Anybody have an idea about this bizarre XP memory problem?

[greenmeanie]

I posted this on a few forums, either nobody replied or the one suggestion I did get didn't work, so i'm assuming they have no clue what is causing this.

Anyway, here's the situation:

Here's what my memory usage looks like in task manager when things are normal.

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task1good.jpg">https://home.comcast.net/~gree............od.jpg</a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a>

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<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task3good.jpg">https://home.comcast.net/~gree............od.jpg</a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a>

Then for some reason I see this at times.


<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://home.comcast.net/~green_meanie/task4bad.jpg">https://home.comcast.net/~green_m.........ad.jpg</a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a>

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My memory usage for almost all services shoots through the roof. But the overall memory stays normal under the performance tab, VM use looks about the same as does the paged pool and the non paged pool. The CPU process stays the same. If I reboot task manager will be back to normal. The system this happens on is running XP SP2 I have scanned for viruses and spyware, it's all clean. It has 1 gig of memory and a xp2600. I tried setting the VM to Windows managed after I took these shots and the drive has been defragmented.

I've searched Google up and down for an answer on this one and nothing.

Is this a Windows bug or something? Does this happen to anybody else? I've never noticed it on my other rig but I haven't been using that one alot.

Thanks.

 

[BlueWeasel]

That's definately odd. Does it seem to happen after using a particular program or just idle use as far as you can tell?

 

[networkman]

It looks to me like about a third of the apps running are directly related to Norton Antivirus or another Norton product. Perhaps you should look to see if there are any updates to the products to patch said issues, or try disabling them(temporarily) to narrow down the problem.

 

[Zolty]

Kinda looks like bittorrent to me, although it could be spyware. Svchost seems to have something to do with the downloading, at least on my pc. It looks like you have alot of programs hogging alot of memory, and this is causing slowness.

 

[greenmeanie]

I know it's odd. I'm stumped. It seems to happen randomly, although I get no adverse side effects when it happens, no crashes or anything. I've checked the hard drive with the WD utility, it's o.k.. I ran chkdsk /r it says there's 0 bad sectors. I've checked for viruses and spyware and i'm clean.

What really sucks is I have no idea when this started because as I said I have had no adverse side affects. I happened to check Task Manager one day and saw that and I was like wtf? So I can't pinpoint a time frame when I might have installed something that might have led to it. I don't use Bit Torrent.

You think it's a good idea to defrag the pagefile?

 

[cleverhandle]

Bizarre. There are even some processes where the mem use stays the same. And the factor that the mem increases by isn't anywhere close to constant on the others. Really, really weird.

I have no clue. But you would do a better job attracting people that might if you edit the OP and include a more descriptive summary. The Windows experts are pretty busy guys and could easily overlook your thread.

 

[greenmeanie]

Yeah, I know it's really strange. Maybe i'll try disabling Norton services like the fellow above suggested. Problem is it happens around every three days since i've been monitoring it.

I'll list my system specs for this rig maybe it will help:

Asus A7A266 (latest bios 1013.01)
GeForce 5900nu(latest WHQL drivers 71.84)
ATI TV Wonder VE PCI slot 2(latest available drivers 1.11.0.0 )
Sohoware 10/100 Nic PCI slot 3(latest available drivers 2.11.2000.5, supplied by MS )
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz pci slot 4(latest available drivers 4161 )
Adaptec DuoConnect USB 2/firewire card PCI slot 5(latest available drivers 3.1.0.4001)

I edited the subject and summary.

Thanks

 

[greenmeanie]

I found the problem. It's A2

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/.

I run this virus program at least once a week(I know i'm anal), but never watched Task Manager while using it. Guess what? I watched it tonight while I began a scan and what you see in the photos above happened while I watched it, three seperate times.

Finally solved it.

 

[Nothinman]

If the commit charge stays consistent and there's no adverse affects, why do you care?

 

[greenmeanie]

It was odd, simple as that. Different things bug different people.

Task Manager was showing something that didn't make sense to me and many other people and I wanted to know what it was and I was curious. The fact that the commit charge stayed consistent was even weirder.

Plus the people who make A2 know about the bug now and that's how patches come about. And if it eases people's minds who care about something that might be trivial to others it's still worth it IMO.

Anyway, thanks for the the responses.

Take it easy.

 

[Bozo]

Switch to Trend Micros free virus scan. Much easier on the system and your hair. :laugh:


Bozo