Vanishing hard disk space
JoeSpareBedroom
500 mb of RAM
18 gb hard disk with around 4gb free
Got a warning last night that I was running out of hard disk space. Checked
My Computer & found I was down to around 200 *MEGABYTES*. My first thought
was "That's interesting". Actually, that's not what I thought, but there
might be kids here, so use your imagination.
I download quite a bit of music, but in order to keep about 4gb free, I
religiously move the files to my external HD every few days, so I knew that
wasn't the issue. The only things running at the moment were Firefox and
Outlook Express, along with Avast (antivirus) and ZoneAlarm Pro. I shut down
FF & OE & restarted the computer. Again, I found around 200 MB free.
Unfortunately, I did not check page file use in Task Manager at the time.
However, I compared the list of processes to a screen shot I made for this
purpose in the past, and found nothing unusual. I accept no software updates
(except from Avast & ZoneAlarm) without first consulting a couple of tech
sources for problems, and no new apps have been installed in at least a
year.
Walked away to think about it, came back 10 minutes later, and found I was
back up to 4GB again.
"That's interesting", I thought. I ran a full AV scan using Avast, followed
by a Spybot scan. They found nothing. Upon restarting this morning, the
computer is fine.
I'm mystified. Anyone have any ideas?
db
because the issue you have is not
with infections but simply due to
low disk space.
what you need to do is to add more
disk space by way of a second hard
drive.
then move all your personal files, docs,
pic's and music onto the new location
which will provide some relief for
windows on the smaller drive.
--
db���`�...�><)))�>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
"JoeSpareBedroom" <news...@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:NMJ_m.9305$pA1....@newsfe17.iad...
Daave
Yes. I did use my imagination :-) , and since kids may have used your
PC, the posibility exists that you do have malware that has not been
detected. I would get a second opinion with MBAM and also a bootable
antivirus CD (I believe Avast gives you the ability to make one. If not,
Avira, Kaspersky, and Bit Defender do.)
Also, JDiskReport can quickly give you a graphical representation of
what's taking up space on your hard drive:
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/
Also, please explain again what you saw. It sounds like that you had 4GB
free. Then it was only 200MB free. Then again, without doing anything,
it was 4GB free. Do I have that right?
What are your Virtual Memory settings?
Have you run Disk Cleanup? I would always do this before scanning for
malware, FWIW. Is Hibernation enabled? That takes up hard drive space.
Then again, we still need an explanation for the constantly changing
amounts of free space! The next time it gets low again, run JDiskReport.
Also, if you plan on keeping this PC for a few more years, you will
probably be much happier with a larger hard drive. These are fairly
inexpensive these days.
Is SP2 patched? Even if it is, you should be aware that support for it
(in the form of critical security updates) will end in a few months, so
you should consider upgrading to SP3. And since that can be an involved
process with certain PCs (especially ones running ZA!), you can start
another thread when you are ready and we can provide all the guidance
you need for a smooth upgrade. :-)
Shenan Stanley
I would get rid of Zone Alarm and Avast and replace the with the Windows
Firewall (especially if you are already behind a NAT router) and Avira
Antivirus. ZoneAlarm is often more trouble than it is worth for the home
user and is utilizing resources for many who have it installed they would
likely enjoy more elsewhere without losing any level of protection. I have
nothing against Avast (free or pay) - but have found that of the free ones,
Avira antivirus seems to work the best for most users. You could go an
purchase eSet NOD32 antivirus (antivirus only) and get really good results -
but I am not about to suggest (only) that you spend $60 U.S. - you'd likely
stop reading. *grin*
I would also uninstall Spybot Search and Destroy. I just don't favor it as
much as I used to - there are definitely all-around better products out
there.
You have an 18GB drive - that is small. You have to be *very* watchful with
your space. There are a few things you can do to ensure you have as much
space as possible and then - something you can do to see where all the space
is being used.
Clean up and then see what you have left to do.
Download/install this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
After installing, do the following:
Start button --> RUN --> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)
If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
( Particularly of interest here - #4 )
( Alternative: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm )
You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but your
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..
How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312
You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..
When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's
memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys
file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you
don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows
uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:
- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,
Control Panel, and click Power Options).
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then
click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the
"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the
hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes
tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.
You can control how much space your System Restore can use...
1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest moving
the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or close to that...)
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.
You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a
size between 64MB and 128MB..
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 64MB and 128MB. (It may be MUCH larger right
now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.
You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:
Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Other ways to free up space..
JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.
In the end - a standard Windows XP installation with all sorts of extras
will not likely be above about 4.5GB to 9GB in size. If you have more space
than that (likely do on a modern machine) and most of it seems to be used -
likely you need to move *your stuff* off and/or find a better way to manage
it.
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
Pegasus [MVP]
"JoeSpareBedroom" <news...@frontiernet.net> said this in news item
news:NMJ_m.9305$pA1....@newsfe17.iad...
Mysterious loss/gain of free disk space is often the result of System
Restore. Check your System Restore settings and modify them if necessary. If
this was my machine then I would add a second internal disk and keep only
the OS and the applications on the first disk. All the rest goes to the
second disk. Ask your dealer for the price of a 100 MByte disk (if he has
one this small) - you'll be pleasantly surprised!
JoeSpareBedroom
news:%23p6vDgW...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> I'm mystified. Anyone have any ideas?
>
> Yes. I did use my imagination :-) , and since kids may have used your PC,
> the posibility exists that you do have malware that has not been detected.
> I would get a second opinion with MBAM and also a bootable antivirus CD (I
> believe Avast gives you the ability to make one. If not, Avira, Kaspersky,
> and Bit Defender do.)
No kids here, and I don't visit any weird web sites, although being a
musician, I sometimes have to visit another player's myspace page. I hate
doing that, since myspace is as buggy as licking the snot off of a roomful
of toddlers.
> Also, JDiskReport can quickly give you a graphical representation of
> what's taking up space on your hard drive:
>
> http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/
Thanks - I knew I'd heard of such a utility, but couldn't recall the name.
> Also, please explain again what you saw. It sounds like that you had 4GB
> free. Then it was only 200MB free. Then again, without doing anything, it
> was 4GB free. Do I have that right?
That's exactly right.
I'm watching it today and it's varying between 4.0 GB and 4.08 GB, with my
usual apps running.
>
> What are your Virtual Memory settings?
>
It's been set to "let Windows decide" since the day I got the machine. I
used to fiddle with it on earlier machines because it seemed like a cute
thing to do. But not any more. Page file use is varying between 490 and 515
MB.
> Have you run Disk Cleanup? I would always do this before scanning for
> malware, FWIW. Is Hibernation enabled? That takes up hard drive space.
> Then again, we still need an explanation for the constantly changing
> amounts of free space! The next time it gets low again, run JDiskReport.
Haven't run disk cleanup in about 2 months. As far as "constantly changing",
that doesn't seem to be the case, until last night. As I said earlier, I
keep an eye on it regularly because I *know* I'm due for a larger HD. About
the only time it suddenly runs lower is when I compress OE folders (every
couple of weeks). Then, the reason is obvious because OE dumps 400 MB of
backup files into the recycle bin. Even then, I'm still left with 3.5 MB of
free space.
> Also, if you plan on keeping this PC for a few more years, you will
> probably be much happier with a larger hard drive. These are fairly
> inexpensive these days.
Soon. I just need a free day to reinstall XP.
