Huge memory leak? Running out of ram (16 GB)

RavinRivie

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So this problem started about two weeks ago, with nothing in particular changing. Just standard windows updates and so on. I'll try and list every single program I use when my PC is running (Looking at my notification area primarily):

EVGA Precision X
Core Temp
Xfire
Steam
Avast Antivirus
Comodo Firewall
Logitech Gaming Control Panel
Catalyst Control Center
XFastUSB
XFast LAN
Spybot S&D 2
Sticky Notes (The Windows ones - I have like 3 on my desktop)

I use chrome 99% of the time for the internet, and it uses a nice chunk of ram because I have about a dozen extensions. I can list all those if this might matter, the thing is I'll just be sitting at my PC with it open and then after awhile I get a popup usually from Chrome first that says it ran out of memory and then often Chrome just closes. Then I get a message from Windows saying I'm low on memory. If I look at my task manager and look at memory usage it's usually at something like 14.6 GB and I have 16 GB (2 x 8 GB DDR3 sticks).

I did spyware checks and virus scans and turned up nothing. I'm at an absolute loss, although I'm infuriated that this issue just won't stop occurring from some inept programmer forgetting to release the memory. CCC.exe seems to use a lot of ram sometimes, but nothing outrageous. I've even used Microsoft's Process Explorer (the one you have to download) and I don't see any one app eating tons of ram other than Chrome. Even so, Chrome in total uses maybe 2-3 GB. Every time I go to monitor the memory use it never ramps up so I just get tired of looking at it and close it. Then hours later it has ramped up insanely again and repeats.

This is bad enough in my book I'm about ready to switch OSes if this isn't resolved. Really getting tired of this game, and I'm not sure if I should be angry with Microsoft, Google, or someone else completely. As far as Chrome goes I've looked in Chrome's task manager and the highest memory use is 157,000K for the browser, my highest extensions is AdBlock Plus at 103,988K. Most extensions are around 13,000K, maybe 2-3 are in the 30-70K range.

Any suggestions on what this could be? I keep wanting to say Chrome, but I really can't switch from Chrome. Too many features I use that I don't want to give up.
 

Wamphryi

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You could try restoring to a point before the issue. Also try running another browser. Yes I know you want chrome but for testing purposes it makes sense to eliminate chrome from the equation if it is not the culprit.

I cant help but be concerned that your OS is compromised somehow if you cant find a program hogging the RAM. Some rootkits are hard to detect. It may be worth reinstalling.
 

RavinRivie

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I can't do a restore, I think I disabled them some time ago when I got my SSD. Either that or it's very short term and only goes back like a week or two at most.

After Chrome irritated me I did get mad and delete it, but then realized immediately I have become so attached to Chrome I basically can't not use it. So I immediately re-downloaded and installed, so inadvertently - yes, I've uninstalled and reinstalled Chrome. Why is Chrome so inefficient with the memory? It's amazing really how in that regard IE is much better, admittedly everything else IE does is terrible so a moot point really. I tried Chrome on an old slow laptop I had and it is such a resource hog I had to use Firefox. This computer is plenty powerful enough for Chrome, other than these stupid memory problems. I just checked now as I've had the window open for a few hours - total memory use right now for my entire PC is 29% (4.69 GB). I wish it gave some warning sign, I think it just suddenly goes from this to 15 GB or something in a few seconds. Sometimes if I'm watching YouTube total memory use will go up to 5.1-5.2 GB.

Is it more likely an extension inside Chrome eating memory or just chrome itself? I can list all my extensions if it might lead to any clues. I used to use IE Tab but I just deleted it after something it installed would NOT let me end Chrome's process after I closed Chrome.
 

apcs13

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I don't think Chrome is the entire cause, its either the OS or an extension. I have 8GB of RAM and even with a full line of tabs of YouTube and other webpages with a lot of content, as well as Steam and Origin, and that at most uses 3.8 GB after an hour or so of being open. Something is wrong, and its not chrome itself. Try disabling eextension until it works more without leaks.
 

