comp sucking up all the ram

[silkman]

I was wondering why my comp is sucking up all my memory ram. I have MEMTURBO running and it said I only have 3mb of ram free?? is that normal. I also done all the vcache tweak and still not working. All I want to know is, is it normal to have 3mb free ram out of 64mb ram??

[Axel]

No - that definitely is not normal.
I'm not familiar with the software you mentioned - does it require you to select certain system parameters - I.E. EDO RAM, SDRAM, RAM speed, etc. etc. - perhaps you got some of the settings wrong, or the defaults the software adjusts to aren't what you have - possibly explaining the miss-read.

If you're running win95 - try this - right click on <My Computer> - select <properties> - and select the <performance> tab - what does it say there? - How much RAM does it see? Does your system perform a RAM test at start-up? - does it pass, or has this test been disabled in your CMOS settings?

Next - what are you running? - Might be this RAM checker is the resource-eating software that's the problem - probably not.

Seti@home eats RAM capacity - turn it off and run the software again. - Turn off any screen saver, norton,macafee,fprot anti-v and try again.

On the other hand, update your anti-v definitions and run a sweep of your system to see if you've caught a virus. They eat RAM capacity some times.

Lastly, you might either have miss-matched RAM, or damaged RAM in your system.

What's loading on start-up? - check out your start-up directory and eliminate and software that you don't use absolutely every time you use your computer.

When you write back, give us some system specifications so we can help out further, if the above doesn't identify the problem.

[silkman]

About the trick u said I got a 64.0mb ram read. I have hardly anything at start up except icq thats the only thing. I do a virus scan and find no virus. The MEMturbo software I just got it few hours ago and thats the reason why i post this msg cuz is showing me that i only have 3mb free ram. I have win98 P233mmx 64mb, 10gig maxtor hardrive.

[Pantion]

Sometimes Win9x eats too much ram and leaves you with nothing. Check your start-up apps, config.sys, autoexec.bat, registry for any programs you don't want to load at start-up.

Also don't put a vcache to high or it will reduce your amount of ram too. Download CacheMan www.outertech.com (http://www.outertech.com) and check your cache settings.

Also create a swap file instead of letting windows manage it. I also have 64MB so I made a 256MB swap file. As a base you can take: RAM x 2.5 or RAM x 3 for determing a good swap file size, but you can always change its size as you wish.

[silkman]

hmm..i'm not really good when it come to registry can you tell me how i can check my config.sys and autoexec.bat. Thanks

[Bleeding Edge]

What did you set your vCache to?


[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 11-29-1999).]

[Pantion]

If you have Win98 either vanilla or SE version use the app names System Information. On the menu named Tools click on System Configuration Utility. With that program you can see what is inside your config, autoexec, registry, etc. and deselect the programs you don't want to run at start-up.

If you are using any of Win95 versions then click on Start, Run, and write sysedit. That app will let you modify autoexec, config, win.ini, system.ini and protocols.ini. Since Win95 doesn't have System Configuration Utility then you'll need to use regedit or any other app that will let you modify the registry. And the path were start-up programs are located is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run

Hope it help you!

[silkman]

as for vcache I have the following setting for 64mb ram
[vcache]
MinCacheSize=16384
MaxCachesize=16384
ChunkSize=2048
maxfilecache=8192

[Pantion]

Hmm... try reducing the min and maxcachesize to 8192, the chunksize bring it down to either 512 or 1024. The maxfilecache not quite sure what would be an optimal value.

Try the above settings and see if you get more free ram.

[Bleeding Edge]

Delete the entries under [vCache]. For most nearly all systems, real-world performance gain with these settings just isn't there.

Win95 or 98?

[silkman]

I'm using win98

[Bleeding Edge]

Dump the contents of the Startup Folder.

START/RUN
type --> msconfig
under the StartUp tab, deselect anything unneeded. OR deselect everything and turn them back on one at a time. (You can leave the following "on" if you like: ScanRegistry, TaskMonitor and LoadPowerProfile.)

Check your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat while your there. Usually there isn't any lines in it. Blank. Uncheck it all.

Reboot.

See about the memory.

Note: as mentioned above, clear the vcache entries you stuck in.

~edit
What's Memturbo? Is it a memory manager or just a reporting tool?


[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 11-30-1999).]