What is Physical Memory?

Okay, I got another problem. Trying to get my cd-r to burn cd's and I keep getting errors. I sent a transaction log to the technician of the software and he showed me where it stated that I had "Free Physical Memory" of 0MB (32kb).

Now, how does this work? I show Physical memory of 127MB but where does the physical memory come from? Should I have seen this coming? How do I correct it? I'm confused.

 

The physical memory being referred to is your installed RAM [memory sticks], or the 127 mb you are referring to, and yes it is good that all of it is being used.
About the burning, during the process a temp file is being made, if you are copying a CD to a CD, this file can be 750 mb and it is stored on your hard drive. If you do not have enough free space on the drive, you get an out of memory [Virtual] error.
What types of errors are you getting during the burning, and what burning software are you using.
.

 

I am using Nero 5.5.1056 version. The software came with the new cd-rw drive I purchased. It originally had version 5, and the Nero tech told me to upgrade to 5.5.1056. Now he tells me the original Recorder version (Lite-On LTR 48246S) may need updated too. But I haven't a clue what "driver" I am to look for. I haven't got a reply from Lite-on yet so I am clueless. Here is the log I sent to Nero. Do you know what any of this means. This is where he said I had "no physical memory ".

Windows 98 4.10
IA32
WinAspi: File 'Wnaspi32.dll': Ver=4.60 (1021), size=45056 bytes, created 9/10/99 4:06:00 AM
Nero Version: 5.5.10.56
Recorder: <LITE-ON LTR-48246S> Version: SS04 - HA 0 TA 1 - 5.5.10.56
Adapter driver: <ESDI_506> HA 0
Drive buffer : 2048kB
Bus Type : default (0) -> ATAPI, detected: ATAPI
CD-ROM: <COMPAQ DVD-ROM SD-612B>Version: BQ04 - HA 0 TA 0 - 5.5.10.56
Adapter driver: <ESDI_506> HA 0
Bus Type : default (0) -> ATAPI, detected: ATAPI
COMPAQ DVD-ROM SD-612B (Target 0, E: Autoinsert On, DMA On, Disconnect ?, SyncDataXfer ?
LITE-ON LTR-48246S (Target 1, F: Autoinsert On, DMA On, Disconnect On, SyncDataXfer Off
Excluded drive IDs:
CmdQueuing : 1
CmdNotification: 2
WriteBufferSize: 24117248 (0) Byte
ShowDrvBufStat : 0
EraseSpeed : 0
BUFE : 0
Physical memory : 127MB (130408kB)
Free physical memory: 0MB (32kB)
Memory in use : 100 %
Uncached PFiles: 0x0
Use Static Write Speed Table: 0
Use Inquiry : 1
Global Bus Type: default (0)
Check supported media : Enabled (1)
Wizard: Off

 

Sorry, to reply to your other statement, I was trying to just backup my files from the computer to a cd.

 

You may need to change another setting on the PC. Win98 can get memory space to use from two sources.

- Physical memory (RAM) which is the little card thingys that are plugged into your main system board inside the PC. With that, what you have is what you have. No way to change except by adding more if you have open slots or replacing what you have with higher capacity memory. Easy enough to do, not real expensive these days, but not worth while if you only occasionally have problems.

- Virtual memory (swap file, page file, whatever) where the PC is told to set aside part of the hard drive to use as if it were extra memory. It is lots slower than RAM but it does work and doesn't cost you anything.

Your PC should use RAM by preference until the amout left free starts to get small and then switch to using virtual memory so you never run totally out of RAM.

It is very possible that you either don't have any virtual memory or that you have too little.

The very general rule-of-thumb is to set up a swap file that is around 2.5 times larger than the amount of RAM in your PC. But there is no problem setting up a larger swap file if you need it. Take a look and if you have a maximum amount set lower than about 300mb it needs to be increased. If CD burning continues to cause problems, then consider increasing to 500Mb or so.

The only real downside is that swap file space isn't available for other uses.

You should be able to find a window like the one below where you can see what you have and make changes if you need to. I don't have a 98 PC around so can't give you exact how-to on getting this window but I if you have problems, I'm certain someone can/will. Moving this to the Win98 section.

 

You really need to look at how much free space is on your hard drive, you may not have enough free space. Open Windows Explorer, right click on C:\ and select Properties. You'll see a pie graph, above that the free space is reported.
Or, you could do a multisession burn. where you burn less files at a time, and continue with another burning session with different files. You need to be sure to Finalize the CD when you do the last session.

 

Let me ask you this. Since installing this Nero software with the cd-burner, we have nad nothing but problems. Can't I uninstall it and go back to using my Adaptec software? Do I have to use the software that came with the Buslink 48x...?

But then the question is: Will I have the same problem

 

I am so confused. Thank you for your reply, I will check into the Lite-on site. Unfortunately, I have been working on this for 1 1/2 weeks, and we are leaving on vacation Wed AM. I will have to continue this when I return after 6/10. Thank you guys. Look for my posts in the near future on this very disturbing problem.

 

Okay I did my checking and attempted fixing. I uninstalled Nero and tried to use Adaptec. No Go. So here I go installing Nero again.

In speaking to a tech at Best Buy, he explained to me about the Physical Memory. Now I kinda get it better. I had to go into my msconfig at startup and remove some things that were basically starting up and not necessary. This increased my memory some.

Still not satisfied with Nero. I still have these problems to work out.

1) CD-R's act like they close and we can't add to them (even though we told it not to)
2) CD-RW's will work but you can't erase previous data.
3) The cd-drive light comes on and stays on upon start-up and we have to manually open/close it.

I personally don't recommend this product to anyone........I will be looking into this further and possibly have a cure...............

 

Do you have Adaptec and Nero installed at the same time? There are conflicts when you have both types of burning software installed, even if you use only one at a time.
I have only Nero installed, have no problems with it.