Paging File size

[ziloo]

Hello folks,

Windows xp keeps telling me that the total "paging File "
size for all my drives is 0 MB, and I proceed to:

Control Panel-> System-> Advanced-> Performance->
Setting-> Advanced-> Change-> Custom

Virtual memory

Initial size: 1536 MB
Maximum size: 3072 MB

and I click on the "Set"  button, and then "Apply" and
Windows xp restarts for the change to take effect.

However, Windows stops right before the last stage
when all the icons should show up on the screen, and
the only way I can get to the final stage is to do a
Ctrl-Alt-Del, and Windows suddenly wakes up and
I get all the icons on the screen.  However, the paging file
size has remained 0 !!!  What is going on?

Thank you

ziloo

[Spoiler]

Can you tell us about your hardware? How much RAM do you have and are you running 32 or 64 bit windows XP?

[Allan]

What happens if you try to set it as "Windows Managed"?

[ziloo]

Thank you for your responses!

I have about 1 gig Ram on my P4 system.
When I set it as "system managed size", the same
routine happens: reboot; the blue screen
shows up with "welcome" sign and HD activity for
personal settings; after the HD activity stops, the
cursor is active, but the next screen with icons
doesn't show up and I have to do a Ctrl-Alt-Del to
get to the final stage.

Next time that I reboot the system, I get a message
that "because of a problem with paging file configuration
in my last session, there has not been a paging file set
for the virtual memory and window has established an
arbitrary paging file on its own. 

ziloo

[JJ 3000]

How long ago did this start?

Did you install any software recently?

How much free space do you have on your hard drive?

Is the swap file on the same disk or partition that windows is?

Have you tried a system restore yet?

[Allan]

Any recent changes (new hw, sw, virus, error, etc)?

[ziloo]

The problem existed when I got the system from a friend.
I did a windows repair and no change to the problem.
I have about 20 gig free space on my C: partition.
I have file swap area set for both C: and D: partitions.

Somebody had told me about a pagefile.sys file that might be
corrupted, but I don't seem to find any such file on my system!

ziloo

[patio]

What is the Total size of C: ? ?
What method did you use for a Repair Install ? ?
Was an official XP CD used or a Sharpie version ? ?

[ziloo]

What method did you use for a Repair Install ? ?

Hello Patio,

After reading your comments, I went ahead and reinstalled
the windows from scratch, and this time everything went as
it was supposed to and the paging file size was set correctly!
Thank you so very much, and thanks to everybody else with
their informative comments.

ziloo

[patio]

Good News...

For reference down the road there is a non-destructive way to do this...your data and apps stay intact.

Repair Install of XP

Bookmark it...and print out a reference copy...

Kudos to Michael Stevens...

[ziloo]

Yes exactly..................that is what I did: installing the
new windows in place of the previous one without
altering the set up (non-destructive).

ziloo