PSP 7.91: unavailable pagefile

[Steve Kunkel]

- Windows 2003 SP2 on DL380 G5
- fresh OS install via RDP
- same RDP job using any of the older PSP versions are fine

After installing PSP 7.91, any pagefile I create on any non-system drive/partition will no longer be available for use by the OS after a reboot. Pagefile.sys still exists on the drive and the corresponding registry entries exist. I can even delete the .sys file in Explorer which I should not be able to do if the OS is using it.

If I config a 2GB pagefile on C: and a 3GB pagefile on D: in the Advanced tab of System properties, the total page size for all drives will initially show 5GB total, when the box reboots it will only show the 2GB on C: drive. I can change to size on C: and it will keep the change OK after a reboot, just not on other drives.

I've seen this once before but Norton was cause then. I'm in the process of installing each component of the PSP one at a time to find the culprit. I've Googled, checked the MS knowldege base and searched the forums here. Has anyone else run into this?

[Steve Kunkel]

I've narrowed it down to the ES1000 display driver. I've downloaded and replaced c007459.exe in case my source copy was bad and also tried earlier version c005796.exe both to no avail.

I've got other servers with this display hardware running version 6.14.10.6606 with no issues.

I will open a support case and go from there with an update here to follow.

[Mi6t0]

And what happens if you configure only one paging file on drive D:? Does it happen the same like the example with the 5 GB paging file?

[~sesh]

I found some information on the Microsoft KB, while not exactly addressing your issue, but could be close.

It is possible that the registry entries for the paging file is not getting saved. This article shows how to set registry entries for the page files that you create.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237740

As always, before working with registry be sure to backup the registry & data. :)

[Steve Kunkel]

M16t0

I configured a page file on D: and set C: to zero. After reboot, a default pagefile gets created on C: and the same condition exists on D:.....pagefile.sys exists but the OS doesn't recognize it and it can be deleted.

[Steve Kunkel]

adric

I read the same KB article in my initial troubleshooting; the registry entries are there and reflect any changes to the pagefile location and size that I've tried.

As soon as I uninstall the HP ES1000 driver and the system reverts to using the default MS video driver, everything works as expected.

[Steve Kunkel]

UPDATE\RECAP

- replaced main board, problem still persisted, also had same problem with another new server
- problem clarification: video worked OK....when using ATI ES1000 driver v. 6.14.10.6606, v. 6.14.10.6583 or v 6.14.10.6553 any pagefile (pagefile.sys) additional to the default or system drive were no longer seen or usable; uninstalling and using the standard Microsoft VGA adapter v. 5.2.3790.0 allowed pagefile.sys to be seen by the OS as expected
- tried Win2k3 STD SP1, SP2 and Win2k3 ENT SP1 and SP2, clean installs with no additional software other that than PSP 7.90 and 7.91 all with same results
- found that the es1000 driver was the issue by installing each .exe out of the PSP one at a time
- server base image consists of Win2K3 w/SP2, Win2k3 Resource Kit Tools, Win2k3 Support Tools, Netbackup agent, MOM agent, SMS agent, Symantec AV Corporate Edition and PSP 7.91
- server1 running MS VGA, pagefile OK; server2 running ATI 6.14.10.6606 , pagefile not OK
- both servers had SQL 2005 SP2 installed over the weekend, server2 pagefile now OK; out of curiousity I updated server1 to ATI 6.14.10.6606, pagefile now OK as well...this makes no sense to me

[Steve Kunkel]

- see previous recap