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View Full Version : Where'd my memory go?

Sovereign
09-03-2007, 05:24 PM
I know that everyone gripes about "Where'd my memory go??" when they install Vista. This is very different.

I installed Battle for Middle-Earth II (nothing remarkable, I've had this happen after installing any number of programs). The problem is, after this program was done installing, physical memory usage was at 99% of 4GB. I'm not talking cached memory here, the Task Manager said 3.9GB used. I'm confused because no process during this time of 3.9GB used has a large amount of RAM assigned to it. On the contrary, the amount of RAM used by all the processes has shrunk dramatically to make room for some mystery memory eater... Unfortunately I could not get a screen-grab at this point because the only "functioning" process was the Task Manager. Even though the OS was slowly redrawing the shell, I could not move the mouse or click anywhere.

See this screenshot.
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4339/taskmgrwtffl8.th.jpg (http://img516.imageshack.us/my.php?image=taskmgrwtffl8.jpg)

Is there ANYTHING in that which would suggest a reason for the HUGE memory usage? I have all processes from all users (one user logged on) showing and NOTHING seems to be using the gigabytes of memory that seem to be in use... As it stands right now I have 78% used. The only way to cure this is for me to reboot. What is going on?????
Rebel44
09-03-2007, 06:17 PM
Task manager/ Performance/ resource monitoring/ Memory and wait 1 minute - you will see which proces is eating so much RAM > kill it:)

Its most likely some bug in install or game.
Sovereign
09-03-2007, 06:27 PM
Task manager/ Performance/ resource monitoring/ Memory and wait 1 minute - you will see which proces is eating so much RAM > kill it:)

Its most likely some bug in install or game.

That's the problem! The process does NOT show up in the Task Manager no matter where I go. Including the resource monitoring thing.
Rebel44
09-03-2007, 06:50 PM
Use System recovery (use recovery point saved before you installed Battle for Middle-Earth II - if it wont help go back another week).
Sovereign
09-03-2007, 07:01 PM
Use System recovery (use recovery point saved before you installed Battle for Middle-Earth II - if it wont help go back another week).

Thanks, but that's kind of avoiding the issue. This happens randomly when I install applications and games (Halo 2, BFME2, 3ds max 9 x64...)

A reboot cures the problem, so there's really no point in using System Restore because if I go to install the app again I might or might not get the problem. It seems random. There are no notable events in the System Log either.
Rebel44
09-04-2007, 04:17 AM
It might also be some malware but I´m not sure.
If it happans randomly and you cant find why - best sollution will be to back up important data, format HDD and fresh install.
DrDoU
09-04-2007, 04:08 PM
try cacheman to recover lost memory
Finn
09-05-2007, 02:46 AM
If an app has a memoryleak it rarely shows in task manager.. hint.

And btw. even without the leak your process list looks like an absolute nightmare.. And the 180mb explorer rofl! There are OS'es smaller than that you know! :)

If I ever saw a box in need of cleaning up that's one of them.
LstOfTheBrunnenG
09-05-2007, 08:24 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the percentage of physical memory used displayed in task manager is the memory used by processes plus whatever memory is cached. So, if it's not a process eating all that space, then it should be Vista's SuperFetch, which should automatically clear out should you have need of it.

I've actually seen the exact thing happen on Ubuntu. All but a few MB of the 4 GB I had back then were in use. Once I was sure that it wasn't some rogue daemon eating all the memory, I was suitably impressed. The age of excess RAM sitting idle is over.
:LJ:
09-05-2007, 09:03 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the percentage of physical memory used displayed in task manager is the memory used by processes plus whatever memory is cached. So, if it's not a process eating all that space, then it should be Vista's SuperFetch, which should automatically clear out should you have need of it.

I've actually seen the exact thing happen on Ubuntu. All but a few MB of the 4 GB I had back then were in use. Once I was sure that it wasn't some rogue daemon eating all the memory, I was suitably impressed. The age of excess RAM sitting idle is over.


Exactly - it's just the file cache doing what it's supposed to. If you're installing apps, then a veritable assload of files are being created (and therefore cached). This memory is freed up as soon as a program needs it, so....in short, don't worry about it.
Finn
09-05-2007, 11:17 AM
So when his computer slows down to a halt and he can't even use his mouse anymore, that's just Vista doing what it's planned?

Figures. :D
:LJ:
09-05-2007, 11:24 AM
So when his computer slows down to a halt and he can't even use his mouse anymore, that's just Vista doing what it's planned?

Figures. :D


Heh....I lost my train of thought half way through and just sent it. What I meant to say was that this is expected behaviour for Vista, so either there's a bug in its memory allocation or something else is mucking around with memory and/or CPU. If it doesn't show up in the process list, then you're probably talking about a service that's gone doolally or a memory leak in the installer process that's causing it.