pagefile woes

[midfidelity]

Apologies if this has been covered before. Last night I was being really stupid (working on it while multitasking 10 million other things) and nailed my xp pro pc really badly, and in desperation, I did a recovery install (another mistake- like I said, I wasn't thinking!).

Now my pc is booting up REALLY slow, and upon bootup it tells me I have no paging file. Previously I had the pagefile statically set to 768mb. So I set it back up, rebooted, and it is STILL telling me I have no pagefile. It is not holding my settings. I have tried this numerous times with the same frustrating results.

I'm really bummed about this because before this happened my system was running ablolutely beautifully. I've got a few other problems as well but I want to resolve this before moving on. I'm totally lost. What do I do?

And, as long as i'm asking, i can't remember- should i set a pagefile on my second drive as well? My C drive is for my system, and the D drive is for audio only (this is a recording PC).

Thanks in advance!

[Panama Red]

Your page file should be set to a Max of 3 times your installed memory (1536 for 512Mb of memory) and a Min of 1.5 times your memory (768 for 512). Read this article to get an idea of how to best handle page file. I keep mine on a separate partition for all my XP machines and XP customer builds and it works great.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

If your page file adjustments won't stay after resetting, I'd guess you need to do a repair of XP with the XP CD.

[midfidelity]

Originally posted by Panama Red Your page file should be set to a Max of 3 times your installed memory (1536 for 512Mb of memory) and a Min of 1.5 times your memory (768 for 512)

Thanks for the reply. A stacically set pagefile of 1.5 times sytem memory (i have 512rambus) is a pretty standard procedure for digital audio workstations, or at least it was when I put this system together. I was advised to do this by several people, including techs for a couple different DAW soft/hardware manufacturers. Here's one example:
http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.htm
it's tip number 16.

If your page file adjustments won't stay after resetting, I'd guess you need to do a repair of XP with the XP CD.

I'm gonna try this again, although it was after doing so that this problem arose in the first place. Quite strange.
Thanks for the help!

[Panama Red]

I read your link's pagefile recommendations and, no offense, but anybody who recommends disabling pagefile because you have a certain about of installed memory is dead WRONG from everything I've read and tried. I ran my sysem with no pagefile once and it crashed when multiple app's were running. Plus, they say they are adapting their pagefile recommendations "from previous Windows operating systems". Dos based and NT based systems are two totally different creatures. Take a good look at the link I provided and maybe visit www.blackviper.com and look at his recommendations for disabling/resetting the Services that run in XP. Think you'd like the results. Good luck, regardless.

[midfidelity]

Since I didn't write that article, I have no reason to take offense! It was actually not that article that I was following, and I would never actually disable my pagefile. I was referring to statically setting the min and max to 1.5 times physical RAM. This was reccomended to me through various sources (i never trust just one without confirmation), including a trusted friend. It had never been a problem in the past, since as I said, this system ran as well as i could imagine before.

Regardless, even when I set it to 1.5x min and 3x max, it still loses the settings on reboot. This also happens if I select "system managed size". No matter what I set, they do not hold after shut down. I searched my system for "pagefile.sys" and it came up with nothing. That file is history. Is it possible to rebuild?

Thanks for the link, I'm going to check it out now

[toomyg]

Hey Panama Red thanks for that M$ link I'm sure every XP user could use that info

[crjdriver]

Might be a silly question, however you are logged on as admin when you set the page file, correct? When you did the repair install of xp, it should have set to a dynamic setting ie 750-1500. Setting the page file is a two step process, you must click set then click OK or apply.

[midfidelity]

Might be a silly question, however you are logged on as admin when you set the page file, correct?....

Yes. Mine is the only account and is the admin account.

When you did the repair install of xp, it should have set to a dynamic setting ie 750-1500...

...But instead it completely deleted it!
The file "pagefile.sys" no longer exists, as far as my system is concerned.

Setting the page file is a two step process, you must click set then click OK or apply

Yep. But after reboot it's gone again. I've read parts of PanamaRed's link and it's good stuff, but not solving my problem. I'm a split second away from backing up and wiping the C drive and starting over. At that point it will probably take less time to bring it back to where it was than it would to chase down these bugs that apparently won't go away. I'm giving myself two or three days (if it looks like i'm close) to fix it and if I don't, I'm nuking it.

Thanks for the help though, guys! This forum is the greatest. I actually haven't been here since i finished building this system two years ago. It's good to be back!

[glc]

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxPageFileMissing.htm

As a note, I usually set pagefiles to the same size minimum and maximum to prevent fragmentation. With low ram machines, I usually use 3x or even higher.

[midfidelity]

Thanks for the link. I'll check this more thoroughly tonight. I never changed the drive letter, but I wonder if the repair install reset it somehow? Strange. Is the Intel Application Accelerator a necessary thing? I don't recall ever noticing it before.

Thanks Again.

[Panama Red]

Using the App Accelerator depends on which mobo/Chipset you have. I did a quick glance back at your posts and don't see your specs, but keep in mind some of the newer 865 and 875 Intel Chipset boards do not use the App Acc. First off, you need an Intel chipset. To check whether your system has the App Acc installed, just check in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. It should be listed if it's installed. If you want to verify compatability go here to check and download.

http://support.intel.com/support/chi...highlight_iaa&

[fudtone]

I run my Pagefile on a seperate partition.

When I moved it there a had a similar concern however. although it appeared the file was still in the same location it was actualy dupilcated to the new partition and functioning properly.

It may only be the way you are looking at it?