Memory shortage on XP PC?

[Terry Pinnell]

First, apologies for length of this, but I want to provide as much
potentially useful information as possible in case it helps isolate
teh cause of my problem.

I'm getting frequent 'freezes' and other erratic behaviour. It's
consistent with my 512 MB. 1 GHz PC running low on memory. Yet I
haven't significantly changed the nature of the work I'm doing, or the
number of programs and folders I have open at once.

There's no *definite* pattern I've been able to pin down, although
programs like PaintShop Pro 7 and Agent 1.94 are quite often running
at the time the symptoms arise. And also the number of MSIE6 folders
open seems to be more critical than it used to be. Sometimes with
maybe a dozen open, plus a similar number of My Computer folders
(Windows XP) I get the problems.

Symptoms vary, but include one or more of these:
1. A newly-started program won't run (sometimes giving the
'Exclamation sound')
2. A right-click on a file/folder in Explorer/My Computer does nothing
3. Windows are incomplete, with missing menus
4. Can't get Task Manager to appear
5. Can't close an application
6. Can't open another Explorer/My Computer folder
7. Occasionally 'low memory' or 'no memory' message.

Usually I end up having to restart my PC, but it's sometimes only a
few hours before problems re-occur.

Yet under the Performance tag of Task Manager I see no obvious
evidence of a memory shortage. For example, typically (even when te
problems are occurring) I see figures like Commit Charge: 203M /
1249M, which I understand mean I have lots of capacity left.

Up until recently I had my Virtual Memory customised, but recently
changed it to let the system manage it, although that's made no
apparent difference to the problems. Only 1 of my 4 partitions has
page file settings. FWIW, here are some figures:
Total paging file size for all drives: 767 MB
Minimum allowed: 2 MB
Recommended: 766 MB
Currently allocated: 767 MB

Any and all advice/suggestions would be much appreciated please.

 

[John]

First, apologies for length of this, but I want to provide as much
potentially useful information as possible in case it helps isolate
teh cause of my problem.

Unless you are lucky and someone recognizes some exact software bug in
a particular program, Win update, device driver , hardware issue -
thats causing the problem your best bet is to do basic diagnostic
routines and then strip the PC down and test it .

The obvious one people will probably say is check temps on your PC by
using motherboard monitor etc just to rule that out and check your
memory by using the free mem tester software memtest86 I think It was
called. You can find it free on the net. Next check your hard disk
with a diagnostic program from the manufacturer and make sure
obviously you have room - if you only have 100 megs free, low free
space tends to make it run pretty flakey for me. There are also
program that are free that can tell you the temps on your harddisks.

The other thing ---- power supply is always mentioned but out of all
the times I thought it was the power supply , its never been that.
However obviously if you have a wimpy or cheap and/or old PS it could
be the problem. Ive used lots of moderately cheap PSes that were fine
but one that was REALLY cheap did cause lots of problems. The whole
case was super cheap and it came with the PS.

The other thing - check if any fans are dead - on the motherboards
(the tiny ones) and the one on the graphics card. Ive had the same
exact problem. One was caused by a dead fan on the northbridge . After
I changed that no problems at all. The other on another board was
caused by unfixable flakiness on the extra highpoint controller so I
just disabled it and used the first controller.

Theres also the bad capacitor deal. The story there is a bunch of bad
caps from Taiwan or China made their way into many components. You are
supposed to tell because they look swollen , brown stuff is leaking
out , they look as if they are bursting or have burst etc. Theres a
guy who replaces them for a fee in the mainboard groups.

If you still have problems - look in your motherboard group for any
specific info on bugs with your mainboard, or graphics card drivers
etc. And finally strip it down. Reformat your harddisk and reinstall a
clean windows and take all your cards out except the graphics card and
unhook everything and then run it for a while and see if it still does
it. If it does - they you might want to think about new PS, new
motherboard if your mem checks out. It really helps if you have other
components that you can substitute into your system.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Unless you are lucky and someone recognizes some exact software bug in
a particular program, Win update, device driver , hardware issue -
thats causing the problem your best bet is to do basic diagnostic
routines and then strip the PC down and test it .

