System Resources Low???

My dad just bought a new processor, motherboard, and some extra ram for our computer for Christmas. He installed everything and at first, it worked great. Our games were faster and smoother and everything was fine. But about a day later, things started to go wrong. I first noticed something while I was playing my game, Everquest. The computer just started making clicking noises whenever I hit the keys. When I shut the game down and tried to do something, a window popped up and said that system resources were dangerously low. Though, when one checks the memory, only about 70% is being used.

Now, all games we run are choppy, as in start and stop movements. It's not smooth at all. If I'm playing a game, after a while, the computer starts making clicking noises. Then, a while after that, everything freezes. If my dad is browsing the net, he eventually gets a system resources are low message and has to restart. After the computer is restarted, it's fine again for a while. I'm not very good with the inner workings of the computer, so I can only report the suspicions of my dad and friends. My dad thinks that either the motherboard or the ram is bad. He suspects the motherboard. My friend thinks that the hard drive needs to be reformatted, as we didn't reformat it when we added the new parts.

Also, I tried to download one of those cpu monitoring programs. I couldn't find one that would tell me what programs were using up the memory, but the one I did download showed how much of the cpu, physical memory, and virtual memory was being used. The CPU was at 100% and the virtual memory at 0%. But the physical memory started at about 70% when I started the computer and slowly kept rising after I'd been on for a little while.

Oh, and we have an Intel-Celeron 1 GHz processor, a NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 video card, 128 MB of ram (though the same problems occurred when it had 512 MB), a 22.5 GB hard drive, and running Windows 98.

Both I and my dad are quite stumped. Is there anyone who can help?

 

Zerana
Welcome to TSG!
We should not exclude a hardware problem but the best place to start is looking at what you have running in background while you are running normal activities.

Go Here and download the Startuplist
After download unpack and run the program. Paste the results back here so we can have a look and advise from there.

Dave

 

Alright, I have little to no idea what it all means, but here are the results...


StartupList report, 2/2/03, 7:55:56 AM
StartupList version: 1.51
Started from : C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\STARTUPLIST.EXE
Detected: Windows 98 Gold (Win9x 4.10.1998)
Detected: Internet Explorer v6.00 (6.00.2600.0000)
* Using default options
==================================================

Running processes:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\TOUCH MANAGER\TOUCHMGR.EXE
C:\MOUSE\SYSTEM\EM_EXEC.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\REAL\UPDATE_OB\EVNTSVC.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\EFFICIENT NETWORKS\ENTERNET 300\APP\ENTERNET.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\TOUCH MANAGER\MEDIACTR.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS MEDIA COMPONENTS\ENCODER\WMENCAGT.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\NETROPA\ONSCRE~1\OSD.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PSTORES.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\STARTUPLIST.EXE

--------------------------------------------------

Listing of startup folders:

Shell folders Startup:
[C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp]
Encoder Agent.lnk = C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\WMENCAGT.EXE

--------------------------------------------------

Autorun entries from Registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

SystemTray = SysTray.Exe
ScanRegistry = c:\windows\scanregw.exe /autorun
Touch Manager = C:\Program Files\Netropa\Touch Manager\TouchMgr.exe
CriticalUpdate = c:\windows\SYSTEM\wucrtupd.exe -startup
EM_EXEC = C:\MOUSE\SYSTEM\EM_EXEC.EXE
LoadQM = loadqm.exe
mdac_runonce = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\runonce.exe
TkBellExe = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\evntsvc.exe -osboot
$EnterNet = C:\PROGRAM FILES\EFFICIENT NETWORKS\ENTERNET 300\APP\EnterNet.exe -AutoStart
QuickTime Task = "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime
AtiCwd32 = Aticwd32.exe
AtiQiPcl = AtiQiPcl.exe
AtiPTA = Atiptaxx.exe
CTRegRun = C:\WINDOWS\CTRegRun.EXE
BlstApp = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\BLSTAPP.EXE

--------------------------------------------------

Autorun entries from Registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices

BCDetect = c:\windows\SYSTEM\BCDetect.exe defer

--------------------------------------------------

Autorun entries from Registry:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Mirabilis ICQ = C:\Program Files\ICQ\NDetect.exe
Yahoo! Pager = C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\ypager.exe -quiet

--------------------------------------------------

C:\WINDOWS\WININIT.BAK listing:
(Created 2/2/2003, 4:10:36)

