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Post subject: Windows XP recognizes my 256 RAM but won't utilize it!
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uhh... God knows how long it has been since I last posted on TDA! But like I always use to do, I am once again using the help of you guys to my advantage. It seems Windows has decided to finally screw with me and in my own theory is using ONLY the virtual memory (or only 64MB of my physical). This sucks and I can't play games, music, movies, or anything aside from the internet, AIM, Kazaa, or Word...
:Goes into depressed state:
So obviously I'm here for help on how to identify the problem (Unless I'm right) and of course... The solution to it. I've gone all over the internet looking for solutions and I've found absolutely nothing. I've posted on other message boards and I've no response. I finally come here for hope that someone can help! Like I said Windows and other applications that moniter RAM will recognize that I have 256DDR RAM but will not use it to it's full potential.
On the game Jedi Knight II I can partially start the game. BUT before I even go into the menu and console loads up, it gives a warning. "Jedi Knight II was unable to allocate the neceserry (can't spell that) 64MB RAM for gameplay. Warning: You may not be able to play the game all the way through." Or something like that. So basically anything cannot be run since Windows XP itself needs the 64MB.
In short.... HELP! Is there anyway to switch the control of memory from Virtual to Physical as a default? (IF thats the problem) |
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 Fri Mar 21, 2003 2:59 pm |
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Windows XP doesn't get along too well with 256MB of RAM. I had 256 in my laptop and XP couldn't find any of it, so I ended up having to use 192.
Since XP at least sees some of your RAM, you're still in business. My first suggestion would be to try an amount of RAM in your computer other than 256MB. See if XP finds all of it.
What amount of RAM does your BIOS see and how much does XP see?
If that doesn't solve your problem then post back here. I've got a few other things to try.
_________________
"Robots don't say 'ye'."
"I'll show ye!" |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 3:25 pm |
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My BIOS and XP both see 256MB Physical RAM and 64 Virtual. Thats the first thing I checked when the problem started.
Also I never had the problem before. It just started three days ago. |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 3:27 pm |
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Since it was fine up untill recently and not messed up from the start then it's probably a software problem.
Click Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools-->System Information
On the left column make sure "System Summary" is highlighted.
In the right column there should be fields that say:
Total Physical Memory
Available Physical Memory
Total Virtual Memory
Available Virtual Memory
Page File Space
Page File
What do each of those say?
_________________
"Robots don't say 'ye'."
"I'll show ye!" |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 3:35 pm |
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Here... Seems like it IS using the Physical Memory, just not to it's full potential.
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 3:50 pm |
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OK, XP sees all the memory, that's good.
It doesn't look like you have Service Pack 1. If you don't then make sure you get all the updates. If you do, then there's some other things to try...
Open Task Manager and go to the Processes tab. See if any one or two programs are using a good chunk of memory. Things that say SYSTEM under the User Name you probably can't do anything about. If you need all the programs that are running, then you could try increasing the size of your page file. Make sure you have enough hard drive space to increase the size of the page file.
_________________
"Robots don't say 'ye'."
"I'll show ye!" |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 4:15 pm |
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| I already know about the memory page file increase. I don't have the space for it. I tried it on my D: drive and nope no difference. I'll try SP1 and see what happens. |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 4:19 pm |
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Good luck. It helps free up memory by closing programs you don't need (like Kazaa, and non-essential programs in the system tray) while playing a game.
To get more disk space:
If you're using NTFS then you could compress some files or folders that you hardly ever use but don't want to delete. If you're using FAT32, then you can't use compression.
If you're willing to spend the money, you could get more RAM and/or larger hard drive space.
If all else fails, then reinstalling windows is an option. My computer always runs a lot faster right after windows is installed because there aren't all these things installed to hog up resources like memory.
EDIT: I asked some other people at my school and they said that probably your biggest obstacle is the low disk space because windows relies on it to swap programs from physical memory to virtual memory. They said try to free up disk space and see if your situation improves.
_________________
"Robots don't say 'ye'."
"I'll show ye!"
Last edited by Beefy on Fri Mar 21, 2003 4:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 4:31 pm |
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I just freed (a word?) up over 2GB of space on my C: Drive and I set the Virtual Memory Page at 200 Min 500 Max and now...
IT WORKS! Thank you. (BTW I had SP1 according to Windows Update)
Also BTW, I had freed up so much space by looking in my old windows account. (I had to reinstall windows but my old account still existed as inactive folders) Kinda like having two Windows accounts with access to only one. You would not believe the amount of TEMP files and wasted files and settings and icons and cookies that were stored there. (aroudn 4 years of data) If anything was important I copied it to the current account. The amount of space afterwards was incredible. 3.46GB! (A lot for me since I only have a 20GB HDD) |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 4:55 pm |
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Glad I could help.
Hard drives seem to fill up very quickly these days.
_________________
"Robots don't say 'ye'."
"I'll show ye!" |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 4:57 pm |
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I'd pray for 20gigs, having a only 6....
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Bang. |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 6:48 pm |
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Ah, I remember trying to dual-boot Win98 and Windows 2000 on my pi-gig HD.
_________________
Krogoth uses Berserk.
Attacks are enhanced but defense weakens.
"Wait, that's not the cure button ... " |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 7:17 pm |
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I'm working on setting up a dual boot linux and win 98... oh and get more RAM. It's cheap and worth it.
_________________
The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself? |
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| Fri Mar 21, 2003 11:50 pm |
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