What do I do about a machine that is running out of memory and crashing?
My spouse is running Ubuntu 18.04 on a Thinkpad X1 that has been crashing a lot. Usually he's got a bunch of tabs open but nothing that should crash a relatively powerful laptop.
The machine freezes and the only solution is a power cycle because it is otherwise unresponsive.
I am used to being able to get to another TTY to troubleshoot with ctrl-alt-F3 but that doesn't seem to work on his machine.
One oddity, when I run top it reports zero swap:
KiB Swap: 0 total, 0 free, 0 used
That can't be right, but free confirms it:
amanda@Flatbush:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 5.4G 164M 1.5G 2.1G 516M
Swap: 0B 0B 0B
By contrast, my machine is a few years older than his and works fine. There, free shows:
amanda@mona:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 1.2G 5.1G 237M 1.3G 5.9G
Swap: 7.8G 0B 7.8G
The good machine has way more memory and way more available swap (though to be fair I just fired it up to compare and don't have anything running on it).
I suspect that the issue is connected to the differences in memory but I don't know how to go about fixing it. s
freeze swap
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
add a comment |
My spouse is running Ubuntu 18.04 on a Thinkpad X1 that has been crashing a lot. Usually he's got a bunch of tabs open but nothing that should crash a relatively powerful laptop.
The machine freezes and the only solution is a power cycle because it is otherwise unresponsive.
I am used to being able to get to another TTY to troubleshoot with ctrl-alt-F3 but that doesn't seem to work on his machine.
One oddity, when I run top it reports zero swap:
KiB Swap: 0 total, 0 free, 0 used
That can't be right, but free confirms it:
amanda@Flatbush:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 5.4G 164M 1.5G 2.1G 516M
Swap: 0B 0B 0B
By contrast, my machine is a few years older than his and works fine. There, free shows:
amanda@mona:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 1.2G 5.1G 237M 1.3G 5.9G
Swap: 7.8G 0B 7.8G
The good machine has way more memory and way more available swap (though to be fair I just fired it up to compare and don't have anything running on it).
I suspect that the issue is connected to the differences in memory but I don't know how to go about fixing it. s
freeze swap
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
I'm wondering is there a swap partition on this system?
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 4:59
@SoulimaneMammar There is a swap partition but it is commented out in/etc/fstabandsudo swaponshows no results.
– Amanda
Mar 11 at 5:07
usefdisk,cfdiskorgpartedto see if that partition really exists on disk. If yes get it running by having the appropriate line inf/etc/fstabotherwise create a swap file and use it
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 5:18
add a comment |
My spouse is running Ubuntu 18.04 on a Thinkpad X1 that has been crashing a lot. Usually he's got a bunch of tabs open but nothing that should crash a relatively powerful laptop.
The machine freezes and the only solution is a power cycle because it is otherwise unresponsive.
I am used to being able to get to another TTY to troubleshoot with ctrl-alt-F3 but that doesn't seem to work on his machine.
One oddity, when I run top it reports zero swap:
KiB Swap: 0 total, 0 free, 0 used
That can't be right, but free confirms it:
amanda@Flatbush:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 5.4G 164M 1.5G 2.1G 516M
Swap: 0B 0B 0B
By contrast, my machine is a few years older than his and works fine. There, free shows:
amanda@mona:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 1.2G 5.1G 237M 1.3G 5.9G
Swap: 7.8G 0B 7.8G
The good machine has way more memory and way more available swap (though to be fair I just fired it up to compare and don't have anything running on it).
I suspect that the issue is connected to the differences in memory but I don't know how to go about fixing it. s
freeze swap
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
My spouse is running Ubuntu 18.04 on a Thinkpad X1 that has been crashing a lot. Usually he's got a bunch of tabs open but nothing that should crash a relatively powerful laptop.
The machine freezes and the only solution is a power cycle because it is otherwise unresponsive.
I am used to being able to get to another TTY to troubleshoot with ctrl-alt-F3 but that doesn't seem to work on his machine.
One oddity, when I run top it reports zero swap:
KiB Swap: 0 total, 0 free, 0 used
That can't be right, but free confirms it:
amanda@Flatbush:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 5.4G 164M 1.5G 2.1G 516M
Swap: 0B 0B 0B
By contrast, my machine is a few years older than his and works fine. There, free shows:
amanda@mona:~$ sudo free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 7.7G 1.2G 5.1G 237M 1.3G 5.9G
Swap: 7.8G 0B 7.8G
The good machine has way more memory and way more available swap (though to be fair I just fired it up to compare and don't have anything running on it).
