Apparent lack of memory

petercr wrote on 2/24/2017, 10:19 AM

Hi all

I know this subject has shown its face on a few occasions before now, but the solutions offered don't work for me.

I have PhotoStory for CD/DVD 8, which I know is going back into the dark ages, but it's worked pretty well over the years I've been using it. Lately however it's started coming up with the message "A memory request has failed. It is possible that there is no more free memory or an internal error has occurred". I've tried the obvious stuff, like disabling virus checker and stopping all other running programs, but as soon as I try anything in the burn stage it flashes up that notice and locks up. It's only done it in the last month or so, and has worked relatively well for the previous five years. Yes, I know a program upgrade would presumably fix it, but that would require a change to a later Windows, which for now I don't want to do.

When I check the memory usage, running a large project with up to 10 slideshows, PhotoStory seems always to be grabbing hold of about 1.1GB, which is a lot, but there's ample available. My system is a Dell Dimension 5150 with 2.5 GB RAM and hundreds of GB spare disk storage, running XP SP3, which still works fine, if slowly, for everything else. And yes, I do know there's no updating available any more.

I'd be really grateful if anyone has a solution. Thanks in advance

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 2/24/2017, 11:23 AM

. . . . Dell Dimension 5150 with 2.5 GB RAM . . . .

I assume you have hd an extra 2GB of RAM added at some point.

. . . . PhotoStory seems always to be grabbing hold of about 1.1GB, which is a lot . . . .

Not necessarily it depends to some extent what you have on the timeline.

Unfortunately, an upgrade is necessary, however

. . . . . I know a program upgrade would presumably fix it, but that would require a change to a later Windows . . . .

that brings with it a whole load of other issues.

IMHO the Dell would struggle to run Photostory on Windows 7. Windows 8 probably will not even install and Windows 10 definitely will not due to lack of hardware support - Dell have not developed any drivers for this computer.

The only solution, IMHO, is to replace the computer and get the latest version of Photostory, especially if you want to add video to your projects.

John EB

petercr wrote on 2/28/2017, 3:20 AM

Thanks for that John. Yes, I did add 2GB RAM a few years back, and am fast coming to the conclusion that what you say is the only sensible way to go. As everything else is working OK I might as a temporary solution add a bit more memory (max allowed is 4GB) to see whether it makes any difference, but yes, the change of computer and Photostory, or equivalent, is the next step.

Thanks again

johnebaker wrote on 2/28/2017, 4:54 AM

Adding more memory is one way of increasing a computers performance, however, assuming you have the 32 bit version of Windows XP, do be aware that you will only see approximately another 720MB of usable memory added - this is a limitation of a 32 bit operating system - it can only use 3.25GB total of RAM.

HTH

John EB

petercr wrote on 2/28/2017, 5:42 AM

Whoops, thanks again John. I didn't know that, but now I look it up I see that the graphics card can reduce this total as well. Mine is a 256MB card, so perhaps the current available memory is only 2.25GB? If so, would there at least be a 1GB rise by going to 4GB total?