Insufficient resources message in XP

[marlene]

I'm running XP, SP1. This morning I started getting messages saying "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service."

I don't know exactly what is meant by system resources, but I have dual processors (2.00 Ghz, I think), 1.5 Gb of RAM, and a fair amount of empty HD space. The HD with the pagefile has 4GB free -- not a lot, but there have been times when I had less than that with no problem. And I'll clear off a bunch of files tomorrow to create more free space.
I installed a lot of new software (QuarkXPress 6.5 upgrade and Creative Suite 2) several weeks ago, but had no problems until today, so I don't think they are the cause. The only thing new is that I downloaded a lot of files from a client's ftp site on Wednesday and Thursday, but I scanned the files with Norton 2005 (I can't tell you the exact version because right now I can't run anything but a browser) and found no viruses. I also receive legit e-mail attachments often, but NEVER open them without scanning in NAV.

Normally I can run Quark, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Eudora, Word and a browser. Sometimes the system does bog down a little (particularly Quark's notorious lousy screen redraw), but I never got any messages about resources.

A couple of weeks ago, a full system scan (NAV) turned up something called adware.cdt, which it claimed it could not delete. I checked the Symantec page and searched my system (including hidden files) for the file (mediatickets.exe?), but didn't find it. A second system scan did not give me any alerts. Spybot and Adaware didn't find anything but the usual low threat stuff which I got rid of.

And the last unusual thing that happened was a power outage last night, but I have a good UPS and had plenty of time to shut down my system. This morning I was running a least half a dozen applications until I started getting the insufficient resources messages.

Anyway, I am going to run a full system scan tonight, but does this sound like it could be a virus or Trojan or something? I am starting to panic because I have to keep restarting my system to run any apps. Right now I can't even launch Notepad!! And sometimes I can't even bring up the Task Manager.

My CPU usage is at about 80%, with nothing running but MSIE6. That's not right.

I did notice something in Task Manager recently that I don't recognize (although to be honest there's a lot of stuff in there that's a mystery to me):

mysqld-nt.exe (this is running all the time)

mysqladmin.exe (this keeps cycling on and off, continuously)

I also checked event viewer, and at the time of the insufficient resources messages, found this kind of stuff:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM

Description:
Unable to start a DCOM Server: {98D9A6F1-4696-4B5E-A2E8-36B3F9C1E12C}. The error:
"Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service. "
Happened while starting this command:
"D:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcrobatInfo.exe" /PDFShell -Embedding

I assume that the Acrobat reference doesn't indicate that it caused the problem, but rather that trying to launch Acrobat triggered the error message.

Any ideas on where to start looking for the trouble?

TIA,

mxh

[Franca]

I'll be interested if anyone has ideas because I've been having something similarly odd happen on my desktop. I haven't been warned about insufficient resources (yet) but sometimes an app will lock up and/or I will not be able to start any new apps. Then I'll go into Task manager and find that the apps I thought did not start are running but they never came up on my screen. CPU usage at these times is at 100%!!! Yikes. Then it's very difficult to shut the system down and reboot because the various tasks running won't end. This started just recently and seems to occur when I have Skype running, but can't say that's so for sure yet. Nothing like this ever occurred on the laptop that I ran Skype on practically continuously in France. Both laptop and desktop are running XP Pro SP2.

[marlene]

Then I'll go into Task manager and find that the apps I thought did not start are running but they never came up on my screen.

I had that happen yesterday, also. I tried to start an application 2 or 3 times -- it never opened, but I found multiple instances of it in task manager (in the processes window, IIRC).

And I have sometimes had trouble shutting down apps.

I ran a full virus scan last night (turned up no problems). But this morning, again, I couldn't launch more than one application at a time, and CPU usage was sky-high. Then Mr. E casually mentioned he had tried to print to my (networked) printer and it wouldn't work. So we shut down both computers and the printer, and when I restarted my computer, it was working normally.

I was able to run:

Quark
Photoshop
InDesign
Opera
MSIE
Illustrator
Acrobat
FreeHand

all at the same time, a file open in each application, and CPU usage no higher than 40%.

Hmmm. This makes me think perhaps it's a network-related (maybe just networked-printer-related?) problem?

I don't have Skype, BTW.

When you shut down, you completely power off, right? Not just restart XP?

mxh

[Steve Rindsberg]

A google search on the names of suspicious files can turn up interesting things.

