Paging file how do I set it?

I tick the box to have windows do th PF itself and click set, then restart th PC, and when I click my logon it beeps once and hangs for ---- dont know how long cause Ive not waited more than 10 minutes, is it supposed to hang while its sorting itself out? the only way I can get to logon is if I hold down CNTRL ALT DEL... but if its sorting out my PF am I just cancelling it out again? so its still on zero anyway.

My hard drive is 120gb. partitioned in 3... 1 large and 2 small.. windows XP.. 512 ram.. 1800mhz Athlon, anything else you should know?

Thank you....

You don't indicate your operating system, so I will start with XP.

What you need to do is set the Paging File to "Custom Size"... There is a button you can choose for that option.

Set Initial and Maxium size to 1500 mb in size.

That will be the3 perfformace setting for your computer, based on your amount of ram.

You have nowhere near enopugh ram to shut off paging file-need 3-4 gigs for that.

You desperatly need more ram. One gig will help, but the sweet spot is 2 gigs of ram.

1 gig of ram set pf to 2000 megs for both.
2 gigs ram, set pf to 3400 metgs for both.
3-4 gig's of ram, set pf to 4096 for both (this is max size per paging file partion a 32bit operating system)

Yes, you can have multiple paging files in one computer, but this is for the more advanced computer users.

Now lets hear it for the ATS dancers:

For improved performance follow monsoons advice(make sure min and max are the same value) Then under properties of your C: drive in the "Tools" tab-> run a defrag of your hard drive. This will move the pagefile to the quickest area of your drive for improved performance. With that little amount of RAM, you'll need every tweek you can.

Monsoon layed down some great advice and i would suggest you use every bit of it. Its taking forever and a day to boot up due to the fact allllllll of your startup progs are running off the hdd. Booting XP takes about 550mb of ram right off the gate on most systems with regular startup items.

Small amount of ram + no pf = screeching halt.

reply to post by mrmonsoon

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Hi thanks, I did say windows XP in my post. I have tried the custom sizing but not those values so I'l try again.

Thanks AIRTECK.

Should I do the defrag before or after I restart the PC? I have defragged it 3 times 2 days ago.. I could post photos of anything on screen if it helps us any.. lists of things etc..


Oh yeah when I shutdown from trying editing PF sizes... I get a nice blue screen saying >

''Driver_power_state_Failure''

If this is the first time you seen this stop error restart your computer... bla bla bla...

I guess you know the one. So I have to either press power off and on or reset button to start up again.

It seems that its refusing to set a page file as if the user permissions arent set or something......... and there isnt a pagefile.sys on th PC.. at all.


Anyway I'l go do what monsoon says shortly. Kinda expecting the same result tho. Do I have to do it on the administrator account or is this NET account ok? my users are with admin settings.



[edit on 05/09/2008 by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2]

reply to post by S1LV3R4D0

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Thanks I better get me some ram soon as. But how did you know I have loads of startup programs? There isnt that many, and even when I do remove them all it doesnt seem to load much faster.. and I still have to fire up the same security programs Id set to startup at logon... before I hit the net.. so the whole process seems the same length for me either way round.. but I have now left my start ups to nothing but AVG.

Its just weird why its gone like this suddenly, Ive had it for a few years with no PF issues, some music software bummed it out... too much ram usage.

BTW, you indicate you have a 120 gig drive with 3 partions.

How full is the partion that the OS is on???

You need to know that anything over 50% full on a hard drive or even a partition, with seriously slow down your computer-especially when you use the hard drive a lot-like booting up.

This is much less true of secondary drives-ie data drives.

Main disc is 97.3gb with 68.2 gb free. 3 others equally small as each other and practically empty now.. and I have a slave 7.8gb where I throw all web and downloaded stuff I wana keep safe.

This is driving me crazy now I cant even operate the things I need to.

Driver_power_state_failure... I have googled for this for days reading and updating... downloaded about 70 windows updates.. updated my graphics card drivers which were out of date... my soundcard.. took the PC apart and cleaned it all out, took cards out and reseated.. trashed an old modem I didnt know I left in it. Scanned it like mad with about 7 different apps.

In device manager when I try let it connect to the web to scan for driver updates it looks for about 1 second and says Ive already got the best drivers....... isnt that a bit fast tho? I dont know if its actually looking on the web but thats what I tick.


I have a list of unsigned files [29] from microsoft driver sig tool... some dlls some sys.. ini.. exe.. dat.. ds. dates on those are all 01 - 02.


Heres some other drivers out of date - via busmaster ide controller, logitech webcam, via compatibale ethernet adapter, usb audio, creative game port, usb composite device.. thats all.


Ive been taking screenshots, from the component services, full list whats running or not etc.., registry pagefile page, error msgs... task manager performance graph, users, should I post anything?

'Server service' seems to be missing from my component services... is that important? cant click 'MEMBER OF' in the users in LUSRMGR application cause it says ' the server service hasnt started'. .. well no... cause it dont seem to be there!?

Was trying to find an update for my bios and motherboard today but I get a bit lost, not even sure if they need updating.. but if the bios is 2001 I woud have thought it does!? I hear about 80% of PCs have out of date bios...

[edit on 05/09/2008 by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2]

Hey Paradox. If your via busmasters are out of date. I would suggest installing the latest Via hyperion drivers to see if it corrects some of your problems.


Heres a link to the Via Arena download page for the Hyperions for xp 32bit.

Linky


Click the Click here for free download link partway down the page.

Hope that helps some.

Silver

reply to post by S1LV3R4D0

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Ok I downloaded that and run the .exe but it cant install it, it says 1607: unable to install installshield scripting runtime ??

Im downloading service pack 3 [I have sp2] do I even need it will it help?

Well I'l see shortly...

Even SP3 wont install, something about msinstaller not connecting to update service [in event viewer]..... tried again now its just said it cant update ...make sure cryptographic service is running.. but it is running.... tried a 3rd time now it says not enough room to install.



Cant wait to get a new PC..

[edit on 05/09/2008 by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2]

Try this, try downloading SP3 and then installing it.

www.microsoft.com...

also, try all MS updates not including sp3.

You "MAY" need to install M$ installer 3.1 first.

run all your antivirus/anti spy/anti malware/and defrager first.

If you do get another computer, for gods sake, no vista!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Btw, consider reloading your computer, it must be cheaper than a new rig.

Thanks but isnt that link SP3 what Ive already downloaded and it wont install? I did mention that above. Its on my desktop KB936929-SP3 316.mb

Im now downloading MS installer 3.1 ....... ok thats installed now Im trying SP3 again

But do I need it? on microsoft it says >

This installation package is intended for IT professionals and developers downloading and installing on 'multiple computers on a network'. If you're updating just one computer, please visit Windows Update....


I have already installed almost every update for windows, there is only one or a couple that wont install.... maybe they will now 3.1 has installed..

Back shortly.

I think I quit I cant take any more. Im going round in circles updating then rolling back drivers. Cant buy a new PC for ages tho so this will have to do as it is.

Thanks anyway

[edit on 05/09/2008 by P-a-r-a-d-o-X-2]