Crazy sudden memory problem on dell xps 1

[iamgenius]

Hi,

All of a sudden, my laptop which is a dell xps 13 2015 model started acting weird. The moment it is turned on its memory usage will start climbing till it reaches 90% the stage in which all sorts of bad things can happen. I used system restore to go back to two old restore points but it didn't help. The problem isn't software anyways because I didn't really change anything. What coould it be? Should I test memory with memtest86? Is there a windows program that can test memory?

Sorry but I only have few minutes to post.....

 

[Coup27]

System restore is about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe.

It's far more likely to be software than hardware. Boot it up and open task manager / resource monitor and see what process is taking up all the RAM.

 

[LTC8K6]

It was probably doing a massive update, and you just needed to wait.

Or it could be a virus.

 

[iamgenius]

System restore is about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe.

It's far more likely to be software than hardware. Boot it up and open task manager / resource monitor and see what process is taking up all the RAM.

Task manager shows normal behavior except for the overll ram usage. No process is taking more than normal. I know it is more likely to be software issue but it is just weird. My AV and anti malware doesn't shoe any thing.

Sorry this is using my phone to post this

 

[hhhd1]

Task manager doesn't show ram usage per processes properly by default, you need to adjust visible columns.

Or, even better, see the resource monitor.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Task manager doesn't show ram usage per processes properly by default, you need to adjust visible columns.

Need to add "Commit Charge" column.

 

[nerp]

What AV/Spyware are you running? Third party virus and spyware programs are notorious for destroying performance without any advantage over what's built in to Windows.

 

[iamgenius]

 

[iamgenius]

 

[iamgenius]

 

[iamgenius]

Barely able to post this. I think it has to do with do with MS search filter host.

Running mcafee + malwarebytes + superantispyware


last image shows memory usage was at almost max then went down rapidly. It is doing this now sometimes instead of restarting...

 

[Coup27]

A quick Google on searchfilterhost.exe reveals lots of hits of information about what it is and advice on what how to deal with it. I would suggest working through them. You could open services.msc and disable "Windows search" (and reboot) and try that for a while. Your PC will function fine but some search features like indexing will be broken.

Personally, if I spend more than an hour on a random Windows fault I'll forget it and reformat.

 

[hhhd1]

"Search filter host" is trying to use 31gb of ram, .. while you only have 8gb of real ram, ..

if you force closed this process, you should be able to use your computer normally.

 

[iamgenius]

A quick Google on searchfilterhost.exe reveals lots of hits of information about what it is and advice on what how to deal with it. I would suggest working through them. You could open services.msc and disable "Windows search" (and reboot) and try that for a while. Your PC will function fine but some search features like indexing will be broken.

Personally, if I spend more than an hour on a random Windows fault I'll forget it and reformat.

Coupe27, you just predicted exactly what I will be doing. I already tried doing some of the suggestions. If it doesn't work I'll just re-install windows 8.

 

[iamgenius]

"Search filter host" is trying to use 31gb of ram, .. while you only have 8gb of real ram, ..

if you force closed this process, you should be able to use your computer normally.

This is the first thing I tried to do actually, but it can't be closed. It says access is denied or something. However, when I disable the service like coupe27 suggested the laptop performs better.

The question is why would the search filter host act strangely all of a sudden?

 

[Coup27]

However, when I disable the service like coupe27 suggested the laptop performs better.

Performs better is it fixed? show us your screenshots again.

Windows can be very easy to break and very difficult to fix. If you can't be bothered to reformat you can just keep Windows search disabled. I think it only really affects indexing and things like instant search in Outlook.

 

[iamgenius]

Performs better is it fixed? show us your screenshots again.

Windows can be very easy to break and very difficult to fix. If you can't be bothered to reformat you can just keep Windows search disabled. I think it only really affects indexing and things like instant search in Outlook.

This is my main machine, the laptop is away from me now. I would say it is fixed Coupe. I could use the laptop and do all sorts of things. Even though, it doesn't hurt to format. It is a relatively new machine with not so many programs installed.

I tried some of the suggestions and they didn't work.......I'll just format, not worth it to waste time like you said. Stupid problem is stupid.

 

[cytg111]

Stupid problem is fixed and now you gonna format? Ok

 

[iamgenius]

Why would I keep a service disabled while it should be actually enabled? In addition, I wanna get of some other "sticky" stuff, hence the format...

 

[Coup27]

Why would I keep a service disabled while it should be actually enabled?

Windows is highly customisable. I have a whole raft of customisations I do and things I change/disable on a clean format to get it how I like it. If you don't use indexing or instant search in things like Outlook you can leave Windows Search disabled and probably won't even notice.