Permanent(!) slowdown after filling a 16 GB Playbook to the brim

**NoraMelua** · 11-09-2012, 07:33 AM

Okay, so this has happened a few weeks ago and now it happened again: All of a sudden my Playbook became very slow. Apps take roughly twice as long to load and the browser's address bar sometimes takes several seconds to appear after swiping from the top. Very annoying! Some of my videos in KalemSoft Media Player now stutter - as does music played with Neutron Music Player, when using the app in conjunction with other programs, especially the browser. Turning WiFi File Sharing on or off is a matter of many seconds, it was instantly before.

But I think I finally found the reason for this abnormal behaviour: The only 'unusual' thing I did yesterday was that I copied a large movie over to the Playbook. After that and with only 800 MB of free storage left I immediately noticed the reduced performance.

Now for the scary part: Erasing the file (resulting in 5 GB of free storage space) did nothing to alleviate the problem.

Rebooting and even the infamous 3 finger reset didn't help either. I'm in the process of wiping my Playbook as this helped the last time this happened. But honestly, I'm at a loss. I don't want to reinstall the OS every time I fill up my tablet. Has anyone ever heard of this problem before?

**kbz1960** · 11-09-2012, 07:38 AM

No I haven't as I know if you fill most any systems storage and swap space up you're going to have issues as you give the OS and apps no room to breath. Fill the hd up on your pc/mac and see what happens. I am surprised that making room didn't help though.

**NoraMelua** · 11-09-2012, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by kbz1960

No I haven't as I know if you fill most any systems storage and swap space up you're going to have issues as you give the OS and apps no room to breath. Fill the hd up on your pc/mac and see what happens. I am surprised that making room didn't help though.

Of course, you are absolutely right, but keep in mind I had almost a gigabyte of free space left, I honestly didn't expect that this would decrease the performance of the device that much.

And like you said: The permanent slowdown even after deleting the file makes no sense at all.

**dave_h_946** · 11-09-2012, 07:48 AM

There was a time that I left my PB with 0.9GB free storage but I don't recall having these kind of issues. When I face problems with slow browser I just clear cookies, e.t.c.

I also find it annoying that I must delete two movies so I can transfer another two in my PB and at the same time to have a device that runs smoothly. But then again I have a 16GB PB. Maybe, there are apps out there that do some kind of clearing of unnecessary files and free up memory or something? Also, some apps may misbehave and cause problems. In any case I would have done the same thing (i.e. wiping).

Maybe a more permanent solution would be to go for a larger capacity PB?

**diegonei** · 11-09-2012, 09:16 AM

I make a point of never letting my 32gb unit go below 5gb of free space. As soon as it's past the "5 threashold", all breaks loose, from slow apps to unresponsiveness and freezes.

If you already made it back from the 5 threashold, cleaning caches and a 3finger (hold vol-, power, vol+ - if you hear a click, you're doing it wrong). should do the trick.

**NoraMelua** · 11-09-2012, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by diegonei

I make a point of never letting my 32gb unit go below 5gb of free space. As soon as it's past the "5 threashold", all breaks loose, from slow apps to unresponsiveness and freezes.

Really? 5 GB is a little bit much for a lowly 16 GB device like mine.

I never encountered problems with 2 or even 1,5 GB left.

Originally Posted by diegonei

If you already made it back from the 5 threashold, cleaning caches and a 3finger (hold vol-, power, vol+ - if you hear a click, you're doing it wrong). should do the trick.

Not in my case, unfortunately. Reinstalling the OS did the trick - again. *sigh* Lost all my contacts in the process, despite backing up everything. I thought this bug was fixed for good in the last update?

I still very much want to find out what caused the permanent slowdown and if it could be fixed without reinstalling. So please keep the ideas coming, fellow Playbookers!

**samson47** · 11-09-2012, 12:08 PM

Hello
I had the same problem on my 32gb Playbook. Got to 30gb full & you'd think it was running in molasses. Tried deleting my media & not much change. When I dumped about 15 apps that I barely ever used it sped up. Plus I recovered a lot of space.& I now have almost twice the photos, music & movies stored than before.
The PB slows down occasionally but I think this occurs when the servers ( RIM, my carrier & WIFI provider) are extra busy.

**BB_Bmore** · 11-09-2012, 12:27 PM

5 gig threshold is a bit much for a 16 erm....14 gig device. OP all I can say is its obvious that you use your PlayBook for many things and with Christmas just around the corner maybe someone will let Santa know you need a tablet with more gigs

**wilbrich** · 11-09-2012, 01:26 PM

I had (have!) the same problem with my 64gb PB. Filled it nearly full with about 40 avi and mp4 movies from my library and the PB barely crawls. Deleting about 15gb worth didn't improve things much. I'd love to hear about an app that cleans things out without having to resort to a wipe.

**kill_9** · 11-09-2012, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by dave_h_946

Maybe a more permanent solution would be to go for a larger capacity PB?

I recommend the Seagate GoFlex WiFi External Hard Drive 500GB for storage of movies and music collections. You can stream these media types via the BlackBerry PlayBook web browser as I recall.

**BB_Bmore** · 11-09-2012, 02:20 PM

Walmart has the 32 gig PlayBook for 149 today only and as mentioned O.D has 64G for 189...get em while you can!!!!

**diegonei** · 11-10-2012, 12:39 AM

Well, I was just reporting on my experience... I have a friend with a 16 (14.9) gb unit and he told me that keeping it over 5gb free did help his device.

