"PCR" wrote in
:
Top-posted intro:
WOW... Thanks for such a comprehensive reply. Really nice of
you.
thanatoid wrote:
| Hi gang.
|
| Something a little strange is happening.
|
| I am running 98SELite on a 2GHz machine with 1GB of RAM. I
| have the following lines in system.ini and everything runs
| fine (but... see later):
|
| [vcache]
| MinFileCache=0
| MaxFileCache=524288
That should be fine.
| (another section)
| MinPagingFileSize=204800
| MaxPagingFileSize=204800
Setting a max size for the swap file could get you in deep
trouble with certain MVPs! Better not let Harper see this
in particular! However, I doubt it affects resources.
No, it doesn't, I was just describing the sys setup. The damn
resources have 64K and that's that. And apparently NO program
(except Ctl-Alt-Del) to free them up. SIGH.
| (I haven't used ANY of the swap file since I put in the
| 1GB RAM
If the swap file isn't being used very often, consider...
"ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1"
...in System.ini, [386.Enh] Section.
I have that line in there but I didn't think it was worth
mentioning. I don't know if THAT accounts for the swap file not
being used at all, or whether it's the 1GB of RAM, but whatever.
But I'm not sure it has anything to do with resources. And
I can't quite recall what it is supposed to do! Maybe it
reverts swap file handling back to Win95 methods, which I
think spent less time anticipating the size to make the
swap file. This is probably what you want to do-- instead
of setting the max/min to the same number!
I don't know. I've had the swap file set to min=max, about 2.5
(this time it's just 200MB since nothing ever uses it anyway :-)
, ever since 1998 or so. Hard to get rid of some habits.
And EVERYBODY having a different opinion on the RIGHT way to set
it up doesn't help either!
| Here's the weirdness:
|
| I seem to be running out of system resources all the time
| and quite rapidly - much more so than when I still had
| just 256 MB of RAM. After about ½ hr on the web, I get to
| about 20% on the 1st and 3rd resource and sometimes I have
| to reboot a few minutes later.
Does it happen just by connecting to the WEB (i.e., you've
clicked your connectoid, thanatoid)-- or do you have to do
something like NG activity, browsing, or downloading?
Maybe...
No, only the web, which is why after "sleeping" on it I have
decided that it must be the Opera and FFox browsers... See my
reply to Franc for more musings on browsers...
Do you have "System Monitor" in START... System Tools? If
not, get it from "START, Settings, Control Panel,
Add/Remove Programs, Windows Setup tab, D-Clk System Tools,
check System Monitor, OK, Apply, OK". May as well take
"Resource Meter", too. Now, go through the menus and at
least have it display
(a) Swap file in use.
(b) Swap file size.
(c) Swappable memory.
(d) Unused physical memory.
(e) Allocated memory.
(f) Disk cache size.
(g) Locked memory
(h) Other memory
(i) Kernel Processor Usage
(j) Kernel Threads
Keep an eye especially on Swap File in Use & Disk Cache
Size before/after the problem begins.
I feel /terrible/ saying this after you went to so much trouble
describing the procedure, but I don't think I can muster up the
patience to go through such a process. Also, I have played with
System Monitor and I find it 50% mystifying and 50% annoying. I
just LOVE it when you click the ? on "page discards" and it
tells you "shows page discards", or something. How f*g helpful.
So I have basically decided to forget about its existence.
SNIP
Here is what I always post about resources...
Generally, if you've got any Resources at all, you've got
enough (said Harper or Martell). This is because it won't
blow, until Resources are zero. Then, you get an out of
memory error (no matter how much RAM you've got).
Yes, I sort of knew that and I read more about it as well.
I have one of many technicians' favorite tools, a RAM MANAGER!!!
The one I use on this machine is FreeRAM XP Pro 1.40. It's free,
and works on 9x-XP. (Maybe Vista, although WHO CARES ;-)
Leaving aside the endless discussion of whether its basic
functionality is of /any/ use to anyone whatsoever, it does have
ONE feature which I think /anyone/ will agree is useful... You
can set it to warn you when the damn System Resources fall below
a certain percentage. In fact, that's the only reason I know
that's what's been happening, other than system fonts all over
the screen and no icons within the Alt-Tab switching...
