Low System Resources

[Atomic666]

Hi
here is the problem. Friend has Athlon XP1600+ cpu on Asus A7A266 motherboard running 512MB DDr Ram and win98 SE

After using his system for about half an hour the other day the system locked up up and then he got a message saying "System resources extremely low" close some programs.
How can this be he was just running internet explorer and outlook and uploading a web page to the net.

Any suggestions to stop it happening again would be appreciated

 

[Dan O]

Maybe too many Startup tasks are using up all the memory or memory leaks are occurring. To check what is be loaded at Startup and when the problem occurs Run MSINFO32, click Software Environment tab, and Startup Programs and Running Tasks. To disable some of the Startup tasks Run MSCONFIG, select the Startup tab, and uncheck tasks not needed. For information about memory leaks, see: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q185/8/32.asp?FR=1

 

[dazednconfussed]

I've got the same problem with my compaq 7471. Seems like no matter what I try, nothing helps. I've heard that windows xp doesn't have this trouble. Is there any truth to that?

 

[SavvyLady]

Atomic

Have you cleaned up your cache.... some memory is lost when the temp files are overfilling the cache....

also your items in startup. How many iitems do you have running in the background even though you may not be using them ?

This uses a lot of resources. ... check by doing a Alt-Ctrl-delete.... just once... look at the list of things running,,,,,,,,,,,,,, you don't have to be using them for them to be running in the background.

Next I suggest you go to .........

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

& get ad-aware to get rid of all your spyware . Then I also suggest you go to

http://www.antivirus.com

& do the free virus scan for virus, worms & trojans.

If you continue having trouble after this is done, I'd have to say, in my opinion you may have a problem with the RAM itself.

Post back & let us know what ya find.

Hope this helps.

Savvy

 

[Dan O]

dazednconfussed,

Have you done as I suggested? Compaq is know for starting up all kinds of background tasks eating resources.

 

[dazednconfussed]

Dan O
The only things I have in the MSCONFIG startup is (are):
Scan Reg, Load power profile, System tray, WM Login (firewall),
Country selection, PTSNOOP, and CPD exe (fiewall). When I Alt-Ctrl-Del I have Explorer, firewall, System tray, and IE. If I stay on line formore than a half hour I get low resouces. I have run a spyware program, there was something like 15 of them that it found. I'm at a loss as to what to do next, besides buy something new (definitly not a compaq)

 

[slipe]

Start>Programs>Accessories>System tools and select the resource meter. It might be a good idea to copy a shortcut to it into your startup folder until you sort out the resources. If you keep an eye on it you might find out what is draining the resources. If you hover the cursor over the meter the tooltips will give you an accurate digital reading of your resources.

Make sure you get updates for all of the software you use. www.updates.com will interrogate your system and tell you what needs updating and where to go for the updates. They often fix resource leaks with software updates. There was a version of Internet Explorer that was a resource hog on my computer and one of their service packs fixed it. Don’t remember the version though.

You might try starting without some of the things in the startup to see if it helps once you get the resource meter in your startup.

PTSNOOP is a good place to start. Found this:
“PTSNOOP is a token program that waits for a program to request the COM port to be opened. Then it makes sure that the modem drivers get loaded if they are not.
PTSNOOP can be found with several different modems, such as the MICOM HSP PCTEL and EPS Technology COMM WAVE PCMCIA modems. It is not mandatory for proper operation, and the manufacturers list removal of PTSNOOP in various steps of their troubleshooting procedures.”

Firewalls can be hogs too. Be sure to update yours.

 

[Dan O]

Dazednconfussed,

That's terrible. It appears you have done your homework cleaning up started tasks. Slipe offers some good advise. Do as he suggested and let us know what you find. I also recommend you run MSINFO32 to get a complete list of tasks and .DDLs before and when the problem occurs.

 

[dazednconfussed]

I updated my firewall and tried to stop PTSNOOP from loading by unchecking it in the MSCONFIG. but, when I reboot it starts anyway. I started the resource meter, the last time I got a low resource message the meter had System 86% User 86% GDI 90% I don't know what this means exactly but did doesn't seem that low.

 

[rhettman5]

pt snoop will load everytime you reboot even if you delete from msconfig, it seems to be loaded as long as the modem is in use. I installed a external modem and disabled the onboard modem in device manager and that did it, as far as what runs in start-up in MSconfig, look here for a complete list of what's running and if you need it : http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm#D

This will give you a good idea of what to get rid of at start-up, I to have a compaq, it starts at 83% system resources free,AFTER I got rid of all the junk Compaq loads at start-up...hope this helps...Rhett

 

[slipe]

What your resource meter is telling you is that resources are not a problem. Those are high readings after using your computer a while. I only boot to 87% with my firewall active – 86% user resources after a half hour is excellent.

For starters how about installing TclockEX. It gives a lot of information you might need: http://users.iafrica.com/d/da/dalen/tclockex.htm

The bar across the top is CPU use. It should be near zero when programs are not actively performing some task. If it stays up for any length of time you usually have something running amok.

The green bar at the bottom is RAM use. This is usually meaningless as Windows tries to use the RAM for cache. With 512 Mb RAM you are not likely to use anywhere near half of your RAM for the cache and programs you are running in only a half-hour between reboots. So this bar extending across the bottom of the clock would indicate a problem.

You can set it to give a two digit readout of user resources to the left of the clock. I like that much better than the resource meter. I removed the year, seconds and the dash so the clock did not take so much space in the tray. I can usually remember what year it is and my life doesn’t run by the second.

 

[dazednconfussed]

I downloaded the TclockEX you suggested. The System Resources are 74 and the CPU is jumping around in the range of 26 to 32%. When I Alt-Ctrl-Del I have IE Explorer and Systray running. I had to shut my firewall down today. When I tried to get online this afternoon, I kept getting a page saying server cannot be found. As soon as I turned the firewall off, everything worked. I'm running McAfee's firewall, and none of the settings were changed. I think this might be some of my problem.

 

[slipe]

Did you update your firewall software? Can’t blame them if they fixed it and you didn’t help them help you. If your firewall is up to date and still having problems download the free version of ZoneAlarm: http://www.zonelabs.com/

The CPU graph should be near zero if you haven’t very recently accessed something. Running that high consistently is bad.

If you haven’t gotten the CPU use under control after updating or replacing your firewall download WinTop to see what is going on. It is part of the Win 95 Kernel Toys but it has been working for years on both my Win 98 and SE machines: http://www.dewassoc.com/support/useful/wintop.htm

 

[haon94]

I have been following this thread becuase I am having th same problems. my CPU drops to about 12, but keeps jumping to 100% when ever I open anything. Now its at 30-32% while I am typing this.

I have a Compaq 667, 512 MB RAM.

Should the CPU usage shoot up to 100% every time I open IE? The RAM stays right in the middle.

How can I correct this?

Thanks

 

[haon94]

Well, I noticed that dazednconfussed is running McAfee and so am I. I shut it down and "no more problems!"

I like the way my computer is running, but I have to have virus protection. Any suggestions?