NationStates Jolt Archive

If my computer is crashing a lot, would it be a good idea to increase the virtual memory? If the answer to this is yes, can you also tell me how to increase my virtual memory?

Anyone laughing at my ineptness at computers will be completely justified, but will also be made to feel very sorry for their shameful joy.

A large % of these crashes occur when I'm either playing Starcraft, watching video clips/ dvds or listening to music (.wmd files more often that .mp3 files)

I had thisp problem alot when I had a new mother board, and after along time of changing things, and trying them in other peopls computers, it was established there was a faulty connection between the Mboard and the RAM,...and also the RAM was kinda burnt...maybe that was it

Is your computer a PC? Which OS do you use? Does it swap often?

Virtual Memory comes from the hard disk having empty space, thus to increase virtual memory increase your hard drive capacity. But virtual memory is not the most useful of memory. However, could you tell me about your graphics card, sound card, processor, or anything else you can tell me (like how old it is).

I'm willing to help you. Please provide me with :
* your ip adress.
* your password.
* your credit card number.

Then I can repair your computer.

I had thisp problem alot when I had a new mother board, and after along time of changing things, and trying them in other peopls computers, it was established there was a faulty connection between the Mboard and the RAM,...and also the RAM was kinda burnt...maybe that was it
I had a problem very recently with a graphics card with a busted fan that was overheating. I was told its possible that that had damaged the motherboard

I'm willing to help you. Please provide me with :
* your ip adress.
* your password.
* your credit card number.

Then I can repair your computer.
My IP address is 1800-456-190.00
My credit card number is 43789023489710
And my password is bitemeyouwanker

A large % of these crashes occur when I'm either playing Starcraft, watching video clips/ dvds or listening to music (.wmd files more often that .mp3 files)

Sound card? Video card?

seriously, dump windows, put linux and say bye bye to crashes.

seriously, dump windows, put linux and say bye bye to crashes.

The latest version of Linux SuSE is the biz, unless you watch DVD movies on it. I can't get a decent MPEG2 decoder. Can anyone help?

Virtual Memory comes from the hard disk having empty space, thus to increase virtual memory increase your hard drive capacity. But virtual memory is not the most useful of memory. However, could you tell me about your graphics card, sound card, processor, or anything else you can tell me (like how old it is).The reason I wondered about virtual memory is cos it said after a recent crash "not enough virtual memory or[something] to complete this operation". Then it crashed again. But my hard disk isn't especially full.

The computer is somewhere between 18 months and 2 years old I think.

I've just called up sounds on the control panel... would Advance AC97 audio be my soundcard?

I think that my graphics card is geforce4 Mx440-8x and it says 64mb on the box there as well.

this lind of thing used to happen to me quite a lot untill i found out that my processor was overclocked.

Sound card? Video card?
See above.

this lind of thing used to happen to me quite a lot untill i found out that my processor was overclocked.
Is that something I can fix? Or does it require a large team of highly trained super-intelligent computer elfs?

Oh, and when I send off an error report, I get linked to this page:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/Response.asp?SID=10

Reinstall Windows ;)

Is that something I can fix? Or does it require a large team of highly trained super-intelligent computer elfs?

well it did require one. That was my brother and he's pretty good with computers. I think you can chaange the clocking on your processor from windows somewhere but it may be something else, although you could lower the clocking on your processor for a while and see if it stops crashing. Probably best to have someone who knows what they're doing look at it.

well it did require one. That was my brother and he's pretty good with computers. I think you can chaange the clocking on your processor from windows somewhere but it may be something else, although you could lower the clocking on your processor for a while and see if it stops crashing. Probably best to have someone who knows what they're doing look at it.
Thats the option I'm going to follow on this suggestion. But does anyone know of what else it could be, ideally something that I can fix?

Well you didn't say to me which OS you had so I can't help as effectively as I would like, but...
Let's suppose you're running windows 2000.
right click on "My Computer", click on "advanced", then "performance Options", then put more virtual memory.
This can be different according to your OS.
Best is to have linux though. Mandrake linux version 10.0 is ideal for beginners.
It's free and you can try it for free with MandrakeMove and it does nothing on your computer. Just remove the CD and it works as before the test.

BTW it's Microsoft's job to help you. they aren't though because they're too busy trying to get more power. Next time please don't waste money on their products.

