Insufficient Resources

After opening about 5 applications simultaneously I will get an "insufficient resources error". I have 512 MB Rambus ram. My paging file is set to default (2MB min and about 768MB max) to be managed by Windows. The paging file is located on C drive. Moving it to D drive makes no difference. I ran MemTest for 8 hours and received no errors.

Maybe I am expecting too much. Please take a look at the screen shot and let me know if the error is justified or if I am having a problem. This screen shot was taken at the point just prior to running out of resources. The next app opened froze the machine.

All running processes are absolutely necessary. There are no viruses or spyware. I am absolutely sure of this.

Dell 8200
Win XP Home SP2
512 Rambus Ram
1.8 P4
C Drive 85% Free Space

Just how big are the applications and what is running in the background of each? That may be your problem. Because the graph spiked and did not stay up.

The running applications were Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, Adobe Photoshop LE ( now called Elements), Acronis True Image, and Norton 2002AV. I do not know how to tell how big each application is. Doesn't the task manager give a clue on the combined resources?

Above applications are just an example. No matter what I try to run, I run out of system resources on about the 5th open application.

I do not know if this is normal for 512 Rambus ram or not.

I don't run anything when I run True Image and Photoshop uses a bunch as does Norton.

Thanks Greengoose 1

I was just using those programs to test. Actually any four applications is about my max. It's not that I really want to run four programs at once, but I thought maybe this behavior might be indicitive of an underlying problem.

System resources need to be understood. This from one of my files. I did not write it.

"Every time you open an application, it loads all of its visual components, such as windows, menus, text boxes, buttons, checkboxes, and lists, into memory. Windows keeps track of the visual components of all the applications so that, for example, when you drag a window across the screen, it knows what was behind the window and is able to redraw it. These visual components are stored in System Resources. Regardless of the amount of physical memory installed in your computer and regardless of the number of open windows, the amount of memory allotted to System Resources never increases.

What’s more, not all of the System Resources an application uses are released when the application is closed. So, you could open and close an application several times and actually run out of System Resources. That’s why Windows may complain that you’re out of memory, even when you have only two or three applications open.

The symptoms of low System Resources include slow performance, error messages when starting programs, application windows not updating properly, applications hanging, and the entire system crashing. The fix, at least as far as we lowly users are concerned, is to restart Windows. When Windows is restarted, the System Resources are cleared, and everything returns to normal. "

Thanks again greengoose1.

Seems to me that I read that somewhere before. I think this "system resource" thing is more applicable to Win 98 and not Win XP. Remember in Win 98 when we used to be able to actually check the percentage of system resources? We can no longer do that on Win XP.

I can reboot and immediately following reboot I am again back to about four applications before locking up.

I wish someone who is knowledgable about the task master could analyze my screen shot and tell me if it appears normal or if I have a problem.

Yes, the system resource issues/limitations that people became familiar with under win9x/me do not apply in XP. In XP :out of resources" messages typically either relate to resources in regard to apps run under the win16 subsystem or something related to the page/non-page pool allocations.

At quick glance I don't see anything unusual about the readings in your taskmanager capture.

It's fixed. I set swap file as follows:

C - 2MB initial and 50MB max
D - 900 initial and 900 max

I had so many programs running simultaneously, about 7, that the task bar had to show the up and down arrows in order to hide them. I will never run that many programs at the same time, but it is reassuring to know that it works like it should.

Thanks everyone for your help. It is really appreciated.