The Problem
So I have noticed after leaving my fairly new PC on (only about 6-9 months old now) for about a week, I was losing a tremendous amount of memory and I couldn’t account for where it was going. I currently have 8GB of RAM – which I will soon be upgrading to 24 GB purely for vanity reasons – and I noticed my system was using 6/8 GB of RAM! This is shocking because all I have been doing was development work, nothing major. So even after killing all of my development related programs (VS, SSMS, SQL Server, Millions of Chrome Windows, Snaggit etc…) I was still up to about 4-5GB which is incredibly unusual.
After some investigating in the task manager, I realized I wasn’t showing all processes from all users. After ticking that box I found my culprit, a Com Service that talks to the BIOS, provided by ASUS for my ASUS P8Z68-V GEN3 Motherboard.
The Gotcha
There is a process named atkexComSvc.exe that has a very bad memory leak. The memory leak is so bad that after a week of my computer being on it racked up about 3GB of memory. That is horrific. Still not really knowing exactly what the problem is, I restarted my computer and problem solved. However restarting your computer isn’t something you want to realistically do every day so I have a temporary work around for this minor annoyance.
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| Currently only using about 6.7 MB, wait about 20 minutes and it will be 12 MB… |
The Solution
Well since this process is running and you know you didn’t start it, that means it runs automatically at start up and since it ends in Svc, we can assume it is a Windows Service, of course not all windows services end in Svc… Anyhow, open up your Windows Services (Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Services Shortcut) and search for what you see in the image below:
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| Highlighted in blue is the name of our Concern “ASUS Com Service” |
If you are currently suffering from System Memory Loss from this service, go ahead and restart it. You can right click and select restart or use the menu on the left shown in the image above.
To verify that we have the right windows service (and process), right click on it and select “Properties”.
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| Found the culprit process’s Windows Service |
So as you can see this service is automatically started and it spins up the process named “atkexComSvc.exe” as shown before in the Windows Task Manager. Well since all we can do right now to alleviate the memory leak is to restart the service, let’s just do this every day automatically at about 5 AM. Sound good to you?
Notice the path to the service is conveniently shown, you can go there to do the next few steps.
Creating a Windows Task in Task Scheduler
So this is going to require a batch file, there are a number of ways of doing this, I just like using batch files for their simplicity.
ECHO Stopping atkexComSvc.exe - ASUS Com Service NET STOP "ASUS Com Service" ECHO. ECHO Starting atkexComSvc.exe - ASUS Com Service NET START "ASUS Com Service" REM PAUSE
Go ahead and throw that code into a file, name it whatever you want as long as the file extension ends in “.bat” so for example, I named my file “Restart Com Service.bat”. You can double click on the file to execute it which is convenient at times for quick execution. The last line of the code is commented out by using the keyword REM. Only enable PAUSE (by removing the word REM) if you are debugging the script, otherwise your batch file’s console window will show up at 5 AM and stay there until you press any key to make it go away.
I put this file into the same folder as the Com Service, not necessary, but I think it makes the most sense so you know where it is.
The location of the process (for me anyhow) is located here: C:Program Files (x86)ASUSAXSP1.00.14
Open up Task Scheduler (Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler Shortcut) and you should see an ASUS folder. If you don’t it doesn’t matter, but just for organization I would add you task there. Right click on empty space and select Create Basic Task. Follow the prompts and when it asks you for the program/script, browse to the batch file we created earlier.
If you want to test your task after creating it, right click on it and select “run” from the context menu.
Don’t worry if the service complains that it can’t stop or anything – it might be in the middle of something OR if you already restarted it once and you are trying to restart it again, it might refuse you the second time. I encountered that problem. Either way the goal was to just make it empty out its memory allocations, so it could start filling up all over again.
Enjoy.
PS: If ASUS doesn’t fix this soon, I think I am going to decompile the service and look for the problem myself. This is just ridiculous. Hopefully they fix this soon.
UPDATE: 01/13/2013
I couldn’t decompile this executable. It is not written in .Net because when I used Just Decompile from Telerik it wouldn’t work and I tried a C/C++ decompiler but it blew up when I tried to use it. So I guess I will just try the old fashioned way, I will make a support ticket for this when I get around to it. If anyone knows how to decompile this executable I’d appreciate a clue.
