Lockups with high-memory programs

[Wyooter]

Hi All,
I'm unsure what catagory this fits under since I'm unsure what exactly is the problem. When I run programs that require lots of RAM on my computer(usually games although occasionally other programs) they run fine at first and then at a random interval with no warning they lock up and the system stops responding. I have 128 MB of RAM which is about 4 years old. It doesn't seem to be a card or driver issue.

[BigBlue66]

Hi,

Do you have a video card with onboard hardware acceleration? Does it have its own processor?

Another thing you should probably do is disable everything running in the background, such as Task Manager, virus scanner, etc.. To do this, do a warm boot, (Ctrl,Alt,Del) ONCE. Highlight everything listed there EXCEPT Systray and Explorer and choose End Task. Try this before you start up a game and see if it helps.

128mb of RAM should be enough, but if you're using up a lot of it by background programs, closing them down first should help.

Cheers,

Big Blue 66


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Woe is me.

[sea69]

in addition to the very correct post above by BB http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif, I would point out that if you have had this same OS for 4 years.. and never have reformatted there will be ALLOT of things that need cleaning up on your hard drive.

I don't know anything about the original posters system except that it is Win98 and at least four years old but felt it could be helpfull to point this out.

Over time, through installing uninstalled.. deletions.. and normal false registry entries leftover from these things your computer has to do allot more work just to do normal everydayroutines (due to these registry entries leftover, duplicate files, and redundant files.)

I would recommend Easy Cleaner™ it is FREE and does a very good/safe job of this. This can give NOTICABLE improvement after running it.

you would be surprised how many things are still around on your drive that are no longer needed and actually slow you down.

it can be downloaded here (http://www.bootdisk.com/) , scroll down .. it's there.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)


;)~

[BigBlue66]

Excellent point, Sea.

I guess I should not assume that everyone uses Norton to clean up once in awhile. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Now, where did that person go?

Cheers,

BB 66


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Woe is me.

[Randy_tx]

I dont know where HE went; however, I feel indebted to Sea for the post.....good cleaner....I just downloaded it http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Will XP save Me ?

[sea69]

absolutely Randy!!

it is the best one I have ever tried.. it actually works- instead of messing things up!

don't know about you, but I have been doing LOTS of things with this machine over the past year and I had a noticable increase in apps after running it. (not to metion the added space saved.)

and FREE........ sometimes the best things are.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)




[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 07-11-2001).]