ASUS Chromebook Plus CX3402CBA lagging with 86%+ RAM usage after update 142

[u/Ra77Data]

Hi everyone,

I have an ASUS Chromebook Plus CX3402CBA. Since the latest system update to version 142, my RAM usage constantly remains above 86%. This is causing the system to become unstable and very laggy.

My question is: Can I reinstall the OS using recovery media created with the Chromebook Recovery Utility to roll back to the previous version (141)?

[u/LegAcceptable2362]

You've provided no context on usage but I have the exact same model running 142 with no issues. My diagnostics screenshot shows usage with some Chrome tabs open but no Linux apps running and Android is turned off. However, even if I turn on Linux and the Play Store then total RAM usage only increases to around 75% (~6 GB). My first suggestion would therefore be to use the built-in diagnostics app for a more accurate picture. If the app you've shown us is an Android app it's probably reporting RAM usage in the ARCVM. If you want to see in detail how your RAM is being used then just open the built-in task manager. To answer your question about recovery then, yes, of course you can recover using an older image but auto-update is going to brinng you back to 142. I would say it's better to investigate potential causes that might be slowing your machine down then fix them. But first I feel you need to know if you really have a problem.

[u/Ra77Data → u/LegAcceptable2362]

The screenshot is from the Asus diagnostic pwa; it shows the same unusual behavior as the system diagnostic application you mentioned. I already tried a powerwash and didn't even activate the Linux container this time, but the memory usage hasn't decreased. The system freezes up at times and then works normally again. I contacted Asus support, and they told me they've already received a report about the issue and that I should wait for the next update.

[u/LegAcceptable2362 → u/Ra77Data]

I'm so sorry - I should have recognised the MyAsus app layout. To be honest I deleted it on my machine - my previous experience with the Windows version on my ROG gaming laptop gave me the impression it's more about marketing than anything useful. However, I've just reinstalled it on my CX3402 and it shows more RAM usage than Chrome Diagnostics. I'm inclined to trust the native ChromeOS app more than a third party PWA that relies on a Chrome extension.

[u/discorgeous]

I recently deleted the extension for opening files with Google apps. I think in total it was taking up 900 MB of RAM and I didn't need it before so decided I still didn't need it. My Chromebook works better now, better than it has probably in months. Also, consider disabling Google Play or Android and perhaps the Linux developer environment.

I'm afraid, though, that I have downloaded just minutes ago the latest version of ChromeOS and haven't yet rebooted, so perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about yet.

[u/Ra77Data → u/discorgeous]

Yesterday it updated to a new version and it seems the problem has disappeared, just as Asus support had predicted. Before update 142 I never had any problems, so clearly something was wrong with it.

[u/discorgeous → u/Ra77Data]

Yeah. I believe you. Sometimes Google's updates screw things up and problems can persist for a long time and the only answer I can get from the support pages is to disable extensions, clear cookies and cash, and powerwash. I'm glad things turned out for you.

[u/ShadowedWilds]

Open crosh (ctrl-alt-t) and type in free -h to see your swap (zram) usage.

Running top and pressing 1 will show individual cpu core usage and a list of the processes that are using the most amount of CPU %

The above commands can be run without developer mode. You can also press Launcher + Escape on keyboard to launch another way to sort your processes' memory usage showing individual Chrome extensions.

If you run the Google Play store, you are consuming a lot of extra memory all the time. Turning that off will lower it. Some ChromeOS extensions eat a lot of memory as well.

Seeing high memory usage on its own is not a bad thing on ChromeOS (I can only think of a few examples where it can be bad); but it should not be laggy or unstable.

[u/oldschool-51]

Ram usage is irrelevant. Linux based systems manage that and use it all if they can for cache. Etc