Question about 'Windows says it's "Dangerously Low on System Resources"'
Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by IVORY COAST
(10 messages posted)
I have a question about Windows
says it's "Dangerously Low on System Resources":
hi!
it looks like you are all having all the problems i was having. quite nerve racking!!!!
here are all my notes on the subject. i am posting it here, in the hopes it will
help you all. my notes are all in all caps so here goes. unfortunately it didn't
post any of the pictures.
WARNING!!!!!!! BEFORE YOU DO ANY THING READ THE WHOLE THING THROUGH. MAKE SURE
YOU BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY CHANGES TO IT. NEVER, NEVER, EVER
TRY TO REMOVE ANYTHING FROM START UP BY USING MSCONFIG. THIS CAUSES THEM TO MULTIPY
IN THE REGISTRY INTO RUN ONCE, RUN TWICE, RUN THREE TIMES, ETC.
OUT OF RESOURCES
I KEPT GETTING A MESSAGE "SYSTEM IS RUNNING LOW ON RESOURCES" OR " INCREASE THE #
OF FILES" OR SYSTEM IS RUNNING DANGEROUSLY LOW ON RESOURCES".
I FOUND SEVERAL THINGS THAT HELPED:
1. GO INTO THE SYSTEM DEVICE MANAGER AND FOR EVERY HARD DRIVE CHECK THE DMA
BOX. DO THAT FOR THE CD ROM BURNER AND THE PLAYER TOO.
2. TO MAKE THE COMPUTER READ THE LONG FILE NAMES ADD THE FOLLOWING LINE: SET
DOS16M=2 TO THE BEGINING OF THE AUTOEXECT BAT FILE.
3. REWRITE THE CONFIG SYS AS FOLLOWS:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS/M:1
FILES=200
BUFFERS=80
STACKS=18,256
DOS=HIGH,UMB
rem DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
rem DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
rem DEVICE=ATAP_CD.SYS /S:2 /D:OEMMCD001
I FORGOT WHAT EACH LINE DOES BUT I STOPPED GETTING THE "ADD FILES" WARNING AFTER
I DID THIS. THE EMM386 LINES HAVE TO STAY REMMED OUT BECAUSE IF YOU ACTIVATE THEM
I LOSE MY VIRTUAL MEMORY AND YOU HAVE TO REINSTALL WINDOWS 98 SE OVER WINDOWS 98
SE. I DON'T KNOW WHY THIS DOES THIS.
4. IF YOU STILL RUN OUT OF MEMORY YOU CAN REMOVE THE THE LITTLE ICONS BELOW THE
CLOCK AND THIS FREES UP MEMORY. SPYWARE DOCTOR WEBSHOTS AND MAGIC DESKTOP USE A
LOT OF MEMORY. JUST GOING ONLINE USES A LOT MEMORY. SOMETIMES WHEN INVESTOGRAPH
PLUS STARTS MISSING ICONS, THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REMOVE THESE CLOCK ICONS.
5. IF YOU STILL HAVE TROUBLE YOU JUST HAVE TO RESTART YOUR COMPUTER.
6. NOTE: I TRIED LIMITING VIRTUAL MEMORY AND ADDING LIMITS TO VCACHE BUT ALL THAT
DID WAS MESS UP MY COMPUTER I HAD TO REINSTALL WINDOWS 98 SE. NORTON DIDN'T LIKE
IT EITHER IT WOULDN'T RUN. WINDOWS 98 SE MANAGES THE VIRTUAL MEMORY SO THERE REALLY
IS NO NEED TO CHANGE THIS. I THINK THIS IS BECAUSE I HADN'T CHANGED THE CONFIG SYS
AND THE AUTOEXECT BAT. IT COULD ALSO BE BECAUSE I FOLLOWED NORTON'S SUGGEST TO
LIMIT TO 512. THAT DOES NOT WORK. I DID USE STEP BELLOW AND THIS WORKS WELL!
7. IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH FAST SHUT DOWN GO TO MSCONFIG
START
RUN
MSCONFIG
GENERAL TAB
ADVANCED
CHECK THE BOX DISABLE FAST SHUT DOWN (IF YOU HAVE THE SHUTDOWN PATCH INSTALLED
THIS BUTTON MIGHT NOT BE THERE)
I DON'T REMEMBER DOING THIS BUT THE BOX LIMIT MEMORY IS CHECKED AND SET TO 999.
8. NOTE: I HAVE 1 GIG OF MEMORY. WINDOWS 98 SE WILL WORK WITH 1.5 GIGS OF MEMORY.
SOME SAY UP TO 4 GIGS OF MEMORY. SOME SAY THE OFFICIAL LIMIT IS NOW 1 GIG. IF
YOU HAVE FALSE OUT OF MEMORY WARNINGS, GO TO THE SYSTEM INI AND TYPE THE FOLLOWING:
[vcache]
MaxFileCache=524288 I THINK MaxFileCache=512000 works better.
IF THE COMPUTER KEEPS RESTARTING, GO TO THE SYSTEM INI AND TYPE THE FOLLOWING:
[386enh]
MaxPhysPage=40000
9. ACCORDING TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS 98 SE DOES NOT SUPPORT BOOT DELAY, SO I DIDN'T
MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THIS.
10. I DIDN'T MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE REGISTRY AND THERE WAS NOTHING AFTER THE WORD
RUN OR LOAD IN THE WIN INI SO I DIDN'T CHANGE THIS EITHER.
11. I DID INSTALL THE WPNPINS.EXE. THAT SEEMED TO HELP EXTENSIVELY WITH THE LOSS
OF ICONS IN INVESTOGRAPH PLUS, as long as spyware doctor icon is not on taskbar.
NOTE: I THEN INSTALLED THE LARGEAPP.EXE ON TOP OF IT. WORKS GREAT!
this can be downloaded at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q86230/
q86230 discusses: PRB:avoiding "insufficient memory to run"errors.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/83363/EN-US/
unlocking large-model extra data segments q83363
12. I UNINSTALLED SPYWARE DOCTOR. THAT EATS UP A LOT OF MEMORY. UNINSTALLING IT
HELPED KEEP ME FROM LOSING MY INVESTOGRAPH PLUS ICONS. SPYWARE DOCTOR KEPT GIVING
FALSE POSITIVES ANYWAY.
13. I WENT INTO NORTON SYSTEM WORKS OPTIONS AND REMOVED CLEAN SWEEP FROM START UP.
NOW WHEN YOU HIT BEGIN CHECK UP IT STILL CHECKS FOR FREE SPACE. SO THIS IS OK.
HAVING UNINSTALLED SPYWARE DOCTOR AND HAVING REMOVED NORTON CLEAN SWEEP FROM START
UP LETS ME BOOT UP WITH:
SYSTEM RESOURCES @ 70% FREE
USER RESOURCES @ 70% FREE
GDI RESOURCES @ 97% FREE
THIS LEAVES ME WITH THE FOLLOWING ICONS AT START UP:
IF I THEN EXIT THINGS 1 BY ONE AFTER I HAVE STARTED UP I GET THE FOLLOWING:
EXIT WEBSHOTS EXIT ANYDVD EXIT MAGIC EXIT NETSCAPE
DESKTOP
72% 75% 75% 77%
72% 75% 75% 77%
97% 97% 97% 97%
SO THAT'S THE MAXIMUM I CAN GET.
NOTE: IF YOU CHECK THE BOX " HIDE THE ICON" INSIDE THE ANYDVD PROGRAM THE ICON WILL
DISAPPEAR FROM UNDER THE CLOCK BUT YOU WON'T GET ANY MORE RESOURCES SO LEAVE THE
BOX UNCHECKED AND TURN IT OFF AFTER YOU START UP.
