XP Always Out of Memory

[JSoul Rocks]

Here's a strange problem I have. My laptop has 2GB of RAM in it,
plenty to run XP. It's a Dell XPS m1210. Especially after waking up
after sleep (as well as not), it seems to have "out of memory" issues
even though there isn't much open and Windows Task Manager says there
is plenty of available RAM. What will happen is that if I have 3 tabs
open in IE, for example, if I click on a link to open another window
there is a blink and nothing happens. Try to open a folder and either
nothing will happen or a new window will open but white and blank. Try
to right click on a menu item and either no menu disappears or you'll
be missing a lot of the right click menu items normally there. Try to
right click on a link to open to a new tab in IE and either a new tab
won't open or the tab will open but a page won't load. On occasion
trying to open a window will yield and out of memory error. You can
close most of the windows and still have these same errors after
opening just one folder. Has anyone seen this? It's a horrific problem
I'm having again with XP...

 

[Gerry]

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave the computer on 24/7

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report. Open Disk
Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it
is more informative.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute

 

[Jim]

Here's a strange problem I have. My laptop has 2GB of RAM in it,
plenty to run XP. It's a Dell XPS m1210. Especially after waking up
after sleep (as well as not), it seems to have "out of memory" issues
even though there isn't much open and Windows Task Manager says there
is plenty of available RAM. What will happen is that if I have 3 tabs
open in IE, for example, if I click on a link to open another window
there is a blink and nothing happens. Try to open a folder and either
nothing will happen or a new window will open but white and blank. Try
to right click on a menu item and either no menu disappears or you'll
be missing a lot of the right click menu items normally there. Try to
right click on a link to open to a new tab in IE and either a new tab
won't open or the tab will open but a page won't load. On occasion
trying to open a window will yield and out of memory error. You can
close most of the windows and still have these same errors after
opening just one folder. Has anyone seen this? It's a horrific problem
I'm having again with XP...

In addition to what Gerry posted, what is the size of the pagefile, and how
is that size managed?
Jim

 

[JSoul Rocks]

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave the computer on 24/7

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report. Open Disk
Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it
is more informative.

Thanks for trying to help me figure this out guys. I don't leave the
computer on 24/7. Rebooting fixes the problem until it happens again,
typicaly at least once and up to three/four times daily.

Disk size is not a problem. I've got over 35GB of free space and I
doubt it's a fragmenting issue.

Highest process is explorer.exe with 47,624k

CPU Usage is 1%
Processes 56
Commit Charge 698M/3938M
PF Usage 697MB

Total memory 2095224
Available 1392404
System Cache 1273464

Commit Charge (K)
Total 714588
Limit 4032612
Peak 959600

Kernel Memory (K)
Total 126028
Paged 92032
Nonpaged 34012

Handles 26273
Threads 789
Processes 56

Applications open is just 4 tabs (in 2 windows) in IE, 3 Windows.

 

[Gerry]

I asked other questions which you have not answered.

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report. Open Disk
Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it
is more informative.

These questions are asked to get background information not because I
think you might need to run Disk Defragmenter!

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
..

 

[Daave]

Here's a strange problem I have. My laptop has 2GB of RAM in it,
plenty to run XP. It's a Dell XPS m1210. Especially after waking up
after sleep (as well as not), it seems to have "out of memory" issues
even though there isn't much open and Windows Task Manager says there
is plenty of available RAM. What will happen is that if I have 3 tabs
open in IE, for example, if I click on a link to open another window
there is a blink and nothing happens. Try to open a folder and either
nothing will happen or a new window will open but white and blank. Try
to right click on a menu item and either no menu disappears or you'll
be missing a lot of the right click menu items normally there. Try to
right click on a link to open to a new tab in IE and either a new tab
won't open or the tab will open but a page won't load. On occasion
trying to open a window will yield and out of memory error. You can
close most of the windows and still have these same errors after
opening just one folder. Has anyone seen this? It's a horrific problem
I'm having again with XP...

Please post the *exact* wording of the error messages.

 

[JSoul Rocks]

Thanks Gerry, truly -

I went from 2GB to 4GB of RAM and found out this isn't necessarily a
good thing and the problems haven't gone away... just love this, lol.
Here are the answers to your questions:


iexplore: CPU 01, Mem Usage 155,012k, Peak Mem Usage 393,132, VM Size
535,128

Now that is the largest. Interesting enough, the next few are Avast
Antivirus (I believe) which can't even start if Outlook is open. Here
are the next 5 in order of Peak Mem Usage

ashServ.exe = Peak 82,700k, VM 21,476k
ashWeSv.exe = P 80,996k, VM 17,960k
svchost.exe = P 67,140 k, VM 29,756k
explorer.exe = P 47,624k, VM 29,704k
ashMaiSv.exe = P28,224k, VM 2,944

The Mem Usage is much lower in all the examples and CPU is zero.