But like stated above, it could be app data, which cannot be accessed by the user, bogging the device down. If that's the case, deleting apps would also delete the data, therefore making things run properly again.

On lost contacts. Did you backup apps? And settings? I am not sure where the PlayBook's databases go, but it would be one of those (placing my bet on apps). Kobo books, save games, app settings... All get store in "apps", so local calendar/contacts should probably be there today...

**NoraMelua** · 11-10-2012, 02:53 AM

Originally Posted by BB-Bmore

5 gig threshold is a bit much for a 16 erm....14 gig device. OP all I can say is its obvious that you use your PlayBook for many things and with Christmas just around the corner maybe someone will let Santa know you need a tablet with more gigs

I wish! I don't think Santa will visit me at all as I have been naughty ALL year!

Originally Posted by wilbrich

I had (have!) the same problem with my 64gb PB. Filled it nearly full with about 40 avi and mp4 movies from my library and the PB barely crawls. Deleting about 15gb worth didn't improve things much. I'd love to hear about an app that cleans things out without having to resort to a wipe.

Agreed, but I don't think a maintenance app like this exists.

Originally Posted by diegonei

On lost contacts. Did you backup apps? And settings? I am not sure where the PlayBook's databases go, but it would be one of those (placing my bet on apps). Kobo books, save games, app settings... All get store in "apps", so local calendar/contacts should probably be there today...

Yep, I always perform a complete backup. And I used the latest Blackberry Desktop Software, which restored everything but contacts just fine. Strange, isn't it?

**PedroBorgas** · 11-10-2012, 03:38 AM

Hey,

That happens to me too, but when i finished watching/playing,etc i just delete the file and it goes back its (kinda slow) normal.

I'm having problems when the Wifi is on though :s

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

**sputneek** · 11-10-2012, 04:01 PM

Hey guys, you've got me worried now. My 16 gig has been redlined for the last 6 months and I know better but Ic lean it out a little, then I load it right back up. Lots of times within 200 meg, even got a message from it " you're running out of space blah, blah. Never worried about it 'cause there were no ill effects.I Am actually surprised about this. It's running great, even have a few apps side loaded onto it. Think I'll do some cleaning up after reading this, as it should be. But still it is running like a champ.

**diegonei** · 11-10-2012, 04:50 PM

Deleted 9mm and MC2. Cleared cookies and rebooted.

Feels like new again. 0.o

OP, yeah, quite a strange issue... I'd suggest moving to the cloud just to be safe... A dummy Gmail account just to sync contacts/calendars.

**sputneek** · 11-10-2012, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by diegonei

Deleted 9mm and MC2. Cleared cookies and rebooted.

Feels like new again. 0.o

OP, yeah, quite a strange issue... I'd suggest moving to the cloud just to be safe... A dummy Gmail account just to sync contacts/calendars.

How'd you like 9mm diegonei? I was thinking of trying it, I know off topic but spur of the moment, you know.

**LeKeiser** · 11-13-2012, 08:11 AM

Mmmmh... Dunno if the last update was the cause, or the fact that I did upload a big movie on my 64GB PB, leaving it with close 2GB of free RAM, but my PB was VERY slow, laggy, apps would shut down whenever, ... Had to do a backup, security wipe, and restore of all my data (just a bit less actually). PB is as it was when I picked it up at the store.

**diegonei** · 11-13-2012, 08:40 PM

Yah, wipe/reloads seem to do the trick most of the time (though my last one deleted that "BlackBerry" launch screen when a new window opens. Now I get a white window and then the app starts running).

9mm? Good enough. I didn't like the setting though. As good as MC, I suppose.

**mikeo007** · 11-13-2012, 08:43 PM

As a general rule of thumb, it's good to have free space equal to about 2x your total RAM. So on the PB you'd be advised to keep about 2GB of free space.

**bay1902** · 11-14-2012, 02:59 AM

had the same issue with my 64gb. loaded it before going on homs with films for the kids, my wife and i, tv shows, books, you name it. all was fine butthen sudden slow response. was like it all week, lime working thru treacle. shame is I had around 14gb left free. came home, security wipe and reinstall, running fine again. guess it'd just the way the system operates.

**NoraMelua** · 11-20-2012, 02:48 AM

*sigh*
It happened again.

**diegonei** · 11-20-2012, 06:32 AM

Originally Posted by NoraMelua

*sigh*
It happened again.

And you should be able to identify what was it that caused the issue this time. What where the last 5 things you did?

**dentynefire** · 11-20-2012, 08:22 AM

Interesting, a long time ago I filled my 16 GB where I had only ~50-100MB left and it started to crawl but I deleted the files and it went back to normal right away. This gives me an idea to try today since I need to wipe the PB anyway since I somehow forgot my WIFI sharing password. To get it back you need to wipe the PB and start over. Ha! I just connected the PB to the computer and fired up Desktop Manager, it says Memory Full(+989.4 MB) I didn't expect that. So that is indeed the problem as Mikeo007 has said already. This isn't a new thing with computers in general really, but I'm shocked that you have to wipe the device to fix it.

**dentynefire** · 11-20-2012, 09:36 AM

well I'm sorry to say that my 16GB PB now has only 37.5MB left on it and I have zero issue with anything. I have 5 apps open music playing scrubber responsive and everything running perfectly. I think the message Desktop Manager was displaying was related to a setting where you select how much space to leave reserved and I have the default 10% = 1.4 GB.