[rename]
NUL=c:\windows\TEMP\GLB1A2B.EXE

--------------------------------------------------

C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT listing:

C:\essolo.com

--------------------------------------------------


Enumerating Browser Helper Objects:

(no name) - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\EZSEARCH.DLL - {760A9DDE-1433-4A7C-8189-D6735BB5D3DD}
(no name) - C:\WINDOWS\TPS108.DLL - {0000026A-8230-4DD4-BE4F-6889D1E74167}
(no name) - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\BHO2.DLL - {53E10C2C-43B2-4657-BA29-AAE179E7D35C}
CSBHO - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMET\BIN\CSBHO.DLL - {D14D6793-9B65-11D3-80B6-00500487BDBA}

--------------------------------------------------

Enumerating Task Scheduler jobs:

Windows Critical Update Notification.job

--------------------------------------------------

Enumerating Download Program Files:

[{A45F39DC-3608-4237-8F0E-139F1BC49464}]
CODEBASE = http://www.thebestplugin.com/diallerfiles/014583.exe

[{11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111}]
CODEBASE = http://207.246.124.151/cabs/ROOSTER3001/TPS108.cab

[{018B7EC3-EECA-11D3-8E71-0000E82C6C0D}]
CODEBASE = http://www.fastmetasearch.com/free_sex_viewer.exe

[YahooYMailTo Class]
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\DOWNLOADED PROGRAM FILES\YMMAPI.DLL
CODEBASE = http://download.yahoo.com/dl/installs/ymail/ymmapi.dll

[{A1DC3241-B122-195F-B21A-000000000000}]
CODEBASE = http://pluginaccess.com/Browser_Plugin.cab

[Update Class]
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IUCTL.DLL
CODEBASE = http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/CAB/x86/ansi/iuctl.CAB?37595.3702546296

[QuickTime Object]
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTPLUGIN.OCX
CODEBASE = http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab

[PdpPlg Class]
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\DOWNLO~1\PDPPLU~1.DLL
CODEBASE = http://webpdp.gator.com/v3/download/pdpplugin_4094_hd3ptdm.cab

[BHO.clsUrlSearch]
InProcServer32 = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\BHO2.DLL
CODEBASE = http://207.44.176.11/auth/IE_InstllC.exe

--------------------------------------------------
End of report, 5,271 bytes
Report generated in 0.321 seconds

 

Zerana
You startups are suprisingly clean but there are a couple of nasty BHO's (Browser Helper Objects) we should get rid of. Doing so will exclude software startups from the equation all together.

Go to the link provided for startuplist and you will find a program call Spybot there. Download the program and double click the .exe to setup. Once setup click the online tab and check for updates. Place checkmarks in all boxes of updates and click install updates. After updates are installed click setting tab and then file sets. Remove checkmark from System internals and Tracks if present. Now click the Spybot S&D tab and click the "Check for Problems tab". After spybot run it will display items of concern. Make sure there are checkmarks in all items that are displayed in red then click Fix problems tab.

After Spybot completes restart you system and chack the resource level once reaching desktop via control panel\System and let us know what it is. Then rerun the startup list and post it back here.

Dave

 

I've been trying to do that, but I don't think it's going to work. I started the search at normal speed, and it froze in the middle of it and I had to restart. I then found the setting for the speed and changed it to the fastest. But now it almost finishes and then....it seems...erases the results and starts over, then freezes. I've been trying to do it a little at a time, stopping the search and fixing what it had found so far, then starting again, but after a certain point, it won't let me click on anything, so I can't stop the search.

 

Zerana
We need a look at your system settings and will also do a bit of housecleaning afterword.

Lets look at settings first.
Go to Start\Control Panel\System\Performance and jot down the Memory size shown, and Resources free.

Now go to the Virtual Memory tab. Jot down the way your system is set.
Is it let windows manage or let me specify?
What are Mins and Maxs listed.

Report back your findings.

Dave

 

Alright. The performance tab shows that there are 128.0 MB of RAM and 63% of resources are free.

It is set to let windows manage the virtual memory. The minimum is 0 and maximum is none.

 

Zerana
OK lets do a bit of housecleaning then.

Go to Start\find and type in *.tmp then hit enter. Any files found with .tmp extensions go ahead and delete.

Now close find and right click the start button and click Explore. Navigate to C:\Windows\Temp and open that folder.
With the temp folder there may be many subfolders which will have to be looked at also.