"Description: mysqld-nt.exe is located in a subfolder of "C:\Program Files" - mostly C:\mysql\bin\. Known file sizes on Windows XP are 1130496 bytes (19% of all occurrence), 2203648 bytes, 3485696 bytes, 2179072 bytes, 2248704 bytes, 3497984 bytes, 1142784 bytes, 2052096 bytes, 3506176 bytes, 1105920 bytes, 3502080 bytes, 1122304 bytes, 1101824 bytes, 2207744 bytes, 3493888 bytes, 2215936 bytes, 1880064 bytes, 2252800 bytes.
There is no file information. The program is not visible. It is not a Windows core file. The application uses ports to connect to LAN or Internet. Therefore the technical security rating is 6% dangerous, however also read the users reviews.

Important: Some malware can camouflage themselves as mysqld-nt.exe, particularly if they are located in c:\windows or c:\windows\system32 folder. Thus check the mysqld-nt.exe process on your pc whether it is pest. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security."

So, unless you have a reason to be running the MySQL, you might want to view this with suspicion.

[marlene]

Thus check the mysqld-nt.exe process on your pc whether it is pest.

I have found mysqld-nt.exe in the Adobe Version Cue CS2 folder, and MYSQLD-NT.EXE-30D5FFF0.pf in the Windows/Prefetch folder. This makes me think it is something to do with Version Cue, which, according to task manager/performance shows mem usage of 61,120 and VM size of 84,304. Isn't that a lot? Especially for something I don't know what it does. <g>

But this doesn't tell me if it is pest. How would I check that? Since it's in legit folders (assuming Prefetch is not a place of harboring pest), can I assume it's NOT pest?

Maybe this Prefetch thing is part of the problem. I Googled it but am unclear about whether it can slow down performance or if there's anything I can do about it.

And I suppose it could be useful to find out what Version Cue does, and if I don't need it, shut it down.

FWIW, I couldn't find mysqladmin.exe anywhere, but it's also not showing up in my processes at the moment. If I see it again, I'll have to make a note of what apps are also running at that time.

BTW, right now CPU usage is fluctuating between 10% and 90%, running Eudora, MSIE, Opera, Photoshop and InDesign.

FvH

[Steve Rindsberg]

This may explain more about Version Cue
http://www.adamstac.com/archives/category/webtech/featured-software/

The mem usage does seem a bit OTT, yep. Is there some way to shut the beggar down? Worst case, blitz it in Task Manager and see what happens.

[marlene]

I downloaded the Version Cue PDF and will read it someday.

Right now I don't think I need Version Cue, so I found out how to shut it down (not sure if it will stay down when I restart the computer, though). And although the actual app is not running, I still have TWO Version Cue "trays" listed in running processes. Apparently one of them is the previous version, which I did not uninstall (not that I even knew it was there in the first place).

Everything is still working fine here -- no insufficent resource alerts -- subject to change without notice.

FvH

[terrie]

Sooo...from what I can gather from your posts, you don't normally shut your system down--you leave it running all the time?

If that's the case, then what *may* be going on is that Photoshop (and perhaps other apps) are not releasing memory as you close files. While I've not gotten the system resources message you got, I have had my system slow when I've been doing a lot of work in Photoshop (version 7) with large files.

Rebooting seems to fix the "problem"--most of the time a warm reboot will do the trick but I also shut my system down every day...

Terrie

[marlene]

No, I don't shut my system down unless I absolutely have to.

It's not an issue of apps not releasing memory, because I was having the insufficient resources problem even after a cold boot and running just ONE application. Normally I can run 6 or 10 apps (including resource hogs like Photoshop) without a hiccup. And sometimes I don't shut down for weeks.

At this point, it looks like it could have something to do with the network. After Mr. E told me he couldn't print to my printer, we shut down both computers and the printer, and now everything is working fine.

Actually, about the only time I do need to reboot is when the networked printer thing gets hosed. Mr. E tries to print to my printer, it doesn't work, then when I try to print, I get a "the handle is invalid" message, and I know it's reboot time.

"The handle is invalid" -- who the heck came up with that for the error message? How would anyone know what it meant?

mxh

[terrie]

>>mxh: At this point, it looks like it could have something to do with the network. After Mr. E told me he couldn't print to my printer, we shut down both computers and the printer, and now everything is working fine.

On some level that makes sense to me...it's as though the network is hogging system resources and not letting them go...


>>"The handle is invalid" -- who the heck came up with that for the error message? How would anyone know what it meant?

Hi...my name is Dagobert but my handle is Tex...'-}}

Terrie

[Steve Rindsberg]

"The handle is invalid" -- who the heck came up with that for the error message? How would anyone know what it meant?

The same coy moron who cooked up "File not found (but we're not gonna tell you WHICH file, nyah, nyah, nyah, stew in it, sucker!"

Well. Words to that effect.

Invalid handle. Your axe is due for a rest cure?

There's a special spot in hell ....