Page File issues

Hey, I've been having issues with my Page File Usage. I was having this issue a week ago, and then I just reformatted and it still persists. At this moment in time my PF Usage is at 1.8GB, kinda large. If I reset my computer the PF Usage also resets, like it should.

I have followed the directions in the tweak companion guide at www.tweakguides.com to set my virtual memory on p. 48 and I did the defragging and everything. Anyhow, I have 2GB of OCZ 2.5 CAS memory so I set my initial and max virtual memory to 200MB. Below that it says I have 200 MB allocated. I have "custom size" selected. But it still doesn't affect my PF Usage. I guess my first question would be if I'm even talking about the same thing. Page File Usage is the same thing as Virtual Memory, right? Everyone I've talked to has said they are. Also, here's a brief overview of my system:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB 90nm Rev. E San Diego (939)
Sound: Creative X-Fi Music Edition
Video: ATI (Sapphire) Radeon X800 XL 256 MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/DVI
RAM: 2GB 3200 DDR OCZ Dual Channel Platinum
PSU: 520W OCZ520ADJ PowerStream w/Adjustable Power Rails
MoBo: Asus A8N-E nForce4 Audio/GB-LAN/USB/PCI-E/SATAII/DDR/ATX 64 939
HDD: 160GB Maxtor IDE (from my old computer)

I have the latest drivers for all of these, so it shouldn't be driver issues. Can anyone help me? Could it be a hardware issue and not a software issue?

Can you post a Screenshot of your Processes tab in the Task Manager, with the Mem Usage and VM size columns?

The PF usage graph in task manager is not PF usage. The only way to determine PF usage using tools built into Windows is using the "%usage" counter in perfmon.

initial and max virtual memory to 200MB

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The pagefile should only be set a static size if it is in a partition of its own, however, even that is a bad idea. To find your optimal PF size for your amount of RAM and workload just run your most intensive applications for a while. After this just go into perfmon and use the "%usage" counter for the PF. This will tell you the percentage of PF being used at the moment.

After you have figured how much of the PF is actually being used set the initial size 4x that amount. The max should be 2x the number you just calculated.

Page File Usage is the same thing as Virtual Memory

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No. The term "virtual memory" includes several different mechanisms. One of those involves using files on the disk to store parts of virtual address space that won't all fit in RAM at the same time. The paging file is just one of those files.

Everyone I've talked to has said they are. Also, here's a brief overview of my system:

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I definitely advise ignoring their advise then.

And just in case it is helpful, I got this blue screen of death this weekend and this was why I reformatted:



ps, I'm hosting these at photobucket, but as you can see it is crap quality, so if you have any other suggestions for places to host them I'd appreciate it.

Well, I'm not so much worried about my optimal amount of Virtual Memory as I am my 2GB of Page File Usage and that it continually increases. Also, I agree that I shouldn't necessarily listen to the other people's advice, which is why I am now asking here. But, I did ask them what their PF Usage was and they all responded that it was less than 800MB in all cases and in the majority of cases it was around 500-600MB, which is 1/4 to 1/3 of what my PF Usage is.

As I already said the graph in task manager is not PF usage. The only way to find out PF usage with tools built into Windows is through perfmon.

No. The term "virtual memory" includes several different mechanisms. One of those involves using files on the disk to store parts of virtual address space that won't all fit in RAM at the same time. The paging file is just one of those files.

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Give that man a cigar! Virtual memory schemes include both paging and segmentation. But that's beyond the scope of this thread. (Anyone who tells you that paging and virtual memory are the same thing is both right and wrong. Wrong because it's not the only way.)

As an aside--the Stop 0xFC that you got is related to both Physical Address Extension and the No Execute bit:

In Windows XP SP2 and Server 2003 SP1, the two are inexorably linked. The two level address translation scheme used by the non-PAE kernel does not have enough room to accommodate any further descriptive information about individual pages of memory. The three-level scheme that PAE necessitates allows the new NX attribute to be used. (It is simply a bit in the Page Table Entry (PTE) that indicates the memory in this location is not allowed to be referenced by the instruction pointer. “Do Not Run Under Penalty of Death”.)

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"Do Not Run Under Penalty of Death" roughly means "If this is attempted to be executed...die immediately". Note that, in this case, dying immediately is almost always less damaging than permitting execution in that area.

The article above goes on further to mention another disturbing fact--that with the /noexecute switch on without the /PAE switch in ntldr, the kernel will NOT hand out memory above 4GiB, thus nuking (for the moment) the sole purpose of the 64-bit processor. On the gripping hand, however, including the /PAE switch may result in problems since driver writers are quite careless and haven't fixed everything yet.

RagingOrgyNuns said:

And just in case it is helpful, I got this blue screen of death this weekend and this was why I reformatted:

ps, I'm hosting these at photobucket, but as you can see it is crap quality, so if you have any other suggestions for places to host them I'd appreciate it.

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I cannot see what program would even make you use more than a gig of RAM. Using 1.94gb of RAM browsing the internet is ridiculous... and the fact you have 3 iexplore.exes is strange... Something is definitely not right here.

