HELP! Missing Pagefile

[Guest]

Hi,

I normally use a Compaq 2108US with:
AMD Athalon XP 2800+
XP SP1
40 GB HDD - had 6.47GB free space
512 MB RAM
Norton Systemworks 2005

Today, everything was fine. No major system changes for a while. I was
watching a DVD, went online, and went to check my email with outlook express.
Outlook express had just opened up when WHAM! my computer VERY QUICKLY
flashed a light blue (not the blue screen of death) screen w/white writing on
it for about 1/10 of a sec and then it restarted itself. This was the first
time anything like this had happened to me before.

I got to the welcome screen opened up my account (I do not have Admin
privileges, but can access that account whenever I want). All of the sudden a
warning came up telling me my pagefile was too small/didn't exist, so windows
had created on for me, but I needed to fix it, and how to do that. I
immediately went anc checked drive C: for pagefile.sys. It was not there. So
(thru the account w/admin. priv.) I went to system info and it told me my
pagefile was some temp file in Win/Sys32. So, I went to System
Properties/Advanced/Performance/Settings. There another error message told me
about my pagefile problems. I went to the pagefile settings. I tired 5 times
to set it. I set it to different custom sizes, I set it to let windows take
care of it, and each and every time, after I rebooted, I got the same error
message at the welcome screen after logging in to either of the 2 accounts on
my computer.

I have absolutely no idea what it is. I really could use some help.

 

[R. McCarty]

Sounds like when you opened mail, the system tried to swap
and the Pagefile space wasn't adequate and it couldn't scale it
up to a larger size. First off, I would do a cursory Chkdsk on
the drive, if OK proceed to a Defrag (not Norton). If Chkdsk
recommends a /Repair - do it only if your data is backed up.
Once the disk is "Clean" and defragmented, try to adjust the
Pagefile manually to say a minimum of 784 and unlimited max.

 

[Guest]

I should also mention that before all this started I know that I had 6.47GB
free on my HDD (it has 40GB cap. w/no partition), and at one point during
this process it was down to 5.3GB free, and now it is back to 5.83GB free. I
also encountered a serious problem involving minidump or something like that
sometime during this process.

 

[Guest]

How do I know if Chkdsk was OK? I just ran Chkdsk... it said something about
two minor errors in file 15, got to 100% complete, and then the window
disappeared.

 

[R. McCarty]

Click Start, Run (Type) Cmd [Enter] Expand Window to
maximum. Then type Chkdsk C: within the Command
window. The summary will remain on the screen and you'll
need to type exit to close it.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, I'm running between 2 different computers. I ran it again (this time
from command prompt) and it said that it had detedted errors, but could not
continue in read-only mode.
I have not backed up my data. What should I do now - just run defrag?

 

[R. McCarty]

That wouldn't be my recommendation. Chkdsk will require a run
with the /R (Repair) qualifier. To resolve the issues it finds it may
remove or make inaccessible data on the drive. Generally, this
only effects a few files or a small % of the disk. HOWEVER, if
certain critical components (MFT) are involved you could loose
more data. As long as the disk is marked "Dirty", then you are
likely to continue having issues. If your data isn't backed up then
it's time to do the minimum (My Docs, Email , Address book)
It would be better to have a System Image to get 100% backup
protection.

 

[Guest]

I've never backed up my computer before. What is a good free backup utility?

 

[R. McCarty]

It might be better to clarify a few terms. There are different forms of
backups. The easiest one is a simple burn of data to a CD/DVD-R
disk. This is important because it is immediately readable or usable.
The second type is the disk/partition Image. This is module or set of
modules that contains a exact copy of the entire source. The content
is compressed to make the final image set smaller. Once created the
image set can be restored or use an explorer utility to recover files &
folders from it.

Using an imaging program gets everything in one operation. The OS
and all applications and user's data. It's important when you image a
drive to use a verification pass. This creates the image and then does
a compare of the image contents to ensure it matches the source.
Images should be saved to media that doesn't stay resident on the PC.
Many people use a external USB/Firewire drive and store the images
or backups on it. That's OK, but you'll have a higher level of safety
if the Image modules are burned to optical disks and stored off the
PC.

So there two levels of protection - Simple backups that protect the
user's data and Images that provide that and "Disaster" recovery.

As to "Free" products, there are freeware imaging programs but
they have somewhat "Clumsy" interfaces and aren't easy to navigate &
use. You would probably be better off with a commercial application
like Acronis True Image or Symantec Ghost.

For backups, you can use native CD-Burning to backup your
personal data or use programs such as "BackupMyPC".
http://www.stompsoft.com/backupmypc.html?SourceID=afc_cj_backup

Whatever solution you decide on - be sure to backup/image on a
regular basis.

There are just too many options and schemes for backup or imaging
that it's hard to guide you to a specific product or method.

 

[Guest]

If I install a backup program, do I seriously risk overwriting my missing
pagefile? I know that since that file has disappeared, I have lost a lot of
HDD free space. I had 6.47GB before, and now I have only 4.95GB (after
deleting over 100 MB of unnecessary files). Am I correct to assume that my
computer still assumes that that space is occupied?

Also, how is running chkdsk in fix mode different that repair mode.


P.S. - Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[Mak]

nmunafo,
1. make sure System has full control rights to the root of the drive where
your pagefile.sys lives.

2. try workaround: in regedit, go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management
On the right, verify that PagingFiles is REG_MULTI_SZ type. Note the value
data (it may say for example c:\pagefile.sys 768 1024)
Double click on value name and change value data to c:\windows\pagefile.sys
768 1024 (if your system drive is c: and %windir%=windows of course)

3. Re-boot, delete c:\pagefile.sys if there is one.
If the problem is gone, try to reverse, use regedit to point pagefile.sys
back to the root of the drive (or leave it in windows - won't matter)

 

[Guest]

After long delays, I tried Mak's solution. I had been running "without" a
pagefile (even though XP made a temp one for me). I had hoped that I would be
able to wait it out ad that system checks, defrags and chkdsks would
eventually find my old pagefile.sys so that I could really delete it.

The c:\pagefile.sys disappeared w/my initial problem, but the drive space
associated w/it never became free space. I was hoping to recover it. During
this time I have also removed well over 4 GB of unused files and programs,
and have not received that free space either.

I had free space not appearing problem once before when I uninstalled
America's Army, and then miraculuously it appeared a week or two later. That
scenario has not played out yet with these files. (Yes, I have Norton System
Works, and I did empty all protected files).

Fed up w/waiting on a computer w/no pagefile (and the miserable performance
that goes along w/that) I decided to apply Mak's suggestion (I had tried it
once before, but changed my mind). I had had 5.76 GB free space (w/ a temp
pagefile) when I started. I set my pagefile from no pagfile to
c:\pagefile2.sys 768 1024. When I rebooted my computer I had only 5.01 GB
free space. The new pagefile is there, but I still have 2 questions -

1. Is there any way to recover the other free space that I know I should
have (from old pagefile and files + programs I deleted)?

2. Should I have gotten any free space w/the removal of the "temp" pagefile
I had from my "no pagefile" setting?

3. If so, how can I recover it?