Regarding the Disk Defrag,


Volume (C
Volume size = 112 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 88.19 GB
Free space = 23.53 GB
Percent free space = 21 %
Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 22 %
File fragmentation = 44 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %
File fragmentation
Total files = 196,264
Average file size = 577 KB
Total fragmented files = 33,966
Total excess fragments = 134,183
Average fragments per file = 1.68
Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 3.01 GB
Total fragments = 2
Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 11,865
Fragmented folders = 1,096
Excess folder fragments = 8,573
Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 205 MB
MFT record count = 208,929
Percent MFT in use = 99 %
Total MFT fragments = 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
4,971 36 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\BB_MM.log
4,776 490 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook_080422.zip
2,549 402 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Outlook.zip
1,726 24 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\BB_DM.log
1,725 215 MB \Blackberry
Software\StrangersOnTrain_.avi
1,043 65 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP270\A0018251.exe
893 56 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP262\A0017519.dll
801 3 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Adobe\PatcherLogs\Adobe Device
Central CS3 1.1.log
801 50 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP243\A0014951.dll
800 13 MB \Program Files\InstallShield
Installation
Information\{45A1BF92-700A-4408-B95E-79F462E3D67D}\setup.ilg
783 84 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP290\A0020412.msi
670 42 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP301\A0021179.msi
633 40 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP262\A0017513.dll
570 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP305
528 33 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP262\A0017520.dll
492 32 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP288\A0020343.msi
488 30 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP262\A0017517.dll
487 32 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP303\A0021914.msi
471 30 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP245\A0015917.exe
456 3 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\qc10install.log
411 33 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP265\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
407 50 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\My
Documents\jnation_joomla_handshakes_integrated\backup-8.7.2007_01-07-15_jnation\mysql\jnation_jsoul.sql
387 1 KB \WINDOWS\system32\config\system.LOG
383 39 MB \Documents and
Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\NERO14768\Data\BB61C0A0.cab
383 24 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP262\A0017514.dll
353 38 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP305\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
350 26 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP245\A0015968.exe
349 37 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP294\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
314 27 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP211\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
310 27 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{4DB02A80-C8BD-43EA-AB24-888E039BD6C5}\RP305\A0022190.msi

 

[JSoul Rocks]

Please post the *exact* wording of the error messages.

Dave - I just posted specs for Gerry. The out of memory frequently
manifests itself in having no right click menu available, windows
can't open and, if they do, they are distorted with no menu or other
items visible. Sometimes you don't get the menu bar at all. At times I
can't open another window, even if I just have one open. Windows will
not appear. If I have IE open I won't get another tab or window.

I just bought 2GB more RAM and now have 4GB. Apparently my only
ability to use it might be to upgrade to Vista, 64bit will access it
for sure but apps will have a problem running. I heard even Vista 32
makes much better use of the 4GB RAM and perhaps that is what I should
do, as much as I don't care to leave XP.

 

[Gerry]

Something is wrong. The figures do not reconcile!

From Task Manager

Total memory 2095224
Available 1392404
System Cache 1273464

I would have expected Available plus System Cache would a little less
than Total Memory. One of the three figures is wrong?

Commit Charge (K)
Total 714588
Limit 4032612
Peak 959600

From Disk Defragmenter

Pagefile 3.01 gb

4 gb of RAM -take as 2.8 gb plus 3 gb pagefile = 5.8 gb but Limit under
Commit Charge only 4 gb. Due the need to allocate address space
elsewhere most 32 bit systems can only use between 2.8 and 3.2 gb RAM.
For some reason your system is not recognising something like 1 gb of
RAM?

You need to check and confirm the accuracy of the figures from Task
Manager. It could be the new memory is not being recognised at all by
the system. An alternative could be half your original memory has gone
bad,

What is your computer make and model? Please also provide details of
each memory stick installed.

If you have a graphics card please provide details.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[JSoul Rocks]

The figures are accurate. The memory recognized is only 3.25 GB
thanks to the Windows XP issue with 4GB of memory and its method of
accessing memory with its 32-bit architecture. Apparently this is very
well documented with a search on the subject of Windows XP not
recognizing all 4 GB of RAM or recognizing only 3GB. Still, that's not
the problem. Windows just runs out of memory for reasons I can't
explain, especially after waking up. Computer is the Dell XPS with the
GeForce 7200 graphics card (or maybe 7400 but one of those two that is
the mobile version.)

 

[tbone]

If you prefer XP, have you thought about Windows XP 64-bit Ediition?

I recently ordered a quad core machine with it. Everything I've
installed so far seems to work ok. YMMV, but I much prefer XP (and
even kubuntu) over Vista.

tbone

On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:59:48 -0400, JSoul Rocks

 

[JSoul Rocks]

Thanks tbone - I didn't even think of that. My only concern is how the
64-bit editions will work with my other apps. I don't have anything
likely too challenging but I wonder if my web applications will work
sufficiently. That's a good idea. I personally don't like Vista.

