Where is my memory?

  • Thread starter Thread starter shakey
  • Start date Start date
S

shakey

According to Task manager I have:
physical memory total 1046620
available memory 539592
cache 695820

This is while I am trying to paste two paragraphs into word which is telling
me "there is insufficient memory or disk space"
I have 40gb of available disk space.
No change (cant paste)after closing all but word. opened notebook and pasted
first try.
I have had similar happen a few times in last few weeks.
Just yesterday I ran virus scans and spyware checks and was clean then did a
disk cleanup.
 
Purchase more memory.Or/and R.click my computer,properties,advanced,perform-
ance,virtual memory,change button,select,"let windows manage" then click set
2X,then close out.A restart should be prompted if done correctly..
 
According to Task manager I have:
physical memory total 1046620
available memory 539592
cache 695820

This is while I am trying to paste two paragraphs into word which is telling
me "there is insufficient memory or disk space"
I have 40gb of available disk space.
No change (cant paste)after closing all but word. opened notebook and pasted
first try.
I have had similar happen a few times in last few weeks.
Just yesterday I ran virus scans and spyware checks and was clean then did a
disk cleanup.
Click to expand...

The problem's with word. Take the question to a word news group.
If it works in one editor, but not in word...
 
Husky said:
The problem's with word. Take the question to a word news group.
If it works in one editor, but not in word...
Click to expand...
Actually I STILL want to know why I show so much memory unavailable to me.
If I only had 256 or 512 instead of 1gb I would be out of mem.
"According to Task manager I have:
physical memory total 1046620
available memory 539592
cache 695820
Click to expand...
"
 
Shakey,
You show lots more memory than the pc I am using at present. That is to your favor.
When you looked at Task manager, on the Performance Tab, how was your Page File usage ?
The other key is how much FREE HD disk space is available.

On the Pagefile (which is where the system makes use of disk drive temporarily, to store programs & data when you run several applications at same time / and when programs need more memory than what pc has physically) :
Review the Size of that file.
Pagefile.sys is a system/ hidden file on the boot drive. Look at your C drive, C:\ .
You likely have to set Windows Explorer View folder options --- set to show you all folders; all system folders; & hidden files.
Bring up Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder Options/ select VIEW Tab and look at all of settings listed.

"CHECK" (turn on) Display the contents of system folders.

Under column, Hidden files and folders----choose ( *select* ) Show hidden files and folders.
Next, un-check Hide extensions for known file types.
Next un-check Hide protected operating system files.

Then, this is a bit of Computer Major 200 level, but not necesarily too difficult if tweaked carefully --- adjust the virtual memory setting for Windows. Follow Alex Nichol's sage advice. With his paragraph starting "How big a file will turn out to be needed depends ..."
See Virtual memory in Windows XP, by Alex Nichol, MS-MVP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Your running of Disk Cleanup is to be commended. You also should clean out all files starting with tilde "~".
Also .tmp files

Beyond that, it is likely you may have older applications that are 'leaking' memory because they don't release memory when finished.

I'd also advise running a Disk Defrag on a regular schedule (say once a month). Just be sure your antivirus is not on & close your apps before starting Disk Defrag. When it finishes, logout and restart Windows.

One last tip: Make sure your Word ( & Office ) apps are up-to-date with patches.
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com
 
shakey said:
According to Task manager I have:
physical memory total 1046620
available memory 539592
cache 695820

This is while I am trying to paste two paragraphs into word which is telling
me "there is insufficient memory or disk space"
I have 40gb of available disk space.
No change (cant paste)after closing all but word. opened notebook and pasted
first try.
I have had similar happen a few times in last few weeks.
Just yesterday I ran virus scans and spyware checks and was clean then did a
disk cleanup.
Click to expand...

If the problem occurs just with Microsoft Word then it could be caused
by a corrupted normal.dot template file. Search the hard drive for
all instances of normal.dot and delete or rename them. Word will
automatically create a new one the next time you launch the program.

If that does resolve the problem then you need to post the question to
a newsgroup that deals with Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office.

As for your memory usage the basic fact is that Windows XP will, by
design, always attempt to find some use, anything whatever that might
potentially be of some benefit for every bit of the installed RAM,
rather that letting the RAM just sit there idly going to rot and doing
no good for anything or anybody.

And just as soon as some better use comes along for some of that RAM
then Windows will instantaneously drop the more trivial usages so as
to free up whatever is now required.

The basic principle is that "free RAM is useless RAM".

Hope this explains the situation.

Good luck



Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Like he said, it's an word problem and not a memory problem. Word is just
reporting wrong.
 
Actually I STILL want to know why I show so much memory unavailable to me.
If I only had 256 or 512 instead of 1gb I would be out of mem.
"According to Task manager I have:
Click to expand...

I'd like to know too... and the Word group probably won't be able to
answer that question. I read it and that's not what they talk about.

Did this happen even after you rebooted?

You have at least twice as much "power" as I have (and mine computer
is new), but I've never had that problem with any computer unless it
was "really" out of memory.

