Memory Problem?

Hi!

I have a problem with my laptop. I just upgraded the laptop ram to 2x 1gb 667Mhz Kingston sticks. However even when I have upgraded it, I still faces the issue of having explorer freezing or out of memory problems. I have described the issues I faced in details below.

1) Explorer Freezing
Not exactly freezing. It is that the explorer refuses to work. For example, when I choose to open a folder/file, nothing will pop up. The folder that has been opened previously will have these white bar with the windows icon in the centre at the "Standard buttons". I can only resolve this issue through restart of my laptop or closing programs that I am working on. Sometimes, even after I closes every program, the problem still exists. Then the only way is to restart the computer. This usually happens when I use the laptop for quite some time. Normally, I will watch some shows, with my rdp and IRC on.

2) Out of memory
I dont really know how to describe this. But I suppose the following symptoms are related to the out of memory issue:

a) Unable to right click -> When you right click, there will be no menus/options.
Unable to copy text -> Even when you Ctrl+C, the text will not be copied. (Unable to right click and choose copy).
c) Unable to create new internet explorer instantance -> When a website has its links on popup window, I clicked it, but there is no new IE window.
d) Unable to create new tabs in IE -> When you create a new tab, it will just shows "Connecting" and a blank page. You wont be able to navigate it to other websites.
e) Unable to launch programs, open folders, file -> What I have described in point 1.
f) IE _blank link will popup the message: "Out Of Memory: Line 1"

For both issues, I usually will face them when I used the computer for quite some time. The stuffs that I do on the computer is watching shows, RDP, IRC. Sometimes opening up photoshop or dreamweaver. But usually will close them after finishing my work. I dunno whether will it be virus issues, but I have only reformatted the laptop about a few months ago and I have Avira Antivirus Premium 8 running.

Can someone help me ?

Thanks!

When the computer first starts, open up Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del)
Then click on the Processes tab.
Then click on the View menu item, then on Select columns
In the Select columns dialog, place a checkmark in I/O Reads and I/O Other
Click OK to exit the dialog.
Resize the Task Manager screen so you can see all the columns.
Double click on the I/O Reads column header to sort the numbers
Wait....
When the computer freezes, check to see if the top entry(s) are significantly larger than the entries below them. Make a note of the Image name of the excessivel large one's.

If this doesn't reveal a culprit, then repeat this for the I/O Other, the Memory, and the CPU columns (the double clicking on the column to sort it).

Thanks! I will try your method and report back any findings. =D

I have encountered the memory problem yet. But this is what I noticed.

Svchost.exe has the highest mem usage of 38, 300 K

Csrss.exe has the highest I/O Reads with 353,685. Its increasing every moment. It has the most vast difference with the other processes as well. Its I/O other is 77, 917 though.

Explorer.exe has the highest I/O Other with 1, 549, 432. Its increasing every moment too. It also has the most vast difference with the other processes. Its I/O Reads is 10, 741.

I will like to ask are these processes supposed to have these high readings? What is I/O Reads and I/O Other. When a process has a high I/O Reads, what does it means? And same for process with I/O Other.

I/O Reads is when a process is reading your hard drive. The hard drive is usually the slowest part of your system. So if a process is reading your hard drive a lot, it'll slow down your system. This can be caused either by problems with the process, or problems with the hard drive (or the files on them).

I/O Other is less easy to define, but it's basically what Windows is doing in the background. I use it to help me decide if it's a Windows problem, or a problem with another program.

Try this...Go to Start...Run...and type in "services.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter.
Scroll down the list to the Windows Update service.
Right click on it and select "Stop", then check your csrss.exe and the explorer.exe

If this fixes things, then we'll have to do a bit of research to see what we can do (most commonly it's methods 3, 9, and 10 from this link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822798 )

Sorry for not updating the thread. Just that I seldom faces these problems nowadays because I dont have the time to really use the computer. But once I face the problem, I will stop the Automatic Update service to see whether is it the problem.

It could also be my hard drive having bad sectors something like that right?

Yes it could be your hard drive also - it's hard to figure out exactly what it is without a bunch of troubleshooting and attempting fixes.