Memory Leak: Insufficient System Resources

DavidW7ncus said:

rlsj said:

I upgraded to Windows-7 from -XP about a month ago, applied all available updates and thought it the right move until recently.

That sounds like it was working ok, until recently.
Do you know what you changed or did just before the problem started?
...

I didn't notice this failure until a couple days ago, when my first insufficient resources message appeared.

Okay, here's what I propose to do:
Reinstall Windows-7 clean tomorrow morning, then the Intel drivers, then the Windows updates. If this shows clean, I'll begin reinstalling the old applications. After each step, beginning with the OS -- now that I know how to recognize the problem -- I'll look for it on each separate installation: that is, after invoking the program installed.

A continually blinking hour-glass cursor is a pretty good indication that something is constantly starting and stopping. Has anyone else noticed that symptom?

--rlsj

Sounds like a good plan, but I suggest the changes hi-lighted in Blue:

Reinstall Windows-7 clean tomorrow morning, then the Intel drivers, then the Windows updates.
Install an Anti-virus program such as MSE (MS Security Essentials) - it's free
Download Microsoft Security Essentials from Official Microsoft Download Center

If this shows clean,
Create a System Backup Image using an Imaging program such as Macrium (free)
Imaging with free Macrium

I'll begin reinstalling the old applications. After each step, beginning with the OS -- now that I know how to recognize the problem -- I'll look for it on each separate installation: that is, after invoking the program installed.

There are many free and paid programs available for Security and Imaging.
I suggested these as they are free, highly recommended, and work very well...
A Backup Image allows quickly recovering, without needing to go back to a "Re-Install" if something goes wrong...

Now a bit after midnight, bedtime. Here's a quick report on progress:

Reinstalled Windows-7 Pro. Thought I was installing it "clean" -- new installation -- but it obviously didn't reformat my C-drive. Too many old references remained intact. How do you make it reformat?

Installed only the ASUS motherboard drivers. Apparently (see above) the previously installed drivers for video, sound and Ethernet were still there.

Installed all the Windows updates, required and optional, well over 100.

Installed and ran the following ex-XP applications in that order: Office-2003, ACD-Video, FBReader (for ebooks), Media Player Classic V6, News Rover, WinRAR, QuickPar, Adobe Reader (I'm keeping a log).

So far none of the two failure symptoms has appeared: no "vibrating" hour-glass cursor and no continually increasing memory utilization. Memory use increases as an application starts but falls back, as you would expect, when it terminates. But let's see what tomorrow brings.

--rlsj

See step 8 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 for info about partitions and formatting with a clean reinstall.
This tutorial works for Retail as well as OEM, and should have everything you need for a clean reinstall.

DavidW7ncus said:

See step 8 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 for info about partitions and formatting with a clean reinstall.
This tutorial ... should have everything you need for a clean reinstall.

I'm sure it does, it's elaborate enough! I am no longer a computer professional and from the looks of this tutorial, it's equivalent to a trade school course, including plentiful terminology for the definition of which one needs to ask the trade school teacher. Thank you for your interest, however.

At the moment everything is going well. I've installed and run 14 applications, including the largest: Dragon Naturally Speaking v11.5, all of which were previously running on -XP, so far with no sign of the memory leak. Others remain that I'll think of when I need them.

A program bug depends on a particular sequence of events for exposure, one that I haven't yet produced this time around. The only trouble with blithely proceeding is knowing what awaits me somewhere down the road.

--rlsj

I probably should start a new thread for this, but ...

Re-installing Windows-7 fixed -- or at least masked -- the memory leak problem. It ran beautifully for five days.
Then on 8/20 the system failed to boot, apparently hung in a loop with the fuzzy window panes showing. I left them on the screen and went to breakfast. When I returned, it had finally booted and thereafter ran normally. On 8/21 the same symptom recurred.

Further investigation revealed something unique in my 52-year intimacy with computers. The time for reboot: that is, from first appearance of the fuzzy window startup screen, to sounding of the start-up flourish as all the app icons appeared, was seven _minutes_ and ten seconds, as measured with a stopwatch. This was consistent on reboot after reboot, even power-off then reboot. The seconds varied by +/-5, probably because of finger reflex (the attention wanders after seven minutes!). Deciding to boot from the system repair CD, made just after the last reinstall, I measured nine minutes from the "Loading Files" screen to the function chooser. During most of this time the screen was black with no disk activity, likewise for regular reboot.

The terrible consistency of the reboot time, 7 minutes +, seems to require deliberate programming. You will say the problem must lie in my hardware. I agree that it's likely to be a combination of my hardware and Windows, but Windows-7 is definitely involved. Why? Because, fed up at last, I have reinstalled Windows-XP, which reboots completely -- XP-logo to welcome tune -- in 12 seconds.

Goodbye, gentlemen.
--rlsj