My system gets slow when I get low memory warning

My system gets slower when I get the low memory warning. The programs that were running get hang and become unresponsive for some time. I have to close some programs in order for the other programs to respond. My system 12GB of ram 5GB of swap.

Can anyone help..I never had this issue with other distro before.

Below is the result of inxi -Fxxxza

System:    Kernel: 5.11.16-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0  
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen  
root=UUID=c1aa363c-cc4b-4a1e-8629-7c1659c08a0b rw rootflags=subvol=@ quiet splash
rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1
loglevel=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.4 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM  
Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux  
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5559 v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis:  
type: 10 serial: <filter>  
Mobo: Dell model: 063W6M v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI-[Legacy]: Dell v: 1.7.0  
date: 05/10/2019  
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 1.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 1.7/41.4 Wh (4.1%) volts: 16.6  
min: 14.8 model: LGC-LGC2.80 DELL 991XP69 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: Full  
CPU:       Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-6500U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake  
family: 6 model-id: 4E (78) stepping: 3 microcode: E2 cache: L2: 4 MiB  
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 20799  
Speed: 3028 MHz min/max: 400/3100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3028 2: 3038 3: 3088  
4: 3033  
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled  
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable  
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable  
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI  
Type: spec_store_bypass  
mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp  
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization  
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,  
STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode  
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected  
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520] vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel  
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1916 class-ID: 0300  
Device-2: Intel Intel RealSense 3D Camera (Front F200) type: USB driver: uvcvideo  
bus-ID: 2-3:2 chip-ID: 8086:0a66 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>  
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: intel  
unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1  
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2")  
s-diag: 582mm (22.9")  
Monitor-1: eDP1 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 143 size: 340x190mm (13.4x7.5")  
diag: 389mm (15.3")  
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.0.3  
direct render: Yes  
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel  
v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70 class-ID: 0403  
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.11.16-zen1-1-zen running: yes  
Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no  
Sound Server-3: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no  
Sound Server-4: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes  
Sound Server-5: PipeWire v: 0.3.26 running: no  
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f040 bus-ID: 01:00.0  
chip-ID: 8086:08b3 class-ID: 0280  
IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>  
Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell driver: r8169  
v: kernel port: e000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200  
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>  
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8  
bus-ID: 1-8:4 chip-ID: 8087:07dc class-ID: e001  
Report: bt-adapter note: tool can't run ID: hci0 rfk-id: 8 state: down  
bt-service: disabled rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: N/A  
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 513.26 GiB (55.1%)  
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.  
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WD10JPVX-75JC3T0  
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s  
rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: 1A02 scheme: MBR  
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 278.72 GiB size: 278.72 GiB (100.00%) used: 116.41 GiB (41.8%)  
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2  
ID-2: /home raw-size: 278.72 GiB size: 278.72 GiB (100.00%) used: 116.41 GiB (41.8%)  
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2  
ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 278.72 GiB size: 278.72 GiB (100.00%)  
used: 116.41 GiB (41.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2  
ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 278.72 GiB size: 278.72 GiB (100.00%)
used: 116.41 GiB (41.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 75 (default 100)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 2.85 GiB used: 609.2 MiB (20.9%) priority: 32767
dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 2.85 GiB used: 614.2 MiB (21.0%) priority: 32767
dev: /dev/zram1
ID-3: swap-3 type: zram size: 2.85 GiB used: 625.6 MiB (21.4%) priority: 32767
dev: /dev/zram2
ID-4: swap-4 type: zram size: 2.85 GiB used: 621.2 MiB (21.3%) priority: 32767
dev: /dev/zram3
ID-5: swap-5 type: partition size: 4.65 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 1024
dev: /dev/sda6 maj-min: 8:6
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0 C mobo: 44.0 C sodimm: SODIMM C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2242
Info:      Processes: 249 Uptime: 1d 15h 02m wakeups: 37 Memory: 11.4 GiB used: 6.86 GiB (60.1%)
Init: systemd v: 248 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 clang: 11.1.0 Packages:
pacman: 2876 lib: 592 Shell: fish v: 3.2.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.04

What do you expect to happen if you run too many applications to fit in your available RAM?

7 Likes

Too many application is an exaggeration. The point is the programs that I ran shouldn't make the system to hang or lag.

All applications require RAM. Without any more information, it appears that you are running too many at once and so are triggering a low memory condition. Running further applications would then normally trigger swapping and an OOM condition.

If you think there is a different issue then please provide more information.

6 Likes

Ok sure. What kind of information would you like me to provide

When you get the warning

Provide us output of

oom-sort

Command

5 Likes

Imagine having low memory warning and actually following what it says :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

1 Like

Thank you @librewish, I didn't even know this command.
I can't stop being amazed!

1 Like

Two posts have been removed from this thread. Please do not post walls of text. Use a pastebin site and link to the output instead. Garuda even provides one for this exact purpose:

image

4 Likes

https://bin.garudalinux.org/?2eef5452a54d1ca2#3nnustLx1Svr8D65Lza7ZDxDLa4TU7wnW48kf2EfmWXw

If you total the values in the VmRSS column what number do you come to?

Is there a command that can give me the result of VmRSS

Just look at a system monitor application and see how much RAM is in use by the running applications.

From all the evidence you've presented so far I'm still sure you're simply running too many applications at once.

3 Likes

VmRSS total: 12,909M

So, as the machine has 12G (12,288M) of memory, likely paging.

1 Like

You still should list the programs you are running. It could very well be that before you were barely fitting into your available memory but a recent update to one or more of hte applications increased its memory footprint enough to no longer fit inside your machine.

Those are in the pastebin link above. As Catra summarised, the total RAM requirement was larger than the available physical RAM, hence the issue.

2 Likes

Sorry guys for the late response. I been kind of busy with other stuff. So here is another oom-sort output with brave-browser ( 3 windows of it), discord, vscode running flutter web app in chrome.
https://bin.garudalinux.org/?7c2a173303fde862#Y9Ztv8FpD1ZKFaEosocfXTqSpxanP8U2EAd9N5EJM9a

9,233M

It shows some swap (367M) still in use, though. Did you have more apps open before?

1 Like

Nope..those were the apps that were running in that time. May I ask how did you get the swap total. Is there a command for it

What is this intended to show?

There is a column that lists VmSwap. Add those numbers up.

I think you need to do some investigation yourself here. Note down exactly what you are doing when you run into performance issues. Look at a system monitor application (one is included with every DE) and see which applications are doing what.

Currently, there is no indication your problem is anything other than you are running too many applications at the same time, and that falls neatly under the class of “user error”.

3 Likes