I'm having problem with the PC. I was told something about 'memory dump'. Should I change the RAM?

Question

Sometimes when the pc is on, it restarts and I do not know why. I received something called error report, and I read these:
C:\DOCUME~1\BJCABU~1\
LOCALS~1\Temp\
WERf000.dir00\
Mini010104-13.dmp

C:\DOCUME~1\BJCABU~1\
LOCALS~1\Temp\
WERf000.dir00\sysdata.xml

I think there might be a problem on that.

My PC is
Intel Celeron 2.40 GHz 2.41 GHz 96.0 MB of RAM
System:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

Sorry if I can't explain much of what's happening. I don't know much about PC so I hope you can help me.

Answer 1

Clean out your temp file. This is how you do it:



Click on Start and then Run.



In the text box in the Run window, type %Temp% and click OK. A folder full of files and other folders will appear.



All of the folders and files you see in this Temp folder are no longer being used by Windows XP and can safely be deleted.



Just select all, send them to your recycle bin, and empty it.



Also try increasing you virtual RAM. This is when after all your RAM is used up, the computer uses the hard drive as additional RAM. This is how you would go about doing that:



Right click on My Computer > left click on Properties > Advanced > Settings > Advanced. Under Virtual memory left click on Change.



Select (left click) on the Drive on wich Windows XP is installed. In most cases this will be Drive C.



Under Drive:

Space available: Select the radio button labeled: Custom size:



To play it safe, in both the Initial (MB)size: and Maximun size: dialogue boxes type 2560 (i.e. allocate 2.5GB for the pagefile) provided you have the free memory space to spare. If you don't have enough free memory available enter the amount of memory you can spare, and meanwhile seriously consider getting a larger Hard Drive.



Mine is set to 4096MB (4GB), max. allowed by XP. This may seem like quite a lot, but the reason for this is that recent games now require a lot more real and virtual memory to function correctly, even if you have 2GB of RAM. Having a larger pagefile size does not hurt performance as such; it only takes up a bit of additional disk space.



After setting the new page file size left click on

OK > OK > OK. Then restart the computer.



I don't suggest pouring any more money into this machine, as just 1 GB of RAM will cost half or a quarter of what a brand-new machine will be. You may need to reinstall XP (go and buy a bag of chips and soda, this may take a while). Don't forget to BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!



If you wish to buy a new desktop or laptop, just e-mail me. You will get something that will blow your mind for $500 for a desktop, and $600 for a laptop. Don't fall for the technical crud, and please don't buy in store.



$500 will get you a core 2 duo, 2 GB RAM, 250-500 GB hard drive, etc.



Feel free to e-mail me if you have more questions, or if my suggestions doesn't work.



Good Luck!



--Anish



P.S. People are saying RAM is cheap. They are right, but however they think that you have DDR2. DDR and SDRAM, which is probably what you have, is very pricy. Believe me, I know. You will most likely have SDRAM, the most expensive. I know, its confusing.

Answer 2

I have six computers running xp one xp pro 64 bit I asked Microsoft about it and they had no answer I had one of the first 64 bit processors out and thought it was heat. I am not a professional but will say this. From logging the information when it dumps ad tracking what is going on when it dumps I have found it is illegal operation of programs that cause the memory dump, If I am recording from a digital source sometimes it will dump memory and this is when I had a brand new computer. I noticed if I installed software from one computer to another without have a second license for it it would also cause it to dump memory, but no one is giving out the answers yet. Mine would do it every couple of days so then I decide not to go on the net with it till I got it figured out and as long as I didn't go on the net it was ok. So I fdisked the drives and reformated and reinstalled and left it with many programs not installed and when on the net and never had a problem, which program caused the problem I don't know but I know it was a program killing the memory and forcing a memory dump.

Answer 3

When your computer starts up, there is probably a prompt along the lines of 'press delete' or 'press F2' to enter bios menu. In the bios you should find an option to perform memory tests on start up. Turn it on. See if it finds a problem.



You probably don't need to replace the RAM, it's probably just some software bug or malware. Reinstalling the operating system (painful) may be required. First try using the System Restore tool in windows and rolling back to a point before you had this happen

Answer 4

A memory dump is a crash where the computer is trying to do do much. Am I reading your post correct? 96MB of RAM in an XP machine??? That sounds really light. If you have an on board video card then the usable memory is probably less.



I bet you have 128 MB installed and 32 IS being used by the video leaving you with 96.



I would seriously consider upgrading the memory to at least 512 MB or better if the computer can handle it, memory is fairly cheap.

Answer 5

I do not know how in the world you are running this computer on such little RAM. It seems that you have only 128 MB of RAM installed with 32 of it being shared by the onboard video. You are seriously in need of more RAM. I do not know the model and make of your computer to make RAM type suggestions - however RAM is very cheap now - 512 MB stick would work wonders.

Answer 6

No need to change the RAM unless its bad. Looks like you've got a problem with your OS though.

Answer 7

Someone posted a properly detailed question I am shocked lol.

I wish I could give you the answer, unless someone here tells you try the "Winforums" and post exactly how you did here, they'll sort you out.

Answer 8

I make it so that when Windows crashes, it doesn't reboot.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/russel_02may13.mspx

This gives you the classic BlueScreenOfDeath, which includes the error message and the hexadecimal code that caused the problem.

Write it down, and Google it. Your answers await.

Answer 9

no need to change memory, read the following link content from microsoft.