Virtual Memory low / increasing swap file

[Dolby]

Hi,

I have a Celeron D 1.6ghz that I use as a server. No monitor, no keyboard, no mouse and it only runs 1 piece of 3 year old software 24/7. I have 512MB RAM and WIndows XP.

This morning I remote into the desktop and see the low virtual memory warnings. Why does it do this as no one uses this PC? I went to task manager and my PF usuage is 1.65GB. On a clean boot this is only 266MB.

What is this? :/ Why do I run so low?

 

[Perdition]

Sounds like a memory leak, any indication in the task manager which process is using all that memory?

 

[ghalied]

page file/virtual memory/swap file all the same thing, your system is low on physical memory and now windows is using a portion of the hdd as memory, solution - install more physical memory

 

[kronoSX]

right,more memory will fix it,ie if thereis not a hogger.

 

[|tera|]

You probably just had many applications open at the time, RAM will help yes, but do this:

Go into system properties, right click on My Computer, select properties, click advanced>under performance click settings> advanced> under virtual memory, click change.

Now, take the amount of RAM you have installed and multiply it by 3.8, Use custom size, set the initial value to the value you worked out, set the maximum size about 50% more than that,

So if you've got 512mb RAM, multiply by 3.8 =1945.6 + 50% = 3000

Set it and restart if it asks to.

Should be sorted

 

[Conspirator]

Definitely a memory leak. Like Perdition said, check in task manager what program is eating all the memory and get rid of it. Ideally permanently.

If its your 3 year old program thats eating all the memory then you have a problem, which more memory cannot fix. i.e. Add another 1Gig of memory and it'll eat that too in due time.

 

[bekdik]

If you have a memory leak, it could be worth scheduling a reboot once in a while when it's not heavily in use. You could schedule shutdown to do it.

 

[killadoob]

why just add more memory like tera said will sort out the problem

 

[Perdition]

why just add more memory like tera said will sort out the problem

No it won't, the application will just use whatever memory is thrown at it. If the program no longer fits in physical memory the hard drive will start thrashing continuously and the whole machine will slow down... not an optimal situation. 512MB should be plenty of physical memory for XP and one application. You should not have to buy more memory or increase the swap file size to accomodate a badly behaving application.

 

[The_Techie]

Plug another 512MB in and see if there's an improvement