system resources woes

[another_Moose]

My problem is that after a day or 2 of use, my system is bogged down with system resources that are drying up. Sad thing is that I built this new machine a little while ago and it's not acting like it has 3 times the resources of the old one. Part of the problem is I'm not doing that much on the machine either.

I have the following running in the taskbar, basically normal things for my comp: IM, ICQ and weatherbug (realtime weather monitoring), norton 2001, gainward expert tool, volume, SB live controls, Adaptec direct CD, internet conection.

Besides normally bringing up netscape and netscape mail a few times, and ZMUD (a client for connecting to and playing on MUD's). While zmud is known as a system hog compared to other types of programs like this, but come on ... how intensive can a program be to play a text based game? I doubt it should cause problems for a comp with it's specs when only loading it up once or twice between reboots due to resources. It seems to work fine after the reboot, but when I come home from work and try to check mail, netscape will either not load, or I will get a rundll32 error when it tries to load and windows explorer start crashing. I do not have any sort of hibernation running while idle or even a screen saver, I just have windows shut off the monitor signal.

Specs:
Windows ME
amd 1.2ghz Tbird OC'ed to 1.33 runing around 42C idle
2* 256 MB crucial DDR SDRAM
Epox 8K7A+ mobo
2* 15 GB 65GXP IBM 7200 rpm HDD's in RAID 0
Gainward GeForce 3
SB live value
3Com NIC (3C900B-combo)
Pioneer 113 DVD rom
Plextor 12/10/32a CD-RW
enermax 350 P/S

I have done a few things I have seen to boost system performance like making the role of the comp a network server instead of desktop system in the system settings, and setting virtual memory to 512 instead of letting windows control it.

Just checked, even having netscape and the rest of the stuff up drops system resources down to 52%

This is just insane....

Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.

 

[flamethrower205]

ahahahha, DOS based windows problems- why Win2K is better. But seriously, using MSCONFIG, disable some or all of teh startup programs. As for the sys resources thing, sorry bro, happens on mine too (1.2 Ghz T-Bird, 512 DDR, GF3, 40GB 75GXP (hey pretty close steup, no?)). Anyway, u can only restart- on mine after 5 minutes of use (that is starting 3D Studio Max and Word, as well as half-life, my system would be 0% system resources. Once it was at 0 within a minute! Try Win2K, it's a refreshing change from DOS based.

Your brain: PC
You brain on drugs: Mac

 

[WiseGuy1]

I would definitely do the before mentioned and get rid of some of those icons on your task bar. Someone pointed out this little article on resource leaks in a previous and simular thread. Read it and found it pretty informative.

<A HREF="http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/14.htm" target="_new">http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/14.htm</A>

 

[btvillarin]

Is your system still running as fast as when it first starts up? You really shouldn't worry about system resources. Just don't let them get to like 10%. Since you have so much RAM, I know it should be fine. My system's fine after running every program, quick at 19%. When you close everything up, it should go back up to at least 80% or something. I don't know, and don't really worry about it because I don't run that many things at once.

Here's a series of articles about resource leaks - make sure you also read parts 1, 2, and 3 too: <A HREF="http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/2000/14.htm" target="_new">Resource Leaks, Part 4 - Final Fixes</A>

If you liked that series, the writer has a bunch more of helpful articles <A HREF="http://content.techweb.com/winmag/columns/explorer/backissu.htm" target="_new">here</A>.

As for that program, although it is a text-based game, it may not be designed correctly and not give back the RAM and resources it should.

BTW, Cacheman 5 is a great computer optimizer. You can download it <A HREF="http://www.outertech.com/product.php?product=3&PHPSESSID=133435bf7d56aa82bd789b06b50feec3" target="_new">here</A>. Plus, the tweak articles at tweak3d.net (specifically the hard drive and boot up) are good. I've done the tweaks from these two things to keep my experience as fast as possible.

My System:
Asus A7V133
Athlon T-Bird 850MHz 200FSB
ATI Radeon 32MB SDRAM
256MB SDRAM CAS2 7.5ns
SB Live! Value
3Com 3C905B-TX NIC
IBM 75GXP Deskstar 30GB
HP CD-Writer 9150i 8x4x32
Windows 98 SE

Kernel32.dll error...aw, son of a.... 😱

 

[btvillarin]

I'm glad someone found that informative. I'm always referring back to that article, though.

Kernel32.dll error...aw, son of a.... 😱

 

[flamethrower205]

I belive that system resources are in some weird relationship where on a 200MHz w/ 40MB RAM u get 95% sys resources free. Exact same software setup on a 1.2 Ghz w/ 512 u get 95% sys resources free. Both drop equally fast. Really wierd. OMG btvillarin, your sig just made me remember of the good old days (were they really good?) (and some current ones) with the godd*mn kernel32.

Your brain: PC
You brain on drugs: Mac

 

[btvillarin]

Yeah, when I had my old Packard *ell MMX Pentium 2, 300MHz-running at 133, 64MB EDO RAM 6.4GB Computer. It was so cheezy, and I'll bet really hot cuz when I started running more than 6 intensive programs, errors - especially kernel32 - came up. Now that those are nonexistant, it's pretty funny to think about... :lol:

Kernel32.dll error...aw, son of a.... 😱

 

[WiseGuy1]

I just installed MemTurbo <A HREF="http://www.memturbo.com/" target="_new">http://www.memturbo.com/</A> and its pretty nice for this problem. May be old news but it does a ram recovery and free's up quite a bit of your sys. recources. I was at 75% sys recources, did the ram scrub and bumped up to 90%. It's more or less like rebooting with out rebooting. Its go a little cpu and ram usage display as well. Very nice program. Kinda fixes some of the problems dealing with the above article. Thought you might want to know.