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memory problems


thesarge

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James M. Fisher
I have 256 ram install but I only have available 87mb. I deleted everything from the start up and only have avand video. I ran av, spybot, hijack, etc.
Welcome to the forums!From where are you getting the information that you have this '87MB' of memory left? You may be confusing physical RAM with virtual memory, which often happens.
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Where, exactly, are you reading that you have only 87MB available?
I printed out a system information report:(system summary)os name microsft windowsversssion 4.90.3000 built 3000system name MY Computersystem manufactuer not availablesystem model not availablesyetem type x86-based pcprocessor pentim® III processor genuineItel -1000MhzBIOS verisonwindows directory\harddisk0locale united statesuser nameTime zone pacific daylight timeTotal Physical memory 255.26mbavailable memory physical memory 87.19mbtotal virtual memory 2.00gbavailable virtual memory 1.75 gbpage file space 1.75 gbpage file c:\windows\win386.swpThis is a part of list of 30 plus pages.
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...Total Physical memory 255.26mbavailable memory physical memory 87.19mb...
You have 256 MB of RAM installed (minus 64 MB for your video adapter)The 87.19 MB is what's left after Windows is loaded. In other words, that's your free memory. There's nothing wrong with your system.Here's mine:Total Physical Memory 1048020 KB (1 GB)Available Physical Memory 498972 KB (500 MB)
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256mb less 64mb shared equals 192mb, not 87mb more or less. If there's nothing wrong with your system, you probably have 128mb memory with 32mb shared (equals 96, more or less). But we can't really say with the information you've given.At startup, note how much RAM BIOS detects detects and checks. You can also download Everest Home Edition (http://www.lavalys.hu/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en), run it and post here the Quick Report for MOTHERBOARD (motherboard, memory, SPD and chipset), so we can have better understanding of what's wrong.It is possible your motherboard doesn't support the memory you installed. I've seen newer, generic 256mb PC-133 SDRAMS (4 small chips on a stick) having only 128mb detected by P3 boards, notably SiS630.