SO WITH JUST THE SKELTON ICONS BELLOW:
YOU'LL HAVE:
SYSTEM RESOURCES @ 77% FREE
USER RESOURCES @ 77% FREE
GDI RESOURCES @ 97% FREE
14. I THINK I MAY HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION TO THE DISAPPEARING ICONS IN INVESTOGRAPH
PLUS. I FOUND A PROGRAM THAT INCREASES THE ICON CACHE. YOU PUT IT ON YOUR DESKTOP
AND DOUBLE CLICK ON IT AND IT ADDS TEXT TO THE REGISTRY TO INCREASE IT. ONCE THAT
IS DONE THEN THAT'S IT YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN, UNLESS OF COURSE YOU REFORMAT
THE DRIVE. YOU'LL FIND THE PROGRAM ALONG WITH COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS UNDER SCREENCAPTURE
INCREASE ICON CHACHE. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THIS FROM: http://www.5starsupport.com/info/techinfo4.htm
THE SYSTEM, USER AND GDI RESOURCES IN GENERAL LOST 2 PERCENT. SO THIS IS NOT BAD.
NOTE: YOU SURE CAN OPEN A LOT OF NETSCAPE WINDOWS WITH THIS CHANGE. JUST WONDERFUL!
15. ANYDVD I FOUND OUT IF YOU UNCHECK THE AUTOSTART IN SETTINGS THE ANYDVD ICON DISAPPEARS
FROM THE TASKBAR. THEN YOU CAN RUN, WORDPAD CSI, POSITION MANAGER, INTERNET, NETSCAPE,
BOTH SNAGIT 4.36 AND 7.2, CATALOG BROWSER. THIS TOOK THE RESOURSES DOWN TO:
SYSTEM RESOURCES @ 31% FREE
USER RESOURCES @ 31% FREE
GDI RESOURCES @ 56% FREE
YET, I WAS STILL ABLE TO OPEN INVESTOGRAPH PLUS WITHOUT LOSING THE ICONS. SO THIS
ICON CACHE IS PRETTY GOOD. JUST CAN'T GET THE RESOURCES DOWN TO0 LOW OR IT WILL
CRASH.
16. THEN GO TO:
START
SETTINGS
FOLDER OPTIONS
VIEW
ICON CACH SIZE
AND SET IT TO 8192
NOW WHEN YOU OPEN TONS OF NETSCAPE PAGES IT WON'T CRASH WHEN YOU OPEN INVESTOGRAPH
PLUS AND IT WON'T FREEZE UP EITHER.
NOTE: I GOT EVEN MORE ICON CACHE BY CHANGING ALL THE 8192 LINES TO 9000 IN THE REGISTRY.
17. ONE THING I SHOULD NOTE: UNDER [386Enh] THERE IS A LINE
MinPagingFileSize=1044480
I DIDN'T PUT IT THERE AT LEAST NOT THAT I CAN RECALL. AN INTERNET SEARCH SAID,
" IT DEFINES THE LOWER LIMIT OF THE SWAPFILE". LIMITING THE LOWER LIMIT IS FINE
BUT NEVER LIMIT THE UPPER LIMIT. IF WINDOWS NEEDS MORE ROOM IN THE SWAPFILE AND
IT CAN'T GET IT, THE SYSTEM WILL CRASH.
18. SHUTDOWN I WAS HAVING SOME TROUBLE SHUTTING DOWN WINDOWS AFTER AN INSTALL.
ALSO, IF I TURNED OFF ALL THE PROGRAMS AND DIDN'T COUNT TO 20 BEFORE SHUTING DOWN
IT WOULD HANG ON THE WINDOW "WINDOWS IS SHUTING DOWN". SO I STARTED LOOKING AT MY
SHUTDOWN STUFF. I FOUND AND ARTICLE INTITLED WINDOWS SHUTDOWN AND RESTART CENTER
TOUBLESHOOTING IN 15 STEPS. SO I ALREADY HAD THESE LINES IN THE CONFIG.SYS BUT THE
LINE DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS|EMM386.EXE HAD TO BE KEPTED REMMED OUT BECAUSE IF I STARTED
THE COMPUTER WITHOUT THE REM IT WOULD GIVE SOMETHING ABOUT VM86MMGR DID NOT LOAD
OR INSTALL QUIT 1 OR MORE DEVICES IN THE AUTO EXECT.BAT OR CONFIG FILES OR THE FOLLOWING
ERROR MESSAGE:
INSUFFICIENT MEMORY TO INITIALIZE WINDOWS.