> Is SP2 patched?
Yes.
> Even if it is, you should be aware that support for it (in the form of
> critical security updates) will end in a few months, so you should
> consider upgrading to SP3.
I haven't taken the time to check a couple of tech sources to see if SP3
breaks anything. My bad.
JoeSpareBedroom
news:%23zePVnW...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Last time I checked, the Windows firewall did not protect against outgoing
nasty things - just incoming. Is that still the case?
Daave
> "Daave" <da...@example.com> wrote in message
> news:%23p6vDgW...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
>>> I'm mystified. Anyone have any ideas?
>>
>> Yes. I did use my imagination :-) , and since kids may have used
>> your PC, the posibility exists that you do have malware that has not
>> been detected. I would get a second opinion with MBAM and also a
>> bootable antivirus CD (I believe Avast gives you the ability to make
>> one. If not, Avira, Kaspersky, and Bit Defender do.)
>
LOL Now, I understand! I read this bit wrong:
> Actually, that's not what I thought, but there
> might be kids here, so use your imagination
You meant here in this newsgroup. :-)
Daave
Yes. But incoming is realistically all you need. And ZA and Windows
Firewall are comparable in this repsect. (But ZA is heavy on the
resources.)
Consider this: If a nasty somehow gets in, chances are that it is
sophisticated enough to bypass any mechanism to prevent it from causing
unwanted outbound traffic. That is, outbound protection is more often
than not a placebo. Although I can see the appeal in having yet one more
layer of security, realistically it (outbound monitoring) doesn't really
offer that much more benefit for the extra cost involved (money plus hit
on resources).
JoeSpareBedroom
Right, which is why I didn't type the actual words contained in my initial
reaction. :-)
JoeSpareBedroom
All true, I suppose. But no computer of mine has been infected with anything
nasty in almost 8 years, and although I know ZA isn't primarily responsible
for this, I pretend that it is. :-)
Mark Adams
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
Use the cloning software that comes with the new hard drive to clone the old
to the new. No reinstallation of your OS is necessary. Everything transfers
to the the new drive; OS, apps, and data all in one shot. It takes about a
half hour including opening your computer, adding the new drive, making the
clone, disconnecting the old drive, and buttoning up the computer. Don't
reformat the old drive until you are satisfied that everything is running
smoothly on the new one.
>
> > Is SP2 patched?
>
> Yes.
>
>
> > Even if it is, you should be aware that support for it (in the form of
> > critical security updates) will end in a few months, so you should
> > consider upgrading to SP3.
>
> I haven't taken the time to check a couple of tech sources to see if SP3
> breaks anything. My bad.
>
>
> .
>
Daave
And there's your placebo. <VBG>
dadiOH
>> What are your Virtual Memory settings?
>>
>
> It's been set to "let Windows decide" since the day I got the
> machine. I used to fiddle with it on earlier machines because it
> seemed like a cute thing to do. But not any more. Page file use is
> varying between 490 and 515 MB.
Amount of page file use has no particular bearing on page file *size*. I
suggest you check the latter.
--
dadiOH
____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
Unknown
"Pegasus [MVP]" <ne...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:eIebJpWi...@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
JoeSpareBedroom
SR was already at the lowest possible setting, which said 200MB. I ran disk
cleanup only to the point where it evaluated the possibilities, and I guess
I keep a clean house, because it only suggested that it could save about
300MB of space, mostly temporary internet files. None of this seems to
explain how 4 GB turns into 200 MB, and then back again. If it happens
again, I'll try running jdiskreport, as suggested by someone else.
Pegasus [MVP]
So he should! How about 100 GBytes, or maybe 200 GBytes?
"Unknown" <unk...@unknown.kom> said this in news item
news:#gX5yKYi...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
JoeSpareBedroom
"Pegasus [MVP]" <ne...@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:u1N55PYi...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Paul
>
>
> SR was already at the lowest possible setting, which said 200MB. I ran disk
> cleanup only to the point where it evaluated the possibilities, and I guess
> I keep a clean house, because it only suggested that it could save about
> 300MB of space, mostly temporary internet files. None of this seems to
> explain how 4 GB turns into 200 MB, and then back again. If it happens
> again, I'll try running jdiskreport, as suggested by someone else.
>
>
Another one I tried, was SequoiaView. That is a tool which graphically
represents files on a partition. The download link for it, is in the
left hand menu.
http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visualization/sequoiaview/
Each file is represented according to size. Holding the mouse cursor over an
item, displays the path.
http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4832846/SequoiaView1_Full.jpg
Paul
JoeSpareBedroom
news:hhgda7$qb3$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
I'll keep this in mind. I wonder, though, if any of these utilities would
even be able to run with disk space as low as it was, along with a fair
amount of disk thrashing.
(PeteCresswell)
>inXP Pro SP2
>500 mb of RAM
>18 gb hard disk with around 4gb free
>
>Got a warning last night that I was running out of hard disk space. Checked
>My Computer & found I was down to around 200 *MEGABYTES*. My first thought
>was "That's interesting". Actually, that's not what I thought, but there
>might be kids here, so use your imagination.
I got nailed by this a couple months ago.
#2 daughter calls from 80+ miles away that C: is out of space.
Having drilled it into everybody that they shouldn't ever save
data to C:, I was mystified.
Looking at the PC in person, I found that Windows Automatic
Updates had, over a period of many months, eaten up C: with the
"$NtUninstall...$" files.
After that one, I installed the freebie version of TeamViewer on
everybody's PC so I could take a look without driving to the box.
--
PeteCresswell
JoeSpareBedroom
news:kqgnj5lq7k0ab189g...@4ax.com...
> Per JoeSpareBedroom:
>>inXP Pro SP2
>>500 mb of RAM
>>18 gb hard disk with around 4gb free
>>
>>Got a warning last night that I was running out of hard disk space.
>>Checked
>>My Computer & found I was down to around 200 *MEGABYTES*. My first thought
>>was "That's interesting". Actually, that's not what I thought, but there
>>might be kids here, so use your imagination.
>
> I got nailed by this a couple months ago.
>
> #2 daughter calls from 80+ miles away that C: is out of space.
>
> Having drilled it into everybody that they shouldn't ever save
> data to C:, I was mystified.
>
> Looking at the PC in person, I found that Windows Automatic
> Updates had, over a period of many months, eaten up C: with the
> "$NtUninstall...$" files.
I've moved all of those to a backup CD *and* my external HD, for exactly
this reason.
Jose
wrote:
What do you know so far in terms of explanations, JoeSpareBedroom?
It is hard to fix something that is not broken though, so play
detective.
What time "last night" did this happen and have you checked the Event
Log for clues (instructions below)? Sounds like you know when if was
okay, then you saw it was broken and then it was okay again. If this
is all the case, then something must have happened.
Too much speculation, not enough information:
To eliminate questions and guessing, please provide additional
information about your system.
Click Start, Run and in the box enter:
msinfo32
Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
the information back here.
There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
information.
Perform some scans for malicious software, then fix any remaining
issues:
Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:
Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/
They can be uninstalled later if desired.
Look in the Event Viewer for clues around the time of the incident.
Here is a method to post the specific information about individual
events.
To see the Event Viewer logs, click Start, Settings, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.
A shortcut to Event Viewer is to click Start, Run and in the box
enter:
%SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s
Click OK to launch the Event Viewer.
The most interesting logs are usually the Application and System.
Some logs may be almost or completely empty.
