"Out of Memory-A2" error

[brian + gry]

Hello all,

First post, we were directed to your fine forum by the gracious and amazingly helpful Victoria Bampton.

We are running LR V1.2 on PCs, XP Pro, Quadcore processors with 4gb RAM in each machine. We keep getting an intermittent yet persistant error when editing/labeling/browsing images in the Library or Develop modules. We will be humming along fine then all of a sudden the image area goes gray and we see a red, upside down error message in the lower left corner that reads "Out of Memory-A2". LR becomes very unresponsive and we ultimately have to reboot. . .where everything will run fine again for a bit then same thing. We have no other major memory hog applications running at the same time.

We submitted a bug report to Adobe but thought someone might be having the same problem.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi guys.

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your kind comments!

I've been Mac based on LR since the beginning, so I've only seen the OOM errors once or twice on other people's computers, but hopefully some of the windows based LR gurus here will have a few ideas.

There seem to be already tucked up in bed for the night, so one question I thought about in the meantime... How big is your catalog? And what camera's files are you looking at (i.e. what size?)

 

[brian + gry]

Hi Victoria,

We usually make each wedding it's own catalog, when we first started we just kept importing into the same catalog and before we knew it we had a single catalog with 25''' image files. . .mucked things up a bit. So now we have a "Lightroom Library" on one of our external HDs where we keep all the individual wedding catalogs. Each one averages around 2''' image files.

We are Nikon RAW shooters so we are working with Nikon NEF file format, each file probably around 15mb, average wedding 25-3'gb total size.

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[brian + gry]

Anyone?? Or, other suggestions on where to look for an answer? Thanks.

 

[Ian Farlow]

It may take a day or so for someone to respond with suggestions...

 

[Mark Sirota]

I'm not a Windows guy, but might this memory problem have anything to do with video drivers? Is yours up to date? Just a wild guess.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

My brain's continuing to tick along on this one...

So tell me exactly what you're doing when you come across these errors? What does Task Manager think it's doing while all this is going on?

 

[brian + gry]

Mark Sirota I'm not a Windows guy, but might this memory problem have anything to do with video drivers? Is yours up to date? Just a wild guess.

Thanks for the suggestion Mark, I grabbed the latest driver update from ATI so we'll see if that helps! We just built this machine two months ago but there was an update released on 1'/11. Fingers are crossed.


Victoria Bampton My brain's continuing to tick along on this one...

So tell me exactly what you're doing when you come across these errors? What does Task Manager think it's doing while all this is going on?

Just browsing through images, editing, labeling, tweaking, in either Library or Develop modes. I've not seen any unusual processor avtivity in Task Manager when this happens but will check again upon next instance. Thanks for continuing to help with this Victoria! If you're ever in Asheville, North Carolina I at least owe you lunch!

Question: Does anyone from Adobe ever frequent this forum??

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Yes, e have a member AnitaD who is from Adobe and I have seen Adobe URLs as guests as well.

 

[Braders]

This was a well documented problem with V1.' and 1.1.

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.3bc38'37

Many other posts on the Adobe forum pages.

I myself used to get this often, but no longer with v1.2. 2 things to consider (Auto write changes to xmp and Anti virus software) to switch off when using LR - slow speed and crashes went away.

If this does happen, close and restart LR.

Whats your camera gear/RAW format? There was a question on whether this was relevant to the errors.

 

[brian + gry]

This was a well documented problem with V1.' and 1.1.

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.3bc38'37

Many other posts on the Adobe forum pages.

I myself used to get this often, but no longer with v1.2. 2 things to consider (Auto write changes to xmp and Anti virus software) to switch off when using LR - slow speed and crashes went away.

If this does happen, close and restart LR.

Whats your camera gear/RAW format? There was a question on whether this was relevant to the errors.

Hello Braders and thanks for your response. We are shooting Nikon D2'' and D2X (soon to be D3 and D3''!), all RAW(NEF) capture.

Auto write to XMP is and has been unchecked and I'll try w/o antivirus software running. Yeah, closing and restarting fixes things for awhile but it's kind of a pain to have to keep doing that during an editing workflow.

 

[frankacano]

Hi, I am new here and am seeing the same OOM-A2. I also get an Error-B1 some times. I am going to try running with XMP wirte disabled to see if this clear up this situation.

System:
Windows XP SP2
3G RAM
Pentium 4 3.2G
Nvidia GeForce 68'' Driver 6.14.1'.9371
Page file set to dynamic between 15'' and 31'' MB

Lightroom:
Lr 1.2
Canon RAW from Xti (CR2) 9MB each
XMP write enabled
~16K photos
Editing group of 6'' photos

Task Manager:
Lr is consuming about 6''MB RAM when it starts getting flaky

-Frank

 

[brian + gry]

Frank,

Thanks for keeping this alive! We've tried disabling XMP write but did not seem to solve the problem, will be interested in your result.

