System resources

[Wowbagger]

If there is plenty of RAM and the hard drive isn't close to filled, what
system resources could be low on an XP Pro machine with 1Gb of RAM?

 

[Malke]

If there is plenty of RAM and the hard drive isn't close to filled,
what system resources could be low on an XP Pro machine with 1Gb of
RAM?

Not enough information to get a focused answer. See this link for what
you should include in a newsgroup post:
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

In the meantime, make sure your computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Is your hard drive partitioned?

What programme are you using when you get an
out of memory message?


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wowbagger]

The system is clean of all known viruses, trojans, worms and malware as
reported by MS AntiSpyware, Norton Antivirus 2006, a couple of online
scanners and Hijack This!

One NTFS partition with some 30Gb remaining.

Task manager says I have 58 processes, commit charge: 518M / 2928M (I'm not
even using half of my physical memory!)
Handles: 17717
Threads: 761

Commit Charge (K)
Total: 530824
Limit: 2998720
Peak: 795392

Physical Memory (K)
Total: 1046528
Available: 470496
System Cache: 546104

Kernel Memory (K)
Total: 109072
Paged: 90116
Nonpaged: 18948

CPU usage bounces between 1-22 depending if I am actually typing or not.

 

[Wowbagger]

The only program that actually returns an error message is Outlook Express
which will give messages along the lines of "out of memory or disk space".
But the problem is not limited to Outlook Express.

The problem usually manifests as the inability to open additional folders,
copy/paste files, create new emails, open new programs or browser windows.
For example, when the problem shows up I may have to close one of three
folders currently open to open a new folder. When the new folder opens more
often than not the menu bar is missing and in its place is a larger than
normal windows icon (usually in the upper right corner) centered where the
menu bar should be.

Rebooting the system eliminates all symptoms for anywhere from 3-4 hours of
uptime to several days or a couple of weeks.

Please see response to the other response in this thread for a typical
snapshot of system resources when this problem manifests.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Is Outlook Express configured to read all messages as plain text?
See Tools, Options, Read. If yes uncheck the option and see if
the problem goes away.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wowbagger]

Yes, but the problem is not with OE - OE just happens to present one of the
symptoms and is the only program that actually complains. Windows itself
truly struggles.

 

[Malke]

Yes, but the problem is not with OE - OE just happens to present one
of the
symptoms and is the only program that actually complains. Windows
itself truly struggles.

Do clean-boot troubleshooting:

Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

If that doesn't help, have a local professional take a look at the
machine. Someone who can see the machine may figure out what is wrong
very quickly where people who are only reading about it may not.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Gerry Cornell]

A known memory leak is not a symptom. It is a cause. It may
only be a contributory factor but nevertheless it takes memory
and does not return it until Windows is shutdown. Microsoft
fixed the bug but inadvertently reintroduced the problem with
a subsequent update.

An observable symptom is an ever increasing number of GDI
objects in Task Manager.

How frequently do you shutdown your computer?


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wowbagger]

The problem with clean boot is that the issue manifests only after the
system has been up and running for some time - hours or days - but NEVER on
first boot. Rebooting resolves the issue every time.

 

[Wowbagger]

The system is rebooted on average a couple times a week, almost always to
resolve the problem, though occasionally just because I feel like it.

In perfmon what alerts should I add to try and catch this thing in the act?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Why make life so complicated!

Either uncheck the plain text option which will stop the memory
leak or turn off the computer after each session of using Outlook
Express to mitigate the effects.

You need to do the first if you are to determine whether this is the
cause of your problems!

As I said earlier if you do neither you get an ever increasing number
of GDI objects in Task Manager until the system runs out of memory.
What is this limit is will depend on the amount of memory the
system has.

Are you also sending Encrypted Email?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wowbagger]

Outlook Express is -NOT- the problem. The problems manifest even when OE
hasn't been opened since before the last reboot. I mentioned OE only
because it is the only program that actually reports an error message when
the resources are low.

I am not sending encrypted email.

The only applications that I run on a regular basis are:

Outlook 2003
Word/Excel 2003
MS Streets & Trips 2006
paint.net
google desktop search
gaim
Norton Antivirus 2006
MSIE
Firefox

These problems have been manifest for quite some time; since first noted
gaim, NAV, gds, firefox, S&T, and paint.net have all been updated to newer
versions with no change in the frequency of manifestation. I do not send
encrypted email.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

A search on Gaim reveals fears about security issues and this:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=597

There are different versions of Gaim for Windows, Linux and Unix.
Some or all clearly create memory and security issues. What
version of Gaim do you have installed?

What version of Firefox is installed? Memory issues were reported
a while back with one update but a patch was issued to fix that.

Outlook 2003 relies on Outlook Express!

Paint.net is another potential user of a lot of memory. What version
do you have?

It seems you are running a number of potentially problematic
programmes. With this in mind not closing down the computer when
it is not in use cannot be helpful given the problems you are encountering.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Wowbagger]

A search on Gaim reveals fears about security issues and this:
http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=597

There are different versions of Gaim for Windows, Linux and Unix.
Some or all clearly create memory and security issues. What
version of Gaim do you have installed?

GAIM: 2.00beta1 - the problem was present when I was still using AOL's AIM
and with all versions of GAIM.

What version of Firefox is installed? Memory issues were reported
a while back with one update but a patch was issued to fix that.

Firefox: 1.5.0.1

Paint.net is another potential user of a lot of memory. What version
do you have?

Always the latest version including the betas. My problems started before I
started using paint.net

It seems you are running a number of potentially problematic
programmes. With this in mind not closing down the computer when
it is not in use cannot be helpful given the problems you are
encountering.

Can you suggest which resource counters I should put into place? The most
frustrating bit is that I have absolutely no clue which resource is running
low.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

You need to update to Firefox 1.5.0.1 which fixes two memory leaks:
http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=7965

You may check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with
Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

This utility demonstrates the overall amount of the pagefile
in use. It does not say which application is using it.



--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~