Not every event is a problem, some are informational messages that
things are working okay and some are warnings.
No event should defy reasonable explanation.
Each event is sorted by Date and Time. Errors will have red Xs,
Warnings will have yellow !s.
Information messages have white is. Not every Error or Warning event
means there is a serious issue.
Some are excusable at startup time when Windows is booting. Try to
find just the events at the date
and time around your problem.
If you double click an event, it will open a Properties windows with
more information. On the right are
black up and down arrow buttons to scroll through the open events. The
third button that looks like
two pages on top of each other is used to copy the event details to
your Windows clipboard.
When you find an interesting event that occurred around the time of
your issue, click the third button
under the up and down arrows to copy the details and then you can
paste the details (right click, Paste
or CTRL-V) the detail text back here for analysis.
To get a fresh start on any Event Viewer log, you can choose to clear
the log (backing up the log is offered),
then reproduce your issue, then look at just the events around the
time of your issue.
JoeSpareBedroom
news:201d599c-26aa-476f...@s31g2000yqs.googlegroups.com...
System summary:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name USERDESKTOP
System Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
System Model MS-7142
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 44 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1599 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 11/9/2005
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180
(xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name USERDESKTOP\USER
Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 91.89 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.03 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
JoeSpareBedroom
I believe this was AFTER I restarted the machinel, but not sure.
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Error
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 12/29/2009
Time: 7:47:29 PM
User: N/A
Computer: KANTERDESKTOP
Description:
Faulting application msimn.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module
directdb.dll, version 6.0.2900.3138, fault address 0x00007641.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 6d 73 69 ure msi
0018: 6d 6e 2e 65 78 65 20 36 mn.exe 6
0020: 2e 30 2e 32 39 30 30 2e .0.2900.
0028: 32 31 38 30 20 69 6e 20 2180 in
0030: 64 69 72 65 63 74 64 62 directdb
0038: 2e 64 6c 6c 20 36 2e 30 .dll 6.0
0040: 2e 32 39 30 30 2e 33 31 .2900.31
0048: 33 38 20 61 74 20 6f 66 38 at of
0050: 66 73 65 74 20 30 30 30 fset 000
0058: 30 37 36 34 31 0d 0a 07641..
JoeSpareBedroom
warning below, from all day yesterday. Just one incident of the error at the
end of this message. "Interesting", like being carjacked and beaten with a
pipe?
==============================
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Date: 12/29/2009
Time: 12:25:10 AM
User: N/A
Computer: KANTERDESKTOP
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging
operation.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...�.
0008: 00 00 00 00 33 00 04 80 ....3..�
0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 -.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 be c0 c1 00 00 00 00 .���....
0028: 18 ca 62 00 00 00 00 00 .�b.....
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ����....
0038: 40 00 00 84 02 00 00 00 @..�....
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 b0 1a 25 83 ....�.%�
0058: 00 00 00 00 08 10 73 83 ......s�
0060: 00 00 00 00 5f e0 60 00 ...._�`.
0068: 28 00 00 60 e0 5f 00 00 (..`�_..
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0078: 70 00 02 00 00 00 00 0a p.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 04 02 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
==============================
...and just one of these:
============================
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Ftdisk
Event Category: Disk
Event ID: 57
Date: 12/28/2009
Time: 7:11:11 PM
User: N/A
Computer: KANTERDESKTOP
Description:
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may
occur.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 be 00 ......�.
0008: 02 00 00 00 39 00 04 80 ....9..�
0010: 00 00 00 00 0e 00 00 c0 .......�
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
================================
Daave
> From the system section - this is interesting - a whole string of the
> first warning below, from all day yesterday. Just one incident of the
> error at the end of this message. "Interesting", like being carjacked
> and beaten with a pipe?
>
> ==============================
> Event Type: Warning
> Event Source: Disk
> Event Category: None
> Event ID: 51
> Date: 12/29/2009
> Time: 12:25:10 AM
> User: N/A
> Computer: KANTERDESKTOP
> Description:
> An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging
> operation.
>
> For more information, see Help and Support Center at
> http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
> Data:
> 0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...�.
> 0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 -.......
> 0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
> 0020: 00 be c0 c1 00 00 00 00 .���....
> 0028: 18 ca 62 00 00 00 00 00 .�b.....
> 0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ����....
> 0038: 40 00 00 84 02 00 00 00 @.."....
> 0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @
> 0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
> 0058: 00 00 00 00 08 10 73 83 ......sf
> 0060: 00 00 00 00 5f e0 60 00 ...._�`.
> 0068: 28 00 00 60 e0 5f 00 00 (..`�_..
> 0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
> 0078: 70 00 02 00 00 00 00 0a p.......
> 0080: 00 00 00 00 04 02 00 00 ........
> 0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
> ==============================
>
>
>
>
> ...and just one of these:
> ============================
> Event Type: Warning
> Event Source: Ftdisk
> Event Category: Disk
> Event ID: 57
> Date: 12/28/2009
> Time: 7:11:11 PM
> User: N/A
> Computer: KANTERDESKTOP
> Description:
> The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may
> occur.
>
> For more information, see Help and Support Center at
> http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
> Data:
> 0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 be 00 ......�.
> 0010: 00 00 00 00 0e 00 00 c0 .......�
> 0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
> 0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
> ================================
Is there an external drive connected to your PC by USB?
Perhaps your pagefile is corrupted. Try this:
(from http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php )
In the Virtual Memory settings, set to "No page file," then exit System
Properties, shut down the machine, and reboot. Delete PAGEFILE.SYS (on
each drive, if more than just C:), set the page file up again and reboot
to bring it into use.
JoeSpareBedroom
>
> Is there an external drive connected to your PC by USB?
Yes - a Seagate FreeAgent external HD.
>
> Perhaps your pagefile is corrupted. Try this:
>
> (from http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php )
>
> In the Virtual Memory settings, set to "No page file," then exit System
> Properties, shut down the machine, and reboot. Delete PAGEFILE.SYS (on
> each drive, if more than just C:), set the page file up again and reboot
> to bring it into use.
Done (on C drive). No pagefile on the external HD. Eliminated the HD
warnings. Using ouija board to determine if this was related in any way to
the vanishing disk space problem. No answers yet, but there are huge
tentacles beginning to slither out of my heating ducts. Stand by for m
aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
thanatoid
news:c%K_m.9312$pA1....@newsfe17.iad:
<SNIP>
>> http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/
>
> Thanks - I knew I'd heard of such a utility, but couldn't
> recall the name.
Here's a slightly smaller version which does not require you to
DL and install 10MB+ of Java.
http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/
First from top, "scanner".
<SNIP>
Paul
Sequoiaview has to scan the disk, to build a graphical representation.
So that might compete with something doing thrashing. It seems to be
holding a fair amount of info in memory. The footprint is 32MB after
it finished scanning my C: drive. It releases the memory, if it
scans another partition. After scanning my H: partition, memory
usage dropped to 8MB or so. I tried looking to see if it creates
temporary files, and haven't been able to find any yet.
Paul
Gerry
file(s) are fragmented. These show up in a Disk Defragmenter report even
when they otherwise are often not disclosed in other information
sources.
Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy.
Another suggestion.Run a full surface scan with HD Tune to check for bad
sectors on the hard drive.
HD Tune only gives information and does not fix any problems.
