Database Users

ROM & RAM Usage & Reporting

I am having a tough time getting my head around how WM5 reports ROM & RAM uasge. I believe the system has 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM, so...
-----------------------------------------
I would expect the memory usage to be reported like so:
Storage
Total: 128 MB
In Use: 38.54 MB
Free: 89.46 MB
Program
Total: 64 MB
In Use: 31.73 MB
Free: 32.27 MB
-----------------------------------------
But instead I get:
Storage
Total: 47.46 MB
In Use: 38.54 MB
Free: 8.92 MB
Program
Total: 44.01 MB
In Use: 31.73 MB
Free: 12.28 MB
-----------------------------------------
So what happened to 80 MB of ROM (Storage) & 20 MB of RAM (Program)? The image file (nk.nbf) in the OS installer is 80MB in size so it seems that maybe the system subtracts that amount of space and just shows it as not even being there. Am I correct in that deduction? Does that mean that the 38MB of Storage in use is all due to applications that I have installed?
If the above is true, then is the system doing the same thing with the program memory (RAM)? It caculates how much RAM the base system uses, subtracts it from the 64MB total and reports that it isn't even available? If this is the case, why doesn't the system just report 64MB total and show what the system is using? Also, when I use MemMaid to check running processes, it only reports around 11.2MB in use by the running processes. What is using the additional 20MB (in addition to the 20MB that is not even being reported)?
So...
Is there a better way (instead of MemMaid) to see what is eating up the RAM?
I have removed as much as I can find (plug-ins and such) and have it up to around 20MB free with just the essentials running. Of course there may be standard OS stuff & T-Mobile stuff running that isn't really needed, but I cant seem to see any of it. What can I do to free up as much RAM as possible?
I am running the official T-Mobile 2.26 ROM. I assume the cooked ROM images eliminate the "junk" and free up storage space, but do they also free up program memory? If so what can I expect to gain in available RAM over the T-Mobile ROM?
Thanks in Advance,
Dave

is this deja vu or did i have a psychic dream... i swear this exact same post was just covered a few days ago..... maybe its time for me to go to bed

shogunmark said:
is this deja vu or did i have a psychic dream... i swear this exact same post was just covered a few days ago..... maybe its time for me to go to bed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I posted part of it a few days ago in a thread someone else started, but wasn't getting any responses. I figured I would add more detail and see if anyone has any valuable information to help me out.

This was posted to me by another member here when I was having some troubles.. perhaps it can help you in some way...
its a program called where is my ram
check it out...
-James

c-pimp said:
This was posted to me by another member here when I was having some troubles.. perhaps it can help you in some way...
its a program called where is my ram
check it out...
-James
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but that wasn't any help. It would shows what is being used in "Storage", but didn't show anything in the way of "Program" (RAM) usage. Even though it let you choose between RAM & ROM, it only is only looking at Storage. For instance when I selected to show only RAM it still showed the contents of my SD card.

Sl33p3r said:
c-pimp said:
This was posted to me by another member here when I was having some troubles.. perhaps it can help you in some way...
its a program called where is my ram
check it out...
-James
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but that wasn't any help. It would shows what is being used in "Storage", but didn't show anything in the way of "Program" (RAM) usage. Even though it let you choose between RAM & ROM, it only is only looking at Storage. For instance when I selected to show only RAM it still showed the contents of my SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look real close windows consumes almost 78MB itself that's where a good junk has gone!

Always low on memory - Advice

Hi all,
I'm always low on memory on my phone, I run quite a few hungry apps so looking at suggestions now please. I'm a linux-person but this one baffles me on the right way to go ahead.
I'm on CM-4.2.3.1 pretty much as standard, no tweaks to note on it.
Advanced Task Killer shows me at generally around 17Mb available memory, but in my logs I often get:
Code:
11-12 13:33:43.102 I/ActivityManager( 322): Low Memory: No more background processes.
So I'm thinking I need to do something. I've not got swap enabled, nor have I got compcache as far as I'm aware, so what should I go for here and is there a simple guide on it? As I have done a few searches and its overwhelming the information that comes back.
Thanks in advance everyone

You could try the free app "automatic task killer" see if that helps. I've personally came to the conclusion that CM 4.2+ ROMs are RAM hogs themselves. Try flashing a ROM with the 10 meg RAM hack if it bugs you.

You're supposed to be low on memory.. That means your phone is using the it to the greatest efficiency.. Empty memory is wasted memory. Unless you're experiecing long load times and loads of caching, its normal.

goldenarmZ said:
You're supposed to be low on memory.. That means your phone is using the it to the greatest efficiency.. Empty memory is wasted memory. Unless you're experiecing long load times and loads of caching, its normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
qft, this is typically how linux runs anyways.

