Page File Problems

[Bob - Fort Worth]

XP SR3

I have my Page File size set at C: 640-1792
"recommended" is 1533
currently alloc. is 1453
Physical memory is 1047024

When I boot the system, it takes about 35-40 minutes to come to "ready".

What I see happening is that a page file is being created that increases in
size to 2.4 GB
Stats:
Commit Chg
Total 2409004
Limit 2693532
Peak 24747636

Once this level is reached, CPU utilization drops down from 100% and the
Page file is downsized to 349728K.

These numbers are "typical". They are not the same from boot to boot.

Any idea what is happening?

This Extended CPU utilization during boot-up ie creating havoc on my computer!

Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob
L

 

[Leonard Grey]

Why are you not using "System Managed Size" for your page file?

 

[Bob - Fort Worth]

I was experimenting with different minimum and maximum sizes as well as
trying to set-up page files on two drives.

As you see from my numbers it appears to make no difference what the numbers
are set to. (I never saw a page file on the 2nd drive either.)

 

[Daave]

XP SR3

I have my Page File size set at C: 640-1792
"recommended" is 1533
currently alloc. is 1453
Physical memory is 1047024

When I boot the system, it takes about 35-40 minutes to come to
"ready".

Not good at all. Is this recent?

What antivirus program or suite do you run?

Have you scanned for malware (not just viruses...)?

What I see happening is that a page file is being created that
increases in size to 2.4 GB

That's not out of the ordinary.

What is your actual pagefile *usage* (from Task Manager, Performance
tab)?

Stats:
Commit Chg
Total 2409004
Limit 2693532
Peak 24747636

Are you sure that the peak figure isn't a typo? That should only be
seven digits (based upon your Total figure). If it's not a typo. it's
ten times larger than it should be!

Furthermore (and assuming that your peak figure is a typo), you clearly
don't have enough RAM. Your Total and Peak figures are *way* above the
figure for Physical Memory (1GB or RAM, correct?).

I have no idea what kind of programs you run. If you don't have malware
and you do in fact use memory-intensive programs, you would benefit by
increasing your total RAM to 3GB.

However, my guess is your PC has become infested with malware and has
perhaps also become a spambot. Please see this page to deal with malware
issues:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Once this level is reached, CPU utilization drops down from 100% and
the
Page file is downsized to 349728K.

These numbers are "typical". They are not the same from boot to boot.

Any idea what is happening?

This Extended CPU utilization during boot-up ie creating havoc on my
computer!

Probably malware.

It's also possible you have a program that is configured to scan your
entire hard drive with every boot. And this program is a serious
resource hog.

 

[Bob - Fort Worth]

You are right - that was a typo, Correct number 2477636.

I don't understand why, at boot up, my system is creating a page file that
is 2.4+ GB...it is spending a LOT of time creating the file... then, as soon
as the processor gets free (utilization <100%) The page file quickly shrinks
down to 512M or less. Just like blowing up a balloon and then letting it
down. The time spent creating the page file is creating BIG problems!

 

[Daave]

You are right - that was a typo, Correct number 2477636.

I don't understand why, at boot up, my system is creating a page file
that is 2.4+ GB...it is spending a LOT of time creating the file...
then, as soon as the processor gets free (utilization <100%) The page
file quickly shrinks down to 512M or less. Just like blowing up a
balloon and then letting it down. The time spent creating the page
file is creating BIG problems!

In the future, please leave the bits of the post you are responding to.
Although I know what you're talking about, many others have no idea.
True, chances are they can see the other posts in this thread, but
sometimes posts don't show up for any number of reasons.

As I stated in the other post, some program or programs are requiring
tons of memory. Since you don't have enough physical memory, it is
"paging out" its memory needs to the hard drive (where the pagefile is
located).

The "time spent" is actually a *symptom* of your problem, which is
probably malware.