[SOLVED] What factors contribute to a memory leak?

[ShangWang]

The only time I ever had a "memory leak" was when I had too many tabs opened at once, tried to run a game and ran out of memory so the game crashed. After that game was crashed it seemed to fail to release that memory.

Is the most common reason memory leaks happen is due to OOM issues, or are there other more common factors?

 

[USAFRet]

A 'memory leak' is when an application or function does not release whatever RAM it may be using.
Bad programming.

Say you have some application that checks in with home base every hour, for updates.
It uses some 100MB each time.
But when that function closes, it does not play well and give up that 100MB RAM.

Next hour, it cranks up that function, consuming another 100MB.
So, after having it open for 10 hours....that function is still holding that RAM. After 10 hours, it is sucking up 1GB RAM, for no good purpose.

 

[kanewolf]

The only time I ever had a "memory leak" was when I had too many tabs opened at once, tried to run a game and ran out of memory so the game crashed. After that game was crashed it seemed to fail to release that memory.

Is the most common reason memory leaks happen is due to OOM issues, or are there other more common factors?

The ONLY thing that "causes" a memory leak is badly written code. That is why an end user can't do anything to fix it besides updating a program or driver. Only someone with the original source code can fix it.

 

[ShangWang]

The ONLY thing that "causes" a memory leak is badly written code. That is why an end user can't do anything to fix it besides updating a program or driver. Only someone with the original source code can fix it.

I see, thanks.

 

[ShangWang]

The ONLY thing that "causes" a memory leak is badly written code. That is why an end user can't do anything to fix it besides updating a program or driver. Only someone with the original source code can fix it.

Just wondering, what kind of "driver" would cause a memory leak?

 

[kanewolf]

Just wondering, what kind of "driver" would cause a memory leak?

Any software can contain a memory leak. A device driver like a graphics card or network card driver execute small sections of code thousands of times per second. A tiny memory management error can quickly make a lot of memory unavailable.

 

[ShangWang]

Any software can contain a memory leak. A device driver like a graphics card or network card driver execute small sections of code thousands of times per second. A tiny memory management error can quickly make a lot of memory unavailable.

I see, can a bad RAM stick itself cause memory leaks? I notice when I close all my tabs, then reopen all of the same ones I'm using 1GB less than before with the same tabs.

 

[kanewolf]

I see, can a bad RAM stick itself cause memory leaks? I notice when I close all my tabs, then reopen all of the same ones I get back like 1GB.

No. Only software can have a leak. A bad DIMM could lower the total amount of RAM available. Exhausting all available RAM is different than a leak.

 

[ShangWang]

No. Only software can have a leak. A bad DIMM could lower the total amount of RAM available. Exhausting all available RAM is different than a leak.

Thanks, as for that 1GB that was recovered is that likely just software as you mentioned? It went from 8.0 to 6.7 usage about.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks, as for that 1GB that was recovered is that likely just software as you mentioned? It went from 8.0 to 6.7 usage about.

That sounds like memory reserved for video use by the integrated GPU.

 

[Colif]

some drivres are known for memory leaks, killer internet drivers used to cause them, they fixed it in later updates

they can be a pain to work out, there are ways. Some Microsoft programs help you out.