I suspect that the issue is connected to the differences in memory but I don't know how to go about fixing it. s
freeze swap
freeze swap
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
edited Mar 11 at 4:32
Amanda
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
asked Mar 11 at 3:57
AmandaAmanda
4,330104284
4,330104284
I'm wondering is there a swap partition on this system?
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 4:59
@SoulimaneMammar There is a swap partition but it is commented out in/etc/fstabandsudo swaponshows no results.
– Amanda
Mar 11 at 5:07
usefdisk,cfdiskorgpartedto see if that partition really exists on disk. If yes get it running by having the appropriate line inf/etc/fstabotherwise create a swap file and use it
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 5:18
add a comment |
I'm wondering is there a swap partition on this system?
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 4:59
@SoulimaneMammar There is a swap partition but it is commented out in/etc/fstabandsudo swaponshows no results.
– Amanda
Mar 11 at 5:07
usefdisk,cfdiskorgpartedto see if that partition really exists on disk. If yes get it running by having the appropriate line inf/etc/fstabotherwise create a swap file and use it
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 5:18
I'm wondering is there a swap partition on this system?
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 4:59
I'm wondering is there a swap partition on this system?
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 4:59
@SoulimaneMammar There is a swap partition but it is commented out in
/etc/fstab and sudo swapon shows no results.– Amanda
Mar 11 at 5:07
@SoulimaneMammar There is a swap partition but it is commented out in
/etc/fstab and sudo swapon shows no results.– Amanda
Mar 11 at 5:07
use
fdisk, cfdisk or gparted to see if that partition really exists on disk. If yes get it running by having the appropriate line inf /etc/fstab otherwise create a swap file and use it– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 5:18
use
fdisk, cfdisk or gparted to see if that partition really exists on disk. If yes get it running by having the appropriate line inf /etc/fstab otherwise create a swap file and use it– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 5:18
add a comment |
1 Answer
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The description and the free output suggest that the system may be crashing when it runs out of RAM, and swap is not enabled. (Browser tabs can sometimes consume a staggering amount of resources)
One easy solution:
- Add a swap file if there is not an existing swap partition/swapfile.
- Activate swap using
swapon
- Tell him that when the system gets sluggish it's time to close a few tabs.
- If the system remains sluggish with all tabs closed, bring it to you in the sluggish state.
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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oldest
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The description and the free output suggest that the system may be crashing when it runs out of RAM, and swap is not enabled. (Browser tabs can sometimes consume a staggering amount of resources)
One easy solution:
- Add a swap file if there is not an existing swap partition/swapfile.
- Activate swap using
swapon
- Tell him that when the system gets sluggish it's time to close a few tabs.
- If the system remains sluggish with all tabs closed, bring it to you in the sluggish state.
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
add a comment |
The description and the free output suggest that the system may be crashing when it runs out of RAM, and swap is not enabled. (Browser tabs can sometimes consume a staggering amount of resources)
One easy solution:
- Add a swap file if there is not an existing swap partition/swapfile.
- Activate swap using
swapon
- Tell him that when the system gets sluggish it's time to close a few tabs.
- If the system remains sluggish with all tabs closed, bring it to you in the sluggish state.
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
add a comment |
The description and the free output suggest that the system may be crashing when it runs out of RAM, and swap is not enabled. (Browser tabs can sometimes consume a staggering amount of resources)
One easy solution:
- Add a swap file if there is not an existing swap partition/swapfile.
- Activate swap using
swapon
- Tell him that when the system gets sluggish it's time to close a few tabs.
- If the system remains sluggish with all tabs closed, bring it to you in the sluggish state.
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
The description and the free output suggest that the system may be crashing when it runs out of RAM, and swap is not enabled. (Browser tabs can sometimes consume a staggering amount of resources)
One easy solution:
- Add a swap file if there is not an existing swap partition/swapfile.
- Activate swap using
swapon
- Tell him that when the system gets sluggish it's time to close a few tabs.
- If the system remains sluggish with all tabs closed, bring it to you in the sluggish state.
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
answered Mar 11 at 4:57
user535733user535733
8,69622943
8,69622943
add a comment |
add a comment |
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I'm wondering is there a swap partition on this system?
– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 4:59
@SoulimaneMammar There is a swap partition but it is commented out in
/etc/fstabandsudo swaponshows no results.– Amanda
Mar 11 at 5:07
use
fdisk,cfdiskorgpartedto see if that partition really exists on disk. If yes get it running by having the appropriate line inf/etc/fstabotherwise create a swap file and use it– Soulimane Mammar
Mar 11 at 5:18