With 512MB of RAM, still out of memory

[sethfp]

Am using Win 98SE. I had 256MB of memory, and was running out. Now have 512MB--system is still running out of memory. Running even small programs, memory is gone after a short time. Video gets slow, sound slows down, and the computer may crash.

[NooNoo]

You have what is known as a memory leak.

That is certain programs after they are closed, do not return the memory they were using to the pool, as it were... so you don't recycle the memory you use more and more.

The trick is to find out which program(s) are causing it. Word 97 is a prime suspect if you haven't install the service packs.

[FatalException0E]

How much hard drive space ya got left? Possibly you don't have enough room for the system to make an adequate swap file. Without a decent bit of swap space, it won't matter how much RAM you have.

[sethfp]

Originally posted by FatalException0E
How much hard drive space ya got left? Possibly you don't have enough room for the system to make an adequate swap file. Without a decent bit of swap space, it won't matter how much RAM you have.

I have an 18GB hard drive, 10GB is used. How do you check for a memory leak?

[Damned Angel]

First off, run a virus scan, using up to date definition files.

One way of checking for a memory leak is to reboot the system, open system properties (right click on "my computer" and select properties) and select the last tab. this will show you your free system resources. if this is below 60% after a reboot (before running any apps) then you have too much crap loading on startup (more on that later) if the system resources are above 60%, close the system properties and try launching an app. go back to system properties and see how much your system resources drop. This will tell you how much this program uses. Now close system properties again and close the app. check the system resources once more, this time it should be back to the same level as the first time you checked. If not, then that app has a memory leak.
Repeat as necessary.

Now, if your system resources are below 60% on a fresh boot, as said before, you have too much crap loading on startup.

Go to your run command and type msconfig, and run it. Click on the startup tab. This lists all the things that startup with windows. Some are necessary to load, some are not. Look for things like new.net, any file sharing services (kazaa, Morpheus, bear share) or instant messenger programs and remove the check from beside them. This will stop them from starting with windows and free up some more system resources.

Once you disable a bunch of these, click ok, and let it reboot the system. When windows starts again, you should get a window that tells you you have disabled some items from starting. Just check the box that says "don't warn me again" (or whatever is says, doing all this from memory, memory not so good)

Check your system properties again and see what the resources are at now. Repeat until you have above 60% resources at least.

My old 98 box had 92% system resources free on startup by using this method of disabling all the junk that was loading on startup.

If there is any items you are unsure of disabling, post a list of them here and we can let you know what doesn’t need to be running.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[sethfp]

Systray, Explorer, and AVG antivirus are the only ones running on startup. Are there any utilities that would check for a memory leak?

[NooNoo]

How often do you reboot the machine?

98 will run for about 5 days before it cripples itself with nothing running!!

Programs such as the yahoo webcam uploader will kill my 98 box in 2 hours.

Word 97 is notorious for not returning memory...

Its not necessarily whats running in background, the progs you open and subsequently close also play a part, what do you use on a regular basis?

[Orangeman]

Just a thought,.... but did you check to see if your first stick of RAM was still good? Try taking out the first stick to see if you still have the problem.

Good Luck,

Orangeman

[Fatal0E]

Check out this microsoft support article, it might be relevant.

q253912

[Radical Dreamer]

It may also be the case that win98 does not seem to handle large quantities of RAM very well, some may argue this point, but I have never got 98 to work with anything over 384 without giving me fits

[Kymera]

Hmmm, I dunno. I have a win98 (non-SE) machine on a Tbird 800 with 512Megs of ram that runs non-stop, without fail for weeks, and it is my gaming machine. Go figure.

[Radical Dreamer]

Originally posted by Kymera
Hmmm, I dunno. I have a win98 (non-SE) machine on a Tbird 800 with 512Megs of ram that runs non-stop, without fail for weeks, and it is my gaming machine. Go figure.

But then again, we ARE talking about computers.....they have a mind of thier own

[geeksRus]

i personally use Cacheman to tweak resource settings...its automatic and is NOT a memory resident utility. works great and includes pre-built 'profiles' for different setups. even has one for systems with 512mb of RAM or more. worth a try.

[Rubix]

It has to do with the vcache settings, windows reserves a certain amount of memory for running programs within the ui. So when you try to start a 16 bit program that should run fine while in protected mode ( normal windows operation) you get a false out of memory message.

the solution is posted at microsoft.
It has to do with the vcache setting in the system.ini file and maximum memory size in windows altogether.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q253912

[sethfp]

Originally posted by Kymera
Hmmm, I dunno. I have a win98 (non-SE) machine on a Tbird 800 with 512Megs of ram that runs non-stop, without fail for weeks, and it is my gaming machine. Go figure.

What kind of games does it run? Mine is an 800Mhz Duron. If I try running any kind of stratagey game, have to reboot at least every half an hour. Have a 32MB Nvidia TNT2 video card on it which handles action games a little better.