Number of Running Process Limitation?

[John Rose]

Hello all,

This problem has been troubling me for a year now. I've tried almost
everything possible, any help or information would be very helpful.

I'm running Windows XP 32 bit SP2 with latest patches, drivers, bios etc..
It is a Dell Precision 490 Xeon 5140 with 4 gig RAM and a FireGL V3400 with
128megs, dual monitors, dual SATA hard drives. The machine has many, many
applications installed. I'm a professional developer and graphics artist.

The problem is that once I get to between 70 and 80 processes I cannot load
any more. Sometimes there is a memory error reported by the app that is
trying to start. If I terminate an app then I can load another app. Is
there some sort of limit on the number of applications that can be run
simultaneously on 32 bit XP SP2? It's like I hit a ceiling even though
there is available RAM on task manager. Maybe I need more video RAM?

I've monkeyed with everything including the swap file, drivers, etc..

Thanks,
John Rose

 

[JS]

I believe the maximum number of processes is limited to about 150 or
possibly less, since you have a number of processes that are running after
you boot your PC, that leaves the remaining amount available for use
somewhat less than the max. A simple test is to open Task Manager, then open
notepad (uses one process), then start another and so forth until you can
not open another instance of notepad.

JS

 

[mikeyhsd]

there are some reasons for this.
first thing I would ask if do you have your page file limited or system managed. system managed is better.
next question might be is there enough room on the hard drive for the TEMP folders/files you are creating.




(e-mail address removed)



Hello all,

This problem has been troubling me for a year now. I've tried almost
everything possible, any help or information would be very helpful.

I'm running Windows XP 32 bit SP2 with latest patches, drivers, bios etc..
It is a Dell Precision 490 Xeon 5140 with 4 gig RAM and a FireGL V3400 with
128megs, dual monitors, dual SATA hard drives. The machine has many, many
applications installed. I'm a professional developer and graphics artist.

The problem is that once I get to between 70 and 80 processes I cannot load
any more. Sometimes there is a memory error reported by the app that is
trying to start. If I terminate an app then I can load another app. Is
there some sort of limit on the number of applications that can be run
simultaneously on 32 bit XP SP2? It's like I hit a ceiling even though
there is available RAM on task manager. Maybe I need more video RAM?

I've monkeyed with everything including the swap file, drivers, etc..

Thanks,
John Rose

 

[JS]

I was incorrect as I tried this test on XP, previously on Windows NT 4 and
2003 servers. The Notepad test does work as expected on servers but on XP I
was able to go well beyond 200 instances (200 processes) of Notepad before I
could no longer open Task Manager.

I would take a look at how much memory each of your processes use and how
the total memory used by all these processes compares with the amount of
physical memory you have.

JS

 

[John Rose]

Interesting. I closed all the apps and was left with 52 running processes(I
have a lot of things running at startup). Then I opened up as many notepads
as I could. It got up to 221 processes. So some other type of resource in
the usual applications that I run is hitting a limit...

John

 

[John Rose]

I've tried numerous page file configurations all with the same result. Currently it is at 4603 MB custom size, initial and maximum. I had tried it at 8500 MB with the same problem ocurring. I even tried no paging file.

There is plenty of room on the hard drives, 60 gig free on one, and 50 gig free on the other's first partitiion and 18 gig free on the other partition..

John

there are some reasons for this.
first thing I would ask if do you have your page file limited or system managed. system managed is better.
next question might be is there enough room on the hard drive for the TEMP folders/files you are creating.




(e-mail address removed)



Hello all,

This problem has been troubling me for a year now. I've tried almost
everything possible, any help or information would be very helpful.

I'm running Windows XP 32 bit SP2 with latest patches, drivers, bios etc..
It is a Dell Precision 490 Xeon 5140 with 4 gig RAM and a FireGL V3400 with
128megs, dual monitors, dual SATA hard drives. The machine has many, many
applications installed. I'm a professional developer and graphics artist.

The problem is that once I get to between 70 and 80 processes I cannot load
any more. Sometimes there is a memory error reported by the app that is
trying to start. If I terminate an app then I can load another app. Is
there some sort of limit on the number of applications that can be run
simultaneously on 32 bit XP SP2? It's like I hit a ceiling even though
there is available RAM on task manager. Maybe I need more video RAM?

I've monkeyed with everything including the swap file, drivers, etc..

Thanks,
John Rose

 

[John Rose]

When it gets up to 221 processes in use there is still 2.2 gigs physical
memory available according to task manager.

John

 

[JS]

You need to find the specific system process that's taking all (there are
lot of sub-processes tied to the 'System' process) the resources.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide some of the detailed info you need)
Next click in the toolbar 'View', then 'Select Columns' then click on the
Process Memory tab.
Check the memory options boxes of interest (Example: Virtual Size)
Then click on and expand the 'System' or 'Explorer' process to expand and
identify the specific sub-process that's using most or all the resources.

Note: some entries like Explorer, System process and svchost may need to be
expanded to show the detail, (sub processes), in this case click on the +
located to the left of the entry.

JS

 

[Rock]

Hello all,

This problem has been troubling me for a year now. I've tried almost
everything possible, any help or information would be very helpful.

I'm running Windows XP 32 bit SP2 with latest patches, drivers, bios etc..
It is a Dell Precision 490 Xeon 5140 with 4 gig RAM and a FireGL V3400
with 128megs, dual monitors, dual SATA hard drives. The machine has many,
many applications installed. I'm a professional developer and graphics
artist.

The problem is that once I get to between 70 and 80 processes I cannot
load any more. Sometimes there is a memory error reported by the app that
is trying to start. If I terminate an app then I can load another app.
Is there some sort of limit on the number of applications that can be run
simultaneously on 32 bit XP SP2? It's like I hit a ceiling even though
there is available RAM on task manager. Maybe I need more video RAM?

I've monkeyed with everything including the swap file, drivers, etc..

It sounds like it might be a heaps issue. See this article:
PRB: User32.dll or Kernel32.dll fails to initialize
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184802/