RavinRivie

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Ok, further info about this problem. I saw it and it's a pretty steady ramp up to about 14.6-14.7 GB. NOTHING in my process tab is using this much memory. It almost seems to go away on its own once I click ok on the "You're low on memory" popup. I tried closing Chrome and it made a small difference but after I close it I noticed it went down and then started going up again. I can see in my process tab there are two instances of Chrome still running, each using 25% CPU and a smallish amount of ram. If I try to kill these processes, they "allow" me to but they never actually end. I can click them and end them and nothing happens. So they suck 50% of my CPU the entire time. I waited awhile and saw it drop down to just one instance that was steady 24-25% CPU.

ProcExp didn't reveal anything either. No SvcHost or anything using up lots of ram or anything. One or two times I let it ramp down and it went back to normal. But I usually get irritated and restart the PC. If I just log off and log back on it's still eating up tons of memory and CPU.
 

RavinRivie

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I could, though at this point I've had about enough of the Windows shenanigans and would heavily consider jumping ship to another OS. I can't convert this machine as I need to be able to play my games which are Windows only, but might just pick up another computer to use instead. If I end up having to format, I'm not decided yet but I might do it. When I used XP I had to reinstall it 4-5 times over several years, mostly just due to it starting to act weird and corrupted. Vista did this to me twice. This will make the first time Windows 7 has done it to me.

I just disabled a boatload of extensions in Chrome and am running this way to see if it still happens. I'll try adding them back in one at a time and see if I can determine if a specific extension is the source of this trouble. Will report back here if I figure it out - or if I just redo everything.
 

RavinRivie

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Ok, further pictures. Did a full, intense scan with Avast. Only came across one virus, but it moved it to the chest so that should be gone now. No other issues found. I have removed many extensions and I'm running on barebones extensions now, still getting this problem. Here are pictures showing how the ramp up and down looks like for memory use if they help identify the source or reason for this.

Here's one right after I get the "Not enough memory message", it's always while I'm doing something in Chrome it seems.
BlELMlf.png


Here's another time it happened
LXaTBaY.png


Here's the ramp down if I just sit at the computer, I don't do anything here. I can even restart Chrome and it doesn't matter for memory use, it doesn't spike when I launch Chrome. Of note, Chrome is what is always using 25% CPU, sometimes two instances are running that are each using 25% causing the 50% CPU usage. I cannot end the process, no matter what I try.
3dKDLhk.png


trYEQL3.png


9rQtJZA.png


Here's the baseline, what it normally runs at. I have all my normal apps that I would have open, which is basically just a few explorer windows open and Chrome, along with all the background apps I already listed. These ramp down pictures are chronological from the "out of memory" point in the earlier pic.
4mZlIrW.png


Does this help? Anyone have a clue?

I should note something I just saw, Steam had closed itself and I had to manually restart it. Not sure if it was just killed because of running out of ram, or something else. Could Steam be the cause of this? It isn't even using a lot of CPU or memory compared to Chrome.
 

apcs13

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Here's what you should do: download the program Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. It is a very powerful (and legit) malware and virus removal tool that gets a lot of what Anti-Virus software misses. For example, on my old laptop, Avast said that my PC was completely clean, but upon running a scan with Malwarebytes it detected 12 issues in just a quick scan! You can either Google Malwarebytes or get it from here: http://www.malwarebytes.org

The free version will work just fine for your purposes and has the same powerful scanning tech as the full version.

I would definitely run a full scan in your case where you definitely know something is wrong. For me, I keep my PC very clean and never really visit bad sites, just YouTube, Tom's, Google, and Steam/Origin/Uplay on this PC, so I just run a quick scan first and then a full scan if it finds anything. For you, I would highly recommend a full scan.
 

