Page file bloating/problem

[Metallica]

I've recently reformatted a machine. I'm having an issue where the pagefile bloats up to 3 - 4 gb (machine has 1 gb of ram, running windows xp 32b) over the course of a few hours. This obviously brings the machine to a crawl. This is a fresh image, only seen internet for drivers/anti virus downloads.

I've deployed this image to 60 identical machines on our network, and they all are having this issue. Something had to of gone wrong with the original install. Although, it this issue was not present when I was installing the original image.

Any ideas/thoughts?

 

[Automata]

I would start by grabbing a system off the floor finding out what is taking up the RAM. Is the OS up to date? Could be Windows Updates or AV scans, etc. That isn't a lot of memory.

 

[Metallica]

I would start by grabbing a system off the floor finding out what is taking up the RAM. Is the OS up to date? Could be Windows Updates or AV scans, etc. That isn't a lot of memory.

It's windows XP and it is fully up to date. When the machine has just been freshly restarted, it uses about 350mb PF. Then after about an hour or two of general usage it will be using about 1.5gb. If the machine is left on all day with general usage, it will get up to 5gb.

All of the machines that I've transferred this image to 60 machines (before I realized the problem) and all of them are having the same issue. I cannot figure out what could be eating of all of the PF. When I look in the task manager, no program is using any abnormal amount of ram, and it all totals about 400mb. But for whatever reason the PF gets up to 5gb, even though no visible program is using anywhere near enough PF to add up to 5gb.

 

[Automata]

Have you used something like Process Explorer to see if that gives a more detailed list? Have you tried a barebones msconfig, then enabling programs one by one until it happens again? Can you post a screenshot of where you are seeing the RAM usage in the PF?

 

[Metallica]

Have you used something like Process Explorer to see if that gives a more detailed list? Have you tried a barebones msconfig, then enabling programs one by one until it happens again? Can you post a screenshot of where you are seeing the RAM usage in the PF?

I've been using perfmon to check the memory usage for each service running. None of them seem to be abnormal. And I've tried disabling everything on startup as well.

I'm starting the think the original computer the image was created on may of had an issue, that now copied the rest of the machines. I may have to recreate the image starting with a different machine, and see if the problem sticks.

All of the programs installed on this image are the same we use for the 500+ computers we manage, so I'd assume it's not a problem with any specific program/update. Although, one may of just goof'd when installing.

 

[Automata]

To test if it is the image or a change after, image the system, disconnect it from the network and see if it does the same thing. If not, it is likely a change after the image is deployed, otherwise it is the image itself. It seems you know how to proceed here.