Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone. What is going on?

[AC Question]

Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

Okay so my galaxy note 2 (1 year old) has suddenly become very slow and its due to a lack of ram, I cannot do anything on it, the screen will black out and return to home, and its too slow to even get anywhere in the first place

It has 2 gb of ram and currently 1.7Gb (50 mb free) and more is in use with zero applications open

Infact in application manager under running apps there are no services running and all the apps are constantly restarting probably due to a lack of available ram.


This has been happening since the 4.4.2 update, and I've noticed that it maybe has something to to with turning on the power saving option (after a fer hours of that option enabled this happens).

I have been able to fix it by going into safe mode for a while or restarting, but I'm not sure of a permanent fix.

And when the problem isnt affecting my phone my phone is slow still, talking couple of seconds to launch an app.

My battery usage has also been incredibly high compared to pre 4.4.2 even when not affected by this problem, in safe mode i still get great battery usage, but out of it google play services, android os, android system and task manager are at the top. I keep my gps, bluetooth ,mobile network, many things mostly off except for wifi.

I have cleared cache partition, but have not factory reseted yet (as soon as i restart or anything the problem will go away for an undetermined time).

Can anyone please give me the insight what could the problem be,
I'll be doing a factory reset next week, but now that ive catched the problem I'd like to see peoples opinions on what it is and how it might be solved

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

Welcome to Android Central! Are you running any "RAM booster/cleaner" apps? If so, uninstall them, since they can be counterproductive.

Also try booting into Safe Mode, to see if the problem lies with 3rd party app: http://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-69429/

 

[AnotherDood]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

(I'm the poster of the Q)

I do have battery doctor and cleaner master, but i dont use them often
I have recently installed auto memory manager because this was happening(it changed nothing), and even when my ram usage isnt as high as to make apps constantly restart its still getting to about 85%+, only 200 - 300mb being free (out of 2gb).


Ram usage on normal when turned on (b4 memory leak) is already very high (with apps using about a third of ram and not apps (system?) using even more (40%), and the remainder is for cached stuff is 300mb)
In safe mode on turn on i have 1gb free and the rest is half apps half system.
android system is still on top in safe mode (42%, lower with heavy use but still above screen at all time).

Im sorry for being late its been an extremely busy week
I shall experiment with power saving in safe mode, since thats what makes my phone go over into unusable territory and the only remedy is a restart.

 

[Crashdamage]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

With a little troubleshooting your phone can probably be straightened out without a reset.

Uninstall ALL task killers, RAM memory optimizers/boosters, battery savers/repairers, cache cleaners, antivirus, etc etc. None of that stuff is necessary. Such apps are actually counterproductive and some are just plain evil. They actually waste power and may disrupt critical system processes and degrade performance. Not to mention the nag ads many throw up.

Uninstalling Clean Master, Battery Doctor (Horrible! Evil!) and other crapware may solve the sluggishness. If not, try clearing caches the correct way: Settings > Storage > tap Cached data > OK. Note: While clearing caches doesn't really hurt anything, cache files are there for a purpose and should be left alone unless you have a problem that might be related to them.

If the phone is still slow, install System Panel.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...details?id=nextapp.systempanel&token=ZCQ5-IsW

System Panel makes basic trouble shooting of a sluggish device simple. Look at the opening screen, 1st one when the app opens. It gives the basic information you need.

With the phone at idle (apps can be open, but nothing such as an active phone call or file transfer) check CPU and RAM memory usage (pie charts upper left corner). Normally, CPU should be less than 5-10%. CPU clock speed (top horizontal bar) varies but should be something less than max. Normal RAM usage should be about 70-80%, maybe even a little more, unless you have recently rebooted and not yet opened apps to load RAM. You want to check these values after a fresh reboot, after some normal usage and when the phone has slowed.

If CPU is high, look at the app list on the same screen. Check the CPU usage for each app (small vertical bar on left edge, next to app icons) for offenders.

If RAM usage is too high, again on the opening screen look in the Active Applications list. Check for a running app you have not used recently. It may not have closed or cached properly and is holding RAM. If nothing seems unusual in the Active Applications, scroll down to Inactive (Cached) Applications. It may be harder to determine what belongs in this list and what doesn't, but if something looks iffy, particularly if it shows holding a lot of RAM, you can try long-pressing on it and select 'End Task'. If you select a required system process, no worry, it will just restart. If RAM usage returns to normal and/or the phone feels faster, that could be the offender.

Troubleshooting beyond this gets more complicated, but what is outlined above will find most problems causing sluggish performance

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[AnotherDood]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

Here are screenshots of the stuff im talking about:





the image of ram usage in app manager is a few minutes after startup, I've been checking ram usage for the past few weeks and this is basically what it always looks like it doesnt go much over or under, but something might trigger it to top (the not apps blue section), and then no more cache is available so apps keep restarting, this smells of memory leak to me, I haven't taken a screenshot of this yet but I will when it occurs again.

The app usage is about 1/3 but I think this is normal since I do have a lot of apps, and I've installed even more since this problem started (nova launcher, gsam, auto mem manager, pie control, dolphin...), the problem is see is the blue bar that isnt the apps, its very high.

Nova launcher actually makes the not apps blue bar go higher than touchwiz.

