Fix for many performance problems on the DX2

[aostang]

Obviously first and foremost, Flash 10.3 is an issue on this phone. If you don't have an absolute need for it, freeze it with Titanium Backup if you're rooted, otherwise uninstall it for now. There is also a list of apps floating around that can be frozen in Titanium Backup. I'm not going to repost that whole list here. I deviated from that list in a few spots (leaving the browser and email engine unfrozen because I use them). Beyond that, there are still performance quirks that need to be addressed. This solves many of them, especially if you use an aftermarket launcher, specifically LauncherPro.

It seems the memory allocation settings shipped with the DX2 are pretty poorly set. Aftermarket launchers redraw, and too many things are being bounced in and out of memory too often, or being left hung there for too long. By installing Script Manager from the market (free) and downloading the V6 Supercharger script that works so well on the DX1, many of the memory problems can be fixed. Grab the script from the link below, and feel free to read up on what's going on behind the scenes. You must be rooted to run this script.

[Script] V6 SuperCharger !! HTK & BulletProof Launchers! FIX MEMORY FOR ALL ANDROIDS! - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

I've done a bunch of testing and the best setting seems to be option 6. 7 works as well, but seems just a "tiny" bit sluggish compared to 6. Hold the menu button to bring up the physical keyboard to type your option and hit enter. This script needs to be run with the option set once (takes a short while to run, let it finish), then rebooted and once on boot each time after that. Other than the known reboots from using the camera app, I've had no other unexpected reboots or performance issues. Sound doesn't glitch out on me. The phone wakes up in a more reasonable amount of time. I've given it a week of testing before even posting this anywhere.

DO NOT set the script to run on boot. This is a safety precaution. With how little I'm rebooting the phone now (manually or forcibly), the 30 seconds to run the script is no annoyance to me.

 

[esmith818]

Thanks for the tips. I'm trying it out now. A few questions:
1) Should this thread be in the root sub-category?
2) Can you provide a link to the threads discussing which apps to freeze? I have been looking for a thread to compare my settings against other root users.
3) When the script is run via ScriptManager, you are asked to input an option. After running option 6, the script asks for input of another option. Are you supposed to kill the app at this point or os there an option to end/quit script?
4) When re-running manually at each reboot, do you just re-run the script the same way, including killing the script as mentioned above?
5) Are there any visible ways to know the script has done anything, or am I just looking to see if overall performance is better over time?
6) If I decide not to use the script anymore, do I need to DO anything to undo changes or do i just reboot and not run the script again?

 

[esmith818]

I think I found answers to two of my questions upon reading more:

3) When the script is run via ScriptManager, you are asked to input an option. After running option 6, the script asks for input of another option. Are you supposed to kill the app at this point or os there an option to end/quit script?

Option 15 reboots phone and option 16 exits script.

6) If I decide not to use the script anymore, do I need to DO anything to undo changes or do i just reboot and not run the script again?

Re-run script and choose option 14 to remove effects of script.

 

[rushmore]

Seems TOO simple....... Not tried yet. Wonder how do you unlock the locked home memory? I notice 76mb is allocated for this.

When running option 6, the script kept saying it could not create directories and the rom was not compatible. The reboot also did not work, but exit did.

Can we reboot, or does the script have to be done again if you do?

Seems to result in about 50mb more free and lower cpu idle, which I would think can only be impacted by kernel changes (that we can not do ATM). I normally have about 30ish mb free, but have around 80ish mb now. More breathing space Hope this not a placebo....

It would be nice to cut the Nvidia allocation from 100mb to 50mb and unlock the locked home memory. This would give us plenty of space, since combined would be over 120mb.

UPDATE: I REALLY hate how the home memory takes over 70mb and especially the Nvidia chip takes 100mb. IMO, very lame.

The script seems to help memory some and to not hit below 40mb... Kind of sad really, considering my Incredible always has at least 100mb more memory- ALL the time. Need to check my gtablet to see how low it gets....

Still... It seems this script is more placebo than real medicine for our memory issue. We need to unlock the home memory and force allocate only 50mb to the Tegra 2.