3 Instances of Iexplorer.exe means 3 windows open.

Capatain Newbie.. great info there. Only one thing I disagree with... the "sole purpose" of a 64bit machine is not to address more the 4Binary GBs of memory. Its a perk definitely but no the sole reason.

Anywho.

Setting your pagefile will only take effect on restart. The more RAM you have the less PF you should need.

The perfmon method is the best method and setting a static PF is the best way to go. (I believe you should not even set a min max. Just set it too whatever size you need...)

For the last 2-3 years I have run 1 GB of RAM with no pagefile at all. And have not had any problems. This is not the norm though as games like BF2 like a 2 GB PF IIRC.

Also if you run photoshop CS or CS2 do not put the PF on the same drive that Photoshop is installed on as the scratchfile tends to interfere with it.

Keep us posted on how it turns out for you

Capatain Newbie.. great info there. Only one thing I disagree with... the "sole purpose" of a 64bit machine is not to address more the 4Binary GBs of memory. Its a perk definitely but no the sole reason.

Click to expand...

True...

There are the 64-bit register extensions (RAX, RBX, etc.), along with the addition of a bunch of special purpose registers by AMD to their version of the 64-bit platform. It should, however, be pointed out that physical addresses on the '64-bit' x86 processors are 40 bits, and that virtual/logical addresses are 48 bits, and not 64 bits as is widely believed. (AMD tech docs.)

So BrutalDrew, where is Perfmon, I'm pretty new and inexperienced in regards to all of this, if you hadn't noticed. And also, even if that isn't the PF Usage like you say, don't you find it disturbing that my PF Usage is that high in Task Manager?

Neuromancer- I've already reset a few times and it hasn't seemed to change anything, it just keeps creeping up.

Also, I've noticed slow shutdown times, sometimes up to 2 minutes or so, and with what I have in my box, it should be a lot quicker than that.

Type Perfmon in the run box... its also listed in control panel under administrative tools

Just called performance there

Ok, I see that, but what does it mean?

RagingOrgyNuns said:

Ok, I see that, but what does it mean?

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Open performance monitor, highlight any counters running and click the X in the tools menu to get rid of the defaults then click the + sign on the tools menus, choose Paging File in the Performance object drop down box, then highlight %Usage and then click Add. Watch the graph of pagefile size (as a %) as you load and run programs. You can also set up Processes as the performance object, highlight Page File Bytes, then you can pick and choose programs to monitor by highlighting them (and clicking Add) in the select instances from list box. You can adjust various display properties by right clicking the graph and choosing the appropriate tab. Sometimes you have to change Scale to other than default under the Data tab to get everything on one graph. Also the Explain box is very helpfull.

As an aside another usefull/fun thing to monitor is RAS Total, Bytes received/Sec and Bytes sent/Sec.

Also, when setting pagefile size I choose not to let windows manage the size, but choose a max and min that are the SAME size. This will prevent the pagefile from fragmenting.

In general the pagefile should be about 1-1/2 times the memory installed. Larger for smaller amounts of installed memory and conversely smaller for larger amounts of memory, and as large as 2 gigs for some games.

Ok, so I did that and it says that my Page File of 500MB (I changed it just to see if having a larger one would make it more stable, it didn't) and the graph is a little blue line at the very top of the performance window. 99.999% Average, Maximum, and Minimum, and last over the past two minutes and all I am running is this window, Task Manager, and Perfmon, plus my basic programs that are in the picture above. And BTW, Task Manager says my PF Usage is at 1.37GB right now.

So I guess I just need to find out what is using that PF then. Is there a way to find out which program is using it all?

Can you show the Task Manager Processes Tab, with the column for VM Size enabled? To show that column, go to View and Select Columns, then checkmark VM size. Then Post a SS.

This is right after a reset.

PS, any clue why sometimes my pictures are clear and other times they are blurry and you can't read them?

That SS looks fine, only 321MB of PF/Ram being used. Can you get a SS when it shows your PF usage being higher?

Also, to clear things up about what has been said above about the PF graph under the Task Manager. That graph shows a combination of Ram and Page File usage. If you look in the bottom left corner of that window (under Commit Charge), it will indicate how much of that is actual Page File usage. Total = current usage, Limit = total that can be used, and Peak = the most that has been used.

Any possibility of this being virus/spyware related?


I know you just reformatted but I haven't seen any indication of using any anti-virus or spyware tools, and if your usage patterns are the same as before the reformat maybe you picked up the same/similar virus?

I've got Adaware and spybot and I've been running both. I've also got McAfee Shield, it's some virus program that I have to use in order to connect to the net here. I used to have Avast! but since it wasn't recognized as virus protection for some reason by the program I have to use to connect to the net they made me install McAfee shield as well. Also, so far my usage is quite limited compared to before. I am only visiting a couple of forums that I regularly go to, this one, another one that I am asking the same question at and 2 browser games, which shouldn't be at fault either. I'm only dling programs that I know are safe, such as spybot and adaware and only from safe sites such as cnet. So, it shouldn't be a virus or spyware, and I kinda think the odds of me picking up a virus that does the exact same thing as before within 2 hours of reformatting is a little unlikely.

Oh, and I'll get a picture when it is higher later today. Gotta do homework now though.