RavinRivie

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Already well aware of Malwarebytes, used it after the virus scan and it found nothing.

So my basic takeaway from this is Windows is a terrible OS. Sigh, I didn't want to do this but unless there's a solution to this problem I think it's time I say farewell to Microsoft. I mean I can't for good, I play games so I have to use Windows. But looks like I might make my daily use OS Mac OS X or a Linux distro. I've done everything I can think of, short of a secure erase and reinstall of Win 7. Why should I need to do this? There's literally no reason that can't be reduced down to incompetent developers at Microsoft.
 

apcs13

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Windows 7 is actually one of the best operating systems, you can't call it terrible just because you had one bad incident with it. I have had at least 3 incidents with Win 7 where it required a full format and reinstallation in order to get the computer running again, yet Windows 7 is currently my favorite operating system by far. Those who are behind the creation of any operating system are incredible at software development, you can't call them terrible just because you had one issue with it. Unless your operating system is better you have no room to talk. Sorry, but Windows is much more versatile than any other operating system to date, and the ones that come close are not nearly as popular and have much fewer uses. Just format your drive and reinstall it, its much faster than whining at the devs.
 

RavinRivie

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And let's add in the 5 times I had to reinstall XP because it just corrupted itself, and the 2 times Vista became corrupted and plagued with problems...my point is, Microsoft OSes constantly do this. I'm sick of having to format and reinstall stuff. That should not be a normal part of using a computer. I installed this version of Windows 7 not that horribly long ago. Maybe early 2012? It was right after I bought my Samsung 840 Pro and I installed a fresh copy of Win 7 onto it. Microsoft would rather you just upgrade your OS each time they release one so you don't run into these issues. I on the otherhand, just use the same one for a long time - unless issues come up.

If you're legitimately using that terrible excuse that I have to be able to make my own OS to criticize one, that's incredibly wrong. Same goes for music, art, movies, games, etc. I really don't need the Microsoft pep talk, they're well known for making a lot of shortcuts with Windows to release it. I attended a conference that had a Microsoft speaker and they don't even consider Windows that big of a piece of the puzzle in their new strategy. They're busy trying to make tablets and phones (terribly, I might add - and yes I've used a Surface and a Windows Phone for some time, and returned both).

Windows isn't versatile, so much as it's just the "default". If OS X or say Mint or Debian were the "default" then the same would be said for them. Changing the entire market after it's been formed with these impressions (that OS X is for trendy hipsters with a lot of money, or that Linux is for nerdy computer people) it's difficult to change people's thoughts. Trust me, I was on the "Windows is better than all other OSes" bandwagon for years. The truth is, no - none of them are perfect. But I can certainly say Windows is falling from grace even more than people will admit.

The simple fact at the end of the day is my PC is running into issues caused by the OS. It just started doing this a few weeks ago and now shows no recourse to fix it. I didn't go to some dirty website, or download a suspicious file. Did everything I'm "supposed" to do with antivirus, firewall, and active malware protection - still didn't prevent whatever this issue is. So after this kind of failure, I'm supposed to just chock it up to "well, that just happens - time to reinstall"? I had an '07 iMac for years that never had an issue, but when I consolidated computers I really couldn't justify keeping it. I recently sold it and it was working perfectly, no issues and certainly none from some corrupted OS install or idiotic memory leak. It only had 4 GB of ram so it would've choked much sooner than my 16 GB rig does.
 

apcs13

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Woah buddy, no need to write me a novel to hate on me, I'm just saying what I have experienced personally. No offense man, but if your OS fails that much I think its you that's doing something wrong. I once did a virus scan on my friend's Win 7 laptop that came up with almost 500 issues (yes, nearly 500 viruses, malware, PUPs, etc.), and his PC ran very stable even during and after all of that, albeit very slowly before I fixed it for him.