BTW, I am testing the built-in Task Manager to see if useful, or worthless. It seems worthless, so far, since even though it kills apps after a few minutes, the OS happily loads them back again after a few minutes. WHAT IS THE POINT IN KILLING THEM IF IT IS GOING TO LOAD THEM UP AGAIN, ANYWAY?

I am beginning to think the DX2 needed more ram, or the Tegra 2 given a lot less ram.

 

[phanboy4]

Giving this a try. Killing Flash+switching to GoLauncher has helped, maybe this will help even more.

 

[rushmore]

Catch is I really like the Blur UI and how it behaves like Honeycomb for easy adding of apps to home screens and uninstalling apps without going to the app manager.

1. The scripting DOES appear to help, since my range is about 40mb better off than before. Some breathing room is better than nothing

2. The gTablet does NOT have this issue and has the same 512mb ram and chipset. Case in point. The DX2 right now is 66mb free and the gTablet is 271mb free.

added: 3. I recant my built-in task manager slight, since it DOES appear to help and keeps running tasks cleaner.

Both are on Froyo. WHERE IS THE RAM?....

Added 2: I am back down to the 40mb range, with not many apps running. It is 90% core apps.

And they add up to less than 256mb. I do not think this device has 512mb of ram. If it does, Moto and VZW need to tell us how it is allocated.

 

[whitesoxwin]

I understand the theoretical benefit of having more free ram, but what symptoms of low free ram are you guys actually seeing? Can you compare performance to other phones with more ram (subjectively) - multitasking, launching apps, etc? Or, is it assumed the flash issues, audio popping, etc are actually being caused or at least contributed to by the ram issues?

 

[rushmore]

I understand the theoretical benefit of having more free ram, but what symptoms of low free ram are you guys actually seeing? Can you compare performance to other phones with more ram (subjectively) - multitasking, launching apps, etc? Or, is it assumed the flash issues, audio popping, etc are actually being caused or at least contributed to by the ram issues?

My gTablet is faster and does not get bogged down. Same OS and chipset with no funky Flash problems either. Flash should not be f-d up like it is on the DX2.

Still, this is all ancillary to the main point; Where the heck is the ram?

 

[aostang]

Here's a link to the thread regarding freezable apps.

Major Issues with my X2 - Page 3 - Droid Forum - Verizon Droid & the Motorola Droid Forum

I didn't freeze the browser or email engine because I use both. With regard to undoing the changes from the script, there is an option toward the bottom that is for undoing anything that is done. I noticed in the script that the kernel mods don't execute (this is tailored to the DX1), but overall the phone seems better anyway. Moto/Verizon definitely messed up with the stock memory settings, badly. Oh, and after the script runs, I just tap the hardware back key a few times to kill/exit out.

 

[rushmore]

The device seems better in regards to lag not accumulating. Seems the changes remain after reboot, since I usually have about 30 ish mb unless I kill apps every 15 minutes.

Placebo, or real medicine?

 

[aostang]

The device seems better in regards to lag not accumulating. Seems the changes remain after reboot, since I usually have about 30 ish mb unless I kill apps every 15 minutes.

Placebo, or real medicine?

I can't speak for not running it on boot since I do everytime, but it really does have a positive effect on the phone. No placebo here.

 

[phanboy4]

I'm seeing smoother performance in games like Riptide GP, and smoother background playback with Amazon MP3 streaming while multitasking for sure with this fix.

UI seems snappier and less likely to lag to me. Cumbersome fix what with having to rerun the script after every reboot, but it does help.

 

[aostang]

I'm going to give it another week of use and if I don't have any odd lockups I'm going to look into the best way of having the fix apply at startup. Not the safest mod to do, but if it's stable enough then I don't see the real harm. If the phone gets stuck in a boot loop after that, something else is already going wrong anyway. Just have to make sure to undo that change before each OTA update (I block them until I want to install them).

 

[rushmore]

The change seems to stay after reboots. Without the fix, I average about 30ish mb unless I kill apps and not about above 80mb. My marginal increase is about 40mb once the change is made and after several restarts- including a battery removal.

