Computer Problem RAM Full/Out of RAM? Dumps Programs.

needforsuv

Posts: 23   +4
I need help with this computer problem. I was doing stuff and then suddenly my computer decided to play up and drop some programs from memory (you can see this when ram usage suddenly drops by itself). Lots of flashing and programs saying out of RAM.
This has only happened once and I just want help troubleshooting what may cause it to behave like this.
When starting up it can sometimes freeze programs or application windows before the ram is full and when loading new tabs in chrome; etc.
NOTE: Just before this I tried to open PS CS5 64 Bit and it said something about initialization problems because there isn't enough ram. (One minute later when I reopened PS) The monitor briefly dropped aero and signal before coming back and about 30 seconds after that when I thought it was OK it did it again so I grabbed my phone to record it.
Specs/details:
i7 2600 with 16 GB ddr3 ram on H67 MB and a GTX 980Ti
Win 7 Pro 64 Bit
Swap file is located on a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD size is about the same as the amount of ram I have.
Up time when this happened:
1 Day
VIDEO: *EPILEPSY WARNING*
Attached is the Paint.NET crash dump.
Apart from this, only WORD 2010 gave an ERROR message which can be seen in the video.
 

Attachments

  • pdncrash.txt
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Too many programs (check Task Manager - I use a second monitor to check for this)
Fragmented virtual memory - defrag HDD (I zero out virtual, defrag HDD, reboot, and then open virtual with a large single allocation min of 10GB - this is then created in contiguous HDD space which I then re-boot again)
Program with corrupted garbage collector (would expect program fault to recur, should appear in event viewer as error)
Failing virtual memory (chkdsk might be a good step, test HDD with maker's utility)
Failing RAM (re-seat, test overnight with many passes memtest86)
 
There seems to be many (Schannel)
The following fatal alert was received: 40.
entries in event log and 2
The Desktop Window Manager has encountered a fatal error (0x8007000e)
errors
Defraging now
I'll run memtest later and see what happens
PS can you explain how to test virtual memory
 
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PS can you explain how to test virtual memory
Virtual memory is just space borrowed from HDD and used like it was very, very s l o w memory.
So, test your HDD thoroughly.

Back in the day (I think c. 1984), it was a major reason to buy HDD - to expand your 640k RAM which was 1/25,000 of your current RAM.

Search for error information using google - source and stop code - named application - faulting module - that kind of stuff.
 
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Virtual memory is just space borrowed from HDD and used like it was very, very s l o w memory.
So, test your HDD thoroughly.

Back in the day (I think c. 1984), it was a major reason to buy HDD - to expand your 640k RAM which was 1/25,000 of your current RAM.

Search for error information using google - source and stop code - named application - faulting module - that kind of stuff.
There don't seem to be any related fault codes except Paint.NET
and that was only using 1 file...
NO HDD faults I know of. Unfortunately I never get close to saturating both virtual and real memory which is a good thing but I've seen physical ram usage higher than this.
 
I'm translating what it seems you are really saying:

"There don't seem to be any related fault codes except Paint.NET and that was only using 1 file..." .... I found a candidate for corrupted file which probably needs to be replaced by fresh install.

"NO HDD faults I know of. " ..... I still have to get manufacturer's utility and test HDD {and/or} I still have to run chkdsk.

"Unfortunately I never get close to saturating both virtual and real memory which is a good thing but I've seen physical ram usage higher than this." ...Fully loaded, all the programs I need to be running use less than the RAM I have on board, so it must be either a hardware fault or a software fault and not just too many programs. Since I have seen it use much more, maybe I have some kind of malware which takes over resources. I should thoroughly scan.

" "(what you didn't say) ... I haven't run memtest86 overnight yet.

I hope I have captured a correct understanding as you are my only source of information about your problem. Please correct any misapprehensions. I find troubleshooting is like climbing a ladder - one step at a time - for if you skip steps, you fall off the ladder and...um..CRASH.
 
Except paint net was only in the ram (the image was pasted from clipboard)
I'll do a chkdsk, test with sea tools and do a memtest and update in 24 hours. Norton security is on and scans itself so I'm sure that's ok.
 
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"Except paint net was only in the ram"
Not installed on disk - arrives from cloud? - teflon?.....doubt it...of course, it is your machine and if you want so, it is.

"Norton security is on and scans itself so I'm sure that's ok."
If that were so, it wouldn't need this very often.
https://us.norton.com/support/tools/nbrt.html
You might still put it on the list - even if last.

I'm old, humor me.
 
So I ran
seatools - OK
chkdsk - ok
memtest (sequential - all tests, all cpus) - ok ( 2 passes, 23 hours)
maybe it was a chance thing?
still thats the weirdest windows "crash" I've seen
 
seatools - OK
chkdsk - ok
memtest (sequential - all tests, all cpus) - ok ( 2 passes, 23 hours)

maybe it was a chance thing?
still thats the weirdest windows "crash" I've seen
Also, you defragged.

So far tests show that problem was not hardware. It still could be a malfunction in the PSU or voltage regulation on the motherboard. Those are tough to test. I check voltages with multimeter and swap PSUs (not saying you should). If anyone has found a better way of testing, I would love to hear it.

That leaves SOFTWARE as the likely culprit.

