The man in the computer shop who put Peppermint 8 on my Dell laptop said that I have 3 gig of RAM but sometimes I am getting a message saying I am low on RAM and my laptop slows down, so I reboot it. Could one of you kind guys do me a spec check please? I know there is some way I can find my specs but I have forgotten where to look!
What’s the output from:
inxi -Fz
and
free -m
Thanks Mark. Here you go:
ystem: Host: barnabas-Inspiron-1545 Kernel: 4.10.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: N/A Distro: Peppermint Eight
Machine: System: Dell (portable) product: Inspiron 1545
Mobo: Dell model: 0G848F Bios: Dell v: A13 date: 10/23/2009
CPU: Dual core Pentium T4400 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
clock speeds: max: 2200 MHz 1: 1600 MHz 2: 1600 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.3 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@59.64hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express
GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 17.0.2
Audio: Card Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-32-generic
Network: Card-1: Marvell 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller driver: sky2
IF: enp9s0 state: down mac:
Card-2: Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY driver: b43-pci-bridge
IF: wlan0 state: up mac:
Drives: HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (2.1% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000BEVT size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 456G used: 7.0G (2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: swap-1 size: 3.18GB used: 0.43GB (13%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 173 Uptime: 3:17 Memory: 1669.4/2967.2MB
Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.35
barnabas@barnabas-Inspiron-1545 ~ $ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 2967 1598 557 298 811 888
Swap: 3029 407 2622
barnabas@barnabas-Inspiron-1545 ~ $
You definitely have 3GB of RAM, but you’re starting to use the swap file.
You may want to set swappiness to say 10.
To do this, run:
sudo pluma /etc/sysctl.conf
add these 3 new lines at the end of the file
## Start custom swappiness setting
vm.swappiness = 10
## End custom swappiness setting
SAVE the file and exit the text editor.
Now REBOOT.
Once rebooted, run:
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
and check the output is “10”
Which web browser are you using ?
Thanks Mark, it is 10. I’m using Chromium.
okay let’s see if that helps.
If you’re running out of RAM because you have loads of web browser tabs open at the same time … Firefox may be a better bet than Chromium.
I would have thought that 3GB of RAM should be enough! It’s not so much browser tabs but when I open up jpgs, access jpgs, save them etc. I prefer Chromium as it has all my bookmarks on it.
Well so would I (depending on use case), but it’s not the OS that’s using all the RAM.
Is it still lagging with swappiness set to 10 ?
and what’s do you have running/what are you doing when you appear to run out of RAM ?
Yes, still lagging and needing rebooting. As I mentioned Mark, it is when I am doing anything with images- uploading, downloading both. Is it possible on a laptop to add more RAM? Maybe I need to up it to 6GB!
I’m doubting if it’s a RAM problem now (unless you’re manipulating MASSIVE images).
What’s the output from:
free -m
whilst it’s lagging ?
And is this only whilst uploading and downloading ? … if so, can you define “lagging”, ie. do you mean just the up/download or the entire OS ?
arnabas@barnabas-Inspiron-1545 ~ $ free -m
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 2967 1418 524 245 1023 1113
Swap: 3029 0 3029
barnabas@barnabas-Inspiron-1545 ~ $
No, just jpegs, and using picmonkey and accessing jpegs saved in my google drive! Well yes, it is mostly whenuploading and downloading and looking at sites that have pics like pixabay etc. Then the laptop will just say it has ran out of RAM and need rebooting.
Are you opening loads of tabs at the same time ? … and are many of them showing flash content ?
If your system was lagging when you ran this:-
arnabas@barnabas-Inspiron-1545 ~ $ free -m total used free shared buff/cache available Mem: 2967 1418 524 245 1023 1113 Swap: 3029 0 3029 barnabas@barnabas-Inspiron-1545 ~ $
it’s not a RAM issue.
I have only about 3-4 tabs open at any given time. Some might have flash, some might not-depends what I’m looking at. It always says I have low RAM before it freezes and I have to reboot.
Well you weren’t low on RAM when you ran that (you had over 500MB left and hadn’t even begun to use the swap partition yet) … so I’m confused.
Is it Peppermint, or Chromium that’s telling you you’re short of RAM ?
Yes, it’s very weird Mark. I dunno, next time the box comes up I will look and try and figure out where the message originates from.
The incidences of freezing are happening more and more- the whole laptop froze when I was watching a vid on you tube( had paused it whilst I popped to kitchen for a drink) and when I clicked to resume the laptop froze to such an extent that I could not even get the reboot tab to open, so I had to press the power off button, which took almost 10 mins to get to work and to re start the laptop.
Run memtest86+ from the GRUB menu, leave it running for a while and see if it throws up any memory errors ?
How do I do that Mark? Sorry I’m not au fait with stuff like that!
Immediately after you turn on your computer and the manufacturer logo disappears hit and hold the Shift key … you should be presented with the GRUB menu.
At the Grub menu you should see an option called “Memtest86+” … use the arrow keys to highlight it and hit enter.
If there’s no Memtest86+ option, choose the “Advanced options for Peppermint” option and hit enter … now see if you can see Memtest86+