Edited by b2cm
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Ok, I ran the everesthome and this is the requested results:Field ValueMotherboard Properties Motherboard ID 51-2300-000000-00101111-030199-$EA815_Motherboard Name Intel Fayetteville D815EPFV Front Side Bus Properties Bus Type Intel GTL+Bus Width 64-bitReal Clock 133 MHzEffective Clock 133 MHzBandwidth 1067 MB/s Chipset Bus Properties Bus Type Intel Hub InterfaceBus Width 8-bit Motherboard Physical Info CPU Sockets/Slots 1Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGPRAM Slots 3 DIMMIntegrated Devices AudioForm Factor Micro ATXMotherboard Size 210 mm x 240 mmMotherboard Chipset i815EP Motherboard Manufacturer Company Name Intel CorporationProduct Information http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/index.htmBIOS Download http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/genbios.htmField ValuePhysical Memory Total 255 MBUsed 221 MBFree 33 MBUtilization 87 % Swap Space Total 1792 MBUsed 202 MBFree 1590 MBUtilization 11 % Virtual Memory Total 2047 MBUsed 424 MBFree 1623 MBUtilization 21 % Physical Address Extension (PAE) Supported by Operating System NoSupported by CPU YesActive No Problems & Suggestions Suggestion Install more system memory to improve applications performance.Field ValueMemory Module Properties Module Name Infineon HYS64V16220GU-8Serial Number 260C326Fh Module Size 128 MB (2 ranks, 4 banks)Module Type UnbufferedMemory Type SDRAMMemory Speed PC100 (100 MHz)Module Width 64 bitModule Voltage LVTTLError Detection Method NoneRefresh Rate Normal (15.625 us), Self-Refresh Memory Timings @ 100 MHz 3.0-2-2-5 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)@ 100 MHz 2.0-2-2-5 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) Memory Module Features Early RAS# Precharge Not SupportedAuto-Precharge SupportedPrecharge All SupportedWrite1/Read Burst SupportedBuffered Address/Control Inputs Not SupportedRegistered Address/Control Inputs Not SupportedOn-Card PLL (Clock) Not SupportedBuffered DQMB Inputs Not SupportedRegistered DQMB Inputs Not SupportedDifferential Clock Input Not SupportedRedundant Row Address Not Supported Memory Module Manufacturer Company Name Infineon Technologies AGProduct Information http://www.infineon.com/cgi-bin/ifx/portal...home.do?tabId=1Field ValueMemory Module Properties Module Name Kingston KGM100x64C3/128Serial Number C31D1501h Manufacture Date Week 39 / 2000Module Size 128 MB (1 rank, 4 banks)Module Type UnbufferedMemory Type SDRAMMemory Speed PC100 (100 MHz)Module Width 64 bitModule Voltage LVTTLError Detection Method NoneRefresh Rate Normal (15.625 us), Self-Refresh Memory Timings @ 100 MHz 3.0-2-2-5 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) Memory Module Features Early RAS# Precharge Not SupportedAuto-Precharge SupportedPrecharge All SupportedWrite1/Read Burst SupportedBuffered Address/Control Inputs Not SupportedRegistered Address/Control Inputs Not SupportedOn-Card PLL (Clock) Not SupportedBuffered DQMB Inputs Not SupportedRegistered DQMB Inputs Not SupportedDifferential Clock Input Not SupportedRedundant Row Address Not Supported Memory Module Manufacturer Company Name Kingston Technology Company, Inc.Product Information http://www.kingston.com/products/default.aspField ValueNorth Bridge Properties North Bridge Intel Solano i815EPRevision / Stepping 02 / A2Package Type 544 Pin BGAPackage Size 3.5 cm x 3.5 cmCore Voltage 1.85 VIn-Order Queue Depth 4Tualatin CPU Not Supported Memory Timings CAS Latency (CL) 3TRAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 2TRAS Precharge (tRP) 2TRAS Active Time (tRAS) 5TRow Cycle Time (tRC) 7T Memory Slots DRAM Slot #1 128 MB (SDRAM)DRAM Slot #2 128 MB (SDRAM) Integrated Graphics Controller Graphics Controller Type Intel i752Graphics Controller Status Disabled AGP Controller AGP Version 2.00AGP Status EnabledAGP Device ATI Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 ProAGP Aperture Size 64 MBSupported AGP Speeds 1x, 2x, 4xCurrent AGP Speed 4xFast-Write Not SupportedSide Band Addressing Supported, Enabled Chipset Manufacturer Company Name Intel CorporationProduct Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htmDriver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/index.htmField ValueSouth Bridge Properties South Bridge Intel 82801BA ICH2Revision / Stepping 02 / B1Package Type 360 Pin EBGAPackage Size 2.3 cm x 2.3 cmCore Voltage 1.8 V AC'97 Audio Controller Audio Controller Type Intel 82801BA(M) ICH2Codec Name Analog Devices AD1885Codec ID 41445360hS/PDIF Output Not Supported Chipset Manufacturer Company Name Intel CorporationProduct Information http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htmDriver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/index.htmThat's the requested information.

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256mb less 64mb shared equals 192mb, not 87mb more or less. If there's nothing wrong with your system, you probably have 128mb memory with 32mb shared (equals 96, more or less). But we can't really say with the information you've given.At startup, note how much RAM BIOS detects detects and checks. You can also download Everest Home Edition (http://www.lavalys.hu/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en), run it and post here the Quick Report for MOTHERBOARD (motherboard, memory, SPD and chipset), so we can have better understanding of what's wrong.It is possible your motherboard doesn't support the memory you installed. I've seen newer, generic 256mb PC-133 SDRAMS (4 small chips on a stick) having only 128mb detected by P3 boards, notably SiS630.
Sorry, I meant less 1MB shared memory so that would make the total physical memory 255MB
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thesarge,See? You have two 128MB memory modules = 256MB minus the 1MB for the integrated video. You will notice that your available memory has dropped because of running Everest. This is a dynamic value. Windows has always reported both values. In fact, Linux and OS X also report these numbers.

