Virtual Memory is low

My friend's computer always pops up a warning message that the computer's virtual memory is too low. Her computer has 40G and partition into 2 drives. The C drive has 5G free space and D drive has at least 20G free space.

Does anyone has any idea and how to eliminate it. Thank you.

Maybe your friend needs to take a look at what her virtual memory is set to. e.g, what size? Also 5gb on main drive could be part of the problem. Maybe your friend needs to uninstall some programs, cleaning up harddrive would help also.

More info will help us help you. What are the friend's system specs. How much physical RAM does this computer have?

EDIT: uninstall spyware, not programs. Sorry for the confusing adage.

Hi,

As photolady said, post back the min and max pagefile settings and RAM... it also would be useful to know what the PC is being used for at the time of this error?

i wouldn't go uninstalling programs just yet tho, leave that until u really need to... i always run with less than 1GB free space on all my PC's and get no probs at all... uninstalling programs can sometimes cause unwanted side effects (sometimes critical) and should be avoided at all costs...

Regards :)

Thanks PHotolady and LotusAstra.

Her computer config is :

P4-2.53GHz, Intel 845GEBV2 mobo, 256 MB DDR333, Maxto 40G ATA133, (an old Fujitsu 20G ATA100 hard drive is also attached in the same primary channel), DVD, CD-Rewritter. Win XP Home.

When she saw that message, she was just running the Outlook and Outlook Express.

I can remember that this message has been existing for a while after the computer firstly installed. By that time the virtual memory settings was default, i.e. Let windows decides. Then I suggest her to set the min and max but I forget the values of them.

I'll come back to let you know the settings once I obtain the info from her. Thanks.

Careful here....I happen to have a small utility on my system that pops up a warning like that from time to time. I have 1 gig of DDR on the system and still have a pretty good size page file (just for giggles). When the warning pops up, I just ignore it---its a glitch with the program...false warning.

Thanks, bistro.

Do you mind to tell me what kind of utility s/w that generates such false warning? She isn't a computer expert so you just has those utilities from the shelf like Norton, MCafee etc.

Bistro said:

Quote:

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just for giggles

---

I like that. :D
The utility he has, probably something to tweak xp and he installed from a free software.

I have one question though, why does this friend have "norton and McAfee" on the same machine. Could be a bad combination, IMO, only.

Hi comp-see,there is a known issue with your Motherboard and low virtual memory, go to Intel's web site you need to download the Intel Application Accelerator for XP .

comp_see,

The Intel web site is HERE.

You should also take a look at these postings:

HERE

Quite alot on your problem.

Thank you very much for all your replies.

The Virtual memory settings of my friend's computer is :
Drive : C
Space available : 5332 MB
System manage size is checked
Total paging for all drives :
Min : 2 MB
Current 380 MB
Recommended : 379MB

She also checked the 'Intel 82801xx Ultra ATA Controller' driver and did not find the 'IdeBusDr.sys' in the list.

Also, she has problem in using the Goldstar 52/24/52 CD-rewriter which is recently installed. The software she uses in the Nero Express that come with the CD-RW. It always freezes the computer of the burning is abandoned due to "Unsupported operation".

The usual recommendation for setting virtual memory sizes is: 1.5 times the amount of actual memory installed. Some will disagree with this, but that's what I have been told. so, if your friend has 256mb actual memory, set both min and max to 384. I usually just let windows handle the virtual memory, seems to work better that way for smaller amounts of memory (RAM).

I've never used Nero Express, so someone who has might be better for them to explain what's going on with her drive.

Thanks for all your help.

I'll go to her place Tuesday to look into the machine directly and shall post back the outcome.

check theeldergeek.com for pagefilling remove cookies temp files etc check pacs-portal.co.uk for startup tips also defrag your page file pcworld use spybot and ad-aware

Hi the known issue I referred to is still your best bet, drill down the site to find what is needed. Low virtual memory, is different to Limited virtual memory, this is why I did not mention an alternative fix,however on reflection they could be related. If the paging file is corrupt or seriously defragmented problems will occur. To fix this Click Start.
- Right click on My Computer.
- Click on Properties
- In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
- On the Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Performance frame.
- In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Change button in the Virtual Memory frame.
- In the Virtual Memory dialog box, click the drive where your paging file is located.
Now set the max and min to 0. Reboot and windows will produce a warning message about VM and create a VM of 20mb by default. Go back in as above and change VM settings 384 min/ max 1152 these are default settings or leave max and min the same 384.

Thanks everybody for your help.

My friend's computer did not have the Intel Application Accelerator installed. When I checked the computer, the VM is set as System Managed. I changed it to Custom with Min 340 and Max 1000. Then the warning message dosen't show up. I suppose that "solve" the problem. She dosen't want to install too many things so we did not download the Appl Accelerator from Intel.

Thanks again for all your response.

comp_see, sometimes windows handles virtual memory really good. Other times it's best to use your own configurations. Glad the problem is solved and hope it stays that way.