:)
 
According to Task manager I have:
physical memory total 1046620
available memory 539592
cache 695820

This is while I am trying to paste two paragraphs into word which is telling
me "there is insufficient memory or disk space"
I have 40gb of available disk space.
No change (cant paste)after closing all but word. opened notebook and pasted
first try.
I have had similar happen a few times in last few weeks.
Just yesterday I ran virus scans and spyware checks and was clean then did a
disk cleanup.
Click to expand...
Try the following link
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/InsufficientMemory.htm
HTH
MH
 
Actually I STILL want to know why I show so much memory unavailable to me.
If I only had 256 or 512 instead of 1gb I would be out of mem.
"According to Task manager I have:
Click to expand...
I have the exact same setup.

Programs use memory by percentage. And some will use every ounce of memory you
have [BOINC] if you don't put a control on it.

With Boinc, I just gave it, it's own processor #1. it's always at 100% usage.
See if you don't have a memory hog there. The 1st processor #0 is at 5-99%
usage, hovers around 50%.
But since you said it worked with one program and not word, I still say look
into a word News group for this solution..
 
I'd like to know too... and the Word group probably won't be able to
answer that question. I read it and that's not what they talk about.

Did this happen even after you rebooted?

You have at least twice as much "power" as I have (and mine computer
is new), but I've never had that problem with any computer unless it
was "really" out of memory.

:)
Click to expand...
Yes it happens "the amount of mem reported in use" even after reboot. I
cannot say about word effect but that's not me concern at present.
SG
 
Shakey,
You show lots more memory than the pc I am using at present. That is to
your favor.
When you looked at Task manager, on the Performance Tab, how was your Page
File usage ?
The other key is how much FREE HD disk space is available.

On the Pagefile (which is where the system makes use of disk drive
temporarily, to store programs & data when you run several applications at
same time / and when programs need more memory than what pc has physically)
:
Review the Size of that file.
Pagefile.sys is a system/ hidden file on the boot drive. Look at your C
drive, C:\ .
You likely have to set Windows Explorer View folder options --- set to show
you all folders; all system folders; & hidden files.
Bring up Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder Options/ select VIEW Tab and
look at all of settings listed.

"CHECK" (turn on) Display the contents of system folders.

Under column, Hidden files and folders----choose ( *select* ) Show hidden
files and folders.
Next, un-check Hide extensions for known file types.
Next un-check Hide protected operating system files.

Then, this is a bit of Computer Major 200 level, but not necesarily too
difficult if tweaked carefully --- adjust the virtual memory setting for
Windows. Follow Alex Nichol's sage advice. With his paragraph starting
"How big a file will turn out to be needed depends ..."
See Virtual memory in Windows XP, by Alex Nichol, MS-MVP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Your running of Disk Cleanup is to be commended. You also should clean out
all files starting with tilde "~".
Also .tmp files

Beyond that, it is likely you may have older applications that are 'leaking'
memory because they don't release memory when finished.

I'd also advise running a Disk Defrag on a regular schedule (say once a
month). Just be sure your antivirus is not on & close your apps before
starting Disk Defrag. When it finishes, logout and restart Windows.

One last tip: Make sure your Word ( & Office ) apps are up-to-date with
patches.
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com

--
Maurice N
MVP Windows - Shell / User

Alex we miss you dearly !
-----


"shakey" wrote
According to Task manager I have:
physical memory total 1046620
available memory 539592
cache 695820

This is while I am trying to paste two paragraphs into word which is
telling
me "there is insufficient memory or disk space"
I have 40gb of available disk space.
No change (cant paste)after closing all but word. opened notebook and
pasted
first try.
I have had similar happen a few times in last few weeks.
Just yesterday I ran virus scans and spyware checks and was clean then did
a
disk cleanup.
Click to expand...
I will review this further to see significance of results: After a cold
start today I am showing:
1046620 total mem
available 55112 available
cache 704880
P330 mb pagefile usage
about 1.5 GB pagefile size
about 40gb+ harddisk space open
cpu usage very low
Thanks for your good input.
SG
 
Ron Martell said:
As for your memory usage the basic fact is that Windows XP will, by
design, always attempt to find some use, anything whatever that might
potentially be of some benefit for every bit of the installed RAM,
rather that letting the RAM just sit there idly going to rot and doing
no good for anything or anybody.

And just as soon as some better use comes along for some of that RAM
then Windows will instantaneously drop the more trivial usages so as
to free up whatever is now required.

The basic principle is that "free RAM is useless RAM".

Hope this explains the situation.

Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks Ron That "free RAM is useless RAM" might just be what I am seeing.
Maybe I am expecting to see more Available RAM than that allows.
Sure wish someone with a gb of mem would post their Task Manager memory
numbers.
SG
 
Thanks Ron That "free RAM is useless RAM" might just be what I am seeing.
Maybe I am expecting to see more Available RAM than that allows.
Sure wish someone with a gb of mem would post their Task Manager memory
numbers.
SG
Click to expand...

I already did, and showed you that what you're seeing is perfectly normal.
If word is choking on you and nothing else is, NOTHING else. Then it's possibly
a misconfiguration of word.
I have almost the same setup and Office 2000. I've never had that problem. See
if everything is up to date with windows update on your ie tools pull down
 
I've seen this error before (in Word XP). It was due to some corrupted files
that Word used. As I remember, I fixed the error by removing and then
reinstalling Word. (dunno if you've got a repair option for Word - if so,
I'd try that first)
 
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