memory drain 2

[shovel]

I am trading futures online and I am running a chart program
and an online trading platform at the same time. when I firstboot up in the morning, my system resources indicate
87%, but after about 1 hour, my indicators for my charting program start disappearing off the screen one at a time . when I check system resources, they indicate about 60%. at this point I cant even get the start menu up to shut down, it says not enough memory to run this program. I have added more memory, from 128 to 256 mb but cannot tell any difference. the computer does see the memory but acts as though it doesn't want to use it. I have removed items from
my start up. and freed up resources, but this does not help
the drain as though it were a short circuit or something.
I did a complete restore on the computer, back to factory,
settings so it is not temp files etc. Do I need to do a bios
set up or some thing? Does any one have any suggestion? Iv'e
got one ,HOW ABOUT A NEW COMPUTER!

 

[Mulga]

I doubt if it is your system causing the problem, much more likely to be a piece of software. Try shutting down your normal programs, one at a time, and running the system for an hour or so with each one absent. This should give you an idea what the culprit is All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.

 

[rwise2112]

If you are running Windows Me, there is very little you can do about it. I had the same situation with Me. As soon as I opened Outlook, my resources dropped 20% and would never go back up. Windows 98, 2000, or XP all work much better.

If you are running one of these OS's, then it is likely an application that you are running which has a memory leak. The only solution for that would be to update the software (patches, new versions, etc.) or stop using it. Of course, you would need to identify the offending program first.

 

[dinosnake]

Hopefully you won't mind - a quick lesson on Windows resources:

The 'resources' that are shown as available is not a listing of free memory. This is why adding more main RAM did not effect the problem.

The resources shown are the remaining space available in memory stacks held by each of 3 main Windows structures - the GDI, the USER and the KERNEL (which is actually string structures and other such things in many parts). Each one of those structures has a memory space, or heap, which it uses as a kind of 'operations chart'. Each time the system runs a thread (a seperate computational operation. A single program can be one thread, or a hundred threads - it depends on the programming) the USER, GDI and KERNEL (for variables and such) allocates space from its heap for that thread to use. Those heaps have finite space, with some structures only measuring 64KB in size. Once out of heap space no more threads can run, even if main RAM has lots and lots of space. To top it all off the Windows Resources meter monitoring all this is not accurate - it shows an average of all heaps - one can be much lower than the others and causing a resource starvation problem.

After running a program is supposed to deallocate the main memory and heap spaces used, and the Windows does garbage collection, where bad data is discarded, the space freed for other uses and, if necessary, memory compaction in which free spaces are combined to make larger chunks of space, which are easier to use.

The problem is 2 fold - (1) a program does not correctly deallocate all space and the space then 'disappears' - no program can use it because Windows is holding it for something which no longer exists. This is a 'memory leak'. (2) Windows garbage collection sucks. Loose deallocated memory might not get compacted with other areas and memory pages, and again the chunk gets 'lost'.

All this is why you have to reboot often - you start from scratch.

Your problem is a piece of software that isn't deallocating heap space every time it runs, building up wasted space in the heaps until you reach critical mass. Go into /Accessories/System Tools/System Information/Tools (menu)/System Configuration Utility and turn off all Startup items. Yes, the system might not run the same but the point is to find out what is causing the problem.
Monitor the system - does it lose resources?

If yes the problem is not in a TSR and you can turn them all back on - it is a main program you are running. Examine your program habits and keep track to find which is the problem. Sometimes it's the interaction of 2 programs acting together. See if there is a patch for the program to fix the memory allocation problem.

If no turn of one at a time (last tab in the System Config Utility) to find the culprit.

Your mileage may vary...

 

[cdogg]

dinosnake,
Excellent explanation! You definitely need to get this info into a FAQ. Since this problem is more prevalent in Win9x/ME OS's, you may want to stick it in that forum as well.

Well-deserved star...

ck_blk@yahoo.com