Unreferenced memory issues across multiple tasks - please assist!?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark G.
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark G.

I multiple applications, I get various "unreferenced memory" issues that
cause the programs to shut down. There isn't anything consistent about it
either. These programs range from programs such as MS FrontPage 2003 to
Photoshop CS3 to Dreamweaver CS2. Other programs as well, but those are the
most note worthy. Not all of these programs and there processes are memory
hogs either so I am not sure the issue. This can happen whether or not I
have multiple programs open and the computer has been running for a while or
even if I only have the one program open and the computer just booted up. I
am running 1 gig of ram on an AMD 2800+ with a GeForce 5900 video card on XP
Pro as an OS. I ran memtest and another program to test the RAM, but they
report no errors whatsoever. At this time, I would rather not have to
reinstall my OS either. I will however be upgrading in the next couple of
months, but if I can, I would like to try and figure this out now and
correct it if possible. These errors have been plaguing me for about 4
months now. One other thing, and it may be related, is that upon startup, a
program I use to keep my PC safe called Spybot announces a error with a
missing or corrupt framedyn.dll. I tried fixing this problem to no avail.
Not sure if it is involved in the grand scheme of this issue, but maybe
worth while in mentioning? So with all of this said, short of reinstalling
my OS and having everything reset, what can I look for and/or what can I do?
Any and all help is much appreciated!
 
Mark said:
I multiple applications, I get various "unreferenced memory" issues that
cause the programs to shut down. There isn't anything consistent about it
either. These programs range from programs such as MS FrontPage 2003 to
Photoshop CS3 to Dreamweaver CS2. Other programs as well, but those are the
most note worthy. Not all of these programs and there processes are memory
hogs either so I am not sure the issue. This can happen whether or not I
have multiple programs open and the computer has been running for a while or
even if I only have the one program open and the computer just booted up. I
am running 1 gig of ram on an AMD 2800+ with a GeForce 5900 video card on XP
Pro as an OS. I ran memtest and another program to test the RAM, but they
report no errors whatsoever. At this time, I would rather not have to
reinstall my OS either. I will however be upgrading in the next couple of
months, but if I can, I would like to try and figure this out now and
correct it if possible. These errors have been plaguing me for about 4
months now. One other thing, and it may be related, is that upon startup, a
program I use to keep my PC safe called Spybot announces a error with a
missing or corrupt framedyn.dll. I tried fixing this problem to no avail.
Not sure if it is involved in the grand scheme of this issue, but maybe
worth while in mentioning? So with all of this said, short of reinstalling
my OS and having everything reset, what can I look for and/or what can I do?
Any and all help is much appreciated!
Click to expand...

In addition to memtest86+, there is Prime95 from mersenne.org . Prime95 is
an application that was written to find prime numbers. It uses spare cycles
like SETI programs. But the main feature that hobbyists use, is the
"Torture Test" option of the program. You don't have to join the search for
prime numbers to use the program. You can download the program and select
"Torture Test" from the menu and run it.

On my AthlonXP system, if I overclock too high, Prime95 will error out in
anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds or so. That tells you that the CPU made
a mistake, or there was a memory error. If I crank the clocks down again,
I can run for three or four hours (or until I get bored), and it'll be
error free.

So Prime95, and its "Torture Test" option, is a sensitive test for problems
like you describe.

If your BIOS offers clock adjustments, you can try cranking down the clock
and repeating the test. After a bit of work, you should be able to determine
what clock speeds are solid and what speeds are problematic.

My motherboard uses an Nforce2 chipset. In dual channel mode, above about
DDR333 or so, the chipset becomes sensitive to the type of memory used.
If the memory interface runs slow enough, you can use crap RAM and get away
with it. It appears to be a chipset issue, and suggests the chipset just
doesn't cut it for general purpose usage at DDR400. I don't know what chipset
you have on your motherboard - that is my experience with Nforce2. It took
some different RAM, to make mine stable.

Paul
 
It seems that a file or something got corrupted as this wasn't always the
case. If it were a RAM issue, then it seems like it should have been
happening long before this with the memory intensive programs I run. But you
see, it even happens on some programs as simple as MS Word 2003. Not every
time nor do I get the unreferenced memory error pop up each time. Sometimes
the program, like MS Word, just shuts itself down. Any other suggestions? I
will also try that Prime95 program. I sure hate it when things like this
happen especially across multiple applications. If just one application, I
could uninstall that application and move on. In fact I have even tried to
reinstall some applications to see if that worked, but no luck. Therefore my
lead to it being a file issue on XP Pro.
 
Mark

Have you checked your hard drive for bad sectors?

I would try HD Tune (freeware).
Download and run it and see what it turns up.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy
to Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Also do a full surface
scan with HD Tune.



--

Hope this helps.

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