Did you ever mess around with your virtual memory/swap file settings?

What does Task Manager say is taking up the most memory when you run into this problem?

Fragmentation is most certainly the issue. Some (badly written) applications want to grab a large _contiguous_ block of memory: this makes it easy for programmer ot address said memory. However if this chunk of memory is big in relation to actual memory free, then it is entirely possible there is no single contiguous free block of RAM in those few blocks that are present! So, in effect having X MB of free RAM does not mean it can all be used if large contiguous blocks are required by applications.

Vista is supposed to deal with this problem better, but it might be best to stay away from it. My advice is to add more RAM - it is very cheap, especially if you buy 1 GB sticks. I remember time when 1 MB (not GB) cost $40 :)

[edited by: Lord_Majestic at 11:11 am (utc) on June 20, 2007]

OK, for the record, this system has Win XP Pro.

The task manager, at the moment, is showing the top feeders as:
ixeplore.exe 45,240K
svchost.exe 36,688K
Skype.exe 12,112
all others starting to get smaller chunks.

I have never touched the virtual memory settings on this machine and it's currently using Windows to set the performance.
Currently showing a paging size of 1524Mb
Memory usage set to Programs (option is System Cache)
Processor Scheduling set to Programs (option is background services).

>grab a large _contiguous_ block of memory

Could be IE?

No, IE won't use big memory chunks - the issue is with the application that you are trying to start. What's the app? Maybe it was designed for lower versions of OS and should be run in compatibility mode, though this really should not affect memory allocations.

I have tried to open another window in IE abnd it fails. I close a window, or two, and it works.

The same thing happens if I try to run another program, such as the email client, Dreamweaver is particularly sensitive, and the same used to happen with golive. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

If opening a new window in IE fails due to lack of memory and you got 1.3 GB free, then it sounds like your comp has got some fault in OS, something may have corrupted.

It may well be that the best (and probably the only one) option is to reinstall OS :(

It may well be that the best (and probably the only one) option is to reinstall OS :(

Try resetting the system to a previous restore point first.

Does the programs work in safemode?

Do you have a virtual desktop running?

I have seen some of them cause this exact behavior. Even the Nvidea one I have seen do it.

Thanks for the ideas.

>System restore
Going to have to think carefully about that one.

>previous restore point
Sounds easier (see above)

Virtual desktop
No, not running that at all.

>safemode?
Will need to do that when work's done.

FYI
The processor is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 / 1.86 GHz Cache Per Processor 2 MB

Could it be related to graphics/video memory? It has Video Memory Dynamic Video Memory Technology 4.0

You can clearly see amount of memory consumed at any time by noting it from task manager as you did earlier

The clear indication for IE is that you are using so many toolbars or add ons for IE which is loading up the memory share of IE

Just check it for all the applications and may be if you want to test you may first diable all the startup options and then allow only required programs to load up

I also have 2GB ram and its usage is around 450-1000 mb depending upon what am doing. and if if work on some 3d software it loads up to brim

Maybe it's some third party junk app that installed itself into IE and it causes issues, try disabling all 3rd party apps in IE options and restart PC to be sure.

It may not be running out of memory - it may be running out of gdi objects (rare under NT etc, but not unknown) or some other resource. Some time ago, there was a fault in IE that did exactly this and reported that it was running out of virtual memory (IE 5.something I think).

You need to use Task Manager to view other items, there's more to this than memory.

Kaled.

> System reinstall
That might be a bit much at this stage. A Repair Install would refresh Windows system files and leave your programs and data intact. I'd look into that before a full fledged reinstall.

Windows maintenance routines
Run your standard battery of Windows maintenance routines lately? Defrag your disks often? Run Scandisk on your drives lately?

Grab a copy of PageDefrag [microsoft.com] and defragment your paging files and Registry hives while you're at it.

It helps if you close applications in order (e.g. close from rightmost application first).

Also, look at Task Manager, go to View, Select Columns. Turn on Peak Mem Usage and Vm Size. Any big discrepancies from Mem Usage are good candidates for WORKSET.EXE - [barnyard.syr.edu...]

Whooooah!

Peak Mem Usage throws a whole new light on things. I just removed a program or two that were used occasionally and loaded when booting. They are no longer loading and will be loaded and unloaded as and when.

I shall be hammering the system over the next few days and will let you know the outcome.

Thanks everyone, and sun818 for that tip.

Update
Since removing a program from the startup, the system now seems to have so much more memory available. I pushed it hard to see how far it will go and it seems that it'll go a long long way.

So, thanks sun818 for the top tip of checking Peak Mem Usage, very enlightening.