Beginning physical memory dump

[Craftor]

Hi all

I am quite new to IT so things like this are still a mystery to me. Whenever I have several windows open on my computer and I do something that seems to require a lot of memory (such as programming), my machine blue screens - bringing up a list of...something (either file names or errors - it goes too quickly to see) and a message on the bottom of the screen "Beginning physical memory dump". My machine then restarts (doing a chkdsk in the process). I may be running a little bit low on physical memory?? - I have a 2 gig drive with +_ 80mb free space.

What is causing this and how can I stop it from happening again??

Thanks all

 

[Voyager1]

In Control Panel, under the "System" icon there is a "Startup/Shutdown" tab. On that tab, in the lower box called "Recovery". This configures how the machine reacts to the "blue screen of death", which is what you describe. You might want to consider deselecting "Automatically Reboot", and based on how little available disk space you have deselect "Write debugging information" as well. This will at least give you time to see what is on the blue screen.

The most important information is at the top of the screen. Make note of the actual error, such as "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" or whatever it reads. Sometimes, you can search on this error on TechNet or Technet.microsoft.com and get a clue as to what is happening.

Best of luck, hope this helps

 

[ghostrider3]

80 mb is not a lot of disk space.
if you have a lot of applications open then it could be running out of space.
check how much space is for your virtual memory.
in the system icon on the control panel, performance tab, see if your virtual memeory is set to expand past your available hard drive space.
also check how much space your recycle bin takes.
right click it on the desktop, and it will tell you.
I usually put it on 3 %
for 2 gig drive that will be about 60 mb

 

[bomby]

Apart from the obvious problem with available disc space, I have often experienced with non-"intel" cpu's or "clone" machines, a similar problem. Check to see if the cpu fan is operating correctly.

Usually the fan is not operating correctly causing the cpu to overheat and it "shutsdown" to protect itself. Worth a look

 

[purplebroom]

hi

Ghostrider3 is along the right lines but the way you should judge how big your paging file (virtual memory) is, is by the amount of physical RAM in the machine and not by hard disk space. Basically your paging file should be at least 110% the amount of RAM you have, ie if you have 128MB Ram set the paging file to around 140 (initial) and 180 (max).

I think this is probably your problem as if your paging file is set incorrectly and you are using a lot of apps at the same time you are probably running out of ram (both physical and virtual).

hope this helps

PurpleBroom

 

[Guest_imported]

I think that even memory problem, because I change the memory and the problem even aparese, I do belive is hard disk. Comunication!!

 

[knifer]

I dont think that is the Problem as i'm also experiencing this problem and i dont know what to do, i have 512mb RAM PC133, 40gb Hard Disk, Athlon 1.2ghz, 64mb Voddoo 5500 AGP,
I get this problem a lot and it is begining to anoy me as i dont know what to do even just checking my email it crashes and brings up the "Pysical Memory Dump + Blue screen of Death" any idea's people????

I have checked my CPU and also tried different configurations. But nothing seems to work

 

[Noisome]

Not that it matters much, but here at a college, I have set up two brand new Dells with 1.7 GHz and 256M ram and etc etc etc with Windows 2000. A student was on a web page and tried to print something. It gave a real BSOD physical dump error, not the one that allows you to press enter to continue. I forgot to add the printer. Once I did, he didn't have a problem anymore. And he got it on all of the computers with no printers. So this is something really ghetto by MS.

Noisome

<-- Go Linux! Now your computer just freezes in X-Win mode instead giving you an explanation. -->

 

[bobdylan]

You've probably already got it but make sure you have got Service Pack 6 installed - this fixes a lot of BSOD problems.

 

[Guest_imported]

I also get this problem although I have a 10 gig hard drive with about 2 gigs of free space and 128M Ram. I increased my paging file size to 200M min and the same for max. I also reinstalled service pack 6 without success.

My last option was to reduce my paging file size to 2M, temporarily copy it to my other drive before defragging the c drive (I got this suggestion from one website). Unfortuntely my defragmenting tool is not installed and I can't find it on the NT workstation CD. Can anyone recommend a site with a free copy of any reliable defragmenting tool for NT 4.0 (e.g. Norton Utilities 2.0) or the real solution to this pet peeve.

 

[thatrenowned]

Solution to this problem : Get the correct RAM.

Physical memory is RAM, not your hard disk (thats where your comptuer uses virtual memory...according to a load of different definitions anyway). I had this problem ages ago where someone had put crappy RAM into some computers. Once I got the good stuff, they were fine.

You can get some good RAM from

http://www.kingston.com.

It lets you put in the type of board you have and then gives you a selection of what will work. You should be able to check out different catalogues as well.

Regards