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It looks like you are using W98. Go to Control Panel/System and you will see something that looks like this:system.jpgThis user has 322 Mb of RAM available. You should have 256 Mb, less whatever is allocated to your shared video. This number is what is theoretically available to the system regardless of how you much are actually using and it should not change.

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Rest assured you have 256mb memory (2 Kingston 128mb PC100 sticks). Only 255mb is reported because even though you use an AGP card, your motherboard has a built-in graphics controller to which it reserves 1mb of system memory. Usually, that is more than sufficient for a win9x/ME system. If your swap file (1.75gb) is windows-managed (not manually set to 1.75gb minimum), you are probably using applications that require a lot of memory to run.

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Can you eplain what the heck you are talking about, so a non tech person can understand, remember KISS please.
Simple. :D You said you had you had 256MB of memory installed but Windows was telling you had only 87MB available. Here's the key: installed vs. available. From what you have told us, Windows does indeed tell us you have 256MB of memory installed. It is also telling you that a bunch of programs is using some memory and that you only have 87MB of that 256MB available for running other programs. That's not a problem. That is just a statement of fact made by Windows. That value, 87MB, is dynamic. i.e., it will change depending what you have recently run in memory; it may increase or decrease. It will never be constantly at 87MB available. In fact, after you ran Everest, Windows told you that there was now only 33MB of memory available. To put it another way, Windows is indirectly telling you that it has used (256-87) 169MB of your memory. :thumbsup:
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Everyone that is reading my system as win me with 256 is correct. System display says the same thing. So lets leave that part alone. If I'm reading you correctly the only thing I need to do is increase my ram and I should not have the problems that I'm currently having. But I do have one question. Like I have corel draw on my system are you saying that if the program is not running I'm still using a big chunk of my monory? If I run the program it uses more memory and it does not give it back until I reboot my system? Is there a way to reclaim memory without rebooting? Also if I reboot and my system does not load all my programs correctly(such as my thunderbird) is that because of a memory problem?

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Many programs (most, actually) will always have some form of a memory leak, especially running off of Windows 98. So, yes, when you run a program and then close it, you will often be left with less available memory than you had before you started the program (CorelDraw certainly takes a big chunk of RAM). It is possible to get back memory and resources without rebooting using third-party programs (I used to have one, but I can't remember what it was), but rebooting is always the sure-fire way to do it.Exactly what problems are you having with programs not loading after rebooting?

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Just take one program, thunderbird the email program, when it loads correctly I can go directly to it and download my email. when I reboot It ask for my log in info and and passwords for all my email accounts as if it is opening for the first time. I don't know how many of the other programs are acting the same way because I usually stop when I notice the icons are not in there usual places. But when I reboot and it is a correct boot all the icons line up properly.

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Yes, this is definitely one of the drawbacks of the Win 9x operating system, the dreaded memory leak. Adding more installed physical memory will give you more available memory. But the other Achille's Heel of Win 9x is the 64KB heap used for storing pointers system memory for running programs. In a nutshell, this is the small 64KB section of memory that Win 9x uses to keep track of running programs and where they reside in your physical memory. Once that heap is used up you will find you end up slowing down, crashing programs or blue-screening. This is measured by the available System Resources percentage in your System Properties output. When you first launch Win 9x this may show as 95% free when you have no programs running. A typical setup with anti-virus, firewall, ant-spyware apps may drop it to 75-85%. Start using other apps throughout the day and it will steadily decrease to around 50-65%. Keep running memory hogging apps like graphics programs and see it drop into the low 40% range. Start multi-tasking and it will be driven down to 30%. Once you veer toward 25% you may as well reboot because your system is highly unstable at that point.Even if you use a third-party memory recovery tool, most don't help with reclaiming the 64KB heap. It's very difficult to get back up to even 60% if you've been running a few apps, opening and closing them multiple times. Believe me I pushed Win 9x systems to the limit on 128MB systems with Photoshop and PageMaker in my day and welcomed the arrival of XP. :thumbsup:

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Unfortunately, utilities that clear or free RAM do not solve that Win9x/ME system resource (user and GDI) leak problem Peachy mentioned.