QUIT ONE OR MORE MEMORY- RESIDENT PROGRAMS OR REMOVE UNNECESSARY UTILITIES FROM YOUR
CONFIG.SYS AND CLOSE AUTO EXECT.BAT FILES, AND RESTART YOUR COMPUTER.
WE HAD STOPPED THIS INITIALLY BY REMMING OUT ALL THE CONFIG SYS LINES:
rem DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
rem DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
rem DEVICE=EMM386.EXE
rem DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
rem FILES=30
rem DEVICE=ATAP_CD.SYS /S:2 /D:OEMMCD001
THEN I MADE ALL THE CHANGES LISTED ABOVE AND THE CONFIG.SYS LOOKED LIKE THIS:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS/M:1
FILES=200
BUFFERS=80
STACKS=18,256
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS
rem DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
rem DEVICE=ATAP_CD.SYS /S:2 /D:OEMMCD001
I ADDED THE NOEMS X=A000-F7FF LINE
3 ZEROS
SO THAT IT LOOKED LIKE THIS:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS/M:1
FILES=200
BUFFERS=80
STACKS=18,256
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=A000-F7FF
rem DEVICE=ATAP_CD.SYS /S:2 /D:OEMMCD001
NUMLOCK=ON
I REBOOTED AND PRESTO THE ERROR MESSAGE DISAPEARED. I TOOK OUT THE LINE AND REBOOTED.
I GOT THE SAME ERROR MESSAGE BUT TO MY SURPRISE IT SAID THE EMM WAS UNINSTALLED
AND THE 386 WAS INSTALLED. SO, I PUT BACK THE NOEMS X=A000-F7FF LINE AND LEFT IT
UNREMMED.
IT SEEMS TO BOOT UP FASTER. NOW WE WILL SEE IF THIS ALSO CURES THE SHUT DOWN PROBLEMS.
NOTE: NOW YOU CAN ALSO REMOVE THE REM FROM THE DEVICE=ATAPI LINE OR LEAVE IT SEEMS
TO WORK EITHER WAY. I TESTED IT BY RUNNING A CLEANING DISK for the cd player. THE
ONLY DIFFERENCE SEEMS TO BE THAT WITHOUT THE REM THE DRIVER SHOWS UP ON BOOT UP.
19. LOST DATA: I HAD SOME PROBLEMS 1 DAY ALL THE SNAGIT JPGS OF THE DIABETES NATURAL
CURES DISAPPEARED. CHECKING IN THE 293887 UP ON BOTH THE F DRIVE AND THE H DRIVE
SHOWED THAT THE Q273017 WAS IFSMGR.VXD 4.10.0.2222 WAS INVALID. THE VERSION ...2222
IS INSTALLED WITH THE WINDOWS 98 SE DISK.
ACCORDING TO MICROSOFT NOT HAVING THE IFSMGR.VXD VERSION 4.10.0.2225 CAN KEEP THE
CACHE FROM BEING WRITTEN TO DISK THUS CAUSING A LOSS OF DATA AND CAUSE THE SCANDISK
TO RUN EVEN IF YOU HAD A NORMAL SHUTDOWN.
NOTE: AFTER INSTALLING THIS, WINDOWS HUNG ON SHUTDOWN AT THE PAGE "WINDOWS IS SHUTTING
DOWN". SO I WENT INTO THE VERSION CONFLICT MANAGER AND RESTORED THE ifsmgr.vxd.
IT HUNG AT THE CURSOR SO I RESTORED THE asycfilt.dll to version 2.40.4277.1
IT SHUTS DOWN NOW.
SO I GUESS INSTALLING THE CACHE WRITE DELAY IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. THERE IS A REGISTRY
WORK AROUND THAT CAN BE DONE BUT I WILL NOT ADD THIS UNLESS I LOOSE ALL MY DATA AGAIN.
20. KEEP YOUR RESOURCE METER ON DURING ALL THIS. IF IT GOES INTO RED CLOSE SOME
PROGRAMS. HURRY!
START
PROGRAMS
ACCESSORIES
SYSTEM TOOLS
RESOURCE METER
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