Windows running out of RAM

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Windows running out of RAM - Jan 2018

timmmay

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#226400 5-Jan-2018 14:36

My computer's been working great for 3-5 years. i7 2600K, 16GB RAM, two 128GB SSDs (OS / random data), and some spinning disks. Two spinning disks are ReFS formatted with storage spaces mirror, another is plain NTFS. I reboot every couple of days, and use sleep mode most nights.

The past week or so I've noticed it running out of RAM, then writing to the swap file on the OS SSD at 50 - 100MBps. During this time I typically have a web browser with 10 - 15 tabs open, Word, maybe putty - nothing that should take much RAM. Looking in the process list nothing it taking much RAM. Closing all the applications makes little to no difference.

Anyone else found this recently? Any ideas to resolve?

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#1929908 5-Jan-2018 15:01

By running out of RAM you mean this message pops up?

What does the memory composition look like in Task manager / Resource Monitor / RAM Map?

Is commit usage nearing the commit limit when you receive the message? Do you have enough free disk space?

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richms

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#1929909 5-Jan-2018 15:11

try killing off dwm and see if it all comes back. Seen that before and not sure what caused or cured it.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#1929910 5-Jan-2018 15:18

Sometimes I get that warning message, sometimes I just notice it's going super slow and can see that it's swapping.

I'll try killing DWM next time thanks Rich.

yitz

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#1929916 5-Jan-2018 15:27

With Sysinternals RAM Map, if you go Empty -> Empty standby list, does this immediately restore performance?

timmmay

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#1929922 5-Jan-2018 15:46

yitz: With Sysinternals RAM Map, if you go Empty -> Empty standby list, does this immediately restore performance?

Will try that next time it happens, thanks.

yitz

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#1929930 5-Jan-2018 16:06

In any case, take a screenshot of the memory composition (in Task Manager / Resource Monitor / RAM Map) when your system is working well (ideally after running your usual set of programs after a system restart) and compare it to a snapshot of memory composition when things are working not so well.

lNomNoml

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#1929983 5-Jan-2018 17:48

Check your virtual memory settings, run a virus scan with https://www.eset.com/int/home/online-scanner/ and Malwarebytes

timmmay

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#1930987 5-Jan-2018 19:03

lNomNoml:

Check your virtual memory settings, run a virus scan with https://www.eset.com/int/home/online-scanner/ and Malwarebytes

I ran a virus scan recently. What Virtual Memory settings do you think need checking? It's allocated 1 - 8GB on the main SSD.

Linuxluver

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#1930994 5-Jan-2018 19:12

I've had this problem for ages. Something is leaking memory. It doesn't matter what I close or even logging out entirely. I don't get the memory back until a complete reboot.

Basically it's every day.

Windows 10.

Reminds me of the Win 3.1 days.

This never happens on my Mac.

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lNomNoml

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#1931106 6-Jan-2018 01:15

timmmay:

lNomNoml:

Check your virtual memory settings, run a virus scan with https://www.eset.com/int/home/online-scanner/ and Malwarebytes

I ran a virus scan recently. What Virtual Memory settings do you think need checking? It's allocated 1 - 8GB on the main SSD.

That's fine then if you have set them yourself, if it's on automatic it can sometimes happen.

With reguards to the comment above try running a process of elimination by disabling programs from startup using msconfig, not that I think of it I agree it is most likely a memory leak on a program running on your PC.

Rickles

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#1931276 6-Jan-2018 14:05

Saw something similar on a friend's set a few months ago with similar multiple disks ... went to Defrag & Optimise Disks, and found that all the disks were set to be "optimised' on a daily basis.

Set them to monthly and problem cleared up.

richms

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#1931278 6-Jan-2018 14:17

Rickles:

Saw something similar on a friend's set a few months ago with similar multiple disks ... went to Defrag & Optimise Disks, and found that all the disks were set to be "optimised' on a daily basis.

Set them to monthly and problem cleared up.

Thats a weird one. I have mine set to daily and the internal SSDs take seconds to trim, the external mechanical USB ones are done in a minuite or so, no impact to the system whatsoever when I am using it. Perhaps there is some file system corruption or something wrong with one of the drives causing that to happen?

Richard rich.ms

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#1931280 6-Jan-2018 14:21

We still don't know if the OP is actually running out of RAM, he said the task manager said it's NOT running out of RAM. Are you sure it's running out of RAM and not something else?

richms

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#1931281 6-Jan-2018 14:25

Things like antivirus and similar cloak themselves from task manager, so if its those processes taking all the ram you will not see it in there. Very annoying when stupid AV is chewing all the CPU and it looks like its all going to taskmanager and notepad because the real culprit is hidden in there.

Richard rich.ms

Rickles

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#1931304 6-Jan-2018 14:30

>Thats a weird one. I have mine set to daily and the internal SSDs take seconds to trim, the external mechanical USB ones are done in a minuite or so, no impact to the system whatsoever when I am using it. Perhaps there is some file system corruption or something wrong with one of the drives causing that to happen?<

Indeed, but we were happy to have a solution. A day or so later he ran full defrags and I've heard nothing further (about 6 weeks now), so as you say, maybe one of the hard disks had a correctable fault for a time.

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