Virtual/Paging Files Problem

Typically the pageing file needs to be set to twice the memory to, you didn't mention the OS that you were using but, I would be willing to be that with 256 MB RAM, if you set the page file to 512MB minimum then you won't get that error any more...
Any questions let me know

you don't mention your os. check out the event log if possible. what has changed on the system? under what circumstances do you get the error? logging in? what anti-virus software are you running. i just had similar problem with norton corporate. was clued in by event log. keep us informed...

I agree that you need to make the page file larger.

I recommend a minimum of 750GB.

As programs and graphics files get larger, you need to compensate with more virtual memory.

Personally, I set aside a separate partition, and let the page file have 2GB or more to play with.

My current 'minimum' is the larger of 1GB - RAM, or 2X RAM.

Chas

I had a similar problem with Norton Firwall. If you are running Norton Firewall download the update that resolves this issue.

ebcdic

There are a number of things you may try. First, as the others have suggested simply increasing your page file size could help, you didn't mention what OS you use or better what you mean by "always prompts"...is it a certain piece of software or allsoftware in general.

Try increasing the size of the page file, try around 512mb, if that fails do the usual scandisk/defrag/chkdsk combo. It could be that a part of the page file is occupying a part of the hard drive that has an error. You mightneed to run these from a dos prompt.

Also, check out how many programs you have running in the background. A simple way of doing this is going to task manager by pressing ctrl+alt+del. Go ahead and try disabling certain applications that start onboot. If it's windowsXP make sure you don't have too many services running. To check these go to Start, go to Run, then type msconfig (sorry if you know this already, it's hard to tell how much anybody knows through a message board)

My next suggestion is to boot into dos using a boot disk and delete your swap file. In windows xp this is located in the root directory and is called pagefile.sys, in windows 9x it's called win386.swp . After you delete these files reboot. I've found that this can sometimes correct this type of error.

If all this fails (yes, I know this is a long answer) then if you are running windows xp you can download a program from microsoft's website called bootvis.exe which when ran will reboot your computer and find out what drivers and such use the most memory. I hope this helps.

A dead give-away on your problem is that the pagefile can't be less than the amount of ram installed in the system. You have to set it to a minimum of 1.5 times the amount of ram. The other suggestions will all be helpful. I too use a different partition for the pagefile. This increases performance and lessens the possiblilty of the pagefile becoming fragmented and corrupt.

Sorry I didn't provide full info.

If there's only one partition then you'd have to install another drive or use something like partition magic to add another partition. Guess you could re-fdisk (erase) and create a second partition format and reinstall the OS, but that's a bit extreme just for virtual memory settings.
If there's only one drive I wouldn't worry about it.

To correct your swapfile settings open Device Manager, select the Performance tab then click on Virtual Memory. Choose "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings". If there's more than one drive or partition they'll be listed in the dropdown box. Select the drive of choice and then set the min/max size of drive space to be alloted for virtual memory. Apply andreboot.

Again use at least 1,5 times the amoumt of installed ram. I use double so for 256MB of ram I would use 512MB for the minimum and 720MB for maximum.

Hope this helps

I would love to have the system that the person in answer #3 suggests. I have never seen a 750GB HDD page file. WOW.

I prefer to set the page file size to 1.5 times the RAM as bith the min and max setting. This would give you 384MB min and 384 MBmax. You will have much less defraging with this setting.

If you are running XP you should try msconfig to free up more resources. Click Start, run and Type: msconfig. On the startup tab clear the check box on programs you rarely use and memory hogs such as Office. I also agree with increasing the page file size minimum to 256 MB if you are running NT or Windows 2000.

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