PC Crashed again with alarming message

Sebby · Jun 28, 2008, 17:07:01

I wouldn't even consider doing it on Vista, but it's more than enough for me on XP. I don't do anything RAM-intensive.

Right now, I'm using just 800MB of my 2GB RAM, and that's pretty typical. I just don't need a pagefile slowing me down.

Steve · Jun 28, 2008, 17:14:48

Presumably if you had an issue you would get an out of memory error?

Sebby · Jun 28, 2008, 17:54:37

I've no idea what happens if/when Windows runs out of physical memory. If Windows uses up physical memory and virtual memory, I know it says that virtual memory is low and it effectively increases the size of the pagefile. But without one, I don't know. Perhaps it would just crash!

Glenn · Jun 28, 2008, 18:05:31

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555223

Rik · Jun 28, 2008, 18:12:13

Useful link, Glenn.

Glenn · Jun 28, 2008, 18:24:58

Thanks Rik, I just thought it would be easier to post the link than trying to explain how it works.

Rik · Jun 28, 2008, 18:26:17

Why re-invent the wheel?

David · Jun 28, 2008, 20:10:02

Now I have the second machines side off and see its got a Prescott 800 motherboard fine,and the memory stick I cant find on Crucial DDR333Mhz Cl2.5 hynix so I look on DDR3 cant find the ones which tally with these ones here

(you have to smile don't ya

Glenn · Jun 28, 2008, 20:16:31

David, it is more than likely DDR 333Mhz Cl2.5 hynix

Steve · Jun 28, 2008, 20:18:25

Late on this thread so missed the previous crucial problems but thought the prescott was an intel processor and ddr3 a relatively new form of ram

David · Jun 28, 2008, 20:20:22

Thats the one Glenn Im after upgrading this other machine,at the moment it has only 512 mb 2x 256 sticks and Im hoping to go to 2 Gb 2x 1 GB having problem locating on crucial have not tried the hynix

David · Jun 28, 2008, 20:21:45

Quote from: stevethegas on Jun 28, 2008, 20:18:25
Late on this thread so missed the previous crucial problems but thought the prescott was an intel processor and ddr3 a relatively new form of ram

Its ok Steve Im on the other machine now.so you are up to date

Glenn · Jun 28, 2008, 20:24:09

What make and model is the motherboard, as it may not be able to access 2gb

David · Jun 28, 2008, 20:25:59

It has the name Prescott 800 if this helps Glenn

David · Jun 28, 2008, 20:28:16

P4i 65G if this helps Glenn Im guessing this stands for pentium 4 ?

Glenn · Jun 28, 2008, 20:34:23

Prescott is the processor socket running at 800Mhz bus speed. Any DDR 333Mhz memory should be OK fine, but it can be hard to find now.

Does the board look like this?

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P4I65G

David · Jun 28, 2008, 20:51:49

Hope this works

Looks very much like it Glenn not sure

[attachment deleted by admin]

David · Jun 28, 2008, 21:08:00

This is defiantly the correct board Glenn,only just realized to enlarge the photo and its spot on thanks I had better start looking

David · Jun 28, 2008, 21:48:16

I think I have found a company and Emailed them they do have the exact specs on memory sticks so hope they confirm...found some on Ebay as well....so should be ok..........but hey its me

Glenn · Jun 28, 2008, 21:55:47

Good luck, I'm sure it will be fine, you are after all becoming familiar with fitting PC memory now.

David · Jun 28, 2008, 21:57:39

cheers Glenn

Thats like stating Gordon Brown is good with figures

Dangerjunkie · Jun 29, 2008, 18:13:13

Hi,

Brian: Well done

You'll find these things aren't too difficult if you get some good advice. I bet you're enjoying having 1GB.

Have you tried GIMP? I prefer it over CS (we have CS at work and I hate it with a loathing, how can it make stuff so difficult?) GIMP also has several raw plugins that enable it to work on raw camera files. It works fine with the CR2 files from my Canon EOS 350D. If you are at a level where you're comfortable with PhotoShop then it shouldn't be too much of a problem to you. GIMP can save your old PSD files and is a freebie so if you don't like it then you can just uninstall it and it hasn't cost you anything other than the time trying it out.

http://www.gimp.org/ (homepage)
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/ (Windows installer download)

David et al.: Windows swap handling is IMHO broken by design. I have a machine with 4GB RAM and the pagefile still has stuff in it (sometimes more than a gig) when I've only been doing noddy stuff and my RAM usage hasn't gone over a gig since the reboot. There should (by rights) not be anything in the pagefile (as the MS article says) in this case. The worst thing is that the Windows kernel seems to be one of the things that gets swapped for no reason (another thing that IMHO no decent swap mechanism should ever do unless all the RAM is gone and everything is dire, and the other reason I consider it broken.)

If you've got a decent amount of RAM there is a registry hack that prevents XP from swapping the kernel: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management and change or create a value "DisablePagingExecutive" as a DWORD with a value of 1. Exit the registry editor and reboot. You should see the difference.

WARNING: This is an XP hack. I don't know what (good or bad) it might do to Vista. It should NEVER be applied to a machine with less than 512MB RAM (I probably wouldn't do it with less than a gig.) If you're not confident to use the registry editor then please seek help as you can break things!

Cheers,
Paul.

Sebby · Jun 29, 2008, 20:00:21

Quote from: Dangerjunkie on Jun 29, 2008, 18:13:13
David et al.: Windows swap handling is IMHO broken by design. I have a machine with 4GB RAM and the pagefile still has stuff in it (sometimes more than a gig) when I've only been doing noddy stuff and my RAM usage hasn't gone over a gig since the reboot. There should (by rights) not be anything in the pagefile (as the MS article says) in this case. The worst thing is that the Windows kernel seems to be one of the things that gets swapped for no reason (another thing that IMHO no decent swap mechanism should ever do unless all the RAM is gone and everything is dire, and the other reason I consider it broken.)

If you've got a decent amount of RAM there is a registry hack that prevents XP from swapping the kernel: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management and change or create a value "DisablePagingExecutive" as a DWORD with a value of 1. Exit the registry editor and reboot. You should see the difference.

WARNING: This is an XP hack. I don't know what (good or bad) it might do to Vista. It should NEVER be applied to a machine with less than 512MB RAM (I probably wouldn't do it with less than a gig.) If you're not confident to use the registry editor then please seek help as you can break things!

I came across this one a little while back, Paul, but I found it still uses the pagefile unnecessarily (or certainly unnecessarily in my eyes).

As you say, Windows swap handling is broken, and it's for that reason I don't use a pagefile.

BrianM · Jun 29, 2008, 22:49:07

Hi! John, Upgrading the ram to 1GB has made a noticeable difference as you will know, think i'll upgrade to 2GB now, memory's fairly cheap now as well. I've been using Photo Shop 5 and 7 for a few years years now also the latest Elements and have grown so used to it, not tried CS though so i can't comment. Tried one or two other prog's but always go back to PS.
Have glossed over reviews about but not considered GIMP but looking at your links it seems i could get my head round it easy enough so i might give it a try, as you say i've nothing to loose John so thanks for the links and comments.
Brian