Download and run it and see what it turns up. You want HD Tune
(freeware) version 2.55 not HD Tune Pro (not Freeware) version 3.00.
http://www.hdtune.com/
Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.
Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Make sure you do a full
surface scan with HD Tune.
--
Hope this helps.
Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(PeteCresswell)
>Looking at the PC in person, I found that Windows Automatic
>Updates had, over a period of many months, eaten up C: with the
>"$NtUninstall...$" files.
Also, the tool I used to zero in on it was "FolderSize For
Windows". Shows the size of each folder in the Explorer
window.
--
PeteCresswell
Jose
wrote:
> "Jose" <jose_e...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
Well, let's see...
You are behind on a major XP Service Pack (that would be SP3) and your
Paging File Settings have been tampered with - probably by a human.
Neither of these may be the immediate cause of your mysterious issue,
but it is sometimes futile to troubleshoot issues on a system that is
using known outdated software and is not set to the recommended
configurations - unless there is some reasonable explanation?
Do you ever see messages where Windows is increasing the size of your
too small Paging File?
That would cause a large chunk of HDD space to be consumed - but only
temporarily. HDD space disappears and reappears - that was your
observation?
I can't remember if that would put something in the Event Log or not -
I will have to recreate that issue and see...
Did you change the Paging File to be so small to conserve disk space?
What do you think XP is going to do when more Paging File is needed?
It is going to temporarily use the HDD. Better than crashing...
What is your current Virtual Memory situation?
Launch Task Manager, Processes tab and check out the Virtual Memory
usage by enabling that display column:
Click View, Select Columns, check the box that says: Virtual Memory
Size. Expand the width of
the Task Manager box so you can see all the columns.
Click the VM Size column heading once or twice to sort by VM Size
biggest to smallest, top to bottom.
Who's on top and why? If you have Spybot and are running their
Teatimer, that is probably on top (or close), yes?
Perhaps you have resolved some of your Event Viewer messages by
recreating your Paging File.
Why should you upgrade to SP3?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946480
.
shawn
Yeah, sometimes at work I use this.. what I do is goto My Computer, Click
on C: drive and hit the Search button up top. On the left it says "What size
is it?" -- check that off and in there check off Specify size (in KB).
1024kb = 1MB, so if you want to look for files of at least 4MB type in 4096,
10MB = 10240.
Of course you should know what you're deleting when you do so.. for example
I know that I have some music and files I downloaded that I don't need.
Those are safe to get rid of.
I'm definitely not a fan of Zone Alarm or anything like Norton Internet
Security or 360. Windows has a built in firewall and so does the router that
comes with my highspeed internet connection. Those are more than enough.
I used to use AVG free antivirus, but have found Avast is one hundred times
better.
"(PeteCresswell)" <x...@y.Invalid> wrote in message
news:bgapj5hoo1bdaq67n...@4ax.com...
JoeSpareBedroom
news:OV0%232AhiK...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> If you have sudden changes in free disk space then inevitably the file(s)
> are fragmented. These show up in a Disk Defragmenter report even when they
> otherwise are often not disclosed in other information sources.
>
> Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
> click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
> Folder and post a copy.
>
> Another suggestion.Run a full surface scan with HD Tune to check for bad
> sectors on the hard drive.
>
> HD Tune only gives information and does not fix any problems.
>
> Download and run it and see what it turns up. You want HD Tune
> (freeware) version 2.55 not HD Tune Pro (not Freeware) version 3.00.
> http://www.hdtune.com/
>
> Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
> letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
> and copy into a further message.
>
> Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
> Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Make sure you do a full
> surface scan with HD Tune.
Standby for more info. Might not happen until the weekend, but I'm not
leaving this thread unfinished.
JoeSpareBedroom
Well, let's see...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946480
=====================
> Did you change the Paging File to be so small to conserve disk space?
It has ALWAYS been set to allow the system to manage its size. It's never
been tampered with on this computer.
> Who's on top and why?
Top 4 players and their VM numbers:
ashServ.exe - 34,512K (related to Avast AV)
ashWebsv.exe - 31,900K (related to Avast AV)
IntuitUpdateService.exe - 17,380K
svchost.exe - 15,416K
> If you have Spybot and are running their Teatimer, that is probably on top
> (or close), yes?
No. Teatimer is nowhere in the list. It seems Spybot doesn't leave that
program behind. If Spybot has a permanently "resident" version, it's not
here. In any case, the machine's been rebooted several times since Spybot
last ran.
Jose
Your system information says you have 4GB memory, you said in your
first post you have 500MB RAM and the size of the paging file (1.03GB)
in the msinfo32 system information doesn't jive with either if XP is
really managing the Paging File.
It is all contradictory which is why I requested the msinfo32
information to see for myself. Somebody is wrong.
In regard to the Paging File, at first you said you used to fiddle
with it because it was a cute thing to do... then you say you have not
adjusted it and it has ALWAYS been system managed (this is generally
the best choice).
The numbers in the msinfo32 report do not make sense if your system is
configured to let XP manage the Paging File - unless the information
is from two different systems.
JoeSpareBedroom
=============
RAM - 448MB (from right-clicking "My Computer")
"used to fiddle" - but never on this machine. Various sources (including
MVPs here) recommended against it.
> The numbers in the msinfo32 report do not make sense ....
The whole machine doesn't make sense at the moment. Perhaps more will be
revealed after I run hdtune (later). But it's reaching the point where I may
just want to solve this problem by doing what needs to be done to begin
with: Bigger hard disk, clean reinstall. No cloning, since I would likely
just be cloning a mess.
Daave
> "Jose" <jose...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:201d599c-26aa-476f...@s31g2000yqs.googlegroups.com...
>
> System summary:
>
> OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
> Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
> OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
> System Name USERDESKTOP
> System Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
> System Model MS-7142
> System Type X86-based PC
> Processor x86 Family 15 Model 44 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1599 Mhz
> BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 11/9/2005
> SMBIOS Version 2.3
> Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
> System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
> Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
> Locale United States
> Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180
> (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
> User Name USERDESKTOP\USER
> Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
> Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB
> Available Physical Memory 91.89 MB
Whoa, Nellie!
The above doesn't corroborate what you wrote in your first post:
> WinXP Pro SP2
> 500 mb of RAM
> 18 gb hard disk with around 4gb free
Open up the case and tell us the exact RAM configuration you have --
number of modules (and make and model number) and which slots are
occupied. If System Information tells you you have 4GB of physical
memory, but if the General Properties tab of My Computer shows only
448MB (from a later post of yours), you have a *major* discrepancy!
Is it safe to assume your motherboard uses onboard video? 64MB? What is
the make, model, and model number of the PC and/or motherboard?
I'm not sure if this issue is related to your other issue or not. But it
is a big issue either way!
JoeSpareBedroom
If I could stop the phones from ringing.....
Stay tuned, maybe until the weekend. And check CNN news every so often for a
story about a man murdering a computer with a handgun.
Jose
wrote:
> "Daave" <da...@example.com> wrote in message
>
> news:OMxCshji...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
>
>
>
>
> > JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
Yep - something is haywire!
Let's say you really do have 4GB of RAM as msinfo32 says and your PF
is system managed. That would mean that XP will want to create a PF
of ~1.5 times the RAM which would be about 6GB.
This I corroborate on another system that I know has 4GB of RAM and
system managed PF - all is well in msinfo32.
I do not know what XP would do if it wanted to make a PF of that size
and did not have enough HDD to do so but I would like to know (and
can't experiment right now).