Edited by b2cm
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Here's an article from Langa on resource leaks:http://www.winmag.com/columns/explorer/2000/11.htm

But the "System Resources" that John's letter mentioned are two very specific memory areas inside Windows: User Resources and GDI (Graphics Device Interface ) Resources. You can think of these areas as scratchpads -- actually, internal tables and pointers -- that Windows uses to keep track of running applications.The User area contains information about all the apps and windows currently running, including dialog boxes, the controls in dialog boxes, and so on. Every DLL, in fact, your apps use gets its own data area in the User section. Loosely speaking, the more things you ask your computer to do at once, the more heavily used your User area becomes.The GDI area keeps track of the things Windows uses to draw what you see on screen: there are things called pens, brushes, fonts, bitmaps, regions, and palettes, for example. Roughly speaking, the more graphical objects you have on-screen -- windows, icons, wallpapers, etc. -- the more heavily used your GDI area becomes.Both resource areas are of a fixed size regardless of how much RAM you have -- and that's the problem. If you run too many things at once or have too many graphical objects displayed at once, you can deplete the User or GDI area. When that happens, you get the error messages mentioned earlier, or weird behavior or a crash.
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Thank you all for the thoughtful response to my problem. I gained a lot of valuable information that will help me in the weeks to come. Can I install win XP on my system? I was told it works best on new systems. Also will I have to wipe clean my hard drive? If so I have some drivers on my systems I don't know where they came from. Is there a program that will recover and save all my drivers before I reformat my hard drive? Also I didn't see an answer to my problem about the rebooting and thunderbird not loading correctly.

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Thank you all for the thoughtful response to my problem. I gained a lot of valuable information that will help me in the weeks to come. Can I install win XP on my system? I was told it works best on new systems. Also will I have to wipe clean my hard drive? If so I have some drivers on my systems I don't know where they came from. Is there a program that will recover and save all my drivers before I reformat my hard drive? Also I didn't see an answer to my problem about the rebooting and thunderbird not loading correctly.
You're welcome!Yes, you can definitely install XP. A clean install that reformats the hard drive is always the best solution unless there is some reason you wish to keep the existing settings.
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On my computer, when I reboot the desktop icons are in the same place everytime and do not change locations unless something is wrong. One of the indicators that something is not working correctly is the tunderbird email program. When I open it, I'm required to enter my passwords for each email account. I then have ot reboot many time(the number changes each time) until the icons are realigned correctly and then my programs open as they should.

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For backing up your Windows 9x/ME drivers:http://www.shareup.com/WinDriversBackup-download-424.htmlThere is such a thing called "OS decay". I suggest you save all your data, wipe the drive clean, reinstall Windows ME and drivers, update system files, apply your system tweaks, install your apps, do a scandisk/defrag, and then clone the system partition (so you can "fresh" restore at any time). Some of the things you can do to lessen system resource depletion: disable system restore and active desktop; don't use fancy wallpapers, icons and cursors; use programs one at a time, avoiding those that use skins; switch to Avast for real-time antivirus protection.

Edited by b2cm
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I don't understand this program WinDriversBackup. After the program is installed the incon it opens and gives me three options, Modify, Repair, and Remove. Modify is check after I run the program its completed. and the program is closed. I don't see a list of what drivers or anything, did it copy the drivers and where are they and how do I reinstall them?By the way I don't wallpapers, I do have a couple dozen icons, no fancy cursors and for the most part only have one program open at a time. But none of this shoulc effect my startup and the system not loading the programs correctly. Am I correct?

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