I havent been using battery saver and cleaner master i have been using auto memory manager I've installed it after this problem was well developed (i do use cleaner master for cleaning junk though), I'll uninstall them.

Since in safe mode I get a lot lower ram (apss are half of what they are, and the not apps section is significantly lower), I'll start uninstalling pre problem apps and see how it goes, I'll get system panel, and clear some cache, and the I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd also like to note that i have google now off, and location off for the most time, turning off google now calmed android system down but only for a day until it got back up to high usage.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[Crashdamage]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

Again, uninstall ALL memory managers, optimizers, cleaners, battery savers - all of it. They are making your phone sick.

Uninstall apps by Settings > Apps > select app > Clear cache > Clear data > Uninstall. This minimizes the chance of leftover files.

After uninstalling all the crapware, do Settings > Storage > Cached data > Clear cached data. Do this only one time. Then leave cache data alone for best performance.

RAM usage is supposed to be high. For more information on how Android handles multitasking, processes, RAM, etc automatically for you read this post by one of the authors of Android:

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html?m=1

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[AnotherDood]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

After uninstalling Clean master, CM security, auto memory manager, battery doctor and facebook, clearing cache and restarting and letting it sit
\


those apps were using up some app ram but were not the cause of the still everpresent nonapp ram consumption(left blue bar) which hasn't reduced at all. Ive just compared pics and only the app ram has reduced.

I honestly dont know whats causing it, I do know it goes away in safe mode, battery and gsam are still showing android system as the top battery drainer (even with moderate to heavy use).

I'm well aware that ram usage is supposed to be high, but as you see almost one gb isnt used by running apps and cached but the system(?), and I'm pretty sure theres some memory leak that causes the left blue bar to go to 1.7gb while running apps(right blue bar) and cached(grey bit) have no more room and needing to restart, I still havent grabbed a screenshot of the mem leak but basically left blue bar is at 1.7 the rest is running apps and the cached only have 30mb left wich causes app restarting.

heres the system panel near the time of the previous screenshot

everything seems to be in order, nova is a little high, I've installed nova after the problem occurred, i love the launcher but it did actually worsen ram usage.

 

[Crashdamage]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

The System Panel screenshot looks fine. No worries. From that I would guess your phone is running OK. Is it?

If it still seems a bit slow, give it week or more before resetting. The crapware was making the phone sick, basically by forcing it into bad habits. It may take it a while to relearn good habits and heal itself. But in time it should.

To see exactly where all RAM is being used install RAM Truth, a small, simple app:

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...re/apps/details?id=sa.ramtruth&token=PULTZNIg

The Truth, simply.

This article by one of the authors of Android is an excellent explanation of using Process Stats (aka procstats) to understand RAM usage:

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2014/01/process-stats-understanding-how-your.html?m=1

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[AnotherDood]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

Thank you, ram truth also doesnt show any problems.

The crapware was taking some ram and my phone is running a bit better, but my main issue was that the system is taking 40%-50% of ram, why must this be? noone else has this much ram taken by the system on their phone.

Android system is still draining my battery, and I havent been able to recreate the mem leak problem (sometimes it happens twice in a week sometimes only once in three weeks...) but i did grab someone elses screenshot.


I get the same exact thing with different numbers.


Is there a way to stop the system taking so much ram? And is there a way to stop android system draining my battery.
I keep location off all the time otherwise my phone would have terrible battery life,
I've turned off google now, most of sync for google accounts and it hasnt helped.

Also I've heard nova only uses about 60mb ram, but when using nova it just adds and extra 60+mb to the ram already used by the system.

Can the phone be used in safe mode for a long period? I find myself using it that way more often.

 

[Crashdamage]

Re: Ram usage high, apps constantly restarting, cannot use phone

Your screenshots show almost 2 days on the battery. Seems pretty good to me.

I don't understand what the screenshots of cached processes are supposed to show other than total RAM used at the bottom. That looks fine.

The system is probably just trying to fill empty RAM. It could still be trying to do bad habits. I wouldn't be worried unless the phone is still sluggish.

Turning off Google Now and sync will have a minor effect on power drain. You might not even notice a difference. I don't use Google Now, but I leave sync on for several accounts on my phone, though only selected items sync.

There's no point in running in safe mode, and it will prevent the phone from relearning proper usage habits and healing itself. You can always do a reset if you're out patience.

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[Android Central Question]

Do phones "learn" bad habits?

In this post, the guy answering the question literally says that some junk apps (battery managers, cache cleaners, etc) have "taught the phone bad habits," and that it needs time to "relearn good habits"?
What?
https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/519636-ram-usage-high-apps-constantly-restarting-cannot-use-phone-what-going.html

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I merged your question into the thread in question.

Crashdamage was a really helpful and productive member of this forum, but unfortunately passed away some years back. I believe he was being somewhat facetious in his wording, but he was likely referring to the fact that terrible apps like Clean Master would do counterproductive things like killing apps in the background in a misguided attempt to "boost" performance. By uninstalling junkware like that, it allows the system to take over RAM management like it normally should. Since RAM management is done intelligently, it might take a short time for the system to relearn what apps should be opened automatically into RAM, for quick and efficient app switching.

Please register on this forum, which will allow you to engage in discussion more easily, as well as post images. https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html