Near as I can tell, your Mother Board supports a maximum of 2GB of
memory (2 slots/2 sticks), so what msinfo32 says is most curious and
is differs from My Computer Properties. Never seen that.
Now I think maybe you really do have 512MB in one or two slots (which
you can verify visually), the msinfo32 PF display info would then be
almost correct at about 1+GB and heaven forbid, msinfo32 is confused
about how much RAM you really have installed, but you are still on
SP2...
I have yet to create the situation where XP will want to increase the
size of an inadequate PF to see if anything shows up in the Event Log
but maybe somebody else can help generate that situation and see what
happens and then you can look for such an event in your log file
around the time of your mystery.
Do you recall seeing any such messages pop up from the Taskbar (close
to the system time) around the time of your mystery?
If XP needs to increase the size of the PF and has no RAM, it will
only be able to do it by taking available HDD space and I don't know
if it will "give it back" or not. If you only have 4GB HDD free and
XP decides it needs another GB or two (temporarily) what will happen I
wonder?
If XP takes it, you will loose a bunch of HDD space for some amount of
time, and then when XP is done, it may give it back. With your low
HDD space that could be a big percentage of free space. Available,
gone, available...
I will work on that just because it is making me mad now.
JoeSpareBedroom
================
One problem here was my typing. I should've just said "1/2 GIG of RAM",
which is confirmed by Belarc Advisor (a wonderful utility):
448 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'A0' has 4096 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty
That's as much info as I can provide at the moment without opening the case.
JoeSpareBedroom
> are fragmented. These show up in a Disk Defragmenter report even when they
> otherwise are often not disclosed in other information sources.
>
> Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
> click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
> Folder and post a copy.
>
Here's the defrag report. HD Tune to follow later, or tomorrow. Defrag was
run in safe mode, by the way.
Volume (C:)
Volume size = 18.61 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 14.90 GB
Free space = 3.72 GB
Percent free space = 19 %
Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 10 %
File fragmentation = 20 %
Free space fragmentation = 1 %
File fragmentation
Total files = 80,841
Average file size = 368 KB
Total fragmented files = 53
Total excess fragments = 7,406
Average fragments per file = 1.09
Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 671 MB
Total fragments = 100
Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 6,774
Fragmented folders = 1
Excess folder fragments = 0
Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 110 MB
MFT record count = 87,833
Percent MFT in use = 78 %
Total MFT fragments = 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented
79 19 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\OE\Messages\Inbox.dbx
216 19 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{0585745D-2457-4D9E-A5E8-35AFCD216CCE}\RP1264\snapshot\Repository\FS\OBJECTS.DATA
61 19 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\OE\Messages\Grocery.dbx
28 21 MB \Documents and Settings\User\OE\Messages\Ann
(1).dbx
162 21 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{0585745D-2457-4D9E-A5E8-35AFCD216CCE}\RP1264\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
172 21 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{0585745D-2457-4D9E-A5E8-35AFCD216CCE}\RP1263\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
53 26 MB \Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\Apple Computer\Installer Cache\iTunes
7.6.1.9\iTunes.msi
90 26 MB \WINDOWS\Installer\8cbc8f.msp
142 27 MB \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My
Music\The Allman Brothers Band\At Fillmore East\You Don't Love Me.mp3
37 27 MB \Program Files\Common
Files\Intuit\TurboTax\TY08\PER\MSI\WinPerReleaseEngine.msi
400 28 MB \Program Files\Common Files\Symantec
Shared\Security Center\SymWSC-2005.1.2.20-2007-08-22-22-18-23-515.dmp
85 31 MB \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My
Music\What Is Hip.wma
237 31 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Local
Settings\Application Data\Apple
Computer\QuickTime\downloads\14\10\ea2ef625-8e852977-d76800e3-27f572f3.qtch
18 32 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\OE\Messages\Music.dbx
517 32 MB \Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_09\lib\rt.jar
249 33 MB \WINDOWS\Downloaded
Installations\{59C4F14F-7590-45FC-BE9F-A67AB3590709}\QuickTimeInstaller.exe
81 35 MB \PARA\CODES\ParaCodes.zip
215 37 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\0b92y4wv.default\places.sqlite
38 38 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\OE\Messages\TheKid (1).dbx
88 41 MB \Eval\2003_FSM.zip
652 41 MB \Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\lib\rt.jar
296 41 MB \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My
Music\Dave Brubeck-Blue Rondo a la Turk.wma
230 41 MB \Attic\Security\zapSetup_91_008_000_en.exe
52 50 MB \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My
Music\Squib Cakes.wma
613 59 MB \Documents and Settings\User\Local
Settings\Application
Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\0b92y4wv.default\urlclassifier3.sqlite
20 89 MB \Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Setup
Files\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81300000003}\Data1.cab
54 96 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\OE\Messages\Deleted Items.dbx
225 97 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\OE\Messages\SoulOnTap.dbx
1,503 161 MB \Documents and
Settings\User\Desktop\MOA2009USExp.exe
600 671 MB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1644491937-413027322-839522115-1003\Dc1.sys
JoeSpareBedroom
news:OV0%232AhiK...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
> letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
> and copy into a further message.
From info tab:
HD Tune: WDC WD200BB-75DEA0 Information
Firmware version : 05.03E05
Serial number : WD-WMAD21049096
Capacity : 18.6 GB (~20.0 GB)
Buffer size : 2048 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-5
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
S.M.A.R.T : yes
48-bit Address : no
Read Look-Ahead : yes
Write Cache : yes
Host Protected Area : yes
Device Configuration Overlay : yes
Automatic Acoustic Management: yes
Power Management : yes
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : no
Firmware Upgradable : yes
Partition : 1
Drive letter : C:\
Label :
Capacity : 19061 MB
Usage : 80.07%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : Yes
JoeSpareBedroom
news:OV0%232AhiK...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
> Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Make sure you do a full
> surface scan with HD Tune.
From health tab:
HD Tune: WDC WD200BB-75DEA0 Health
ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 200 198 51 0 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 95 94 21 2625 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 98 98 40 2505 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 100 253 51 0 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 73 73 0 20001 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 51 0 Ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 100 51 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 98 98 0 2173 Ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 253 0 0 Ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 200 200 51 0 Ok
Power On Time : 20001
Health Status : Ok
JoeSpareBedroom
news:OV0%232AhiK...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Surface scan results:
HD Tune: WDC WD200BB-75DEA0 Error Scan
Scanned data : 19065 MB
Damaged Blocks : 0.0 %
Elapsed Time : 9:03
======================
Benchmark results:
HD Tune: WDC WD200BB-75DEA0 Benchmark
Transfer Rate Minimum : 4.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 46.4 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 38.3 MB/sec
Access Time : 18.6 ms
Burst Rate : 82.1 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 3.3%
=====================
If there aren't any clear answers by Saturday, I'm going to use this
utility.
Daave
1/2 GIG of RAM is the same as 500MB (from your first post). That part is
not the problem.
> 448 Megabytes Installed Memory
Yes, from an earlier post. And I surmised 64MB of your total 512MB of
RAM was dedicated to onboard graphics. Can you confirm?
> Slot 'A0' has 4096 MB
Here we go again!
Is this a typo, or are you telling me that Slot A0 has a 4GB stick of
RAM? If so, what is the type of RAM as well as make and model number.
Regarding your mobo, from your report, I see this:
> System Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
> System Model MS-7142
I will look into what kind of RAM is appropriate for this board.
