being used up, it is 'what is using up the RAM?' should be the main question.
Reason is that it might not be the fact that you are using 80% or the RAM, but that what you are using is clashing. Some of your open programs might be clashing with others. That goes for some of your many extensions.

Try as an example, disabling ALL your extensions, then trying to make your computer use all your RAM - see if it lags then or not.
Also, reduce that swappiness - but I would do that if you need to - as in the above sentence doesn't work.

ah oki .. i have tried disabling my extensions and the problem still persist.

[gittiest personITW]

Could you try another approach....
Try installing Iridium browser from the software manager (you can uninstall it after if you like).
Run that - open up lots of browser tabs that are pointing at various sites.
Post another screenshot of your process list when it starts slowing down.

The thinking behind this is to see if it is a certain program/application that is causing the extreme lag, rather than just the RAM.
Also, yes, no harm in changing the swappiness to a higher figure. It can always be changed again in the future.

[Petermint]

Which application is using the ram?

If there are several applications using the ram, the system can swap out applications that are not active. When it is one giant application, the application can be jumping back and forth all over memory, constantly dragging pages back into memory. I had to increase my page file for one program performing a giant data transform.