Message re insufficient memory

[Terry Pinnell]

Despite having 512 MB of RAM, I am getting intermittent messages:
"There is not enough memory available for this task." For example,
this happens after starting Office 2000 and loading Help. On
subsequently clicking Help a second time, it usually comes up OK. Same
with Excel Help.

FWIW, I recently installed Office 2000 SR1, followed by XP SP1.

Terry, West Sussex, UK

[Terry Pinnell]

Pleased to say I've resolved this. In case anyone else researching a
similar problem ends up in this thread, here are the details. It's
pretty obscure, and I don't really understand the technicalities. But
I made the suggested registry hack and it worked for me. I now have
brisk Help menus back in Word and Excel.

After extensive web searching, I found this:

"PROBLEM: Why do I receive memory or storage space errors after I
install new software?

SOLUTION: Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows NT all have an
IRPStackSize value that controls how much physical storage space and
RAM are available to new applications, and some new software installs
incorrectly set this value. This value ranges from 11 to 20 for XP and
from 11 to 15 for Win2K and NT. If you set this value to less than 11,
you'll receive an error message indicating that the system doesn't
have enough server storage. As a result, clients won't be able to
access network shares and Event ID 2011 will appear in the System log.
To set the IRPStackSize back to the default (15 for XP, 11 for NT),
perform
the following steps:

1. Start the registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services
\lanmanserver\parameters.
3. Double-click IRPStackSize (or if this registry setting doesn't
exist, create it of type DWORD and ensure the case is correct).
4. Change the base to decimal, set the value to 11 for Win2K or NT
or 15 for XP, and click OK.
5. Reboot the computer."

Also from MS:

"In Windows 2000, the default value of IRPStackSize is 15, and the
range is from 11 to 50. In Windows XP, the default value for
IRPStackSize is 15, and the range is from 11 to 50. In the Value Data
box, type a value that is larger than the value that is listed. If you
created the IRPStackSize value using the procedure described in step
4, the default value is 15. It is recommended that you incrase the
value by 3. Therefore, if the previous value was 11, type 14 , and
then click OK."

I found the value on my XP system was 11, and changed it to 15.

BTW, most articles implicate Norton AV for lowering the setting, but
I've seen nothing conclusive.

Terry, West Sussex, UK

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Thanks for the feedback, Terry.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

"Terry Pinnell" <terr...@dial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:nig8ru4bdea1o9daf...@4ax.com...

[Terry Pinnell]

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbar...@mvps.org> wrote:

>Thanks for the feedback, Terry.

Unfortunately, it seems that the recovery was short-lived. Although
I've never had a reoccurrence of the 'grey slab' problem, initial
opening of Word and Excel Help is still very slow - typically 10
seconds ;-(

Terry, West Sussex, UK