You need to delete all files there that are older than todays date. There may be many so take your time.

Close Windows Explorer after temp deletions.

Now go to Internet Explorer, Internet options and on the general tab select delete files in the Temp internet section. Click all offline content when it appears.

Close internet Explorer.

Now restart system and try running spybot again.

Also would like to know how much free space is on your drive. Go to Start\run and type in msinfo32 then enter. Once to msinfo screen click the plus sign in front of Components then the plus sign in front of storage. Now highlight drives. Record what free space is listed for drives.

Dave

 

Alright. I did as you said and Spybot worked! Fixed all the problems and with everything I did, there is now 73% of resources free.

And I tried to see about the drive space, but the instructions didn't quite fit. There was a plus beside Components, but nothing beside the Storage sub-heading. I clicked on that though, and there is a window with text about controllers and floppy and cd-rom drives, I think. Is that the information you want me to give you?

Oh, and also....you said to delete the files in the sub-folders in the Temp folder, but can I delete the empty files too? I wasn't sure, so I just did exactly what you said, but....

 

Zerana
I do not have Win98 in front of me so I am unsure why Msinfo32 would appear different as you say.

As far as the Temp folders.... If they are empty then that is OK as is.

Here is a neat program that will tell you much about your system and also will let us know freespace on the drives. It is called Belarc and is free for personal use. Download it and run it. There you will find freeSpace. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

What we should do next is run a Through Scandisk and follow that up by a complete Defrag to trim up you system a bit.

Before you do so make sure all of the recycle bin is emptied.

Do the Through Scandisk and Defrag in Safemode. Restart system and keep tapping the F8 key until a selection screen appears. Arrow to safemode and hit enter. Note: the video will look unusual since you are running basic drivers in safemode.

This Through Scandisk and Defrag may take a bit of time, actually could take hours so plan this event accordingly.

After Scandisk and Defrag are done then rerun Belarc and see how much free space there is now. Also see if your Choppy cideo and clicking has gone. If not then we will have to download and run DocMemory tester to test your 128MB Ram Module.

Dave

 

I used the Belarc program, and here is the information it returned about the drives....


20.51 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
7.95 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

CD-R/RW RW7060A [CD-ROM drive]
CREATIVE CD5233E [CD-ROM drive]
Generic floppy disk drive (3.5")

Generic IDE hard disk drive (20.51 GB) -- drive 0


Now off to run Scandisk and defrag. So if you are still around, I will consult you with the results. But thank you for all the help you've given so far.

 

Zerana
I may be offline but post your results back and I will review later today.

Good Luck!

Dave

 

Kays, the Scandisk and defrag took about 9 hours total... >_<

.....but here is what Belarc says now.


20.51 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
7.95 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

CD-R/RW RW7060A [CD-ROM drive]
CREATIVE CD5233E [CD-ROM drive]
Generic floppy disk drive (3.5")

Generic IDE hard disk drive (20.51 GB) -- drive 0

Going to try playing my game in a minute. I will reply with what happens.

 

Hrm.....well, before I tried to run Everquest again, I spoke to a couple friends and was trying a couple things. The only thing I actually did though was to change the virtual memory settings to custom, with 256 minimum and 1004 maximum, following advice. The "dangerously low" message had still been popping up before then, but I did try Everquest after that and though it was slow (because of the ram, I assume), it wasn't laggy at all. So I don't know which solution actually worked, or if it was all of them, but I think it's fixed!

I'm going to get my dad to put in the rest of the ram now, so that it will work even better, but I'd like to thank you for all your help, Dave.

 

Zerana
What we did was eliminate software as the probable cause of your low memory message. Your original statement of "He installed everything and at first, it worked great. Our games were faster and smoother and everything was fine" indicated an event happened after installation which change functionality. I suspect your problem still exists and also suspect at this point it is the RAM that went down. By changing your virtual memory settings to 256 and 1004 you in essence are forcing your system to never consider going below 256. What this is doing is forcing the computer to use the swap file as its primary storage area instead of an overflow which will slow the system down due to hard drive access speed.
I was and still am a bit confused about what amount of RAM you currently have installed. In your first post you said 128MB and also it used to be 512MB. Either way when your Dad gets the new Ram have him remove the other Ram installed and just install the new Ram for a test but also roll back your changes to let windows manage your virtual memory with no maximum. When you do this test, and all is well you can conclude the Ram not part of the test is faulty.

Dave