My memory fails me

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 7:47 pm

Just uploaded my first shots from a new camera into my pictures - the thumbnails are there but I can't do anything with them - when I click on them it says 'The image is too large (too many bytes)'

They are 1.91 MB from this camera (12.1 megapixels) and 200KB from my old camera (4.1)

But the laptop can handle them no problem - does this mean my PC, which isn't very old - is full of junk and if so what's the best way to get rid of what I don't need?

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 7:52 pm

Hi Robo

What Memory have you got in the PC

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 8:04 pm

480MB - no idea if that's what its capacity is or if that's what's left.

That's what it says if I right click on 'My Computer' and then 'properties' - and I had to google how to do that too.

(This numbskullness is a big hint as to why I do not yet have a CMC!!)

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 8:08 pm

Try closing down all progs that are open.

open Pictures and double click on the thumb. If you have the available memory it should open in the windows picture gallery.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 8:20 pm

Nope - disconnected from the internet - just 'My Pictures' running'

The other day I was scrolling down a page on another forum and a message popped up "Out of memory at line blah blah".

Maybe photobucket will take the photos - but still, sumfin' needs sowtin' aht.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 8:24 pm

John, sounds like you might have to increase your memory

Maybe up to 1Gb.. 2 Gb would be even better

It is not expensive nowadays

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 8:33 pm

John,
Regularly delete all the files that you don't need to keep from your hard drive and do a defrag at least once a month. This can often help with a puter that is slow or that gives such error messages.

I agree with adding more memory. The machine will benefit from having more and the swap file will not be used so much.

If it is more than four years old, my advice is to buy a new one.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 8:59 pm

I have never defragmented on this PC!

Used to do it all the time on my last one as there was an icon for it - just worked out via google how to do it and it's running now - hopefully that will free up some space. It's going sloooooow - but in that window, under 'capacity' it says 112 GB.

5% done in about 10 mins - could be a late night!

w00dward · Post by **w00dward** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 9:39 pm

John

Couple of things to check.

How much disk space do you have left on your drive? You may have run out of space and this could cause problems with the swap file.
To check open my computer and right click drive c. Choose properties and let me know how much free space you have. Deleting files or doing a defrag won't free up available memory, but they are always good to do as basic housekeeping. The defrag will make disk access quicker.

Check you swap file settings and let me know what they say. Go to Start - Control Panel - System - Advanced - Settings - Change. Let me know what it says.

If you right click on a thumbnail and choose preview do you still get the same error?

Is the error from windows or the program trying to open the image?

What program are you using to open them?

Are the image JPG images? If you open internet explorer choose File - Open and select one of the images to see if it opens it. When you browse to find the file you will need to change the file type.

OK, it was more than a few things but its enough to get going.

Post by **John** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 9:47 pm

It's probably a good idea to defrag once in a while, they say that it can speed up disk access. Before doing so, delete as much unnecessary junk as you can, then do a Disk Cleanup

Click Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup

This will be no help at all with your current problem, Robo, but worth doing all the same. Best to set it running last thing and leave it to work overnight.

The chances are that your machine has too many background tasks running, soaking up your resources. (Do a Ctrl-Alt-Del to see a list of running tasks)

If you need help with getting rid of applications that are an unnecessary burden on your machine, get in touch and we can try a helpdesk hookup.

In the meantime, download the excellent (and compact) Irfanview to handle image viewing, slide shows, etc. http://www.irfanview.com/

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 9:49 pm

w00dward wrote:John

Couple of things to check.

How much disk space do you have left on your drive? You may have run out of space and this could cause problems with the swap file.
To check open my computer and right click drive c. Choose properties and let me know how much free space you have. .

Baby steps, baby steps..... done that bit - it says used space 36.7 GB
Free space 75.0 GB
Capacity 111 GB

I hit 'Disc cleanup' while I was there.

Defrag complete - no difference to photos.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 9:59 pm

w00dward wrote:
Check you swap file settings and let me know what they say. Go to Start - Control Panel - System - Advanced - Settings - Change. Let me know what it says.