Many thanks, appreciate your help.

The obvious one people will probably say is check temps on your PC by
using motherboard monitor etc just to rule that out

Could you amplify please? What are 'temps'?

and check your
memory by using the free mem tester software memtest86 I think It was
called. You can find it free on the net.

OK, understood.

Next check your hard disk
with a diagnostic program from the manufacturer and make sure
obviously you have room - if you only have 100 megs free, low free
space tends to make it run pretty flakey for me. There are also
program that are free that can tell you the temps on your harddisks.

Will do.

The other thing ---- power supply is always mentioned but out of all
the times I thought it was the power supply , its never been that.
However obviously if you have a wimpy or cheap and/or old PS it could
be the problem. Ive used lots of moderately cheap PSes that were fine
but one that was REALLY cheap did cause lots of problems. The whole
case was super cheap and it came with the PS.

Good point. Presumably the only 'test' is to replace it with a higher
wattage and wait to see if it cures the problem?

The other thing - check if any fans are dead - on the motherboards
(the tiny ones) and the one on the graphics card. Ive had the same
exact problem. One was caused by a dead fan on the northbridge . After
I changed that no problems at all. The other on another board was
caused by unfixable flakiness on the extra highpoint controller so I
just disabled it and used the first controller.

Another excellent idea. In fact, on my old W98 PC in my shed/workshop,
I eventually cured serious problems (far worse than these) when i
discovered the heatsink on the relacement CPU that my local supplier
had fitted was not properly flush.

Theres also the bad capacitor deal. The story there is a bunch of bad
caps from Taiwan or China made their way into many components. You are
supposed to tell because they look swollen , brown stuff is leaking
out , they look as if they are bursting or have burst etc. Theres a
guy who replaces them for a fee in the mainboard groups.

OK, I'll get the covers off and stare hard.

If you still have problems - look in your motherboard group for any
specific info on bugs with your mainboard, or graphics card drivers
etc. And finally strip it down.

Reformat your harddisk and reinstall a
clean windows and take all your cards out except the graphics card and
unhook everything and then run it for a while and see if it still does
it. If it does - they you might want to think about new PS, new
motherboard if your mem checks out. It really helps if you have other
components that you can substitute into your system.

Removing and replacing all cards is about my limit. Anything more is
too daunting!

Much appreciate your taking the trouble, thank you.

 

[John]

Removing and replacing all cards is about my limit. Anything more is
too daunting!

Much appreciate your taking the trouble, thank you.

Oh yeah theres the obvious virus and spyware infestation.

Try this totally free prog for spyware . Everytime I let my guard
down , my PC gets infested with Spyware.
http://beam.to/spybotsd

For virus - there are some freebies but it seems to be crappy. Ive
tried them and then tried the commercial versions and found lots of
viruses they missed so I dont trust the freebies anymore.

 

[Jon Danniken]

For virus - there are some freebies but it seems to be crappy. Ive
tried them and then tried the commercial versions and found lots of
viruses they missed so I dont trust the freebies anymore.

Fom my experience lately it seems that AVG is able to detect more bugs than Symantec;
even though they both were updated. I've had many bugs that Symantec just flat out
didn't even notice, so I won't entrust my security to Symantec alone.

Jon

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Oh yeah theres the obvious virus and spyware infestation.

Try this totally free prog for spyware . Everytime I let my guard
down , my PC gets infested with Spyware.
http://beam.to/spybotsd

For virus - there are some freebies but it seems to be crappy. Ive
tried them and then tried the commercial versions and found lots of
viruses they missed so I dont trust the freebies anymore.

Thankd for the follow-up. I use both AdAware and Spybot.