> Slot 'A1' is Empty
>
> That's as much info as I can provide at the moment without opening
> the case.
You really need to open the case! We'll wait. :-)
If you don't post back soo, Happy New Year to you!
Daave
Daave wrote:
> Regarding your mobo, from your report, I see this:
>
>> System Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
>> System Model MS-7142
>
> I will look into what kind of RAM is appropriate for this board.
Okay, have a look here:
http://www.memoryx.net/msimskmome6.html
This board has only two slots. And the maximum memory is 2GB. So if you
really do have a 4GB stick in one of the slots, I'm mystified as to how
the board will accept it! My guess is you have a 512MB stick of PC3200
(or lower) DDR non-ECC RAM installed and something wacky is causing your
mobo to *think* that it's a 4GB stick. Check your BIOS settings and
report back!
JoeSpareBedroom
Can you imagine if hammers or can openers worked this way? There'd be riots
in the streets.
thanatoid
news:hhgeil$shq$1...@speranza.aioe.org:
> JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
>> "Paul" <nos...@needed.com> wrote in message
>> news:hhgda7$qb3$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/vi
>>> sualization/sequoiaview/
I saw this one quite a while ago. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I
don't
dig the "squarified" display at all.
Pies are much easier to follow and comprehend, not to
mention the logical display of what's in what in what, etc.
Cute but useless, IMO, like so much of the new stuff.
Paul
The BIOS has two ways to determine the size of memory.
The modern way, is to read the SPD chip on the DIMM. That
contains up to 256 bytes of data, which describe the hardware
characteristics of the DIMM. The contents should be protected
by a checksum.
The BIOS though, has a second check it does. It uses a test
it used to use in ancient times, before SPD existed. We used to
"poke" the memory space, and do test accesses, to see how much
memory existed. Write a value, then do a read back, and check
if the same value comes back or not. You can do a binary
search until you find the "top of the DIMM". And that
tells you the true memory size.
Because the BIOS has the second method, it never is placed in the
embarrassing situation of trusting what it reads in the SPD, and
crashing the computer as a result. In this case, the BIOS has
correctly tested the memory for itself, and determined the true
size is 512 MB. It then prepared the address decoding map accordingly.
Now, that doesn't prevent other pieces of software, from reading
the SPD, and concluding some other amount of memory is installed.
But as long as the BIOS has correctly set up the Northbridge and
memory decoder, so it doesn't stray into "non-existent" memory,
the box stays on its feet.
*******
Use the no-install version of CPUZ. Run CPUZ.exe. Click the
"About" tab. Use the "Save Report" function, to a text file.
Look for a section that looks like this. There would be one
256 byte table, for each installed DIMM.
Dump Module #1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
00 80 08 08 0E 0A 61 40 00 05 30 45 00 82 08 00 00
10 0C 04 38 01 02 00 03 3D 50 50 60 3C 1E 3C 2D 80
...
F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
The parameters can be decoded with documents like this one.
Perhaps by doing a bit of analysis, you can see how it
gets 4096MB. Byte 31 and byte 5 might be interesting.
As well as checking to see if the checksum is correct.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030417070529/http://www.jedec.org/download/search/4_01_02_04R11A.PDF
Or just post the block of data in question, and I'll decode it :-)
Paul
Bri
Do a search in Google - it seems it is a common problem with ZA.
Cheers,
Brian.
"JoeSpareBedroom" <news...@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:ED8%m.119$YP1...@newsfe15.iad...
Unknown
Please let Twayne know of this problem.
"Bri" <bd...@drive.co.uk> wrote in message
news:eWQuMNwi...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Shenan Stanley
> WinXP Pro SP2
> 500 mb of RAM
> 18 gb hard disk with around 4gb free
>
> Checked My Computer & found I was down to around 200 *MEGABYTES*.
> My first thought was "That's interesting". Actually, that's not
> what I thought, but there might be kids here, so use your
> imagination.
> I download quite a bit of music, but in order to keep about 4gb
> free, I religiously move the files to my external HD every few
> days, so I knew that wasn't the issue. The only things running at
> the moment were Firefox and Outlook Express, along with Avast
> (antivirus) and ZoneAlarm Pro. I shut down FF & OE & restarted the
> computer. Again, I found around 200 MB free. Unfortunately, I did
> not check page file use in Task Manager at the time. However, I
> compared the list of processes to a screen shot I made for this
> purpose in the past, and found nothing unusual. I accept no
> software updates (except from Avast & ZoneAlarm) without first
> consulting a couple of tech sources for problems, and no new apps
> have been installed in at least a year.
> Walked away to think about it, came back 10 minutes later, and
> found I was back up to 4GB again.
>
> "That's interesting", I thought. I ran a full AV scan using Avast,
> followed by a Spybot scan. They found nothing. Upon restarting this
> morning, the computer is fine.
>
> I'm mystified. Anyone have any ideas?
Shenan Stanley wrote:
> I would get rid of Zone Alarm and Avast and replace the with the
> Windows Firewall (especially if you are already behind a NAT
> router) and Avira Antivirus. ZoneAlarm is often more trouble than
> it is worth for the home user and is utilizing resources for many
> who have it installed they would likely enjoy more elsewhere
> without losing any level of protection. I have nothing against
> Avast (free or pay) - but have found that of the free ones, Avira
> antivirus seems to work the best for most users. You could go an
> purchase eSet NOD32 antivirus (antivirus only) and get really good
> results - but I am not about to suggest (only) that you spend $60
> U.S. - you'd likely stop reading. *grin*
> I would also uninstall Spybot Search and Destroy. I just don't
> favor it as much as I used to - there are definitely all-around
> better products out there.
>
> You have an 18GB drive - that is small. You have to be *very*
> watchful with your space. There are a few things you can do to
> ensure you have as much space as possible and then - something you
> can do to see where all the space is being used.
>
> Clean up and then see what you have left to do.
>
> Download/install this:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
>
> After installing, do the following:
>
> Start button --> RUN --> type in:
> "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
> --> Click OK.
>
> (The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be
> exact.)
> If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can
> delete the uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has
> installed... http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
> ( Particularly of interest here - #4 )
> ( Alternative:
> http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm )
> You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but
> your latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..
>
> How to use Disk Cleanup
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312
>
> You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..
>
> When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the
> system's memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of
> the hiberfil.sys file will always equal the amount of physical
> memory in your system. If you don't use the hibernate feature and
> want to recapture the space that Windows uses for the hiberfil.sys
> file, perform the following steps:
> - Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start,
> Settings, Control Panel, and click Power Options).
> - Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check
> box, then click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting
> Never under the "System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab
> doesn't delete the hiberfil.sys file.
> - Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power
> Schemes tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.
>
> You can control how much space your System Restore can use...
>
> 1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
> 2. Click the System Restore tab.
> 3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and
> click on the "Settings" button.
> 4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I
> suggest moving the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or
> close to that...) 5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.
>
> You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can
> utilize...
> Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores
> to a size between 64MB and 128MB..
>
> - Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
> - Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
> - Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
> do the following:
> - Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
> - Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:"
> to something between 64MB and 128MB. (It may be MUCH larger right
> now.)
> - Click OK.
> - Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline
> contents" (the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this
> could take 2-10 minutes or more.)
> - Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open
> Internet Explorer.
>
> You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
> temporary files and use that to get rid of those:
>
> Ccleaner (Free!)