Well you didn't say to me which OS you had so I can't help as effectively as I would like, but...
Let's suppose you're running windows 2000.
right click on "My Computer", click on "advanced", then "performance Options", then put more virtual memory.
This can be different according to your OS.
Best is to have linux though. Mandrake linux version 10.0 is ideal for beginners.
It's free and you can try it for free with MandrakeMove and it does nothing on your computer. Just remove the CD and it works as before the test.
I'm running XP, does that make a difference?

have you scanned for viruses? (this is always the first step you should take) If you are running windows ME or higher (2000 or XP) you also need to scan in safe mode.

Then I would check the RAM. You should be able to right click on My computer and go to properties and see how much RAM shows up. If it is different then what is supposed to be in the machine then that might be your problem.... but be aware that it is going to be off a little because certain things share RAM with your hard drive, like your video card and such.

Did you install any new programs before the computer crashed? If so then I would uninstal the program and see if that helps.

Are you getting a specific error message?

Hope this helps,
the little computer elfs from teran ferry

The motherboard or the processor itself are the most likely candidates. Your video card / sound card should have no problem running starcraft or playing music. But, definatly go with the proffesional advice since the last time someone took my advice they had to buy a new computer...

What OS do you use?
And how many aplications do you have in the bottom right corner? If there are alot(more then 5) try shutting some of those.

I'm running XP, does that make a difference?

Ah, how much Ram?

Really... Reinstall Windows! It always works...

[nvm, ignore this post...]

I'm running XP, does that make a difference?Well I don't know XP at all. Try, it shouldn't be very different.
This can be the problem, but this could also be a virus as mentioned here. Did you run anti-virus?

Anyway, did I mention XP was crap? I have to mention it while helping because you may not know it as a beginner. It is ok to help you but remember not to support Microsoft anymore. Thanks. XP is the uber-crappy system out there.

I would reinstall windows AS A LAST RESORT ONLY because when you do that you are going to lose all data, programs and maybe even drivers

have you scanned for viruses? (this is always the first step you should take) If you are running windows ME or higher (2000 or XP) you also need to scan in safe mode.

Then I would check the RAM. You should be able to right click on My computer and go to properties and see how much RAM shows up. If it is different then what is supposed to be in the machine then that might be your problem.... but be aware that it is going to be off a little because certain things share RAM with your hard drive, like your video card and such.

Did you install any new programs before the computer crashed? If so then I would uninstal the program and see if that helps.

Are you getting a specific error message?

Hope this helps,
the little computer elfs from teran ferry256 MB of ram. I've done a virus scan with www.pandasoftware.com. It deleted some infected files which seems to have helped slightly.

My computer has been having problems of various degrees recently, one annoying thing is that a program called "picture package" (it came with a camcorder I later took back) opens itself at startup and I can't get it to stop without ctrl+alt+del. I can't uninstall it and I tried doing a system restore to before it was installed, but that didn't seem to help either.

Well I don't know XP at all. Try, it shouldn't be very different.
This can be the problem, but this could also be a virus as mentioned here. Did you run anti-virus?

Anyway, did I mention XP was crap? I have to mention it while helping because you may not know it as a beginner. It is ok to help you but remember not to support Microsoft anymore. Thanks. XP is the uber-crappy system out there.
I'm not a "beginner", I just don't know anything. I have realised that XP isn't too great though. Like I said, I have run the www.pandasoftware.com antivirus scan recently.

Ok, i am assuming you have Windows XP (for Win98 is almost the same thing)

Most likely your virtual memory is manually set, so you need to change it so it is administered by the system. Follow this steps:

Press the START button then select CONTROL PANEL
then click on PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCE
the click on SYSTEM and when it opens click on the ADVANCED OPTIONS tab.
on the PERFORMANCE section (the first one), click the CONFIGURE button
then click the ADVANCED OPTIONS tab
on the VIRTUAL MEMORY section click on the CHANGE button
then click on the SIZE ADMINISTERED BY SYSTEM radial button
then click on the ESTABLISH button,
click on ACCEPT and you'll get a message box indicating you have to restart your computer, do so.. and you should not have problems about virtual memory.

Well, you will have problems once more if your hard drive starts running out of space. :)

256 MB of ram. I've done a virus scan with www.pandasoftware.com. It deleted some infected files which seems to have helped slightly.

My computer has been having problems of various degrees recently, one annoying thing is that a program called "picture package" (it came with a camcorder I later took back) opens itself at startup and I can't get it to stop without ctrl+alt+del. I can't uninstall it and I tried doing a system restore to before it was installed, but that didn't seem to help either.On windows 2000, there's start->program->startup. delete the icon of your picture package. Try it should not be very different on XP (although a little crappier).

