I have 2 gigs ram on my pc, yet I can't open many programs

[Ajmukon]

Ok but even when I put my swap space at system managed size, the same thing happens. My PC acts like it only has 512MB or something but I have 2 gigs! Any ideas?

this would make a computer "choppy" and "freezing" right?

No, my PC is not continually accessing the HDD, nor is the computer acting "slow". I have a program called "FileMon" that outputs file activity, and the function is normal. Norton will use the Hard disk every 10 seconds, and a few other things get accessed by Windows but nothing where the HDD is accessed all the time, and is draining my computer.

So it doesn't appear that we have the same problems.

this contradicts your post????

i use the term "slow" as a catch-all to mean unresponsive, freezing, acting like it "Ran out of" RAM.


as for my problem- my computer also "dinged" and Froze for about 10 seconds- like i said similar effects, different cause

[vpn_user2006]

this would make a computer "choppy" and "freezing" right?


this contradicts your post????

i use the term "slow" as a catch-all to mean unresponsive, freezing, acting like it "Ran out of" RAM.


as for my problem- my computer also "dinged" and Froze for about 10 seconds- like i said similar effects, different cause

No, My computer never is "slow". When it runs out of memory, it just cannot open up the New program, and I hear the "Ding". But it's not frozen, or acting really slow.



Ok..I tried to safe mode to determine if the same thing happens.

I loaded a bunch of Programs, and began to open up Internet Explorer's tabs.

The same exact thing happened.

Therefore, I think its' not really a Memory problem, but some other resource that Windows requires that is no longer there. Maybe it's Video ram, who knows?

Maybe each Web page with many "flash" movies or images allocates some memory to the Video Buffer. And begins to run out.

This is totally speculative but the fact that it happens while in Safe Mode tells me that this is not a virus, or something is inherently wrong on my Computer. I think this is just Windows working naturally. LOL.

[vpn_user2006]

It kinda sucks that Windows cannot use every drop of Physical Ram. Even though I have 1.2 GIGS of ram, still, Windows won't open some programs because it runs out of some resource.

I tried this on my File Server PC too, a brand new PC with Windows XP. And the exact same thing happens. If you open up too many Internet Explorer Brower Tabs, evenentually it stops, but I noticed that I am able to go down to almost ZERO free videoram. except it was about 70 megs free. The File Server has about 1 gig, and starts normally with about 400 Megs free Ram. I can get that down to about 70 megs and then it stops.

So I'm not really sure why my Desktop PC cannot keep opening up IE windows even though I have 1.2 GIGS free.

[vpn_user2006]

I notice on my PC, when I get to around 18500 Handles on the Windows Task Manager, that's when it begins to stop opening new Applications.

So it may be that Windows has a Limit to the # of Handles that can be opened at one time.

Or maybe the limit is in Threads, or Processes. But it's not the RAM that's the problem here.

[Whyzman]

Did you actually run memtest86??

[vpn_user2006]

Did you actually run memtest86??

No, I haven't use that utility yet. I downloaded it but it looks like I have to boot it off a cd, or a floppy or something.

[Ajmukon]

Did you actually run memtest86??

since it is happening in Safe mode- it means that we cannot exclude any possibilities- like hardware or OS problem.

Run memtest and see if it detects anything.

Or, try running Ubuntu (above) and see if the problem persists.

this will tell us if it is a OS problem (hard to fix) or a RAM problem (easy to fix)

EDIT- Sorry about post- you posted answer before i hit "submit"
answer:
Yes- you have to put it on a CD and Boot to the CD- by making the CD "bootable"
Ubuntu is easier- just download the ISO image and if you have the .iso recorder installed, double click on the .iso and it will create a bootable disk

[jlreich]

A repair install may do the trick, but it does have some risks although it is likely things will go just fine. But I would rule out other things before going that route.

What model Celeron do you have? If you are running an old s478 Celery that may simply be your problem, pending an all clear of your HJT log by the security experts. An old Celery like that probably can't keep up with all the programs you are loading. You have a lot of programs loading at startup.

How does CPU usage look in your task manager? Is it at 50%, or even near 100% all the time?

Also if you're using Adobe reader 8 there has been a very bad bug in the updater for a long time causing the CPU to stay around 50% usage and slowing the whole system down. Look in task manager to see if adobe updater is using around 50% CPU time.

[vpn_user2006]

This is a 478 Mother board that uses a 2.8 Ghz Celeron.

