Desktop Heap problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Swift
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve Swift

I'm getting symptoms that I'm overflowing the size of the desktop heap
(3072KB). I have dheapmon.exe running every 5 minutes so I can watch the
numbers to see if any approach 100%.

If it turns out that one is reaching 100% used, is there some mechanism
I can use to determine which process has the lions share?

I can extract a list of processes, and then stop using them, one at a
time, until the problem goes away, but with dozens of "things" running,
and the fact that the problem only happens about once a week, this could
keep me busy for a few months.

Does killing a process leave its share of the heap orphaned, or does the
kill mechanism take care of this?
 
you can kill most processes
you deem necessary.

however, there will be some
processes that can't be
disabled.

----------------

firstly, what you can try to do is
to compare running processes
between safe mode and normal
mode.

so what I would do is to
execute safe mode and jot
down the running processes.

then compare them to what
is running in normal mode.

what you should have left are
those processes that are
not needed for windows to
operate.

secondly, you can run a program
called "process explorer" to get
more details of those un needed
processes.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
you can kill most processes
you deem necessary.

however, there will be some
processes that can't be
disabled.

----------------

firstly, what you can try to do is
to compare running processes
between safe mode and normal
mode.

so what I would do is to
execute safe mode and jot
down the running processes.

then compare them to what
is running in normal mode.

what you should have left are
those processes that are
not needed for windows to
operate.

secondly, you can run a program
called "process explorer" to get
more details of those un needed
processes.
Click to expand...

DatabaseBen, are you intentionally posting in lines only 35 characters
wide, or is there something wrong with your MUA/News Reader?

--
Carmel |::::=======
|::::=======
|===========
|===========
|
 
Steve said:
I'm getting symptoms that I'm overflowing the size of the desktop heap
(3072KB). I have dheapmon.exe running every 5 minutes so I can watch the
numbers to see if any approach 100%.
Click to expand...

Dheapmon.exe tells me that whatever I have, it is not a desktop heap
problem, as none of the values went over 64% used before the problem
occurred yesterday.

The symptoms are classic desktop heap symptoms as far as I can tell:

Windows open without their title bar (though the icons appear if you
hover over where they should be)
Applications start reporting bizarre I/O errors (Missing files, but the
files are not missing), errors updating files, DLL's suddenly not valid
images, etc)
Applications start losing parts of their API
New applications don't launch, but no error is reported
Eventually the system will neither restart nor shutdown.

It's unlikely to be a memory problem, as it is happening on both my old
and new PC. I ran memory tests on the old PC, with no errors reported
after 12 hours of tests.

It's unlikely to be a Video Card/Driver problem as the two systems have
different Video cards (ATI Radeon HD3450 and integrated Intel Graphics
chip).

I can't tell if it is something that I installed, as the problem is
occurring about once a week, and it occurred first after I'd had the new
PC for 6 days. So the problem may have come with the system, it may have
been a program that I've installed, or it may be something that Windows
Update installed.

I may just re-install the image that the system came with, then limit
myself to one install/change per week until the problem comes back again.
 
Dheapmon.exe tells me that whatever I have, it is not a desktop heap
problem, as none of the values went over 64% used before the problem
occurred yesterday.
Click to expand...

By a pure fluke I discovered that my problem was a bug in the driver
for my Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 soundcard. It is fixed by level
1.1.98 or higher.

I'd upgraded to 1.1.99 (routine maintenance) but that caused beeps
whenever I abruptly change the music playing in WMP11. Researching
what levels I could fall back to (none, as it turns out), I noticed
that 1.1.98 fixed a "problem with system resources". This is
consistent; I'm on 1.1.99, the system problems have gone, and memory
tells me that they first ocurred around the time that I fitted the
soundcard (hindsight is always better).

If you are having system problems, have an X-Fi Surround 5.1, and
don't want to update the driver, then mute the Microphone/Line In.
 
Back
Top