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Low memory in a new Inspiron
Several months ago I bought a new DELL Inspiron 660 (Installed memory RAM 8.00 GB with 7.87 GB usable, 64-bit system, i5-3330@3.00 GHz processor, Windows 8 updated recently to 8.1).
I used and use it ONLY for WEB browsing by Internet Explorer, and VERY RARELY for short memos on the WordPad. I have installed ONLY a Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Recently I started to get messages "Your computer is low on memory. Close all programs and restart".
As a computer dummy I am puzzled that the 8GB are not enough for memory in my case, the more so that DELL sold me this computer as one with a lot of memory.
I have the 2 year support, but I hope that it might be unnecessary as I could get understanding of these messages here on the DELL forum, and I ask very thankfully your help.
mpo
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January 17th, 2014 17:00
One of your programs may have a memory leak. You will have to open the Task Manager and determine which program is causing problems. A simple update or reinstallation of the offending program could get rid of the error.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preventing-low-memory-problems#1TC=windows-7
Memory usage is in the Performance tab. The offending program can be found in the Details tab in Windows 8/8.1. Sort by the memory field.
I ran into a memory leak in Windows 8 with the nVidia video driver a few months ago.
Mary G
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January 18th, 2014 13:00
Just to be safe--contact Support to report this problem with a computer under warranty. Are you sure it is not a virtual memory problem? You could run the Diagnostics to check the hardware before contacting Support. Tap F12 as soon as you start a reboot to get to the Boot Menu. Report any significant results to Support. See this article.
noisnemid0028
49 Posts
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January 18th, 2014 19:00
Many thanks for the prompt and helpful responses.
Following the suggested articles I found in the Events Log - Warnings about LOW VIRTUAL MEMORY. I will double-check that the messages "Computer Low on Memory" are related to the Virtual memory by matching the time of a next warning with the event log time.
As much as I could understand the articles - the Virtual memory comes in action (increased as necessary) AFTER the RAM memory is exhausted and if this supplementary memory is not sufficient I must assume that the RAM is really in poor shape (in my case which I have described).
I have checked via Task Manager how much memory is taken by various processes, and have found that the sum of these data does NOT correspond to the indicated (in the column heading) percentage of used memory. The total of added (from all indicated processes) memory was 1412 Mb while the percentage of the used memory was 32%, which is incomprehensible for 8 Gb of RAM.
The largest memory user was "IAStorDataSvc(32 bit)" 862 Mb, followed by "Internet Explore(2)" 135 Mb, "Service Host Local System(Net..." 62 Mb, "McAfee On-Access Scanner ser..." 46 Mb.
I would be very grateful for additional explanation of my problem and specifically - What can cause the Virtual memory to become low, Does it confirm that there are problems/leaks with the RAM memory (as assumed above), Why the total of memory, used by processes, is much less than the percentage indicated in the Task Manager, "How important is the "IAStorDataSvc(32 bit)" and can it be deactivated/deleted?