I ran into this in May of 2012, so don't hold your breath on Asus fixing it. I loved my last Asus board, but this is one of many problems I've had with my latest board. I don't think I could recommend Asus boards at the moment.
I haven't done my homework yet, I need to see if there were any updates. If not – when I get a chance – I am going to decompile the code and take a look. However I am pretty sure I am not allowed to redistribute it. I really should have opened a support ticket, but I bet most users don't even realize that this is happening on their systems. Asus is probably counting on people to restart their machines daily.
I hear you about not being able to recommend them at the moment, but I did a lot of research when I was looking for a board and this one seemed the least bad (sounds like an election…). That's how I tend to pick my hardware.
TOO LATE TO CHIME IN ???….
For those who for some reason can't implement Eli's kindly shared workaround…
I found that when I unchecked "Sensor (v1.00.xx)" > "Application" Tab > "Settings" in the Ai Suite II program, my memory leak ceased – the effects are not seen until Windows restart ( or just fully exit AiSII, restart the Com service, launch AiSII ) – the caveats are; loss of (buggy) monitoring alarms/alerts + if you access Tools > Sensor Recorder (and perhaps other scenarios) in the AiSII, you may trigger the leak until restart procedure is repeated.
I feel the flawed code is within the sensor polling process as so many other Suite functions are able keep running without issue. A side note regarding Fan Profile(s); once they have been applied within AiSII, it can be terminated as the parameters have been passed on to the motherboard BIOS – likely surviving shut-down but I couldn't test that in time. As there are different reports from many users ranging from severe to nonexistent symptoms, I'll end by saying YMMV 😉
Same problem here, it seems to be the ASUS Fan XPert software (latest as of today).
Mine just reachet 800mb…
Apparently, while the ASUS solution works out-of-the-box, SpeedFan can do the same (board is P8Z77-V LX). A bit more configuration is needed, but IMHO it's much better.
I just made a regular bat file with the code since task scheduler was annoying, it works. but we shouldn't have to be doing this. My Mobo is a Rampage IV Extreme X79
I just got the PC on like Dec 20th 2012, you'd think theyd have it fixed by now,
I agree with you, I got my PC in March this is bullshit. I mean it could definitely be worse like random blue screens and other non-sense. I will be following up on this soon to see if there is a way to fix it if there isn't already a patch for it (doubtful).
Well I tried decompiling the executable – it was a no go. I am going to keep tinkering, but I don't suspect I will be successful. I will try contacting their support about this, but I wouldn't count on them caring at all.
I was baffled why after a while my system was running low on memory as well. Thanks Asus!
Unfortunately I am having some issues with the fix. This is running cmd.exe as administrator:
C:bin>net stop "ASUS Com Service"
The ASUS Com Service service is stopping.
The ASUS Com Service service could not be stopped.
Any ideas?
That could be for a number of reasons. The first thing that comes to mind is if you just stopped it, trying to stop it again will show you that error. Otherwise it is just too busy to be stopped at the moment. Does that always happen?
What's probably happening is that the service is currently being used by an ASUS thermal monitoring application such as AI Suite II. You're going to have to close the application before stopping the service.
Look how many hits this page has had, I bought my asus in August 13, my file is in C:Program Files (x86)ASUSAXSP1.00.19 – the 19 would indicate that some sort of updating is going on! But, obviously the problem is still there, I'm here as media player started stuttering, off to task manager spot the culprit, end it and bang music back on!
I was tempted to just rename/delete it but if it talks to the fan best not to eh?
anyway thanks for that .bat fie, last time I used one of those was on a 486 (flying machine, 2 mb of ram!)
The ASUS com program is junk, but it is an optional piece of software. Simply don't install AI Suite or any other ASUS software. Install your OS from scratch, install the drivers only. Your memory leak will not exist. Edward – AllPCZone Technical Support
I battled this (?) issue for 1 yr+, sending my PC back twice. I do install the O/S myself, but wouldn't this mean the real problem is the ASUS drivers? Intel told me I should use the manufacturer's drivers (ASUS), but perhaps I made my system almost stable by using Intel's et.al…. it as so long ago I can't remember.