> http://www.ccleaner.com/
>
> Other ways to free up space..
>
> JDiskReport
> http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
>
> SequoiaView
> http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
>
> Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being
> used.
> In the end - a standard Windows XP installation with all sorts of
> extras will not likely be above about 4.5GB to 9GB in size. If you
> have more space than that (likely do on a modern machine) and most
> of it seems to be used - likely you need to move *your stuff* off
> and/or find a better way to manage it.
Did anything ever come of this?
Been following the entire conversation and most of the stuff I suggested
have been suggested again as more and more details come to light. If the
purpose was to free up space - then the removal of the products I suggested
could be skipped by and the rest followed. However - it seems that later
more details come out and people are suggesting some of the same things I
did for removal to fix other issues.
*shrug*
Just checking.
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
Bri
the problem I had was resolved by replacing ZA with another firewall. I
searched Google for 'memory leaks in Zone Alarm' when I discovered that
after disabling ZA from starting up, I no longer had memory slowly vanishing
from the hard drive. (Rebooting the computer would always restore the
original amount of memory) Perhaps I had just had a bad install of ZA.
"Unknown" <unk...@unknown.kom> wrote in message
news:eKtDllwi...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
JoeSpareBedroom
news:eoxKgswi...@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
Stay tuned, Shenan. I have guests today, but will definitely finish this off
by tomorrow. I don't like to leave these conversations hanging.
Jose
wrote:
> "Shenan Stanley" <newshel...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> > Did anything ever come of this?
>
> > Been following the entire conversation and most of the stuff I suggested
> > have been suggested again as more and more details come to light. If the
> > purpose was to free up space - then the removal of the products I
> > suggested could be skipped by and the rest followed. However - it seems
> > that later more details come out and people are suggesting some of the
> > same things I did for removal to fix other issues.
>
> > *shrug*
>
> > Just checking.
>
> > --
> > Shenan Stanley
> > MS-MVP
>
> Stay tuned, Shenan. I have guests today, but will definitely finish this off
> by tomorrow. I don't like to leave these conversations hanging.
I thought the problem was the hard disk space was thought to be
"around 4gb", then "some warning appeared" and then when the hard disk
space was actually checked it was reported to have free space of
"around 200 *MEGABYTES*", then after about a 10 minute period of
thought, the disk space was actually checked for real and found to be
4GB.
After 50+ messages, we still don't know what the disk space was
originally (it was just a thought) and we don't know what the warning
message was either.
Shenan Stanley
<snipped>
<entire conversation archived indefinitely>
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/browse_frm/thread/1c9e81bd744ca194/
</entire conversation archived indefinitely>
Jose wrote:
> I thought the problem was the hard disk space was thought to be
> "around 4gb", then "some warning appeared" and then when the hard
> disk space was actually checked it was reported to have free space
> of "around 200 *MEGABYTES*", then after about a 10 minute period of
> thought, the disk space was actually checked for real and found to
> be 4GB.
>
> After 50+ messages, we still don't know what the disk space was
> originally (it was just a thought) and we don't know what the
> warning message was either.
Not sure what conversation you are reading - but the original post you
quoted by responding told you all of that. ;-)
What I gathered from the original posting:
- 18GB of total drive space; OP is supposedly very careful about free space
given how little total is available.
- OP received a message that the drive was running out of space, checked and
it was down to under 200MB free.
- OP walked away - came back - 4GB now free; supposedly nothing done to make
that happen other than maybe closing Outlook Express and Firefox and
allowing time to pass.
- Full scans by the OP with AVAST and SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY found nothing.
- OP uses ZoneAlarm.
At this time - given what was and has been - OP has an 18GB hard disk
drive/partition with 4GB free space. OP is curious as to what happened to
lower the free space to 200MB or less and then give that back with little to
no interaction from them.
My suggestions are still pretty much the same.
- Uninstall ZoneAlarm. It is a placebo for most users - while it is a fact
the Windows XP Firewall does not do anything with outgoing stuff - if you
have something it needs to block outgoing - you are already
infested/infected. Use the Windows XP Firewall, stay behind a NAT router
and use common sense.
- Uninstall Avast! AV. While it is still one of my suggested freebie AVs -
I think Avira is better (for free) and eSet NOD32 AV only (cost) is better
as well.
- Uninstall Spybot Search and Destroy and use MalwareBytes. The choice of
whether to install resident or just use the free scanning capabilities every
so often is one the OP should make (as is all of this - as these are just
suggestions.)
- Cleanup the hard drive space given the instuctions from earlier.
Going through all of the suggestions so far - no one _really_ disagrees with
this. Some loosely defend ZoneAlarm and another even says that could be the
cause of the problem. I didn't see anyone say anything about Avast!/Avira
or SpyBot Search & Destroy really (other than me) and other people mentioned
parts of what my steps would check/clear up - pointing to certain things as
the possible culprit (like System Restore points.)
Essentially JoeSpareBedroom has done parts of the suggestions and said would
get to the rest after holiday guests leave and they have more time.
Bill in Co.
> Don't know who Twayne is but as regards 'vanishing disk space' is
> concerned,
He's the guy who had a vanishing memory problem.
Bri
Anyway, hopefully he'll see the post and try, first of all, disabling ZA
from the startup in msconfig to see if that works, then if so, replace ZA
with something else. (I'm now using Comodo).
"Bill in Co." <not_rea...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:O6zKAgyi...@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
Unknown
Gerry
I seem to recall that one problem in the past with Zone Alarm was that
it caused problems with System Restore. Multiple restore points ate up
free disk space. However, that problem I imagine is now fixed and there
is no sign of the problem on 'JoeSpareBedroom's' machine. I use the
Windows Firewall behind a router. I see little point in a third party
firewall. Waste of money on a home computer.
--
Hope this helps.
Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gerry
to make below on the Disk Defragmenter report.
I wonder whether there is any correlation between moving files to your
external drive and adding new downloads? There is a 671 mb file in your
Recycle Bin. Retaining files in the Recycle bin is wasteful if you have
limited free disk space. I also see you are not emptying your Outlook
Express Deleted items folder. Compacting Outlook Express folders
regularly would help on your machine.
In Outlook Express place the cursor on Local Folders and select File,
Work Offline followed by File, Folder, Compact All. Do not attempt to
interrupt or stop the process until it has completed. Close Outlook
Express when it has completed. As an aside your Outlook Express folders
are too large and you will encounter folder corruption and loss of
messages if you do not take measure to resolve that situation.
Your pagefile is in multiple fragments and as a result when you write
new files to disk they inevitably be fragmented. The advice to let
Windows manage the pagefile is responsible for this state of affairs.
With only 20% free disk you may be to achieve a new pagefile with fewer
fragments but it is not practical to achieve a contiguous pagefile
unless you have 50% to 60% free disk space. Although letting Windows
manage the pagefile is commonly recommended there are some of us who
think this is not the best advice.
--
Hope this helps.
Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bri
multiple restore points and of course after a reboot the freespace on the
hard drive reverted to what it should have been. It would then gradually
diminish until another reboot. As I had just upgraded to the latest version
of ZA (free version), I suspected that this may be the cause, therefore I
disabled it in msconfig startup, rebooted and no more diminishing memory.
Subsequently I uninstalled ZA and installed Comodo (free AV and firewall
combined). Since then, no more problems and machine boots faster too!
