Hardware

Ask something
Question Locked

Vista logon problems

0 helpful
9 replies

by granillo_1234

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

My mom just bought a new HP desktop and it came with vista on it. It ran fine for a few months but now every once in awhile when she tries to log on it brings up all the user accounts on the machine, but you can't see the mouse cursor. If you move it around randomly eventually you can see the icons highlight as if you had the mouse over it, but still no cursor. Then when you try to click on an account icon it brings up an error that says your system is running low on resources, please select another account.
I can't find any info on the web about this. Is anyone else having this problem, or know how to fix it.

There is 1gb of RAM and plenty of hard drive space
This usually, but is not limited to, when the computer wakes from sleep.
The page file is set fine, any help would be greatly appreciated TIA

9 replies

by Former member

The computer is running on very low memory, buy a bigger memory chip of around 2gb (better still 4gb if you can) then you should see more perfomance and more memory resources due to bigger memory.

by granillo_1234

First, thanks for your comment. So you think it is the memory that is the issue? While vista is logged in and working properly the memory usage isn't very high, which lead me to think otherwise. I'm not sure how vista stores the state while it goes into sleeping mode, but I thought that had something to do with the problem. I suppose though it has to load the hibernation file into memory before resuming work though, so thanks for your input. :)

by northwesterner

I have _exactly the same problem. I have 2GB RAM in my laptop so I don't think that it is a memory issue. It only happens occasionally and I think it happens when the computer is coming out of hibernation or sleep.

by Former member

Hello Waltonline,
Windows Vista (any, IE: home, business, Ultimate)even running on 2gb ram will cause problems, if possible upgrade the ram to 4gb. The new versions of windows needs alot of room to play with, so be aware. If buying a new system (be it a tower or laptop) ask for at least 4gb of ram (minimum)

by granillo_1234

I have to respectfully disagree with you on that peconet. My personal computer has 2Gb of RAM and runs Vista quite fine without the problem I mentioned above. Check out this post, it leads me to believe that there are other issues and not the RAM being the culprit.
http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/erwyn/archive/2006/12/09/Windows-Vista-Hibernate-Mystery-Explained.aspx
This describes how the hybrid sleep works in Vista. It takes everything from RAM and puts it on the hard drive in a file much like hibernation, but keeps the RAM powered for faster "wake-up", hence hybrid. I don't think it is RAM size, because the contents can't be too great for the amount of RAM you have, if it was saved FROM your RAM. Get what I'm saying. It's still a big mystery to me. Waltonline google "Vista hibernation problems" it has helped shed some light on my situation, but it still isn't fixed.

by northwesterner

I find this very hard to believe. Do you have hard data on this or is just your personal opinion that Vista needs more than 2GB. We've got computers running Vista and they work beautifully on 2GB or less. One workstation with Vista Ultimate and 1.5 GB ram works great and runs faster than it did with XP. How do I know? We benchmarked the computer with XP and and with Vista.

The only computer that has this problem is a Dell Inspiron laptop and it only happens occasionally when coming out of sleep mode. Besides, I can't add more ram, the laptop maximizes at 2GB.

by Former member

I stand corrected. I always go for big memory that way you do not get a slow down when you have many apps loaded, i have not had any problems (touch wood). I really can not have a slow down on my systems that is why i think Big (memory wise that is).

by adamw79

Hello,

I have the same problem. I have a laptop with
4 GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHZ Intel Centrino Dual
Core. Plenty of Hard Drive space and I take
good care of this machine, inside and out. It
runs flawlessly and I know about memory
management and setting my swap files. etc. I
will let my computer sit with basic services
enabled, no real big tweaks and no software
running except for antivirus and a few
background processes. No memory leaks and the
computer isn't running slow. But I get the
same problem: If my computer goes to
stanby/sleep or hibernate, and I go to get
back on, I am presented with my log in
screen. I will attempt to enter my password
and it will claim that my system is
dangerously low on resources and I can only
log on as the person who is already logged
in. Even though I am entering the password
for my account, witch is the one logged in,
it won't let me. The only "solution" I have
found, while barley being better than killing
the power and restarting the machine, is to
move my mouse around even though I can't see
it and wait til switch user is highlighted
(and now that I think about it, I suppose you
could tab to switch user). Click switch user,
it will black out for a second and present
you with the screen you were already looking
at. try logging in again and it will let you,
but it will go into a new session of your
name, so anything you left open will be gone.
Not really a fix for this but a way of
getting back in without restarting the
machine.....

This discussion is closed to new replies.