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Thread: zombie program using huge resources

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Re: zombie program using huge resources

    I'm wondering about whether "zombie" programs use huge resources (by definition).

  2. #12

    Re: zombie program using huge resources

    Quote Originally Posted by wheeze View Post
    Sorry if this is a dumb idea, but can you just log out of your session and log back in again?

    It could be something that just got hung up and logging out/in might just stop it and restore normalcy.
    Wheeze:
    Ah, the low-tech approach. It's a Grand Idea and it's probably what I'd do first and foremost for myself. It sounds like Jess has it nailed down to Firefox (I've heard that across various forums...), I went with the info he gave me...
    Sometimes it's hard to really know the situation when you or I may know a lot and a screen full of pidof output is 'normal' to us, to a new user it must seem like overload. Every detail must be important!

    I remember compiling my first kernel manually in my first days as a Linux user, all that text flying by, I asked my telephone-call-away Linux guru "Is that filling up my hard drive?" to which replied "No, just text on the screen".

    I thought it was important to know what was flying across my screen, important or not.

    Jess:

    If you see or suspect another zombie process, you could logout and back in, if it still persists, open a terminal and paste this in
    Code:
    ps aux | awk '{ print $8 " " $2 }' | grep -w Z | awk '{print $2}'
    This will show you the Process ID (always numeric) or PIDs of any truly zombied processes on the system.
    Then do a
    Code:
    top p <PID>
    You will see the name of the zombied process.

    If that is too much for you to take on, then I'd have to ask...
    how much system RAM you have in your computer and
    Does a logout and login alleviate the symptoms?
    How about a reboot and login? Any sign of issue?
    Does closing Firefox help at all?
    Did you check your gnome-screensaver settings?

    "On Unix operating systems, a zombie process or defunct process is a process that has completed execution but still has an entry in the process table, allowing the process that started it to read its exit status."

    Please don't take multi-vector approaches or replies as contrary, as in Linux there is definitely more than one way to get things done.

    Please let us know.

    Have a Great Day!
    Last edited by Habitual; October 7th, 2012 at 03:36 PM.
    Windows assumes the user is an idiot.
    Linux demands proof.

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