Do you have an ext partition on your SD for apps2sd? How about a linux swap partition (enabled)?

mikedmeyer said:
Do you have an ext partition on your SD for apps2sd? How about a linux swap partition (enabled)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second the suggestion for using a linux swap partition!

Agreed, and yes I have a swap partition correctly formatted, however thats the problem there are too many "guides" of how to enable/use the swap on CM, so if anyone can point me to the right entry (couldn't find it on the CM wiki either), or how to enable any of the other memory enhancements (compcache or whatever)
Thanks!

You can dl user.conf app from the market. explanations are given in the help section

Free memory is only 35mb, is that normal

this might be a noob question, and i searched and i cannot find an answer to my question. i have an HTC Magic (32B) and i been installing all types of roms, and they install fine but the problem im facing that they run slow, so i thought i might be running out of RAM memory so i was using TasKiller which shows how much memory i have, and its on average 35 mb of free memory is that normal? i have my SD partitioned with a 96 mb Swap and 512 EXT. how do i increase the free memory because i think thats whats slowing it down. i read somewhere that i need to enable the Swap as it is not enabled by default. can someone help and explain what i need to do, cause everyone else says that their ROMs fly even on G1 and other 32B and mine is slow. I am currently using KingKlik Espresso Rom but i face that issue with all the Roms

What ROM are you currently using?
32B magics don't have the same amount of ram as 32As from what i understand.
type free /proc/meminfo on a terminal and see what it gives you. I hate task manager info's about ram sometimes they don't give a right amount.

32A have a higher RAM, currently i am using KinkKlik espresso ROM but i face this issue with all the ROMs that are not 1.5. i thought when i have the swap file and all that stuff it would expand the RAM space used

Yes, this is normal on a 32B.
Keep in mind Android has a great shared library framework, and allows apps to save state when it moves them out of RAM so they can re-launch later and be back at the same point you left them.

dstxy said:
this might be a noob question, and i searched and i cannot find an answer to my question. i have an HTC Magic (32B) and i been installing all types of roms, and they install fine but the problem im facing that they run slow, so i thought i might be running out of RAM memory so i was using TasKiller which shows how much memory i have, and its on average 35 mb of free memory is that normal? i have my SD partitioned with a 96 mb Swap and 512 EXT. how do i increase the free memory because i think thats whats slowing it down. i read somewhere that i need to enable the Swap as it is not enabled by default. can someone help and explain what i need to do, cause everyone else says that their ROMs fly even on G1 and other 32B and mine is slow. I am currently using KingKlik Espresso Rom but i face that issue with all the Roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mine stays around their, im on mytouch, tops it gets up to about 45mb

[Q] "cheated" RAM?

Hi,
I got new phone dual sim from China on wm 6.5, and in the settings/system/device information it shows 128mb of RAM, while in settings/system/memory it shows only 77. I checked 2 independent applications (cleanRam and advanced task mgr) and both of them show 77mb.
Did chinese manufacturer cheat me?
Thanks

No, you just don't understand how RAM works.

Can you please be more specific?
In my pc, running on xp I have very clear and reliable information about total ram in task manager (total, used, free), so I compare this to windows mobile. And it's different.

kriskot said:
Hi,
I got new phone dual sim from China on wm 6.5, and in the settings/system/device information it shows 128mb of RAM, while in settings/system/memory it shows only 77. I checked 2 independent applications (cleanRam and advanced task mgr) and both of them show 77mb.
Did chinese manufacturer cheat me?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it means your phone is using 51mb of the memory and has 77mb free memory left to use. when you scan your phone with clean ram it shows you the free ram available. same do the task manager.

I've seen this similar problem on my iPhone4 (china/clone).. it showed, 16Gb of internal/phone memory but when I tried to put a song (more or less 5mb) it showed that I was already using 60% of the total space.. and the annoying part was that it still showed the same information before I transfered the song..
I really have to agree that we are being cheated by these manufacturers..

Hi,
come on, I am not so "newbie"...
it shows 33 used+44 free=77 total, while in specification says: 128mb of RAM

kriskot said:
Hi,
come on, I am not so "newbie"...
it shows 33 used+44 free=77 total, while in specification says: 128mb of RAM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know how WinMo works (never used it), but on Android there's RAM designated to the Dalvik VM and another lot designated to the system/kernel.
I guess it's similar on WinMo, 51mb is probably being reserved for something useful.
kenishizen said:
I've seen this similar problem on my iPhone4 (china/clone).. it showed, 16Gb of internal/phone memory but when I tried to put a song (more or less 5mb) it showed that I was already using 60% of the total space.. and the annoying part was that it still showed the same information before I transfered the song..
I really have to agree that we are being cheated by these manufacturers..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since it's a Chinese clone it's probably using really dodgy flash memory, which is acting up, rather than an intentional modification to show a larger capacity.

