Out of memory even though there still have tons of memory

Hello, Un Anno

Welcome to the Microsoft Community.

Hello, thank you for your feedback here, it looks like you are experiencing an “Out of Memory” error even though the physical memory shows enough free memory.

Based on the information you have provided and the troubleshooting steps you have tried, here are some possible causes and suggested solutions:

1. Memory Stick Mismatch or Hardware Issue

Even though you mentioned that the 16GB memory sticks (16GB onboard + 16GB additional memory) are the same speed (3200MHz DDR4), there may still be a compatibility issue or an underlying hardware issue with the memory modules themselves that is causing instability. The fact that you have tested unplugging one of the memory and it crashes when using more than 10GB of memory also provides a clue to the problem.

Suggested Action:

Test each memory stick individually again to confirm that there is no fault, even though Memtest86 found no errors. Sometimes memory sticks may pass the basic test but still cause problems under load.

Try installing the memory sticks on another computer (if possible) and check how the memory sticks behave on the other system.

Try different slots (if your laptop supports them) to see if the problem is with the slots.

Check for dual-channel configuration issues: sometimes memory sticks from different manufacturers or batches can be unstable even if they have the same specifications.

2. Check if the integrated graphics card is taking up memory

You mentioned that your system has RTX 3070 graphics, but also integrated graphics (if your CPU comes with an integrated GPU). Sometimes, even if you are using a discrete graphics card, the integrated graphics card still reserves a portion of the system memory, which may result in less memory being available to the system.

Recommended Action:

Check the BIOS/UEFI setup to see if there is an option to allocate too much memory to the integrated graphics card. If there is a “UMA Frame Buffer Size” or similar option, try reducing it or setting it to “Auto”.

Confirm that the discrete graphics card is being used instead of the integrated graphics card. You can check which graphics card is being used in the Performance tab of Task Manager. 3.

3. Check for Windows memory management issues

Although you have disabled virtual memory (page files), some applications (especially browsers or large software) may cause out of memory errors when the physical memory is close to full, especially when the system memory is about to run out.

Recommended Action:

Temporarily re-enable virtual memory (by setting the page file size to “System Management”), although this is not the root cause of the problem. This will help alleviate the crash and allow you to troubleshoot further.

Check for memory leaks: Some applications (especially browsers) may have memory leaks and crash even if the system shows enough free memory. Check which applications are taking up the most memory in the task manager.

Check Windows performance settings: Open Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Performance (Settings) and make sure that settings such as “Tune for optimal performance” are configured correctly. 4.

4. Update or reinstall your graphics card and chipset drivers.

It is possible that there is an issue with your graphics card or chipset driver that is causing the memory to be allocated incorrectly.

Recommended action:

Update the NVIDIA graphics card driver and chipset driver (from the laptop manufacturer or AMD website).

If the drivers are already up-to-date, try a clean install of the drivers. Sometimes, residual old drivers may cause memory management problems.

Use DDU (Display Driver Uninstallation Utility) to completely remove the old graphics card drivers and reinstall the latest drivers.

5. Check for system or software problems

If the Task Manager closes automatically when it crashes, there may be a system or application error that is causing problems with memory allocation.

Suggested Action:

Check for Windows updates: make sure your system has the latest updates installed, as there may be patches for your problem.

Try entering Safe Mode to see if the problem persists. If there is no problem in Safe Mode, it may be caused by some startup applications or background services.

You can refer to the following thread to enter safe mode:

Windows startup settings - Microsoft Support

6. Hardware failure or compatibility issues

Since you are using a laptop, hardware related issues are also a possibility.

You can choose to just reinstall Windows and if this problem still occurs after that, then my suggestion is that you may need to contact the vendor for a hardware check.

Best regards

Bobhe | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

3. Check for Windows memory management issues

Although you have disabled virtual memory (page files), some applications (especially browsers or large software) may cause out of memory errors when the physical memory is close to full, especially when the system memory is about to run out.

Recommended Action:

Temporarily re-enable virtual memory (by setting the page file size to “System Management”), although this is not the root cause of the problem. This will help alleviate the crash and allow you to troubleshoot further.

4. Check for memory leaks: Some applications (especially browsers) may have memory leaks and crash even if the system shows enough free memory. Check which applications are taking up the most memory in the task manager.

Check Windows performance settings: Open Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Performance (Settings) and make sure that settings such as “Tune for optimal performance” are configured correctly.

Thanks to your advice, I have finally located the problem. I'm not out of physical memory but committed memory. My committed memory is 5GB larger than the memory in use. Which explains why I can't use more than 10GB of RAM.

To confirm that this is the problem. I looked into Details and found multiple programs are taking significantly large amounts of committed memory compared to their memory in use. After I uninstalled the software that had the biggest committed size which cleaned up 1.5GB of space. I'm able to use RAM up to almost 12GB. So yes I'm out of committed memory.

(Left: memory in use. Right: committed size)

Now this brings up 2 questions and a problem. The question is why there are programs that have large committed sizes but don't write them into memory?

(And there even have some use 0 memory. SearchHost is just one of them, there is multiple programs like this.)

And I am sure I have virtual memory disabled, mean no paging file will be created, shouldn't my memory in use and committed memory be the same size?

Am I misunderstanding something?

The problem is most of those programs are System Program that if uninstalled or disabled will result in the system not functioning properly. I looked around and found that msedgewebview2.exe seems wont affect the system. But how can I disable it? I have Widgets toggled off in setting, but msedgewebview2.exe still running in the background.

Again, thanks in advance for your help!