Message: Low Disk Space; Low Memory

[chadzy]

Help! Something is eating up my resources. When I try to print, I get a "Printer Busy" message, followed by a warning that Windows is low on disk space. Neither are true! I have over 2 gigs left and no print jobs or apps tying up the printer. Also, when I try to create a postscript file in Publisher, it says I'm low on memory (I have 64MB), but this can't be true either b/c there are no programs running in the background and nothing in the systray. Anyone have an idea what this is?
Sys info:
Win98
PII 266
64MB SDRAM
ATI Rage ProTurbo 2x AGP
USR Voice Faxmodem

[fishboy]

I once got this error while using Norton Utilities. I had to empty the protected files and then it was ok. If you have NU, remove the protection on the recycle bin.

[WRSauber]

check to see that your not running in file compatibility mode. Right click my computer, click properties, performance tab. Does it say that your your system is configured for optimal performance?

[spdsk8r]

For the "memory low" error, check if there are a lot of programs running in the taskbar. (next to the time) try right clicking them and closing them or use ctr. alt del and close them. Even if this is the case 64MB should be enough.

[Psychoholic]

Is Win managing your virtual memory or have you set it yourself? If you set your VM to a low figure that could be why your "out of memory". Right click my computer and then go to properties and click, then go to performance, then click on the virtual memory button. Make sure it it set to let Win manage VM, you can set this yourself to prevent hard disk thrashing but if Win is not automatically managing it let it until you isolate the problem.

As far as the "printer busy" and the "out of space" message check to see where you printer spool files are sent to. This is probably the \Windows\Temp directory. Make sure that this directory is not full of old temporary files, I have seen this cause problems before.

Hope this helps.

[chadzy]

Windows is managing my virtual memory. The temp direc is not heavy (only 3 MB). No Norton Utilties. System confgd for "optimal" performance. Only VShield in the systray. Weird, eh? I have not done anything major to the system, and for the most part it runs OK. Photoshop works and is fast, I don't even get any out of memory errors. However, MS Publisher chokes and gives me the low memory ("Close some more programs that may be running") when I try to create a Postscript file. That's the only time I get a low mem error. The Printer Busy deal happens in a variety of apps (Word, Acrobat, etc.). Thanks for the help with this mystery!

[Psychoholic]

This is a longshot but you're out of ideas so I'll throw it out. Have you defragged your disk lately? I have seen one instance of the disk being so fragmented that it actually caused problems with the VM. At least defragging seemed to fix it, because the problem was gone afterward.

Like I said a longshot... but they work sometimes.

[chadzy]

Yes, I defrag about once a month. To be honest, I'm a bit leery of the defrag included in Win98. My other machine has had problems ever since I defragged about two weeks ago. Install programs don't run, and Photoshop is slow to start up. I'm about out of ideas on both counts. I used the System File Checker and nothing was corrupt on either system. Looks like a complete wipe of the HDD is going to be necessary, and then I'm going back to Win95, OSR2.5 and not going anywhere near that Active Desktop ****. Is says alot about the quality of that piece of software when MS isn't even including it in IE5. Thanks for the ideas!

[kwai]

so did you try cleaning out your temp directory? 3mb sounds like a lot, and it may not be the size, it might be the number of files?

i'm curious what's causing this too. keep us posted, ok?

[chadzy]

Yes, I ditched everything in the Temp. I'll let you know if it helped. Its hard to say because the printing problem is intermittent. I'll keep you posted.