I just read that WM 6.5 on start takes around 40 mb of RAM, so something independent from WM is eating my RAM, or simply does not exist physically... any idea how to check it?

They are being reserved as "pagepool" Windows Mobile caches frequently accessed files in there for quick access.
You can decided how much you want to reserve for pagepool when you flash a new rom with tool called PagePool_Changer

kriskot said:
Hi,
come on, I am not so "newbie"...
it shows 33 used+44 free=77 total, while in specification says: 128mb of RAM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is 128 MB of ram, but you don't get to use all of it for program memory. Some is reserverd for the page pool, the radio, hardware buffers and for the kernel/OS. The task managers just don't report the ram that you have no control over. This is how it is with all devices.
Edit: try reading this.

I am not sure how their phones work, but I do know that awhile back, I purchased a 16gb flash drive when they first came out and when I plugged it into my computer it read 4gb and even after formatting it still is only 4gb. It says 16gb on the drive itself but there is NO way that is correct. Be careful when you buy some of this Chinese garbage.

[Q] RAM issue with HD2

Hello guys,
I have a little problem.
I use the "HD2 NDT MIUI Ginger Rom" and its really fast but my only problem is that when I use it a few hours without reboot my RAM falls down to 80MB .
Even when I kill all tasks it's still under 100MB everytime. After I reboot the RAM is like 200Mb or more.
Why is that so? Is it possible to change it?

streety12 said:
Hello guys,
I have a little problem.
I use the "HD2 NDT MIUI Ginger Rom" and its really fast but my only problem is that when I use it a few hours without reboot my RAM falls down to 80MB .
Even when I kill all tasks it's still under 100MB everytime. After I reboot the RAM is like 200Mb or more.
Why is that so? Is it possible to change it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what is your problem exactly? The great memory management of this rom? To much free ram? Force closes? Apps not starting?

greg17477 said:
So what is your problem exactly? The great memory management of this rom? To much free ram? Force closes? Apps not starting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What? I said that I only got 80MB Ram left. I don´t want to reboot every few hours .

streety12 said:
Hello guys,
I have a little problem.
I use the "HD2 NDT MIUI Ginger Rom" and its really fast but my only problem is that when I use it a few hours without reboot my RAM falls down to 80MB .
Even when I kill all tasks it's still under 100MB everytime. After I reboot the RAM is like 200Mb or more.
Why is that so? Is it possible to change it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get yourself Automatic Task Killer, select all apps and i guarentee youll have plenty of Ram left
I use it on all my roms it works great

casemandan said:
Get yourself Automatic Task Killer, select all apps and i guarentee youll have plenty of Ram left
I use it on all my roms it works great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks , I'll give it a try and post my feedback here

you don't need task killer.....you do not even have to look at the free memory....just use your phone...you won't have any kind of memory problem... GB memory management is great...!

mrbr0wn said:
you don't need task killer.....you do not even have to look at the free memory....just use your phone...you won't have any kind of memory problem... GB memory management is great...!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not when you have A LOT OF APPS installed. Trust me. Its very needed on Sense roms too. More ram equals faster rom experience

streety12 said:
What? I said that I only got 80MB Ram left. I don´t want to reboot every few hours .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
casemandan said:
Not when you have A LOT OF APPS installed. Trust me. Its very needed on Sense roms too. More ram equals faster rom experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On Android, espacially on miui you dont need a taskkiller. MIUI has a built in taskkiller, just hold the home button. 3rd party automatic task killers are plain bs. Free ram is wasted ram. 80mb of free ram is plenty. More free ram won't speed up your device, it will slow it down. Of course your apps open faster, if they are allready loaded into RAM, not when they have to be loaded from nand or sd first.
Wise words from mrbr0wn:
"you don't need task killer.....you do not even have to look at the free memory....just use your phone...you won't have any kind of memory problem... GB memory management is great...!"

Yes, more isn't always better...

Task Killer are not helpful :/
After reboot my RAM starts with around 200MB but after a while it stucks at 50-40mb even when I kill all tasks.Everything is a little bit laggy then and I NEED to reboot in order to use it again normally. Whats wrong?

i use the "autostarts.apk" (known as a170.apk) to remove all the apps from the autostart list.
When you kill apps, the always open in background again.
Remove the Autostart entry from them and its all perfect now !

I use Sense 3,5 ROM and RAM after my first boot:
Full size 411.50Mbytes
Fluent: 4.67Vbytes
Used: 406.83 MB
What can eats so much memory? What does he do? How to free more RAM?
Or what you can see that it has eaten so much RAM?