[Qgis-user] ISSUE QGIS keeps freezing - QGIS Desktop 3.10.4

Bo Victor Thomsen bo.victor.thomsen at gmail.com
Fri Apr 10 02:18:27 PDT 2020


Hi Koos -

 From your description I suspect you had a memory issue, i.e running out 
of memory. It might be caused by QGIS but it's probably caused by  some 
other app running on your computer. Some (badly implemented) apps are 
"leaking" memory, i.e: allocating memory, but never deallocating it 
after use. After some time the bad app has allocated large amounts of 
memory that's not available to other apps.

If you are short on available memory on the computer the OS will begin 
to swap contents from the memory to and from a swap-file usually placed 
in the root of C: (the hard-disk containing the OS).  This can explain 
the sudden periodic "freezing" of QGIS: The OS has to load pieces of 
out-swapped QGIS content into memory before QGIS can continue.

If you additionally are short on available disk space on the system 
drive and are creating some largish temp files (which usually is placed 
on the system drive), the situation can rapidly escalate to a system 
crash (BSOD)

To avoid this situation:

  * Install more memory on your computer.
  * Only have a minimum of apps running at the same time.
  * Frequently reboot you computer (It's Windows, after all :-)
  * If you have two hard-disks on your computer: Move the temp directory
    to different drive than the one containing the swap-file.

You already done the "right now"- steps anyway so the mail is more a 
reminder for other readers or google-searches :-)

And by the way: QGIS and Postgres/PostGIS is a killer combination :-) . 
IMHO it beats other GIS applications hands down.

