Question Lenovo Tablet CPU usage problem

[LakesidePark]

Hi All
I have a Lenovo FHD M8 TB-8705F that really has been running poorly for a long time. Slow to respond to the point I was thinking of getting a new one. Attached is the 'About Phone' screenshot. I did some searching for a process monitor to try and understand what was using CPU. Read several posts and many were old and had recommendations for apps that are no longer available or apps that did not seem to give me any usable results until I found C3 below.

I tried installing a Linux emulator and running ps and top command as suggested here - but I did not get any results. I must have been doing something wrong. Neither command did anything. I have no experience with a Linux command line on android.I followed these instructions: https://android.stackexchange.com/q...current-resource-usage-cpu-memory-etc-c#27834

I found 3C All In One app from this page https://www.xda-developers.com/process-monitor-widgetapp-for-android/. I have attached several screenshots from that tool. The CPU history graph is most interesting showing the CPU usage jumping from 0 to 50% constantly.


Another screenshot showing 45% CPU usage:


Not sure what this screen shows



Finally this shot showing 100% CPU with the running apps showing their %


I would be happy to try and get more information if you tell me how to get it.

I then followed instructions on this post regarding using ADB commands. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14042687/cpu-usage-per-application-in-android. I ran "adb shell top -m 10" and saved the results in the attached shell.txt file. I don't really understand those results. Maybe they mean something to you and you can suggest a solution to my problem. Maybe this is a tool for only seeing the CPU usage of a specific app and not what I need.

I can run more adb commands.

I saw some webpages about android android studio to use CPU profiler - but I do not have android studio installed.

I have not done a factory reset recently - but I think I did that 5-6 months ago and the tablet performance did not change from what I recall.

I saw this tool but was not sure I understood how to install/use it. https://github.com/coozoo/androidprocmon

Thank you for your time. If you have instructions for me to get more information I am happy to do that.

 

[targe]

We had an issue where 3-4 processes were chewing up 10-30% of CPU each constantly and causing overheating and high fan usage. Come to find out that the processes were tied to Windows Hello and Secure Biometrics authentication services. Updating drivers and related software had no effect. We were able to solve the issue with the key settings below if anyone needs to solve this issue. We are working on finding a fix for systems that still need the biometrics for users that use them https://9apps.ooo/ .

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\SecureBiometrics Enabled = DWORD 0 to disable

KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Settings\AllowSignInOptions value = DWORD 0 to disable

 

[gandalf458]

Come to find out that the processes were tied to Windows Hello and Secure Biometrics authentication services

You have Windows Hello running on your Android device?

 

[LakesidePark]

I do not have Windows Hello (no idea what that is) on my Android tablet. I am not sure what PC windows Registry settings have to do with Androuid as targe mentions so I don't know what to do with targe reply.

Thanks

 

[mustang7757]

Sound's like an under spec tablet , does it come with 3gb ram?

 

[LakesidePark]

Thanks for your help.

I believe it has 3gb RAM. This is from 3C also I think shows RAM usage.

This spec also says 3GB https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/tabl...ef=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F#tech_specs.

The shell.txt attached file says this which is maybe the internal RAM usage?

Mem: 2.7G total, 2.6G used, 43M free, 27M buffers

The 3C screenshot does not say 2.6G used. What is the shell.txt file saying and what would be using up 2.6G of RAM and how would I find that out?

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks for your help.

I believe it has 3gb RAM. This is from 3C also I think shows RAM usage.

This spec also says 3GB https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/tabl...ef=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F#tech_specs.

The shell.txt attached file says this which is maybe the internal RAM usage?

Mem: 2.7G total, 2.6G used, 43M free, 27M buffers

The 3C screenshot does not say 2.6G used. What is the shell.txt file saying and what would be using up 2.6G of RAM and how would I find that out?

View attachment 363683

Usually developer settings have that feature for ram go to your software page and tap the build number 7 times to enable developers setting.

 

[mustang7757]

Ram on Android is always going be close to full that's how it works more efficiently to bring up the last open Page's and run more demanding apps and games , that's why I mentioned that tablet is under spec and why you get performance issues.

 

[LakesidePark]

Now I see what you are saying - that the device was not built with enough ram to begin with.

