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Solved: Virtual Memory ?

2272 Views 29 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  DaveBurnett, 
Robert the Bruce
Can anyone tell me what this means, why it appears every now and then and is there anything I can do about it ?
See screenshot.

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flavallee
It usually means that the computer doesn't have enough RAM, so "virtual memory" is being used from the hard drive.

Since you didn't submit any information about that computer, please do the following:

Download and save the TSG System Information Utility (SysInfo.exe) to the desktop.

After it's been downloaded and saved, double-click it to run it.

Information about your computer will appear.

Return here to your thread, then copy-and-paste the ENTIRE text here.

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D
You also get it if there is not enough free space on the disk to create a proper swap file.

Even if you have a lot of memory, Windows, by default, likes to create a swap file.
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Robert the Bruce
DaveBurnett said:
You also get it if there is not enough free space on the disk to create a proper swap file.

Even if you have a lot of memory, Windows, by default, likes to create a swap file.
Click to expand...
I have never heard of a swap file and so do not know what that is.
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Robert the Bruce
flavallee said:
It usually means that the computer doesn't have enough RAM, so "virtual memory" is being used from the hard drive.

Since you didn't submit any information about that computer, please do the following:

Download and save the TSG System Information Utility (SysInfo.exe) to the desktop.

After it's been downloaded and saved, double-click it to run it.

Information about your computer will appear.

Return here to your thread, then copy-and-paste the ENTIRE text here.
------------------------------------------------------------
Click to expand...
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 250 Processor, x86 Family 16 Model 6 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 2047 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT, 128 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 76308 MB, Free - 55910 MB; E: Total - 476939 MB, Free - 73005 MB;
Motherboard: ECS, GeForce6100PM-M2
Antivirus: COMODO Antivirus, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

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Swap file is Virtual Memory by a different name.
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Cookiegal
Robert the Bruce,

I've edited your post as you enclosed the TSG System Info Utility report inside the quote tags, making it look like flavallee posted it. The screenshot isn't necessary since you copied and pasted the report.
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Robert the Bruce
Cookiegal said:
Robert the Bruce,

I've edited your post as you enclosed the TSG System Info Utility report inside the quote tags, making it look like flavallee posted it. The screenshot isn't necessary since you copied and pasted the report.
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OK, so what now ?
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D
Can you do this please and post the result?

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001292.htm
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Spandexer
Hi Robert,

FYI - Virtual Memory is created by Windows to help supplement your computer's RAM (Random Access Memory) by using some of your disc (hard drive) space. The part of your hard drive that is used for Virtual Memory is called the Page File. It's also known as a Swap File partly because the file extension is .SWP (and partly because the pc is swapping back and forth between RAM and Virtual Memory). At least as far as I know.
I'm assuming you're getting that message because the Page File Windows has allocated isn't big enough to cover everything that your pc is doing.
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Cookiegal
Robert the Bruce said:
OK, so what now ?
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Nothing now. I'm just advising you why I edited your post.
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D
Still do as I asked though!!!
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Robert the Bruce
DaveBurnett said:
Still do as I asked though!!!
Click to expand...
OK please see screenshot. The 640MB setting was changed by myself (from a much higher number although I can't remember what it was) several hours ago after reading some information (similar to your link) in Windows Answers but the original problem still exists as I had another appearance of the Virtual Memory Too Low window just minutes ago.

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Well I have the same amount of memory as you and mine is set at 2048Mb - which is actually lower than recommended.
Try changing it to that (or even 4096) and see if that helps. You can split that across disks, especially if you you have several drives.
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Robert the Bruce
DaveBurnett said:
Well I have the same amount of memory as you and mine is set at 2048Mb - which is actually lower than recommended.
Try changing it to that (or even 4096) and see if that helps. You can split that across disks, especially if you you have several drives.
Click to expand...
OK, I'll try that although I'm not sure what you mean by '
You can split that across disks, especially if you you have several drives'
Windows Answers advised that I set it to 640MB which would (it says) stop the Hard Drive being used as RAM.
Also what do set Initial Size at and what do I set Maximum Size at ? You've only given me one number.
And do I do anything about 'System Managed Size' and 'No Paging File' options ? Checked or Unchecked (as they are now) ? Please be specific.
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D
If you have more than one hard drive it should give you the option of which drive to use. You can split the file if you want to across more than one drive which makes it faster when heavily used. I use my fastest drive that isn't used heavily for data.
System Managed Size lets the system handle it, which you don't want to do just now.
No paging file turns it off altogether which I don't recommend, but should be fine for systems with lots of memory and standard use.
Setting the minimum and the maximum to the same size makes the swap file fixed, which makes it slightly faster and helps prevent disk fragmentation over time.
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Robert the Bruce
DaveBurnett said:
If you have more than one hard drive it should give you the option of which drive to use. You can split the file if you want to across more than one drive which makes it faster when heavily used. I use my fastest drive that isn't used heavily for data.
System Managed Size lets the system handle it, which you don't want to do just now.
No paging file turns it off altogether which I don't recommend, but should be fine for systems with lots of memory and standard use.
Setting the minimum and the maximum to the same size makes the swap file fixed, which makes it slightly faster and helps prevent disk fragmentation over time.
Click to expand...
OK, I think I get some of that.
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flavallee
Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 250 Processor, x86 Family 16 Model 6 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 2047 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT, 128 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 76308 MB, Free - 55910 MB; E: Total - 476939 MB, Free - 73005 MB;
Motherboard: ECS, GeForce6100PM-M2
Antivirus: COMODO Antivirus, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled
Click to expand...
According to your log, your computer appears to have the following:
2 GB(2048 MB) of RAM
Internal 80 GB hard drive ( C: )
External 500 GB hard drive ( E: )

Is that correct?

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Its ECS motherboard supports up to 4 GB(4096 MB) of RAM.

Windows XP will recognize and use only 3.25 - 3.5 GB of 4 GB, but it's still better than having 2 GB.

Actual RAM is much faster than hard drive "virtual memory".

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Robert the Bruce
flavallee said:
According to your log, your computer appears to have the following:
2 GB(2048 MB) of RAM
Internal 80 GB hard drive ( C: )
External 500 GB hard drive ( E: )

Is that correct?

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

Its ECS motherboard supports up to 4 GB(4096 MB) of RAM.

Windows XP will recognize and use only 3.25 - 3.5 GB of 4 GB, but it's still better than having 2 GB.

Actual RAM is much faster than hard drive "virtual memory".

------------------------------------------------------
Click to expand...
OK, I'll change it to 4096 although it does seem contradictory to what Windows Answers are saying I should do.
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flavallee
Increasing the amount of RAM to 4 GB(4096 MB) and setting virtual memory/page file to "System Managed Size" is what I recommend.

My Dell OptiPlex 755 "test machine" running Windows XP Professional SP3 is set up that way.

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