Hard faults with lots of ram

I built a new PC with a six-core AMD and 16 gb memory. Vista x64 ultimate went on a 60gb SSD alongside a 2TB raid. This was a brand new installation as my old system had so much crud and 'funnies' that I bit that bullet.

So while installing Visual Studio I decided to revel in Task Manager. Sure enough, there were the six little processor windows all active. I was impressed - I didn't think an installation program would mulit-task so well. And there was the Ram showing about 3gb of 16 being used.

As a matter of curiosity I looked at the resource monitor for memory and there were hundreds of hard faults per minute. (I do hate that name - makes me think there are physical IO errors) Why would any program cause so many page faults when ram is showing less than 20% usage, with no memory spikes in the Physical Memory Usage History graph? (that's the one under the performance tab of TM).
 

My Computer

Hi Paulustrious,

Welcome to Vista Forums!

I think the first thing to do is to test your memory for problems. We'll use two methods.

First will be the Vista Memory Diagnostics Tool. Here are the instructions: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/65361-memory-diagnostics-tool.html.

Second, we will use Memtest86 to test the memory. Use the CD option rather than the USB option. Here are the instructions: RAM - Test with Memtest86+ - Windows 7 Forums.

Let's see what these tests have to say before we proceed.

Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inc. MP061 Inspiron E1705
    CPU
    2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory
    Motherboard
    Board: Dell Inc. 0YD479 Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
    Memory
    2046 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) [Di
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (17.2"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SB2411SJGLLRMB, rev SB4OC74P, SMART Status: Healthy
    Case
    Chassis Serial Number: 5YK95C1
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    1958 Kbps download ; 754.8 Kbps upload
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5540A ATA Device [CD-ROM drive]

    Dell AIO Printer A940

    Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem

    6TO4 Adapter
    Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
    Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
    Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
    Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

    Router Linksys / WRT54G -01
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