WindowsXP memory error

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chuck
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Chuck

Windows XP Memory error. I am hoping someone can please help me.

I am have a problem with my Windows XP. There are three symptoms, and I don't
know if they are related.

1.. Two (only 2) of my games will not leave memory upon exit until I use
Windows Task manager to End Program. Until I do so, I cannot play anything
else or access the internet.
2.. All of my start-up programs are enabled in msconfig, but several of
them do not load or show up on my Systray (lower left corner of desktop).
The regularly missing are the USB disconnect icon and the Webshots icon and
the Video Resolution Icon. A few times, I have gotten the Blue Screen of
Death during gameplay (World of Warcraft or other games) and rebooted and
ALL icons were then there.
3) I am having trouble access Newsgroups in Outlook Express. I will get a
pop-up message with error code 502 and telling me that too many users are
trying to access newsgroup. My ISP tells me this is certainly MY system
doing this (THEY say).

I tried a diagnostic boot through msconfig. After boot, in Windows Task
Manager these process were still running and the first problem was
recreated:

Explorer.exe, svchost.exe, svchost.exe, lsass.exe, services.exe,
winlogon.exe, csrss.exe, smss.exe, taskmgr.exe, system

Here is my hardware:

Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz W/HT

Motherboard-MSI 865 PE NEO2

Two 512 mb Corsair 400mhz RAM chips Dual Ram Memory

160GB Maxtor HD SATA partitioned into 4 equal drives

80GB Maxtor HD EIDE Partitioned into 2 equal drives

Nvidia 5600 FX 256 mb AGP Video Card

Sound Blaster Live Sound Card

Network Card for shared high-speed internet connection

Internal DVD Re-Writer

Internal DVD Reader

Floppy Disk Drive

USB Media Card Reader

Software:

Windows XP Home SP2 (JAVA, Win. Media Player, practically all Microsoft
Updates)

Microsoft Office Professional '97 w/ all updates

Norton Systemworks 2004 (including Ghost and Antivirus)

Internet Explorer (Whichever version is currently the latest)

Outlook Express (NOT Outlook)

Ad aware SE Personal

Chuck
 
Open system properties,advanced,performance,virtual memory,change
button,L.click C: Then set to"let windows manage" then click set 2X Then go
to youre other hd,set the partition(s) to the same,close out,a restart should
be prompted.
 
1) An app not shutting down correctly may be a problem with that particular
app.
Check for any App updates

2) Start ups do not neccessarily appear on the task bar, some of them may be
related to services
 
Tried this and it was no help at all.

Just as a side note. I have always had lots of HD space and as such I have
always (until now) chose to use a fixed swap (page) file size. On this
system I used one 3g in size.

Still hoping for a solution to this problem.

Thanks
Chuck
 
Thanks for your input.

One of the two games is World of Warcraft which allows players to run a scan
on their game files to make sure they are current and uncorrupted. No such
problem here.

Even in Diagnostic Windows XP mode, WOW still loaded into memory and would
not exit memory after exiting the game. (Internet is not available in
diagnostic mode)

The other game "Just Aces" is a bargain basement mini game off of one of
those "251 Games" disks. Not an internet game so it shows that the problem
is not an internet connection problem. It's old and not updateable, but I
think the WOW tests demonstrate that the problem is not the game.

Still hoping for a solution to this problem.

Thanks
Chuck
 
Chuck said:
Thanks for your input.

One of the two games is World of Warcraft which allows players to run
a scan on their game files to make sure they are current and
uncorrupted. No such problem here.

Even in Diagnostic Windows XP mode, WOW still loaded into memory and
would not exit memory after exiting the game. (Internet is not
available in diagnostic mode)

The other game "Just Aces" is a bargain basement mini game off of one
of those "251 Games" disks. Not an internet game so it shows that the
problem is not an internet connection problem. It's old and not
updateable, but I think the WOW tests demonstrate that the problem is
not the game.
Click to expand...

I can't address the bargain-basement game, but make sure you have the
latest patches for WoW.

Aside from that, what changed between the time things worked and the
time they didn't? Add any software or hardware? Got the most recent
drivers for your sound card and video card? If you updated drivers and
the problems started, roll back the drivers. The Nvidia 5600 is a bit
long in the tooth and not the greatest card; perhaps it is failing.
There are a lot of troubleshooting possibilities but without knowing
what changed, it's impossible to focus them.

Malke
 
Just a bump for my post. Still hoping for an answer or three.

I went through the list of hardware in device manager and disabled each
noncritical item one at a time then rebooted after each. Obviously, I could
not do this with my video card. Tried it with network card, sound card,
printer, USB ports, Communication ports.

I also went through the same list and verified that each items had the most
current drivers. Then I tried rolling back the video card driver. After each
change I rebooted.

Then I started uninstalling unnecessary software, starting with the newest
and working my way back.

So far, nothing I have tried has made a difference.

Surely SOMEONE must have had a similar problem.

Chuck
 
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