If a computer has, say, 256 megs of RAM installed and is running Windows ME, how would you know if all the memory actually works? I have 256 megs of memory on my pc, but I constantly get “not enough memory” type messages. I don’t have anything on this pc that wasn’t on the old one where I had NO problems. I had only 64 megs of RAM and Windows 98 on the old pc. I can right click on the My Computer icon and in properties it says 248 megs of ram, but does that mean that the memory is actually working?
Yes.
Is the error you’re getting “not enough memory” or is it some sort of access violation message? Hard to figure out what’s going on without knowing exactly what error message you’re getting.
256MB passed a physical test upon startup or it wouldn’t show up. Assuming 2 cards, you would get 128 if one was bad; you’d fail to boot if both were no good. So the memory is there. More likely is that something is hogging or failing to release memory when closed. Check that properties tab and find the amount of free resources expressed as a percent. When newly rebooted, my computer has about 85%, after running awhile closer to 70%. I have seen it get down to 45%, at which point rebooting normally fixes things. If it’s a recurring problem ctr-alt-del and review what is running. Possibly some things you don’t want.
It is almost consistantly an “out of memory” or “not enough memory” type thing. Rebooting the computer always fixes it. The single program that is the same on the old pc and on the new one is Zone Alarm. I opened up the resource meter and watched the resources go in half when I turned ZA on. When I turn in back off, the resources go back up. Even at that, the resources hover around 70% right after a reboot. Granted, the error messages aren’t as bad with ZA off but what good is ZA if it is turned off? On the old computer, as I said, I had Win98 and 64 megs of RAM and I never had an “out of memory” type error. Never in over 2 years.
I don’t really know if resources is an accurate tool, but if it really low, I do have the problem. It’s gotten so that if I want to burn a cd or some other task, I check that first and if it is low, I reboot, then go forth. If WinME is a memory hog, like I have heard, is there any cure? (Short of upgrading to XP)
I’m not familiar with ZoneAlarm, but this should narrow things down:
- Run for a while with ZoneAlarm off. Make sure you run long enough, and make sure it doesn’t come on at all. If it’s in your startup folder, take it out. If you used to start seeing memory errors within 2 hours of a clean reboot, run at least 2 hours.
Do you still get memory errors? If not, ZoneAlarm is a memory hog, and I’m guessing the differences between your old computer’s memory model and your new one are making them show up. They were always there, you were just lucky with your old computer. Try seeing if there’s a new version of ZoneAlarm out.
If you still do get the memory errors, repeat the process with everything else you have running in the background. If you have a lot of stuff running, you might want to go the opposite route - turn everything off, and start adding things one at a time until you determine just what’s causing the errors.
For what it’s worth, I run ME at home with 256K memory, and have never had a memory error.
Also - check for viruses. You might have an infection going on.
It’s almost certainly a hard-drive space problem, assuming you want to run everything that you’re running (background processes and so on). Windows is trying to manage your virtual memory automatically for you, which means it will fill up your hard drive with its swap file, if you let it.
You could do several things:
o Clean-up your hard drive (erase things)
o Manage your own virtual memory (System Control Panel, I believe).
o Move your virtual memory to another drive/partition.
o Put a limit on the amount of virtual memory (but you’ll still get out of memory errors).
If you have 256MB of memory, and something’s using more than that, Windows is going to want to start using your hard drive space. If you try to keep 256MB free on the hard drive at all times, you shouldn’t have too many problems.
Computer Shopper made mention of http://www.memokit4all.com/ this and said it was an okay program. I have never used and I looked on CNet’s website for the review they gave but my search skills suck at the moment…I lied, I found it http://www.cnet.com/software/0-806181-1204-7159772.html?tag=topfive
Might be just what you need.
I have Zone Alarm, a browser, a web server and Outlook running on a notebook with 96mb of ram. No problems whatsoever. Maybe it’s a problem with the version of the firewall? I’m running version 2.6.88 of ZA on Win2000 pro.
The “out of memory” error is sort of a generic catch-all for some programs. They throw that error when you’ve run out of resources. We can explain what those are in more detail, if you’d like.
The short version is that Win 9x has a few pre-sized collections of “things” (windows, icons, menus, text strings, etc.) It doesn’t matter how much memory is in your machine. You’re only allowed the pre-defined number.
When you’re installing Windows you’re given the opportunity to install a program called “Resource Meter.” It’ll display a little icon in the task tray showing how many resources you have left. You can use that to monitor how you’re doing on resources.
Some programs are serious resource hogs. Eudora is one that catches my attention. Also, some programs “leak” resources. They allocate some bits and never let them go. Over time, like a few hours if you’re in and out of several programs a lot, the available resources will keep going down. Eventually, icons will stop showing up and some programs will display that error message.
Start/run
type msconfig
OK
Startup tab
See what’s running
You only “need” systray and explorer
Disable (uncheck) all “schedulers” realplayer, faststart and all the other junk.
You might see Antivirus stuff listed twice. Disable one occurrence.
Post back with stuff you can’t figure out.
Apply
OK
Reboot
How much hard drive free space do you have?
Windows Explorer
Left click once on C:
Right click on C:
Select properties
Go here and download a trial of Idyle Task Manager
>> You only “need” systray and explorer
Oh, my goodness! The systray myth that won’t die! We have discussed this many times before. Systray is not the system tray and many computers (mine for one) are running fine without running systray. Systray provides some icons on the system tray, notably the sound control, which you may not need if you have other drivers. Do a search and you will find older threads where this is discussed in more depth.
Relax sailor. That’s why “need” is in quotes. We don’t know what cheezit’s running, and we don’t know what he don’t know. Leaving systray running is just a convenience.
Well, since I have a 60gb harddrive and I only have 10 gigs used, I doubt that that is the problem. 
I have already done the CAD test and turned off everything that wasn’t necessary, then turn everything all back on one at a time. The only thing that made any major difference was ZA. So, I run without it. I would completely uninstall it but it is such a major pain to do. So I just leave it turned off. There is an update to ZA so I may try it. What’s the worst that can happen, no change? 
I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I hardly ever turn the computer off. I always put it on standby. Should I shut it down instead? (I never use hibernate because it won’t unhibernate.)