Running SageTV, XP in only 256MB of mem.

[lovingHDTV]

Is anyone doing this today? I have been running this combination for a couple years, but it appears that the last set of updates to Sage and XP have put it over the 256MB limit.

I find that my server now swaps to disk when trying to play back video. It is worse when it is also trying to record while playing back. Every 5 minutes or so Sage decides it needs to change it's memory footprint and when this happens the whole system comes to a halt. I've watch Sage change memory footprint during playback, going from 70MB to over 130MB and back again in a 15minute period.

What I suspect is happening is that I've run out of memory. I do see that with only XP and Sage running that my memory requirements are ~210MB - 240MB. I've orderd more memory (512MB as that is all the Intel 815 chipset can support). Hopefully this will get me back working again.

I was just curious if anyone else is having these problems, or does everyone else have more than 256MB of memory?

BTW - My system is a PIII 933Mhz, XP-SP2 all updates, 256MB PC133 memory.

thanks,

[Kanati]

I haven't used less than 512 meg of memory in a machine since I had my original Pentium 233MMX. Both my desktop AND my laptop have 2 Gig of ram in them right now. My sage box is happy with 512 for now.

And the 815 chipset uses the 82815P memory controller. Which means that in theory it can handle up to 6 gig of ram. In practice most all motherboards I'm aware of limit it to 2 Gig of ram and 1Gig DIMMs. I believe that all 815 motherboards came with 2 or 3 dimm slots so I would be willing to bet you could easily take that machine to 1.5gig of ram using three single sided 512 meg dimms, or 2 gig using two double sided 1 gig dimms. (The memory controller can only handle two double sided dimms, but can take 3 single sided dimms. It's a limitation of the controller itself.)

But you should be just fine with 512 mb.

[mattdcknsn]

My sage server is currently running on 256 megs of RAM, it is an old AMD gig proc. I havent had any problems with it yet. I did use nlite to have a completely minimal install. One other thing that is different is that I do run a server - client setup. So that may help me out.
One thing you might want to try is run msconfig to see what is starting on bootup. Alot of those services and programs can be disabled to minimize memory usage.

[Lucas]

lovingHDTV,

I was running 512Mb up to a few months ago(with Version 2.0.20 + some other software, full memory utilisation was around 290Mb) but as you said with version 2.2 I saw an increase in the memory used by SageTV (and probably the latest version of Java). I found that after watching for a while the RAM utilisation would go above 512Mb...causing stutters and slow response in the SageTV menus...

So I added more memory and it runs smoothly again.

I think it is important to note that when it is running for recording only, the memory util doesn't jump... so in Server only configs with other clients the issue will not be there.

[lovingHDTV]

My setup is server/client also. I never watch shows on the server so hopefully this means that I will be OK with 512MB.

[Lucas]

Should be OK with this version......
Who knows what requirement 3.0 will have.

[Ryokurin]

I did it for a while. it ran but some items like scrolling though the listings would cause the system to lag. I also got a noticeable pause between shows. After I moved the swapfile to the same drive that held the video and a few smaller tweaks it largely went away except for the listing part and to be fair just about any program similar be it media center, snapstream or even showshifter was similar.

nowadays especially with memory being so cheap (DDR at least, you are probably on PC133) its really is worth the 30 dollars to get another 256 megs.

[SHS]

With 2000/XP and SageTV 2.x you pettey need bump it to 384MB min unless you using the old SageTV 1.x then 256MB is just fine also the more time gose by the big data base become you know all the watch show, etc, etc.

By the 256MB PC133 memory stick I hope you order DBLSide and not the SSide stick some motherboard don't suppout 256MB SSide memory stick.

[lovingHDTV]

I assume by dblsided and singlesided this refers to low-density vs high-density memory? I did order low-density RAM as it was supposed to be more compatable.

[SHS]

I think it the same thing as you said
But I think more long of two diff 256MB stick like below
Single Sided 8x32MB = 256MB
Double Sided 16x16MB = 256MB

[lovingHDTV]

Well, got my memory today.

I ordered low-density 8x32 memory, but got 4x64. I've had the machine reboot on me twice now, so I may need to get them to send me what I actually ordered. The low-density memory is typically more expensive.

[Kanati]

just a spontaneous reboot? Sounds like it could be dodgy ram. What brand memory did you buy? Generally I don't mind skimping on a part EXCEPT motherboard and memory. I personally like Corsair memory but other good names are kingston, crucial, mushkin...

If you left the original stick of memory in the machine you might want to take it out and see if it runs ok with the new. Generally you shouldn't mix and match manufacturers / models because timing could be different and some brands don't much like to coexist with others. In this case it would be worth your while to take the stick you orignally had and set it aside and buy 2 256 meg sticks of the same brand, or one 512 meg stick and forget you even had the first stick.

You could also, just to test, lower the speed of your memory in bios, and use any "safe" settings in the bios for memory timing.

Memory is a very fickle thing.

[Crashless]

lovingHDTV, you wouldn't happen to be recording HDTV, would you? I can't remember from your posts...

If you are in fact recording and playing back HDTV w/ 256mb of ram, I'm an awe that it ever worked in the first place.

re: your current situation.

I concur, bad ram, bad. RMA it, and make sure you don't pay for any shipping. 512 should be fine, just make sure to clean out XP. There's tons of eye candy and crap that doesn't impact function at all, but literally inhales your free memory.

Check the stick they sent you, it might be PC100, that happened to me once and I only noticed after cussing for a couple of days.

[SHS]

lovingHDTV is that Single Sided or Double Sided?.

[lovingHDTV]

It is double sided, but only 4 chips per side. From looking around it appears that for the HP system I need double sided with 8 chips per side.

What happened to memory standards, PC133 CL=3, stuff like that

I've never bought "generic" memory before, now I know why. Hopefully the company will exchange it, if not I'll put it on ebay with proper warning that it does not work in a HP system.

[sundansx]

LovingHDTV,
burn this utility to a cdrom and then setup your sage box to boot from CDROM. This memory test will autorun and is a very good way to get a thumbs up or down on memory:
http://www.memtest.org/

[paulbeers]

DO NOT buy generic ram for an PIII system. They used low density ram like you have found out. Name brand ram PC133 256mb sticks will work almost no matter what (make your ram as compatible as possible and you have less customer support calls). The high density ram does not work. It was designed for 1 gig+ Athlon systems that still ran PC133. Any sticks of ram over 256 mb for PC133 automatically should be ignored. How do I know so much about what type of ram you need? Because it is the same ram in my Celeron 766 running Sage

[lovingHDTV]

I have exchanged the memory for some that the company guarantees to work in HP systems. They only charged me the difference in cost. When I get back from vacation, it should be in my mailbox and I'll give it a shot.

[lovingHDTV]

Got my replacement memory toady. It is IBM brand and works fine

I'm happy.

[Jeremy]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

Well, got my memory today.

I ordered low-density 8x32 memory, but got 4x64. I've had the machine reboot on me twice now, so I may need to get them to send me what I actually ordered. The low-density memory is typically more expensive.

10 years of IT experiance has taught me, NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER and I mean NEVER mix max RAM! Always put in identical modules. I'll pull the ram that is there and start out fresh will all new ram. I've just seen too many problems down the road mixing ram.