 

[Daave]

Dave - I just posted specs for Gerry. The out of memory frequently
manifests itself in having no right click menu available, windows
can't open and, if they do, they are distorted with no menu or other
items visible. Sometimes you don't get the menu bar at all. At times I
can't open another window, even if I just have one open. Windows will
not appear. If I have IE open I won't get another tab or window.

I just bought 2GB more RAM and now have 4GB. Apparently my only
ability to use it might be to upgrade to Vista, 64bit will access it
for sure but apps will have a problem running. I heard even Vista 32
makes much better use of the 4GB RAM and perhaps that is what I should
do, as much as I don't care to leave XP.

In your original post, you stated that:

Has this happened recently? If so, please post the *exact* wording of
the error messages.

Also, please post pertinent copies of Error reports from Event Viewer,
easily accessed by:

Start | Run | type "eventvwr" (without the quotes)

For more info, see "How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in
Windows XP":

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

Have you tried using Process Explorer to determine the culprit? You may
download this utility from:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

For tips on how to use it:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial129.html

Also, I saw your iexplore numbers, which are quite high. I would imagine
your problem is related to that. What version of IE are you running?
Have you tried running in No Add-ons mode?

How is your pagefile configured? Almost always, the best way to
configure it is to let Windows manage your virtual memory:

Right-click on My computer and select Properties. Go to the Advanced tab
and click on Settings (under Performance). Change to Advanced, hit
Change and select the target drive for your virtual memory file.

Which is selected: Custom or System managed size? If Custom, what is the
initial size and what is the maximum size?

Usually, System managed is just fine. If you prefer to read up more and
customize it properly (although the end result may very well be the
same!), see "Virtual Memory in Windows XP":

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php

The figures you posted from Task Manager were helpful, but for a more
accurate assessment, you may run Page File Monitor for Windows XP:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Have you ruled out a malware infection? If not, you need to! See:

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

Another explanation is a corrupted profile. Create a new one and see if
your problem is resolved.

Know that clean boot troubleshooting is an option:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

And you can always perform a repair install!

BTW, what Service Pack level are you running?

 

[Gerry]

There is still something wrong when you try to reconcile the figures you
provided earlier. It could have arisen because some of the figures were
provided on 5 June and some on 25 June. Changes to the system between
these dates could explain the discrepancy. Fresh figures would tell us
whether they now reconcile.

What are your pagefile settings? Start, Control Panel, System, Advanced,
Performance Settings, Advanced, Virtual Memory, Change.

Where is the pagefile located? Is it located in the same partition as
windows?

The other explanation could be a programme generating a large
requirement for memory which was not running when you checked Task
Manager. What are you doing when the "Out of Memory" messages appear?

It did not immediately register with me but this comment by you
"especially after waking up" may be significant! Hibernation? If you
disable Hibernation do you still see "Out of Memory" messages? Select
Start, Control Panel, Power Options, Hibernate tab, and uncheck the box
before "Enable Hibernate", What is the disk space requirement for
hibernate specified below the box?

Looking again at the Disk Defragmenter Report I see you have some
pretty large files which are multi-fragmented. This poses the question
as to whether your housekeeping is carried out as often as it needs to
be and whether you are doing it in the right way.

Something to do first before I say more about housekeeping. The default
allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition which is over
generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My Computer icon
on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor on your C
drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag it to the
left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the Settings screen
click on Apply and OK and exit. Restart your computer.

With housekeeping you need to cleanup your system before you run Disk
Defragmenter. Running Disk CleanUp is one part of the operation but
other things can also be necessary. You do not appear to be using
Outlook Express as a news reader. I am not sure of the maintenance
requirements for Forte Agent. You have a large Outlook zip file. Are you
current using Outlook as that may be something to consider. However, a
simple strategy follows.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also select
Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More
Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore
point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

You may need to do this on each drive / partition.

An alternative to Disk CleanUp is cCleaner (freeware) which does a more
thorough job than Disk CleanUp. Disk CleanUp has to be run for each user
profile, whereas cCleaner only needs to be run once.
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. To be safe you
should create a restore point before using cCleaner. cCleaner also
offers backup before removal.

When using cCleaner think twice before checking Autocomplete Form
History under Internet Explorer. You do get a warning but this one has
irritating consequences. You may need to restore your system's
recollection of passwords after use so keep a record off computer so
that they can easily be re-entered.

Leave the Scan for Issues option alone.

cCleaner does not remove restore points. You need to use Disk CleanUp
for this. Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest
System Restore point.

Housekeeping may not directly solve an Out of Memory problem but it will
help with system performance by making tasks less demanding on available
memory.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~