If you right click on a thumbnail and choose preview do you still get the same error?

It says 720-1440
Under that it says space available 77710 MB

The thumbnail preview works - takes a while though. No problems on any photos taken with my old camera.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 10:02 pm

John - there is a shedload of running tasks.

I also had Irfanview once - deleted it a while ago!

Post by **John** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 10:05 pm

Roboframer wrote:John - there is a shedload of running tasks.

Google the names of the tasks to find out which can safely be eliminated.

Roboframer wrote:I also had Irfanview once - deleted it a while ago!

Why?????

w00dward · Post by **w00dward** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 10:35 pm

OK, the hard drive is fine and so are the swap settings.

What application do you use atm for viewing your pictures? If Irfanview is a low resource application get it and have a go at that.

I wouldn't recommend deleting tasks if you are not sure what they are.

I would approach it by looking at the task bar (near the clock) and seeing which icons you do not need. Find out what application is running them and see if you can set them to not load at boot up.

I would then look at the startup group (Start - All Programs - Startup) and see if there are applications which are loading there which can be removed.

Uncompressed a 12mp image would be taking something like 35 - 50Mb of memory. JPG compression is great.

I think you have hit the limit with the machine in its current state and a memory upgrade as mentioned by others is needed. Put at least 1 GB in depending if your motherboard can support it.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 10:43 pm

John wrote: Why?????

Well, someone gave me a link, like you did - so I downloaded it and when I plugged my camera in it never came up as an option - just Nikon PictureProject or the windows software that comes built in, so I never really looked at it!

When I plug in my old camera I get lots of options - like print or slideshow - when I plug in this new one I only get the two options above.

Post by **John** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 10:54 pm

It may not be every one's cup of tea, but I prefer to transfer the images off the camera's memory card to a folder (usually in My Pictures) and then use Irfanview to display the folder's contents.

This method gives you control and avoids the bloatware and unnecessary garbage that most camera manufacturers want you to use.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 10:54 pm

I just feel like hossing this thing into file 13 - and my camera - then digging out my nice leather bound writing set - and my old Olympus OM101 - post some photos to someone.

An old school friend got in touch recently - from the days when classes were 'streamed' and it was OK to win and lose. He was in the same class as me - just a year ahead (older)

He's now a 'software architect' for IBM living in New Zealand!

Thanks for your help though - I've learned loads already - what I need is a proper 'course' as I have a really mean competitive streak!

w00dward · Post by **w00dward** » Thu 27 Dec, 2007 11:28 pm

As John suggested, its best to copy the photo's off the camera directly into a folder and then loading them into the application of choice.

By experience I've found the bundled software to be poorly developed and a pointless resource hog.

With your camera connected to the computer you can open my computer and you should see it as an additional drive.

markw · Post by **markw** » Fri 28 Dec, 2007 12:00 am

spent the day sorting out my home computers - ordering extra memory for my youngest daughters laptop - its dropped price like a brick - last time I looked it was £80 plus for a gig - now its just over twenty pounds.

Photos and music take up massive amounts of space at home - my kids seem to spend their lives generating huge files - that I just cant remove. The answer was to go out and buy more storage space - 500 Gbyte external hard disk cost me just under seventy quid - I plan to network it so that we can all store and back up - I was impressed when I first got a pc with 1 gig - I come from the time when we used huge removable disks in a device that looked like a washing machine - the room that housed them had a gas release system to protect them in case of fire - tough luck if you were in the room at the time - half a dozen disk drives and disks cost over a million pounds - and it wasnt a gig in total.

So! Back to Robo's problem - the obvious has been suggested - more ram. the next suggestion would be to lower the size of the files that you take - unless you are outputting to a large size - and at 12 meg your talking big picture - you should have the option to lower res but maintain quality. Take a few pics at minimum res - see if they display - it wont cure your problem but will show you where the problem is.