Windows IS very versatile, be it from the fact that it has always been to "go to" OS for such a variety of softwares over the years or otherwise, most things just work for Windows at the end of the day. Try gaming on OSX and Linux, while it is possible to do the library is so much smaller and performance is almost always worse. Anything that a machine on OSX can do, a PC can do. Even Linux has only a handful of exclusive features.

You claim that Windows is "falling from grace"- how so? PC Gaming is on the rise by a lot recently, and you know what 95% of those gaming PCs are using as an OS? Some variant of Windows. That to me seems like Windows is doing just fine, but I digress.

At the end of the day yes, your OS is giving you issues, but considering other operating systems won't even let you do anything to cause issues, I wouldn't care that if I messed up like you probably did and I have in the past that I need to reinstall my OS, because if I used a "safer" alternative, say OSX, it can't do anything I need it to do.
 

athlonman00

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You have a program running somewhere causing a memory leak. Something somewhere on your system is poorly designed, and it's not windows, otherwise everyone else in the world would have the same problem. It could simply be a printer driver, who knows? Memory leaks won't always report in the performance monitor, depending on what is causing it. More often than not, it's a little piece of software the serves a specific purpose, like a audio codec, or something of that nature, that's snuck itself in the background and no-one knows about it. Especially, if the program closes, but the internal code is bad, and it never releases its' resources when it doesn't need them. This is the traditional "Memory leak" which, these days, shouldn't happen, but does. If you haven't tried yet, run the computer in safe mode for a little bit and check memory consumption. Since Safe mode would only run what's needed to run windows, it would rule out and third party programs or drivers causing an issue, which will narrow down the problem quite a bit.
 

RavinRivie

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To add further on, I STILL get this issue. I disabled literally all extensions in Chrome save for one vital one (LastPass) and it seemed to work. I added in another and it seemed ok. Then it happened again when I added another (not immediately, just eventually). Gone back and forth with that and thought it might be fixed, but still it happens sometimes for utterly no reason. Today I just booted the computer, had been running not 3 minutes and I get the out of memory. I'd REALLY like to think this would raise a red flag to someone since I can't think what on earth would cause a memory leak to occur within mere minutes of booting the computer.

--Below is an off-topic response, not related to the thread--

Not sure where this typical "it's just you, and it's your fault" attitude comes from. Have worked with PCs since being a small child, I worked in tech support, and I'm a developer. Don't come off with this teenage answer like I'm some idiot who's been downloading porn from some shady site. There's no malware on my computer, and your anecdotal story about your friend seems like bunk. I've done everything a reasonable person should be expected to do in maintaining my PC and more so, and find this the most ridiculous thing yet. A maybe what - 2 year old? - Win 7 install on an SSD has ran into some utterly system breaking memory leak.

You have no idea how much I have hated OS X and Apple, but I bought a 2007 iMac about a year ago and used it as the last Mac I used was a PowerPC. I still hate Apple and what the people who like them do, but I have to point out that iMac was incredibly fast when considering it was running on just a Core 2 Duo and very stable. Linux I'm more mixed on because many installs of it seem to be just quirky, audio often doesn't work for me. Perhaps I'm just stubborn that I don't feel like tinkering with my computer all the time, but that aside Linux is stable and hasn't crashed on me - though I have no Linux machines in regular use except a spare laptop that is sparingly used running Lubuntu.

I play games, but would hardly defend Windows as such a superior choice just because it's the only one. A bit of Stockholm Syndrome there. Much like cable companies in the US hold a near monopoly regionally for service and are utterly despised for it because of poor service, people have no better choice in that regard. I'd say it's somewhat similar, though while I play games many do not and those people can easily dump Windows for OS X or Linux (if they're more bold). I'd like to note, gaming performance is no worse on either platform other than for OS X it's not been focused on games for years hardware side which is more Apple's fault.