 

[rushmore]

Using the Phandroid app ATM and can not edit the previous post. I think we are close to our own fixes for most issues, pending an official one. Flash will need an officialax update, but it would be nice to have the exact version that was stock on the DX2.

Combined fix:

Along with the fix in the OP, go into the built in task manager and set every app to auto-end (or at least the ones that always open in the background or close a lot). The combined fixes help to dramatically reduce lag accumulation and audio clicks and pops. Unless I have had a lucky few, hours, the issue now seems no worse than other Androids while multitasking and rarely if at all when not.

Freezing apps helps too, but the auto end seems to do a good job of not piling on apps in the background.

Not a placebo and bravo

 

[starscream84]

We should also ask what apps are everyone running and if they are actually the memory eating culprits. Im rooted with the basic bloatware frozen, all I use is a minfree manager set to aggressive an i dont get much lag and rarely drop below. 100mb free. Don't forget killing too many apps uses more ram then leaving them be. Is everyone using the blur launcher? I switch between adw and lp depending on my mood so im wondering if the launcher is the reason. Just some food for thought.

 

[zeppelinrox]

Try CustOOMizing with 6,12,75,125,150,175.
I think I will settle with those numbers for the MegaMemory Device setting in V8

 

[aostang]

Try CustOOMizing with 6,12,75,125,150,175.
I think I will settle with those numbers for the MegaMemory Device setting in V8

Tried these settings. Haven't seen much performance difference from option 6 or 7, but definitely a lot more free memory. Not sure how being that aggressive will affect battery life, but I'll give it a few days with these settings.

 

[i_am_booked]

do i need busy box installed and should i do a nandroid backup first?

 

[Stick1300]

^I was also wondering if I need busy box. Anyone wanna type up a "How To" on this, using small words and simple steps? lol

 

[rushmore]

We should NOT even have to do this. The premise of this app was for coping with the 256mb Droid/Milestone. We are having to manage this device like it has low ram. SOMETHING is definitely wrong.

I stick to my guns and either there was a screw up with ram mapping, or there is not 512mb of ram. Even N64 and PSX games will pause while playing- a similar issue as to the pops, clicks and skips with MP3 and other audio. For whatever reason, the device is operational ram-challenged.

Neither my stock-based gTablet or the Incredible has these performance issues and both have a few hundred megs of spare ram. I think the low ram is ROOT CAUSE for most issues.

 

[aostang]

We should NOT even have to do this. The premise of this app was for coping with the 256mb Droid/Milestone. We are having to manage this device like it has low ram. SOMETHING is definitely wrong.

I stick to my guns and either there was a screw up with ram mapping, or there is not 512mb of ram. Even N64 and PSX games will pause while playing- a similar issue as to the pops, clicks and skips with MP3 and other audio. For whatever reason, the device is operational ram-challenged.

Neither my stock-based gTablet or the Incredible has these performance issues and both have a few hundred megs of spare ram. I think the low ram is ROOT CAUSE for most issues.

I'll agree with most of this. RAM is definitely 512 with 404 for the userspace. I find that even with these tweaks, over the course of a few days the phone gets a little slower and little slower. Not sure why. It's the symptoms of a memory leak, but with these tweaks memory doesn't approach a critical point now. Something is definitely misbehaving. Is there an app that can monitor process (not processOR) cpu utilization % like Task Manager for Windows?

 

[i_am_booked]

I'll agree with most of this. RAM is definitely 512 with 404 for the userspace. I find that even with these tweaks, over the course of a few days the phone gets a little slower and little slower. Not sure why. It's the symptoms of a memory leak, but with these tweaks memory doesn't approach a critical point now. Something is definitely misbehaving. Is there an app that can monitor process (not processOR) cpu utilization % like Task Manager for Windows?

I use sysmonitor to keep an eye on the amount of ram being used.

 

[aostang]

I use sysmonitor to keep an eye on the amount of ram being used.

I want to monitor cpu utilization, not RAM.

 

[i_am_booked]

I want to monitor cpu utilization, not RAM.

Theres an option for that in the app.