computer battery and virtual memory messages

[macko420]

HI,
Well, here I am again with another question. My son's desktop computer is giving me two 'ramdomly' appearing messages. One says that my critical battery is low and I should save my work and plug in immediately and the other says that the virtual memory is low and the computer is doing something to build extra capacity.

I am already plugged in of course! Often I do have alot of stuff opened - excel, word, maybe a PDF depending on what I am doing.

I do have it plugged into a battery backup. could this be the backup battery or is it more likely to be the computer's interval battery?

This is an eMachine that is approx 5 yrs old (?). thanks!

 

[pjrose]

I suggest Googling the exact messages and see what you can find out.

Re virtual memory, the more applications and files you have open at once, the more of a load will be on the system. Depending on the specific configuration of your system, this might or might not be a problem. In any case, clear the cache. Check your system help files for how to do that, or go online and google how to clear cache on emachine.

Sorry I can't help more specifically, but maybe these suggestions will point you to some help?

 

[Icarus]

It really shouldn't be complaining about the battery when you are running on A/C. You might just need a new battery, if it matters to you. You can change or get rid of those warnings if you only ever use the laptop on A/C power.

You might need more memory, but it's probably not worth it for a 5 year old laptop.

You can adjust your virtual memory settings from My Computer/properties/Advanced/Performance Setting/Advanced/Virtual Memory - Change

A good set of setttings to use there is a fixed size paging file, that's at least 2x the amount of memory that you have, unless you really have a tiny amount of memory, in which case you should make it 3x or 4x. Select drive c, custom size and make the initial size and maximum size the same and press the set button. You may want to defrag first so it's able to allocate a paging file that's contiguous. The other thing to do is to look at all the services, startup programs and task bar icons and see what you can get rid of from loading when the computer starts. They all take memory.

I have 2G or RAM on my laptop running XP and have the initial and max sizes set to 2048MB, which is the same size as the amount of memory that I have.

-David

 

[macko420]

It really shouldn't be complaining about the battery when you are running on A/C. You might just need a new battery, if it matters to you. You can change or get rid of those warnings if you only ever use the laptop on A/C power.


You can adjust your virtual memory settings from My Computer/properties/Advanced/Performance Setting/Advanced/Virtual Memory - Change

A good set of setttings to use there is a fixed size paging file, that's at least 2x the amount of memory that you have, unless you really have a tiny amount of memory, in which case you should make it 3x or 4x. Select drive c, custom size and make the initial size and maximum size the same and press the set button. You may want to defrag first so it's able to allocate a paging file that's contiguous. The other thing to do is to look at all the services, startup programs and task bar icons and see what you can get rid of from loading when the computer starts. They all take memory.

Well, the thing is that this is a desktop computer. I do have it plugged into a battery backup device - maybe that is what this is about.

Also I did increase my virtual memory to be "system managed size" option instead of the default. I did just get the virtual memory message again after doing this. I am in the process of combining/organizing my business files from 3 computers so I can then place them on a backup drive. I am deleting these as I go so the recycle bin is getting filled but when I look at the C drive properties I've only used about 25% of the capacity. It may well be the RAM - only 512MB - I actually thought it had much more. Drat.......

David, I'm afraid I don't understand your instructions about the fixed size paging file. The computer seems to be running pretty well but has slowed down over the past several months.

Thanks to both you and PJRose for your kind advice.

 

[Icarus]

You shouldn't be getting any battery warnings on a desktop computer. Check your power management settings.

With only 512MB of memory, it's critical that you get rid of any unnecessary startup programs.

It keeps growing the swap file because you don't have enough memory, real + virtual (swap file space). The reason for that is that there are too many programs in memory at the same time.

-David

 

[Passepartout]

With a desktop, you could install additional memory cheaply and easily. Add a GB and that 512 would have an easier time dealing with whatever you want to have open. No more need of 'virtual memory' which I think is just hard disk space. This e-Machine might even be using part of that 512 0r virtual memory for video. Add memory.

Jim Ricks

 

[macko420]

Yes, I'm looking into adding memory. Is anyone familiar with "Uniblue Registry Booster"? I did the free scan and it found many issues.
It looks like a good site Cnet and Microsoft recommended. I didn't make any changes yet. Thanks!

 

[Makai Guy]

Is anyone familiar with "Uniblue Registry Booster"? I did the free scan and it found many issues.

Here's a review:
http://www.pcmech.com/article/uniblue-registry-booster-review/

 

[macko420]

After reading the review, I decided to wait to see if the other things I've done solve the problem. Thanks for all the good advice!