Your last statement seems incredibly naive and comes off as childish. How anyone could say that OS X or Linux are safer options because they "won't let you do anything to cause issues"? OS X is Unix based so it definitely allows you to do whatever you want to it much like Windows, it's just done differently. And Linux, this one shows me you have never used it and perhaps only seen it for 5 minutes on a Live CD or something - Linux offers the ability to ruin your OS if you don't know what you're doing far easier. Taking care with what you do though, it's a stable platform that can do a lot of things. Not sure where you get the idea most people use a computer for games, as much as I like computer games most people just browse the web, write/read documents, and watch videos on their computers. OS X and Linux both fit those tasks just as well as Windows.

Wasn't intending to have this discussion here, just wanted to make a note of this. Don't misinform people with some Windows bias because it holds more power than it should over PC gaming.
 

athlonman00

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So if the last time this happened was pretty much on a fresh boot, start disabling startup programs. Get CCleaner and use the startup utility to disable items at startup. Remove everything first, then turn them on one at a time until you get a memory leak again. I still have a feeling that you've got a driver or something that's causing the memory leak
 

RavinRivie

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Will give this a try. I am curious though, the memory leak did happen after I opened Chrome (I do open it shortly after starting the computer). Though I can't see how memory can leak in that period of time, just wanted to make sure it didn't seem like suddenly I booted up and the PC was out of memory just sitting on the desktop. It makes me really suspicious of Chrome which was always what I suspected, but I'd be happy if it's just something else as long as I can track down whatever it is.

Update: So after looking in startup I'm seeing some weird stuff, nothing malicious but more just stuff I don't think needs to be running at startup. Like entries for LastPass one-time install, that shouldn't be enabled. I'm now highly suspicious, I have Spybot S&D 2 and one thing it runs is SDCleaner.exe /autoclean. I have to wonder if this might not be doing it in the background, although I must say I've never seen it using memory or anything. When that memory issue occurs, even if I close Chrome, one instance of Chrome in the processes will stay running with exactly 25% CPU and I cannot kill the process. It just won't end. I think if I wait long enough it goes away, but I can't manually end it.
 

athlonman00

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It could be a Browser Helper Object, like Avast for example. Most antivirus software these days isntall BHO's to help protect you while browsing, but they end up creating headaches more than anything. Check the browser add-ons and see if there's one for Avast, disabled it, and run for a bit and see what happens. BHO's are also installed by a lot of different malware too, go figure
 

RavinRivie

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Yes, the Avast module did end up being annoying and I deleted it long long ago when I first installed it after it was causing issues. So far so good though, I even enabled a few more extensions. I'll give this several more days of typical use and see if the issue occurs again. To be on safe side I'll try a boot time virus scan, I found a trojan on an old .exe that I transferred from an old OS drive (Windows XP era) so it wasn't something I executed when I did a virus scan some time ago to resolve this issue but I doubt that was causing this and I didn't find anything else.


I don't think so, I'm not deleting Malwarebytes, Spybot S&D, or Avast. All are much better than Windows Defender which is more of a Microsoft CYA sort of deal. I have 16 GB of ram, so whatever minor increase in memory use they might cause is of no concern to me. I just can't have a memory leak using up nearly the entire 16 GB of ram, once it's fixed everything will be fine again. I can even leave Chrome open with multiple tabs, many extensions, and a fullscreen game and I maybe get to 7-8 GB of use. I bought 16 GB for exactly this reason, didn't ever want to run out. In all my time I rarely get to 50% use, but like the headroom of having this much so I'm not forced to do as you might with lighter applications. Truth be told, Avast only uses about 26,000K of memory (that's the service and the UI).

Now, on my old Thinkpad T43 when I had XP on it, Avast as well as Comodo choked that thing down. It only had 2 GB, but I think the old 1.86 GHz single core Pentium M choked it down even more (It regularly hit 100% CPU use and flatlined at it for some time). Runs much better now that I put Lubuntu on it, didn't want to risk choking it down with Win 7 though I was curious if it could run it well.