Perhaps put Resource Meter in your Tray, to see how low
they get. A reboot would clear it, but, obviously, it's
better to cleanup your Startup Group. Do you have "Resource
Meter" in START... System Tools? If not, get it from
"START, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs,
Windows Setup tab, D-Clk System Tools, check System
Resource Meter, OK, Apply, OK". May as well take "System
Monitor", too.
Aarggh! ;-)
Right now FreeRAM XP is telling me I have 65%, 65%, and 77%. Not
bad. I have XNews running, Firefox is loaded but I haven't
gotten around to going to a site with it yet (trying to find the
link as I write this!). Not bad.
(A little later, I have 2 FFox windows open in addition to
above, and I am at 56%, 56%, 69%. Still not bad. There were NO
images to speak of on any of the pages I have gone through.)
The meter will show three figures: System, User & GDI.
System is set to the lower of the others. GDI, I take to be
the province of one's Display Adapter & out of one's
control, except by prayer maybe. I know my GDI resources
went up after switching to an LSD
ahem...
monitor.
Very interesting,. Another argument for my arsenal of anti-LCD
monitor information.
Then again, everybody uses XP and Vista, so...
User Resources
can be controlled by limiting the number of programs
running.
http://www.pcmag.com/ 's StartUpCop has "undo", and it is
more than a combination of "START, Run, MSInfo32, Software
Environment, Startup Programs" and "START, Run, MSConfig,
Startup tab". It can even do a permanent delete from the
Startup Group. This is configurable, and one may maintain
multiple configurations of items to include in the Group.
I use IARSN's TaskInfo 2000, and have been for years. The
freeware version is better than the paid version! Anyway, it's
great at showing RAM used and dozens of other things, and it
will also kill programs that don't show up or won't die with
TaskManager.
For startup, I have StartUp Changer 2000, and my startup is VERY
conservative. After a boot up, doing nothing, I have 80-90& (I
forget exactly) in all 3 Sys Resources.
Resources are starting to make me as crazy as TIFs now. I
don't fully understand it, my book ("Windows 98 Secrets"
[Livingston/Straub]), pp.1126-1127, says, Resources are
lists (aka heaps). "The lists point to areas of memory
where user interface elements (and other items) are stored
-- things like dialog boxes, windows, and so on." From
that, I divine these are lists of POINTERS to locations in
RAM. These lists have a maximum size, and when they are
used up, your resources are gone. Windows generates an out
of memory message upon the next request that needs space in
a list. Even if you have plenty of RAM, the list won't get
any longer. Even though each entry in the 32-bit heap can
address an area of RAM 2 GB away, that also doesn't make
the list any longer. I just don't know how long that list
is; the book didn't say. And that's as close as I've come
to understanding Resources.
Yes, I love these explanations. /Generally/ speaking, I have
found that if you read something incomprehensible over again, it
makes a little more sense every time - I found this with
literature as well as technical stuff. So If I read the above 5
times I( would probably understand it.
Windows 3.1x had four 16-bit heaps, three for the User
resource & one for the GDI (Graphic Device Interface).
These could only address 64K each or 256K in total, "to
store the objects used in the user interface and displayed
on your screen". In Windows 95/98 the three User heaps have
been combined to one 32-bit heap, capable of addressing 2GB
of RAM. Because some 3.1x applications managed resources
lists directly, instead of through APIs (application
program interfaces), Microsoft retained the 16-bit GDI
heap. But some of the elements in it were moved to the
32-bit heap. Then follows a table of ten Resources elements
and the limits to them in Windows 3.1x compared to Windows
95/98. I see no contradiction to Livingston/Straub in the
article "Core System Components", on the Windows 98
Resource Kit.
Where's my Advil bottle...
Thanks again!
t.