I just tried doing 'Forced Stop' on 30 apps, one at a time and none of them changed the CPU usage as seen in the 3C CPU Manager screen.

I also did 'Force-stop all included apps' using the 3C app. No change in CPU usage.

I'll wait a few more days to see if anyone has any other ideas and then will do factory reset again to see what happens

 

[smvim]

Lenovo Tab M8 (FHD) - Full tablet specifications

www.gsmarena.com

The hardware specs on your model of table appear to be moderately adequate, at least as far as what that model is designed to be. Don't get caught up in that trite trend that more RAM, more storage space, etc, etc. is a cure. There's no denying there are actually some really crappy, below spec, off-brand tablets out there, but that doesn't apply in your instance.
Your tablet is approaching five years old, the point being Android devices just age faster. A Factory Reset might help restore some of its performance but there's dated hardware with a dated operating system. That latter aspect is a big factor. The hardware is fixed as is, the OS however is the big issue as it's also fixed as is.
Also, you need to take more consideration about the differences between RAM and processing (both CPU and GPU). I'd suggest you stop trying to micromanage your RAM usage, the Android memory management is a lot smarter than we are. Manually closing apps and such is just making your tablet work a little harder to just function.
Again, you might want to try a Factory Reset, if anything so you more peace of mind. Be sure to back up any saved documents and data first. But otherwise, I'd recommend you just reset your expectations to match up with your tablet's capabilities, and access if you want or need a more current replacement.

 

[mustang7757]

Now I see what you are saying - that the device was not built with enough ram to begin with.

I just tried doing 'Forced Stop' on 30 apps, one at a time and none of them changed the CPU usage as seen in the 3C CPU Manager screen.

I also did 'Force-stop all included apps' using the 3C app. No change in CPU usage.

I'll wait a few more days to see if anyone has any other ideas and then will do factory reset again to see what happens

Exactly, factory reset will be temporary fix until files and apps build up again

 

[LakesidePark]

Thanks again. So my original goal was to get a process/task monitor tool to see what process is using the CPU time. Are there no solutions to that?

Also - do you think if I rooted and installed an alternate OS like Lineage OS or another OS would help with an older device like this?

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks again. So my original goal was to get a process/task monitor tool to see what process is using the CPU time. Are there no solutions to that?

Also - do you think if I rooted and installed an alternate OS like Lineage OS or another OS would help with an older device like this?

Only one I'm aware of is this app

CPU-Z - Apps on Google Play

CPU-Z is an application that reports information about your Android device.

play.google.com

As for an older device lineage OS would help if its supported probably light weight OS

 

[LakesidePark]

I did a factory reset and did not do a restore from google so no apps reinstalled. I installed the 3C All In One app to look at CPU and the CPU usage problem was the same as before with all the apps installed. Unfortunately when I did the factory reset - the tablet automatically updated to Android 10. It would have been interesting to see if the CPU usage problem was still there with Android 9. I know this tablet did not have the operating problems with I first started using it. I am wondering is the problem is with the tablet and Android 10.

Looking into rooting and installing LineageOS but that is certainly more work than I hoped for.

Any other ideas are appreciated

 

[LakesidePark]

I forgot to attach the CPU screenshot

 

[LakesidePark]

Also - thanks for the CPU Z recommendation. I had tried CPU Z before and just tried it again and maybe the version for my tablet does not have all features but it does not show individual process CPU usage.

 

[mustang7757]

Unfortunately I'm out of suggestions, sorry

 

[LakesidePark]

Final update - I finally was able to root the device (took me many days to figure that out....) and as soon as it came up rooted the CPU usage went to 0. No more of the jumping around to 50% CPU usage. Also - it seems that probably 8 G of SD ROM was freed up even with all apps installed restored. I did not have much video or pictures on the device so not sure what freed up all the flash - but basically I have a good as new device. Crazy.

 

[mustang7757]

Final update - I finally was able to root the device (took me many days to figure that out....) and as soon as it came up rooted the CPU usage went to 0. No more of the jumping around to 50% CPU usage. Also - it seems that probably 8 G of SD ROM was freed up even with all apps installed restored. I did not have much video or pictures on the device so not sure what freed up all the flash - but basically I have a good as new device. Crazy.

I'm glad it worked out