It may not be the same with JoeSpareBedroom's PC but if he were to first of
all disable ZA startup, reboot, then see if there is still a problem, it
would indicate whether or not ZA is implicated.
Cheers,
Bri.
"Gerry" <ge...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:eDpmKuzi...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Shenan Stanley
<snipped>
> It may not be the same with JoeSpareBedroom's PC but if he were to
> first of all disable ZA startup, reboot, then see if there is
> still a problem, it would indicate whether or not ZA is implicated.
Many past-cases of ZoneAlarm issues required complete removal of the
ZoneAlarm software to resolve prior to ZoneAlarm putting out fixes for them.
I'd say uninstalling is just slightly more trouble than
disabling/rebooting - and then only if you decide to re-install. ;-)
Bill in Co.
JoeSpareBedroom
>I thought the name of the guy with the problem was 'JoeSpareBedroom'.
>Anyway, hopefully he'll see the post and try, first of all, disabling ZA
>from the startup in msconfig to see if that works, then if so, replace ZA
>with something else. (I'm now using Comodo).
Yes, that's me with the vanishing disk space problem, which is entirely
different from a "vanishing memory problem" described by someone named
Twayne in a discussion I have no involvement with.
JoeSpareBedroom
> Bri wrote:
> <snipped>
>> It may not be the same with JoeSpareBedroom's PC but if he were to
>> first of all disable ZA startup, reboot, then see if there is
>> still a problem, it would indicate whether or not ZA is implicated.
>
> Many past-cases of ZoneAlarm issues required complete removal of the
> ZoneAlarm software to resolve prior to ZoneAlarm putting out fixes for
> them.
>
> I'd say uninstalling is just slightly more trouble than
> disabling/rebooting - and then only if you decide to re-install. ;-)
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
In the past, some ZA "complete uninstalls" have required dicking around in
the registry, which at least in my opinion indicates sloppy programming. Or,
maybe a lot more uninstalled programs leave remnants in the registry, and
ZoneAlarm's creator is just being honest.
In any case, ZA is gone.
JoeSpareBedroom
UPDATE:
(in no particular order relative to who suggested these things or when they
were suggested)
- Your reading of the problem was correct. And the low disk space warning,
which Jose described as "some warning appeared" was a small popup at the
right end of the task bar. I interpreted his use of quotation marks to mean
he'd never seen such a warning and was wondering about its origin.
- ZoneAlarm has been uninstalled and Windows firewall activated. Nice speed
improvement.
- There have been no subsequent reappearances of the disk space problem,
which has stabilized just under 4 GB.
- I have no opened the case yet to better understand the RAM discrepancy,
but I've decided it's a side issue because I specifically recall telling the
computer shop that I needed to keep the budget low (a mistake).
- There were NO multiple restore points to begin with.
- Defrag has been run.
- Pagefile.sys was disabled, deleted and then enabled again.
If I've not responded to anyone else's tips, please ask.
JoeSpareBedroom
>I can see no problems indicated in the HD Tune report. I have comments to
>make below on the Disk Defragmenter report.
>
> I wonder whether there is any correlation between moving files to your
> external drive and adding new downloads? There is a 671 mb file in your
> Recycle Bin. Retaining files in the Recycle bin is wasteful if you have
> limited free disk space. I also see you are not emptying your Outlook
> Express Deleted items folder. Compacting Outlook Express folders regularly
> would help on your machine.
>
That's done roughly every two weeks. It's unusual for me to let the Inbox
grow larger than about 100 messages, a number recommended in the past by
MVPs in this and other MS newsgroups. The large files in the recycle bin
were the backups from the last folder compacting event. My usual procedure
is:
- Distribute Inbox msgs to relevant folders (not subfolders of Inbox) if
necessary.
- Empty "deleted" folder (usually done daily - the snapshot you saw didn't
reflect this)
- Shut down OE.
- Backup OE messages to external HD.
- Restart OE.
- Go to "work offline"
- Compact OE folders.
- Leave backups in Recycle Bin for a few hours until I'm sure everything's
working OK, even though I also have them backed up on the external HD.
> Your pagefile is in multiple fragments and as a result when you write new
> files to disk they inevitably be fragmented. The advice to let Windows
> manage the pagefile is responsible for this state of affairs.
I went through the procedure (recommended in this thread) of disabling the
page file, deleting, rebooting, but don't recall if the defrag results you
saw were before or after. I'll check again.
> With only 20% free disk you may be to achieve a new pagefile with fewer
> fragments but it is not practical to achieve a contiguous pagefile unless
> you have 50% to 60% free disk space. Although letting Windows manage the
> pagefile is commonly recommended there are some of us who think this is
> not the best advice.
>
I'll have to rejigger that setting once the larger hard disk is in place.
> Hope this helps.
>
> Gerry
Yes. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this little circus of mine.
Jon
Girlfriend said there was low disk space. I had 0 space free. Freed up
space by deleting unused programs to get 300 MB free. Then shut down.
Restarted windows and I got my space back.
I am pretty sure it is a zone alarm issue. I have no fix but wanted you to
know you ain't crazy.
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
> .
>
JoeSpareBedroom
news:F0A2EA19-5560-4AA6...@microsoft.com...
>I had the same thing happen on Dec 23, 2009. I use 10 G of a 40 g
>hardrive.
> Girlfriend said there was low disk space. I had 0 space free. Freed up
> space by deleting unused programs to get 300 MB free. Then shut down.
> Restarted windows and I got my space back.
>
> I am pretty sure it is a zone alarm issue. I have no fix but wanted you
> to
> know you ain't crazy.
I didn't want to believe the problem could be ZA, but lo and behold, ZA is
gone and so is the problem. Another issue is gone, too: If I walked away
from Firefox with 2-3 tabs open, some with flash content, and came back an
hour later, it seemed FF cached itself on an old Casio watch connected to my
computer with two paper cups and some string. It would take forever for the
damned program to come back to life, and it's not HEAVY flash content I'm
talking about - sometimes just a relatively lightweight banner on a couple
of the sites.
With ZA gone, that problem's gone, too. This machine snaps again.
Shenan Stanley
Placebo - but with side effects. ;-)
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
Unknown
JoeSpareBedroom
Ok already! :)
Daave
> Ok already! :)
Heh :-)
If you recall, I was the one who chidingly said ZA was a placebo after
you had stated:
> All true, I suppose. But no computer of mine has been infected with
> anything nasty in almost 8 years, and although I know ZA isn't
> primarily responsible for this, I pretend that it is. :-)
And like Shenan added, in addition to being placebo, it also aaparently
has some (rather unwanted) side effects! I'm glad your problem is now
solved. Thanks for reporting.
JoeSpareBedroom
news:u6lmo8$iKHA...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
So what you're saying is that it's a placebo.
Daave
Read it again, Joe. :-)
I *had* said (a few days ago) that since you had used ZA for 8 years and
you felt good that none of your computers ever were infected, "There's
your placebo." That is, you could have run Windows Firewall all that
time with the same results. I was explaining that outbound protection is
more of a placebo than anything else since a nasty would be able to
bypass that anyway.
What is happening *now* is apparently *not* a placebo effect. Apparently
this ZA "drug" has some unwanted side effects (affecting performance and
how much free hard drive space you have)! This was Shenan's point, and I
was agreeing with it.
Does it make sense now? :-)
JoeSpareBedroom
It made sense two days ago. I was just razzing you because I can. :)
Daave
My razzometer must not have been functioning at the moment. :-)