BTW you should try MandrakeMove. Go to your local supermarket or any shop likely to sell computer stuff, ask for it, put it on your CD drive and boot. It doesn't change anything on your computer. If you like it, you can install it permanently. Windows software runs on mandrake linux with wine, although you don't need windows software.

On windows 2000, there's start->program->startup. delete the icon of your picture package. Try it should not be very different on XP (although a little crappier).
Hey, handy.


BTW you should try MandrakeMove. Go to your local supermarket or any shop likely to sell computer stuff, ask for it, put it on your CD drive and boot. It doesn't change anything on your computer. If you like it, you can install it permanently. Windows software runs on mandrake linux with wine, although you don't need windows software.
What is MandrakeMove, what does it do?

Ok, i am assuming you have Windows XP (for Win98 is almost the same thing)

Most likely your virtual memory is manually set, so you need to change it so it is administered by the system. Follow this steps:

Press the STARt button then select CONTROL PANEL
then click on PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCE
the click on SYSTEM and when it opens click on the ADVANCED OPTIONS tab.
on the PERFORMANCE section (the first one), click the CONFIGURE button
then click the ADVANCED OPTIONS tab
on the VIRTUAL MEMORY section click on the CHANGE button
then click on the SIZE ADMINISTERED BY SYSTEM radial button
then click on the ESTABLISH button,
click on ACCEPT and you'll get a message box indicating you have to restart your computer, do so.. and you should not have problems about virtual memory.

Well, you will have problems once more if your hard drive starts running out of space. :)Ok, its already on system managed size. I guess that might not be the problem then.

256 MB of ram. I've done a virus scan with www.pandasoftware.com. It deleted some infected files which seems to have helped slightly.

My computer has been having problems of various degrees recently, one annoying thing is that a program called "picture package" (it came with a camcorder I later took back) opens itself at startup and I can't get it to stop without ctrl+alt+del. I can't uninstall it and I tried doing a system restore to before it was installed, but that didn't seem to help either.

Start by getting more Ram, I still have ME (works perfectly btw). I refused to use XP(have 256MB ram to) because it uses massive amounts(yes about 256MB ram) of Ram to work properly.

Did you run the scan in safe mode, oh and you also need to disable the function the XP has set that automatically starts from a previous startup. It is like on automatic restore thing, but I don't remeber what it is called. Do that first then run the scan in safe mode. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT IN XP!! The viruses sometimes can't be removed fully unless you are running in safe mode.

You might also trying to uninstall the software that you mentioned while running in safe mode.

BTW how did you try removing it? through the program's uninstall feature or through the control panel?

What is MandrakeMove, what does it do?It is a liveOnCD linux distro.
It is a linux of the Mandrake brand (yes there is competition in linux).
Mandrake linux is the prefered linux distribution for the personnal user. Easy to use.

MandrakeMove is a bootable CD so you can boot on Mandrake linux without installing it. It is handy to try it before the switch. It can also be very useful, to just plain mandatory for disaster recovery, like the one you may have after messing too much with XP. Booting on MandrakeMove doesn't touch your computer. Once you remove the CD, your computer is back to its state just before when you put the CD.

Did you run the scan in safe mode, oh and you also need to disable the function the XP has set that automatically starts from a previous startup. It is like on automatic restore thing, but I don't remeber what it is called. Do that first then run the scan in safe mode. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT IN XP!! The viruses sometimes can't be removed fully unless you are running in safe mode.

You might also trying to uninstall the software that you mentioned while running in safe mode.

BTW how did you try removing it? through the program's uninstall feature or through the control panel?
Through the control panel if I remember rightly.

Its been so long since I've used it last that I've forgotten, how do you restart into safe mode?

Let me think....

Restart the computer
and once it is starting to boot just keeping pushing the F8 button
then select boot in safe mode

FIRST turn off System Restore (i remembered what it was called)

Go to the control panel and open the one named system, click on the system restore tab, it should be the first on in the second row and then click on the turn off system return box

I really hope this helps

about the program... Does it have a uninstall feature in it? If so it would in the same place as the program is in the start menu

You might try putting in the cd (if you can find it) and seeing if it gives you an option to uninstall. Usually the reason that programs don't uninstall is that the file that handles that is corrupted or missing.

Something else I just thought of.... I would sugguest deleting all of your temporary internet files and such every month or so, they don't take up a lot of space but it is good to do anyway.