-- 
Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards

Bo Victor Thomsen


Den 10-04-2020 kl. 08:55 skrev Koos Fransen:
>
> Dear Bo and Andreas
>
> Thank you very much for your insights.
>
> Given the fact that QGIS has been more stable since yesterday, I think 
> the problem was related to my hard drive memory and temporary files. I 
> did not have a lot of space left on the hard drive, and I tend do 
> leave my computer on when calling it a day, so maybe that combination 
> was not very helpful for QGIS to work smoothly.
>
> I’ve deleted some data on my laptop, thus freeing up some space and, 
> as you said, I deleted my temp files for QGIS (I had been working with 
> very large datasets), and for now everything works quite well. I’ll 
> also start shutting off my laptop from time to time 😉
>
> I’ll keep you posted if it should occur again and if I can find a 
> clear solution to the problem. Anyway, Bo, you and your wife’s list is 
> a very good starting point to start problem solving with should this 
> issue occur again. There are some things that I can exclude as reason 
> (build is the stable 3.10 version, it’s not the anti-virus, it’s not a 
> work network environment, …), and some things that I still have to 
> test. Many thanks for your help (and good luck with the teaching 
> assignment, I’m teaching introductory courses in GIS at Vrije 
> Universiteit Brussel, but one of the next things I would like to dive 
> into is the use of PostGIS and PostgreSQL for my own research)!
>
> Kind regards
>
> Koos
>
> -- 
> *dr. Koos Fransen*
>
> Research unit Cosmopolis (VUB)
>
> Research unit ISE (UGent)**
>
> I am available for _VUB_ on _Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays_ and for 
> UGent on Mondays and Wednesdays. Consequently, I try to structure 
> meetings accordingly and answers to your mails may be delayed.
>
> *From:*Andreas Neumann <a.neumann at carto.net>
> *Sent:* donderdag 9 april 2020 17:27
> *To:* Bo Victor Thomsen <bo.victor.thomsen at gmail.com>; Koos Fransen 
> <Koos.Fransen at vub.be>; qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Qgis-user] ISSUE QGIS keeps freezing - QGIS Desktop 3.10.4
>
> Hi,
>
> These are all good points. I also had severe issues with Antivirus - 
> it slowed down or prevented a lot of the network access. The IT 
> services had to add exceptions.
>
> But you describe that it only happens after a couple of days of usage, 
> which is strange.
>
> If you find out what the issues really is, please let us know, so we 
> can learn.
>
> Andreas
>
> Am 09.04.20 um 15:20 schrieb Bo Victor Thomsen:
>
>     Hi Koos -
>
>     I had a talk with my wife Lene Fischer about your issues. (She is
>     a Assoc. Prof. teaching GIS at a department of the University of
>     Copenhagen using QGIS. I co-lecture with her on the use of spatial
>     enabled databases (PostgreSQL/ PostGIS)).
>
>     She hasn't experienced the issues you describe (but some other
>     issues)
>
>     Here is some pointers:
>
>       * Use a long-term releases and keep up with the point releases
>         3.10.3 -> 3.10.4 (Which you do :-)
>       * Clean the temp dir regularly (Which you did :-)
>       * Check the setup of your windows pointers to user-dirs, temp
>         space. Sometimes they are not suited for computers outside the
>         university network (or inside, if the network sucks)
>       * Check if your logon name contains special characters outside
>         us-ASCII like accented character or blanks. QGIS is fine with
>         these but some add-on libraries is not. The logon name can be
>         a part of a path name that something chokes on.
>       * Check your antivirus by temporarily disable it before using QGIS.
>       * Check your disk space. The temp dir  can "grow" considerably
>         during QGIS use.
>       * Check the amount of memory used on your computer.  If you
>         *are* using all available ram you *will* get the symptoms you
>         describe
>       * Install a minimum of plugins.
>       * Keep your windows installation as clean as possible. QGIS
>         might conflict with some other software installed on your
>         computer. You might try to install QGIS on computer with a new
>         clean install of windows. Check if the error is repeated on
>         the new computer.
>       * You might try with installing QGIS from the "network
>         installer" utility instead of a stand-alone installation
>         (https://download.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/osgeo4w-setup-x86_64.exe).
>         It defaults to another installation directory than the
>         stand-alone installation. That might help.
>       * If nothing of the above works - try another version of QGIS
>         i.e. 3.12.1.
>         The network installer  has the possibility to install a
>         "bleeding edge" version of QGIS but I won't recommend using
>         these in a teaching situation (or any other situation which
>         involves inexperienced users). But you can use it in a testing
>         situation
>
>     -- 
>
>     Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards
>
>     Bo Victor Thomsen
>
>     Den 09-04-2020 kl. 11:20 skrev Koos Fransen:
>
>         Hi Bo
>
>         Thanks for your quick response!
>
>         Sorry for the minimal information provided, I wasn’t sure what
>         to add (first question to the QGIS user list).
>
>         To answer your questions:
>
>         OS: Windows 10 – 64 bit
>
>         QGIS version: 3.10.4 64 bit, stand-alone installation
>
>         I’m not in any networked set-up, I’m working from home on my
>         own computer. I have only one plugin installed (QuickOSM), and
>         I’ve already tried uninstalling, but without any difference.
>
>         Since my question I’ve been trying some things, and I have
>         deleted the temporary QGIS files in my Local/Temp folder. When
>         I open and use QGIS now, I have the feeling it’s more stable
>         again. It gives a hint of freezing up at the start, but
>         afterwards all goes quite well again. Then again, not sure of
>         this is a solid solution for fixing this issue, as I have
>         experienced this issue before completely deleting and
>         reinstalling everything QGIS-related on my laptop (using REVO
>         uninstaller). After this, QGIS worked fine for about a week
>         until today.
>
>         I do recall trying to load some large files into QGIS, maybe
>         they were stored in a temporary directory somewhere and
>         deleting the temporary files helped?
>
>         Anyways, it might be relevant for me to know. I’ve switched
>         our courses from ArcGIS to QGIS, and I’m really happy about
>         it, but I would like to be able to help my students if these
>         kind of problems occur.
>
>         Thank for the help already, not sure if there’s more to do for
>         now, but let me know if you have any more ideas.
>
>         Kind regards
>
>         Koos
>
>         -- 
>         *dr. Koos Fransen*
>
>         Research unit Cosmopolis (VUB)
>
>         Research unit ISE (UGent)
>
>         I am available for _VUB_ on _Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays_
>         and for UGent on Mondays and Wednesdays. Consequently, I try
>         to structure meetings accordingly and answers to your mails
>         may be delayed.
>
>         *From:*Qgis-user <qgis-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>
>         <mailto:qgis-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> *On Behalf Of *Bo
>         Victor Thomsen
>         *Sent:* donderdag 9 april 2020 10:16
>         *To:* qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org>
>         *Subject:* Re: [Qgis-user] ISSUE QGIS keeps freezing - QGIS
>         Desktop 3.10.4
>
>         Hi Koos:
>
>         That's not much information to go on.
>
>         What about: OS type and version ?  32/64 bit os ?  QGIS
>         version ? QGIS 32/64 bit ? network environment ? Normal
>         stand-alone installation or Network installation ?
>
>         I'll hazard a *guess* based on my own painful experiences: You
>         are working  in a networked windows setup, where your IT
>         department has made some modifications for home directory
>         (including temp file placement) and/or the userdata
>         environment - maybe making it fully dependant on the network.
>         And maybe You are using the same login account for all pupils.
>         Combine this with a marginally functioning network and it will
>         be a train wreck
>
>         Another  scenario: You have installed some plugin, that's not
>         working correctly.
>
>         What you can test:
>
>           * Disable/Remove all plugins from QGIS and test if the
>             problem goes away
>           * Load some GIS data locally on you computer and disconnect
>             the computer from the network. Then test QGIS again.
>
>         That said, QGIS ver. 3.10 onwards has long startup times.
>         However it's quick and stable after that
>
>         -- 
>
>         Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards
>
>           
>
>         Bo Victor Thomsen
>
>         Den 09-04-2020 kl. 09:46 skrev Koos Fransen:
>
>             Dear all
>
>             I have a question regarding QGIS.
>
>             I’m using QGIS for my classes, but since a recent install
>             my QGIS keeps freezing right after startup. It doesn’t
>             respond until after a minute, then I can open some files
>             and then it freezes again. This keeps on going, making it
>             impossible to keep working with QGIS.
>
>             I’ve tried reinstalling, which always helps at first, but
>             after a couple of days it starts freezing again. I’ve also
>             tried with different versions, with the same result.
>
>             It might maybe have something to do with temporary files?
>
>             Has someone experienced the same issue, and are there
>             possible solutions that you know of?
>
>             Thanks!
>
>             Koos
>
>
>
>
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