"low system memory" with 1 gig left?

[stevhill]

Hello, PrEl-3 seems to think it's low on "system" memory, yet it's using just ~1 gig out of 2 gig total physical. Interestingly, PrEl2 used all the memory I threw at it and ran fine. With PrEl-3 I get about 6 minutes of video (on the timeline) before this warning, and, it bogs down/acts erratically. Also, at one time got error "1920", whatever that is. This trouble makes PrEl 3 basically unsusable. Does anyone have a clue? Thanks!

[stevhill]

I'm all ears for suggestions...
It's very frustrating. I'm about 8 hours into a short video. Started getting this low memory thing, but, deleting the rendered files helped for awhile. Now, while I can still open the project, I'm basically shut out of any further editing. Frustrating to say the least. It's just like the program thinks there is no more memory left. In fact, it hasn't touched a whole gig of physical memory, not to mention the virtual disk memory. I'd sure like some ideas on this. Thanks

[AngelicKim]

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum. I do not know anything about Premiere Elements but have sometimes gotten the low memory message on other programs and have read other threads here where people have gotten it too. I think that you can allocate more memory to the program somehow so that it will not give the message. I will see if I can find one of the threads so that I can give you a more acccurate answer.

[AngelicKim]

Steve, unfortunately all I have able to find is suggestions to go to the Adobe Premiere Elements forum on Adobe's site. It is suggested that there are a lot more knowledgable people there on Premiere than here. Do hope you find your answer soon.

Here is one thing that may or may not help somewhat, I copied ATR's post from a similar question.

Quote "If you have Windows XP Professional, make sure you have Service Pack 2 installed. Although my Premiere Elements 2.0 operated just fine with Windows XP Service Pack 1, Premiere Elements 3.0 just will not open under those conditions.

Also, if your project size is typically large, you will need more memory, probably about 1 GB. Some claim that 1 GB is optimal rather than 2 GB. I have Windows XP 512 MB RAM, do small projects, and have a running battle keeping things going by defragmenting, closing programs running in the background, and detecting unnecessary files.

You may want to check out the problems/solutions at http://www.adobe.com (http://www.adobe.com/) Premiere Elements User to User Forum and maybe get some opinions there. Also, the Sales people at Adobe should be able to give you a go or no go answer.

ATR" Quote

[mom to 4]

I don't know if this will help at all, but I will throw it out just in case.

I have Pinnacle Studio for making slide shows. It would always just close down on me. What I finally decided to do is:

a. I disconnect my internet modem
b. I shut down my anti-virus program
c. I use end-it-all to close down ALL those nasty things running in the background on my computer that I don't need.


I find that when I do that my computer hums along nicely without problems and that little box that used to tell me I was low on "virtural memory" doesn't pop up anymore.

When I am done, I immediately restart my anti-virus and reconnect my modem.

Good luck!

[stevhill]

I thank you all for the help. I'm thinking this is an unusual problem. I've tried many things, also noticed some of the "Help" functions don't work. Ug dunno what's going on. Thanks, again, for your suggestions. Much appreciated.

[AngelicKim]

Steve, sorry we couldn't have been of more help. A thought since the Help files aren't working either is to maybe try a reinstall. Hope you get it figured out soon.

[gem]

stev,

I am a bit surprised that you would get a virtual memory warning with that much RAM installed / available (I'm assuming you are using some type of utility to monitor RAM usage?).

I am not an expert, but virtual memory is a memory management technique used by your operating system. Your hard drive space is used to allow this. I would not be surprised if PE3 is written in such a way that it attempts to manipulate this to it's advantage since much of what you are doing while editing is in RAM.

This is one of the reasons why a reasonable amount of empty contiguous drive space is important when working with video (I think Adobe recommends at least 60 gigs). I recently bought an external drive just so I could facilitate this (created a "scratch disc").

I have included a link to a Virtual Memory Wiki. I would suggest you might want to do some additional research. There are virtual memory settings you can change. It has been some time since I have had to address such a concern, so it would be in your interest to search the web to realize how to do this.

In addition, other forum members suggestions of shutting down unneeded programs / processes are absolutely in order, particularly the suggestion to shut down your anti-virus. Many are memory hogs and the last thing you want when editing / rendering is for a pre-scheduled scan to begin. To avoid infection disconnect from the internet prior to editing. I use a small program called. "EndItAll2". It has a bit of an ominous name, but it's a great little app that will show all processes running and enable easy termination. It may be available free on the web if you search. I have included another link that was originally from blackviper.com. This link offers information on how to set up a XP machine with only the processes / programs that you want to run. It is completely trustworthy and very useful. Blackviper is a gamer that knows computers. He once was featured and interviewed on TechTV. While his domain is no more, someone preserved the information from his site. Be sure to follow as instructed.

