constant low resources

I have a Dell Dimension 4100, Intel Pentium 3, WinME 4.90.3000. I bought it new with 256 RAM. over time I would get info that I was low on resources. Put MemTurbo onto system and that worked good, didn't solve the resource problem but I didn't have to keep rebooting to get resources up.

4 months ago bought a Lexmark 3 in 1 printer/scanner/photo machine. completely wiped out the resources showing I didn't have enough to operate the printer. So put in another 256 RAM and techy guy and I decided to blow out the inside of computer at same time. The air can caused the motherboard to burn up, it was gone. Finally got another motherboard from Dell, exact same as my original. put it all together and still have Low Resources. altho I can use my printer now. the MemTurbo had to be taken off. Most recently I've run AdAware, and did the Spyhunter, did a complete scan, defrag, reboot. Resources are still at 36% free.

Anyone have a clue as to what is going on? and what to do about it? techy guy agreed with my startup tools, and agreed I do have lots on my computer but it shouldn't be causing low resources.

I also HAD Norton and 2 weeks prior to expiring I ordered another Norton and was sent a notice, out of stock and it would be sent, yada yada--------I don't dare cancel that order nor see a way to do it, but just dealing with the "River" people put fear in my heart, so no Norton at this point. oh, I do have ZoneAlarm and also use Yahoo IM and use OE for mail.

Please let me know if any more questions......thanks so much

Dar

 

So when you try to connect your printer you get a message saying you have low resources or not enough? What is the exact error??

 

Hi and thanks for replying - it says something like "can not get into word program (or whatever it is that I'm trying to do) because you are Dangerously Low on Resources"This can come about at any time and doesn't seem to just relate to the printer. or when trying to copy something.

for awhile I was getting a specific error message about "gui.exe" (hope those are the right letters) but found out that had to do with IE so went into program and did a "repair" and all OK on that end now. but still have low resources. my computer just crashes, mouse won't move or anything at about 3%.

thanks for any help and sure hope you can understand what I'm trying to say.

Dar

 

First off, make sure that the RAM the "techy" guy installed is compatible with your system (SD, DDR, RD RAM). Second check what programs are running at the moment when you are on your computer by ctrl+alt+del. If you notice to much activity, than go to msconfig in your start - run dialog box. Once it runs, go to startup, and get rid of some of the items that you see (you can try trial and error, if you don't know the specific file names and where they are leading. If not get rid of the obvious ones that you don't use.) You might want to also check in the system BIOS, and make sure that no device is taking up much memory (such as an onboard video and/or sound card etc.) Hope it helps.

 

DAR: I have a Dell4100 Pen III 933/133 384mb 20gb Wins ME w/ similar problems. My system would run for 2hrs then I would have to reboot to cont useing it. I thought mine was loss of memery resourses also. I keep removing programs in my Startup hoping this would help and keeping my Internet cache cleaned would help also. Then one day my comp crashed. I loss my mouse curser, Wins Graphes went into what looked like a Safe Mode and I losss my Soundcard function. I was able to restore my Mouse and Graphes thru devise Manager. But I could not restore my sound card. So I finally gave up trying to fix it myself and took the comp to a COMPUTER TECH. He was Microsoft approved tech. He remove alot of junk TROIGANS, SPYWARE, & MALWARE. So my advice is for you to have your system cleaned off would help. It cost me $112.50. It was worth every penny. "WE ARE ALL CURSED WITH DELLS" I dont have the system slow down any more either.
HOPE THIS HELPS YOU!! ODIE

 

To those that have answered - thanks. Odie - its about the same thing happening here and would you believe, my sound may be gone or I turned it off and forgot, will have to check that out.

I've been called out of town for a week so all of this fixin' will have to wait til I get back. don't want anyone to think I've gone away!!

to ezorption: the RAM is compatible, been double checked, all the start up programs were checked but I'm going to do that again and I'm sure I'll need help when I get into the Bios if I need to go there.

Thanks all for the help now - I'll be back in couple weeks.

Dar

 

Dar --

odiear3rd's suggestion is probably right on the money.

If Win ME is built anything like Win 9x, the resources that error message refers to are a software thing. There's nothing you can do to the hardware that will have any effect on their availability.

In Win 9x, the "resources" are reserved memory areas that are fixed in size by Windows itself. Windows uses them to keep track of system and graphic resources used by each running program. If you run low on resources, close running programs. If you have a mess of trojans or other malware running where you can't see them, well, they're sucking up resources too.

I don't know what system monitors Win ME provides, but Microsoft does provide tools like that in Win 9x. The Windows 98SE version is RSRCMTR.EXE. If you have a resource monitor available, run it from startup and see what sort of "percentage remaining" figures you're getting.

If you want more info, there's a page on Win 9x system resources here and here. Microsoft's pages here and here suggest that Win ME has similar limitations.

 

Try FreeRam or FreeRam XP Pro. They are free memory managers. I used FreeRam Pro when I had Win98, because it (and WinME, too) came up short in the memory management department.

 

I'd put my money on cleaning out all the unnecessary progs in startup. From memory ME is just a blown out version of 98SE and the only progs needed at startup are Systray and Explorer. Accepting that all temp files etc have also been cleaned out (CrapCleaner available this site ) kill all other startups.
Hope this helps
Robert