linux is destroying my hardware

closed account (Dy7SLyTq)
so i am a huge linux fan, but im scared to keep using it if i cant resolve these two issues, so if you fine gentleman and ladies would be willing to help...

problem 1:
whenever i close my laptop, and im running linux (fyi this works fine on windows), if i open it back up it shows the unlock screen then when i enter the password it goes black. i can only move the cursor. it wont go away no matter how long i wait for the screen to come back on. to resolve this, i have to turn my laptop off and on again, which will wear down my laptop needlessly. how can i fix this?

problem 2:
every so often my laptop runs out of ram space goes real slow, and then just freezes up. this only happens on linux. ive had both minecraft, wow, and the curse client running at the same time with no issues on windows. i cant remember when it started, but i think it was when i installed chrome, leading me to believe chrome has a memory leak. how can i fix this? i know i could just switch to firefox to test this, but it happens at random times. somedays this happens frequently, other days never.
What linux distro are you running (if you are running Ubuntu 13 changing to 12 might help)?
Have you updated the software recently?
Have you tried using system monitor to try and solve problem 2's RAM issue?

As to a solution to problem one, try disabling lock and see what happens.
closed account (Dy7SLyTq)
im running 12 for the extended support. i havent done it recently, but i have since installing chrome. whats system monitor? and ok ill try disabling lock
i havent done it recently, but i have since installing chrome

Always make sure you are up to date, a fix could have been made recently.

whats system monitor?

press start and type "system monitor".
It is like task manager tor ubuntu.
closed account (Dy7SLyTq)
ok thanks ill try those out
> to resolve this, i have to turn my laptop off and on again,
you could simply try to restart X
you can kill it with ctrl+Alt+Backspace or try to change to a terminal and send it a signal.
Also REISUB

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/pm-utils#Blank_screen_when_waking_from_suspend

> every so often my laptop runs out of ram space goes real slow,
> whats system monitor?
¿how are you checking ram usage? (I doubt you use `top' or `free')
Ubuntu takes more RAM and CPU usage than windows 7 with Aero enabled.

As for your RAM problem, did you create a swap partition when you installed Ubuntu ? This is equivalent to windows page file, if it is not here it will use only psyhical memory, windows has it enabled by default, linux don't.
closed account (Dy7SLyTq)
i did. 20 gigs
20 gigs ? Do you have 20 gigs of RAM ? If not then is a total waste of disk space.
closed account (Dy7SLyTq)
no i have 4 gigs of ram. to be honest i thought it was for swapping files between partitions because i cant see my linux partition on windows
Swap is used for virtual memory. I usually set it as half my RAM.
As far as I understand it, swap memory is also slower to access than ram, but you can make more than one swap partition (which is pointless if they are all on the same hard drive, but having a partition on each hard drive and on any thumb drives that are plugged in can show improvements in speed).

This is all hear-say, as I haven't tried it out for myself, 4gb RAM has always been enough for what I've needed to get done.

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Read slower as much slower.
What Desktop environment are you running? - http://scriptevolution.com/blog/2012/08/top-10-ubuntu-desktop-environments-and-shells/

Once again not 100% sure about what I'm saying, but LXDE and XFCE are two environments that are supposed to be light weight and should take up less system resources while running, so if the problem really is that you've run out of RAM, or that the CPU is too slow, then those environments should help.
From what I've read LXDE is the lightest weight, but XFCE has more features straight out of the box while also being quite small.

I just tried out LXDE and it's got a lot of features, looks pretty simple to use, and it's not ugly. It even has a CPU monitor by default in it's task-bar.

(EDIT: it is hard to make some changes to the environment like setting up the mousepad or changing the screen brightness for LXDE, so it's probably not so great for a laptop computer)
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closed account (Dy7SLyTq)
yeah i wouldnt have set it to 20 gigs if i had known that. 4 gigs is enough for me too, but its not enough for major memory leaks, if that is the issue
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