NOW I'm battling what I thought were viruses on all my PCs, but perhaps the bigger issue on my GEN3 is I forgot about the driver issue? Doesn't the BIOS HAVE TO COME from the manufacturer? If not, I'd even like to replace that and could use specific info.
If you could provice more specifics I would appreciate this, and since my PCs "have been down" for a couple of weeks, a copy to my email would be appreciated. I'm "milescfa" and I use yahoo or gmail.
I'm sorry man I don't know what you are asking for exactly. What do you want me to provide to you? The specifics of what? The BIOS should definitely come from the manufacturer. The only issue I had was memory being used up too much, but that is a non-issue for me now ever since I implemented my windows task as described in this article.
Does this same memory leak affect the Asus Suite 3, or was it fixed with the newer version?
Hello Steven, I actually don't know. If you are having a problem with a memory leak thought you can use the same approach as described above.
Ai suite is good app, but buggy as h***
i came to this page because of bsod on every 3.rd boot. and root cause is ACPIPNP0A0A
https://www.dropbox.com/s/75og7yw58145gbl/AiSuite3Cleaner.zip?dl=0 lets you remove the service and if that does't work just go drop down menu go from automatic to disabled.
Reason you wanna remove it is well memory leak duh, but also cos readyboot service crashes which is needed to make fastboot work on windows 7 8 8.1 or 10
Believe this file was provided by asus them self, cannot find original link so put on my dropbox, you can probably find the same file on rog forums over at asus.
I used Frank Versteegen's file and ran as admin. Yes, I did a virus and maleware scan first.
Thanks Frank!
It is now 2016 and I'm wondering if this memory leak is still present with the ASUS services. I built a system in November, 2015 with the ASUS Z170-Deluxe board. I performed a clean install of Microsoft Windows 10 build 10586 with a Windows 7 license key so that I could avoid ASUS drivers and services. I never installed the ASUS Utility Suite specifically to avoid this AsComSvc software, yet I have ASUS System Control Service and ASUS Com Service running on my system. I did install the Asmedia HD controller and USB drivers and Intel HD (IRST) drivers from the ASUS site and I've upgraded the BIOS as needed, but I did not install any other ASUS drivers or utilities so where do these services come from? On my old system (P8Z77-V Pro) the source of the AsComSvc service appeared to be a download I found in the Windows "SoftwareDistribution" folder. Does anyone know whether this memory leak is still a concern with the ASUS software or how it gets on your system in the first place. My primary concern is whether it is still a problem.
I'm sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, I have been very busy as of late. I am actually not sure if it is still a problem to be honest. I still have the batch file run every day so I haven't been paying attention ever since I put the fix in place. So long story short – I don't know. The best way to find out is to install the software and observe what happens to your memory – that's all.
this is still alive and well. THe problem has gotten so bad my system is almost crippled nothing is ficxing it now. idk what to do besides buy another mobo…
Hi Steven, you added your comment twice by mistake so I removed the other one. I'm sorry to hear that you are still having this problem. Maybe try uninstalling and reinstalling your drivers first. Then use the batch file hack I provided above to see if that helps you with the problem. If that doesn't work for you – then it could be an OS level problem, especially if you upgraded to Windows 10 – this motherboard DOES NOT support Windows 10. I found that out the hard way because all of my rear bezel USB ports have stopped working because the chipset drivers are misbehaving badly. I am relying on a USB 3.0 expansion card now to make up for it, good work around, but still very inconvenient. If you can't get it to work after putting in some good troubleshooting effort, then maybe a new Motherboard is the right solution for you – I even considered it several times when I was having all of my chipset problems.
I've reinstalled a good 15-20 times and redone the drivers as well. There is no solution. It sucks because I have no fan control without it. And the other program ppl use system fan or whatever does not work with this board either. RIP ASUS Z97-AR.. Everyone burn this board and do not try and troubleshoot it. Asus no longer makes it and only has few left in stock in which they are trying to get people to buy.
I feel your pain man – I might have to rebuild my machine soon too. This board is funky as hell on Windows 10. It keeps doing weird things unexpectedly.
My P8Z68V PRO leaks – thanks for the tip. In just an hour, size can increase from about 6K (working set) to 14K. After a week the size might be around 1.7GB
No problem. Yeah that trickle is what will get you.