My CPU level is normal, not high all the time at all. Most of the time, it is idle.

I will try the Ubuntu or the MemoryTest program, although I'm not sure what that's supposed to do?

This happened with my old 512Memory Stick. I upgraded recently my memory to 1 gig for a total of 2 Gigs to see if adding extra ram would help. Since it happened with the old 512 Memory stick, and also happens with my new 1 gig Memory stick, I don't think it should be a problem with the Hardware UNLESS it's with the other 1 Gig stick.

[Ajmukon]

with memtest, just let it run- it will tell you if an error occurs.

With Ubuntu- just run it for a while and see if you have problems opening up programs/ folders or running the simple games it comes with.

Ubuntu will tell you of a problem with any hardware component but not tell you which one, memtest only tests the memory (RAM)

[Whyzman]

Do you have a floppy drive on the rig in question? When making the floppy, should you decide to go this route, make sure to download (say to the desktop...create a folder in which to do so) and right-click to extract into the created folder. Then, click on the install icon after inserting a floppy. It will then make the bootable floppy. Most folks who have a problem with the procedure attempt to directly download, or send the downloaded file to floppy...

[timka]

I have the same problem.
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2gb of RAM.

My virtual memory is OFF at all.
And just the same unstable behaviour when RAM usage is about 1.3GB.

I wonder why MS does not do anything to fix this, it's definitely WinXP issue and not hardware related.

p.s. I tried to enable virtual memory and had the same, but usually I don't use it.

[Erik]

This is NOT a Windows problem per say. I have used computers with Windows XP Pro that have anywhere from 1GB to 4GB of RAM. I have always been able to use as much of that as I needed (the only exception being the well documented 3.5GB limit in 32bit).

If you are getting stability problems as RAM usage increases I would first do a thorough test with memtest and see what the results are. If you see any errors then that is the most likely problem.

[jlreich]

Agreed, it does sound likely you have a bad stick of ram. I have 2GB with XP and have used well over 1.3GB many times and had no problems.

Run Memtest.

[Paul Komski]

I wonder if there's a way to reduce the amount Windows can use as a System Cache

In the main system cache is only really needed by Servers so try changing the priorities maybe.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895932

[timka]

Memtest (1.7) went without errors.

Any other ideas?

[saphalline]

I notice on my PC, when I get to around 18500 Handles on the Windows Task Manager, that's when it begins to stop opening new Applications.

That would be your problem right there. Read this.

It's a common misconception that Windows itself is a memory hog and/or it "runs out of memory". And while I have seen programs with memory leaks or bloated footprints, it's the behind-the-scenes resources that usually run low. Yes, Windows can handle any program that maxes out your RAM, but keeping track of dozens of little programs with hundreds of running resource instances gets to be a big job!

When I play a game, especially a modern one like Crysis, I see a huge chunk of my RAM gobbled up. Just gone. 2GB of RAM, and Crysis gets let loose and BAM! There's goes 1.6GB! But that's easy for WinXP to handle because it's all under one program. The number of threads and handles is kept very low (relative to the amount of RAM used). On the other hand, opening lots of little things means keeping track of lots of little things!

Think about it this way: What if you had to haul 2000 marbles in your car? How would you do it? The easiest way is to put them all in one box. One box, 2000 marbles, and maybe you have to do a little lifting but it only takes one trip. Now let's say you split them into 4 boxes. 500 marbles per box. Now you've got 4 trips to load/unload them but at least they're easier to carry. What happens if you go overboard, though? What happens if you split the marbles up even further. Like say, 200 boxes each of 10 marbles? Gets a little trickier, doesn't it? I mean, it's not like you can't handle it. All the boxes would still fit in your car because they'd be proportionally smaller, and a box of 10 marbles is easy to lift, but what are you losing in efficiency and your ability to keep track of 200 boxes? Now let's say each marble is individually wrapped!! I would say, no thank you! Let's put the little boxes into a few bigger ones, eh?

The point is not that Windows can't handle using up all your RAM. The point is that you're asking Windows to keep track of hundreds of little threads, each with dozens of tiny 500-byte memory requests. And what's more, you're asking this of WinXP! Not that you shouldn't be using WinXP, but it is getting very grey around the edges... Modern hardware is pushing the limits of the poor thing. I mean, really, it's a 6-year-old OS based on a 9-year-old kernel written for a 14-year-old hardware platform/architecture and it's last Service Pack was 4 years ago! Cut it some slack, man!