You said initially, "When starting up it can sometimes freeze programs or application windows before the ram is full and when loading new tabs in chrome; etc.
NOTE: Just before this I tried to open PS CS5 64 Bit and it said something about initialization problems because there isn't enough ram. "

This sounds like bad heap control - where some program is failing to release memory. Since chkdsk didn't find anything, you need to review Event Viewer again - looking for relevant errors in applications. If you don't like Event Viewer you can try the more graphic 'Reliability History' (type in search box).

Since you do have a recurring problem with freezing on start up, you may want to reduce the apps in start and to load them after startup is run - looking for glitches. Putting Task Manager on a second monitor might help find any process which suddenly decides to gobble up RAM (processes tab, sort on memory).
 
Whats odd is that if I let it "warm up" aka let it sit for a while then ask it to do stuff it works fine
If you are saying that the problems go away if you let your system 'warm up' then there may be a hardware problem after all. Please describe again what happens during start - 'no warm up' and 'after warm up' (include idea of how long a 'warm up').
 
(it is 6 years old and pretty much it behaves liked this for the last 4-5 years, with the first 1-2 years it logging in quickly or in less than a minute after startup; in the 2-3 years after that (year 2.5-4.5) I let it warm up (maybe about 2-4 minutes) and everything is ok; in the past year or so I still let it warm up but I do sometimes get impatient and not let it warm up and it ends up taking longer from when I log in.

no warm up:
if I log in straight away ask it to open chrome or a program
(after taking a few minutes (1-3) on logging in) it would take another few minutes (1-2) to open everything and sometimes it will end up saying its not responding
(for example, chrome plays videos but the browser is frozen so only audio plays)
then after about 2 minutes everything works fine again

warm up: turn it on and let it sit on the password enter screen for say 5 minutes or something like that
then hit enter to login it takes less than a minute to go to the desktop and startup takes about 1 minute to do everything but everything opens pretty much right away once the startup programs are open (the startup load hasn't changed much - about 12-18 programs)

I've also noticed that in the past year or so shutdowns take forever (~5 minutes or about the same amount of time as how long it takes to warm up) before it was negligible (<2-3 minutes)

As expected of course the more Ram gets used the slower loading stuff may get

basically warming up gets rid of a lot of black "loading" screens (with cursor) and icons like the network being frozen doing the loading icon OR some apps not opening properly

Does windows even do anything with the user startup items and so on when you are just sitting on the login screen because to a certain extent it helps but its just that on my desktop it will only be "snappy" on login once I let it sit for 5 minutes

It almost behaves the same as my laptop when it ONLY had 8 GB of ram and chrome ate it all up EXCEPT this happens when BOTH its just turned on and little ram is being used AND when ram is full again

one odd thing with memtest is that it showed 16450 MB/s of ram speed when 1333 mhz should be 21 GB/s
 
Making sure I have it right:
- 6 year old machine
- Win 7 64 - original install?
- 1TB 7200 RPM HDD (original?)
- startup has 12-18 programs
Wow, I would need a warm up too.

OK, my guess is that your registry is about 10x its original size. When you start your computer, the system looks there to find out what it should be. It grows. This has slowed you down due to size. No easy way to change this. I do a clean install about every 3 years.

Startup - 18 programs is a large amount of work. Even slight conflicts or delays can make this very slow. Some of the programs you expect to be up and running may still be waiting for something.

Windows housekeeping - in addition Windows prepares for the next start by reviewing the start it is just finishing - this is supposed to give you a fast start, but I think it is wasted on older installations.

Before going back into your minor problem, I would make sure you have a very good series of backups for your data (dox, pix, music, vids, licenses, keys, etc). Test backup to make sure it has worked properly. Really important.

Then I would want you to think about buying a new drive, SSD if possible. I would then do a clean install and then build the system up with the programs you want - finishing with a 'restore' of all your data from your recent backup.

If not, I would suggest limiting your startup programs to 4 and loading the rest manually for a few days. Watching Task Manager you may just catch the glitchy program giving the freezes.
 
I have backups in place and I don't mind the startup time I just don't want to do a new/clean install
Keep in mind the my total startup programs is like 45-60 so I only have to ones on that I need
An SSD at 1TB is still rather expensive and I have too many programs to even try and build back up
I appreciate the help but if the original problem has nothing to do with my startup/niggles and so far its been ok
I may just keep an eye on it and put it down as a fluke

The thing with Task Manager though I didn't/ can't see a spike in ram usage when its almost full anyway (the rest would be the swap file)
As for the suspects... considering chrome is the first thing loaded up on that run and the first to get dumped it may be it
being a ram hog certainly increases the chances of something going awol
PS: Yep all original
 
"PS: Yep all original" - good machine.

So let the machine 'warm up' - it deserves it. Do plan to replace drive and do a clean install - the time will come.

I like to run Belarc Advisor every year or so - it gives me a pretty complete picture of the entire system.
 
Okay so an update..
PC is fine so far
firefox 51 was running ONE single tab (mini online game) that was not really responding and SOMEHOW it gobbled up 6-7 GB OF RAM with just 1 process
killed the process from task manager and um its now is using about 1.5-1.6 GB
EDIT: it seems to keep climbing at about 100 mb every 10-20 second
CRYPTOJACKING?
moved to another simplier site and memory usage is going down
then I go to new tab (default empty one) and it spikes UP then goes down to normal
and if I visit the simple site its still normal...
 
Regular use of a malware serving website can cause your problem. Sadly, contaminated ads appear too often. Do you use and ad blocker?
 
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