I hope this helped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_memory


http://www.student.dtu.dk/~s011527/blackviper/service411sp2.htm

[stevhill]

ah thanks Gem. All good suggestions there. I definitely will check out the links. FYI, I have about 120 gig on the scratch disk, most of which is contiguous. This problem is looking more and more like it's tied to the OS somehow.
Another bit of confusing evidence: I reinstalled PrEl2, which, after loading a 20 minute video I had authored previously, started acting "weird" also. I'm like, What Is Up??
I've decided to do a total OS wipe/reinstall -yikes! This is drastic, time-consuming and potentially disastrous, I know. But I'm really stuck on this. Ohy Veh! Haven't done this in years, feel like the I'm on the Titanic...

[gem]

I've decided to do a total OS wipe/reinstall -yikes! This is drastic, time-consuming and potentially disastrous, I know. But I'm really stuck on this. Ohy Veh! Haven't done this in years, feel like the I'm on the Titanic...

I do a "clean install" at least once a year. While I would love to have a machine that is dedicated to only editing, the reality is that my computer is used for many things and because of that conflicts do develop. In addition, it is inevitable that some malicious files may find a home. A clean install solves all of this. It is time consuming, but only disastrous if you don't back files you wish to save. Your slave drive can be useful for this purpose while you reformat your primary.

Good luck.

[mom to 4]

Gem:

Can you tell me what you do each year??? Do you completely wipe everything off? EVERYTHING???? How do you do it and what do you do with stuff you want to keep. I know you said backup, but then doesn't that put junk back on that you don't want?? I think I am at that point where I am considering doing that. My machine is way overloaded. I have only started doing slide shows and I do want to add video to them, and I am thinking it will kill my machine!

[stevhill]

heh, yeah, I'm backing up now. Thanks for the encouragement. Have a fine NYE!

[gem]

mom to 4,

I will attempt to describe the basics, but I strongly recommend you search the web for more detailed instructions (I will try to find a decent tutorial or link later...I only have a few minutes now). The information below is based on having the operating system's installation disc available.

Data back up:

Back up any data you don't want to use (i.e., pictures, songs, vids, personal documents, etc.). If you have a multiple drives, you can use them for such purposes by simply moving the files to those drive(s). This is because you are going to reformat the primary drive (almost always "C" drive). A reformat of a drive will wipe out all data. If you have only one drive or wish to reformat all drives, then you will need to back up files via optical media (CD or DVD). Again, please consider that a reformat of a drive will wipe out all files, including installed applications. You will only need to save any install files of programs if you do not have the installation discs. Otherwise, you can simply reinstall your applications after the reinstallation of the operation system.

Reformat and install operation system:

If you do have a copy of the operating system installtion disc (XP, I'm presuming), then the disc will pretty much walk you through the process. At certain points you will be given the choice to reformat, partition and then install XP. I am not going to detail this, but I will try to find a useable link later if you need it.


There are other means to return to "beginning" state your computer was in before adding applications / files, including Restore CDs and back up utilities such as Norton's "Ghost" (in fact, many manufacturers use Ghost to provide Restore CDs). I've only used this once in an attempt to fix my son's computer (it turned out to be bad memory). It should be noted that this alternative does not wipe out data on the drive, it only overwrites it. Because of this, malicious files can remain. If you have Restore CDs and you only wish to clean up your drive of accumulated items, this may be a good alternative.

Please respond with which option you have and I will attempt to assist as best I can.

[mom to 4]

Gem:

I have printed your response off. Pretty scary stuff. I have experienced some minor crashes lately. Computer just shuts itself down. I am assuming that is some kind of crash. I didn't lose anything, but I am starting to get a little concerned. We have two users on the computer. A family side on which my 17 year old has her itunes library and I have elements and pinnacle and the other side which I just use for MY itunes library, which is small. I have two external HD's one for backup and one for 90% of my photos. The other 10 are on the HD. I backed up both my C drive and my PSE through the organizer yesterday, but I am still worried about crashes. My slide shows are still on the HD in Pinnacle.

I have heard many people do what you do and that it is a really good idea, but it just scares the bejeebers out of me!!!

My computer is a Compac Presario and about ...maybe 3 years old. I am sure that when I got it, I had to make a series of disks upon starting it up and I do have them. I am running windows XP, but that was on the computer when I got it. So I am ASSUMING that it would be on those disks I initially made up. Does that sound right???

Did I answer your questions or give you the information you needed to know??

Thanks Gem! I appreciate your help!

[gem]

Back up any data you don't want to use

I quoted myself because it should have said, "Back up any date you don't want to lose. Sorry.

It sounds like the discs that you had to make when first using your computer were Restore CDs. These may address your problems. For what it's worth, more and more manufacturers offer this option in the way you received it. I find this somewhat regrettable as they used to actually provide a copy of XP or at least run the Restore CDs for you. That is a rant for another time and place however.....

If I understand you correctly, you do have at least one external hard drive to use to store files that you wish to save? If so, just be sure to save all files you wish to keep, as they will not be retrievable after running your Restore CDs.

If you created these Restord CDs properly, then you should be able to run each in succession and the end result will be that your computer will be in the exact state as when you first created them. As stated before, you will need to reinstall anything that was installed after the creation of these CDs. Make sure that you able to reinstall any programs you value before commencing (have all install CDs / DVDs , product keys - activation codes, etc.).

PLEASE READ:

I am not completely clear on what your goal is in pursuing this. What does "overloaded" mean? Perhaps more importantly, the cause of computer shut down could be critical. Using the Restore CDs may fix this, but they also may not. Does the shutdown occur at the same time each day because I believe you can indeed schedule this with XP. If this is a random shutdown, it could be a software problem that running the Restore CDs will fix. However it could also be a hardware problem. Have you cleaned out the case? It it near a heat source? The are a multitude of possibilities. Indeed, when I attempted to fix my son's computer, I tried his Restore CDs first. I did this because he did not have any files to lose in doing such and I figured if his computer continued to freeze and reboot, then I at least eliminated that it was a software problem. Once that was done we begin to remove components that we had installed after purchase (RAM and video card). As stated before, it turned out to be faulty memory.

It is possible to have malicious files on your computer that could be causing problems (i.e., virus, trojans, adware, spyware). I have anti-virus installed on my machine, but I do pay a visit to Trend Micro's on-line scan called, "Housecall". This is an excellent free option from a trustworty software vendor. This service will identify and remove any found malicious items. It is web based (scans your system from their server...as stated, completely trustworthy). I will include a link and will also include links for two anti-spyware applications that I have used for years, AdAware (from Lavasoft) and Spybot Search and Destroy.


I have printed your response off. Pretty scary stuff

First, printing items of interest is a very important step when attempting to do something you have little experience with. Well done. I would highly recommend using Google or your favorite search engine to find information and instructions / tutorials, including at the computer manufacturer's website (usually in the "Support" category). Indeed if you are getting any system error messages, write them down and Google them. You will be surprised what useful information that this can provide. If your computer is your only link to the net (no other computer in your home?), then printing important information is a must.

Second, your admission is even more important. Respect for the unknown should bring much need caution in regards to the changes you may make.

I hope what I have offered isn't confusing. As I asked, it depends what your goal is to determine the best course of action. Years ago I spent money for a tech to fix my computer and I vowed to address future issues myself if at all possible. I found that my own interest in computers combined with a bit of research and common sense enabled me to tackle many system related problems. The key is understanding what you are attempted to address and chosing the right path. The links I will include offer the ability to attempt to remove files that may be causing system instablity or are at least using resources that you need for other tasks (and video uses a lot!). At this point, running the Restore CDs is a big fix, while checking for and removing malicious software may indeed mend your ills? The latter choice, if successful, would save you a lot of time and effort.

Finally just a few more items / options. Seperate from Restore CDs (a copy of your computers files at the point when you created them) is an option included in XP called, "System Restore". System Restore is not the same as the CDs you created, but is also an option when your system is not running correctly. In short, by default XP will create dated "points" that when you call up this operating system utility will allow you to revert to that state when the "point" was created. This is yet another tool that may be useful. If you problems stem from any hardware issues, I'm afraid that it is nearly impossible for me to assist via a message board. We might have some success by process of elimination, but such efforts are wrought with possible mis-steps and that could prove to be costly.

Please consider what I have offered and I will be glad to assist if you need it. Detailed explanation of problems is a key.

Take care.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html