We are processing RAW (Nikon NEF) files, seems that it happens after we've been working for awhile, say and hour or more, usually just editing/labeling/tweaking through a catalog (individual cats for each wedding so not huge numbers of files, 25'' max). Almost like LR just gets behind and can't handle the pace any more.

We doubt it is our computers, both are identical, custom built Quad core 2.66ghz processors with 4gb RAM, twin 16'gb internal Raptor HDs and 3TB of external storage running Windows XP Pro. We experience the same problem on both machines.

 

[hoddo]

Windows

Bear in mind that Windows XP only recognises up to 3gb of RAM regardless of whether you have north of that installed. I have 4gb in my machine but use the other 1gb routed onto the graphics card.

From my experience this only manifested when creating a pdf.

When this message appears is there a ton of stuff that the pc is doing in the background that will eat up resources? I also noticed that when the issue appeared for me it was on files that were particularly large - enormous actually. Couple this large file with all that I've already typed and I had a devil of a time with some images. Consider an unflattened hi-res image can be massive in terms of memory requirement depending upon your alterations.

So what's the answer - I can't say I'm afraid - the issue seems to have all but disappeared. On the very odd occassion I flatten a file but keep the multi-layered doc elsewhere and use the new flattened image for the pdf.

Apologies that I can't be of more help.

Paul

 

[brian + gry]

Just uploaded 1.3 but we're still getting the "OOM - A2" error as before. If anyone has any new ideas let em' rip.

Happy turkey day!

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Just uploaded 1.3 but we're still getting the "OOM - A2" error as before. If anyone has any new ideas let em' rip.

Happy turkey day!

Could you post a screen shot showing this please..

 

[brian + gry]

Could you post a screen shot showing this please..

Will do Geoff, when it happens again. Basically as described before the image area goes grey and "Out of Memory - A2" appears in the lower left hand corner, upside down and red.

Thanks,

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Will do Geoff, when it happens again. Basically as described before the image area goes grey and "Out of Memory - A2" appears in the lower left hand corner, upside down and red.

Thanks,

Thanks and let me know what you were doing, if anything!!

 

[melissa]

I was going to reply to this before, but never did get all the info I wanted first.... so my info will come in piecemeal.

The OOM like you are describing are coming because LR can't get enough contiguous memory to do an operation - the memory stack is fragmented. Unfortunately, there are all sorts of reasons this happens. There are 2 Windows DLL's that load right into the middle of our address space. Apps that want to extend the functionality of other apps will install libraries into other apps space as well - we've run into some IM programs that do so.


Firstly, if you have 4gb of RAM, you can set the /3GB switch in your .ini file. Instructions are here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

Lightroom 1.2 and up are Large Address Aware.

Secondly, try to install as few other apps as possible on the LR machine.

Thirdly, restart it occasionally.

We are working on a fix for this, but it will likely be an extensive amount of code to get right - requiring more substantial changes that we've had in dot releases.

 

[Brad Snyder]

It's difficult to add to what's been said previously on the thread. So, I'll just reinforce:

XP seems to have trouble effectively using more than 2GB Ram, and LR gets caught up in that. Melissa's advice about the /3GB switch is often cited.

Also, you might try isolating your machine temporarily from the net and completely disabling antivirus. LR creates seemingly a 'gazillion' files, principally the preview cache, which can really bog down AV. While this is more likely to help with disk and I/O bottlenecks, I haven't had an OOM (WinXP Pro SP2, 2GB) in quite a while. I don't use AV at all on my LR machine, finding the prevention far worse than the potential disease.

Incidentally, I also leave XMP autowrite "On", as I much prefer the 'belt and suspenders {braces for you commonwealth types}' data redundancy. I don't notice any performance penalty.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, if it's not a huge hassle, and you have the skill, and if the configuration makes it possible, you might experiment with reducing your physical memory to 2GB. I've seen a lot of discussion of problems in systems with 2+GB of RAM.

hope you find a cure ..... brad

 

[brian + gry]

I was going to reply to this before, but never did get all the info I wanted first.... so my info will come in piecemeal.

The OOM like you are describing are coming because LR can't get enough contiguous memory to do an operation - the memory stack is fragmented. Unfortunately, there are all sorts of reasons this happens. There are 2 Windows DLL's that load right into the middle of our address space. Apps that want to extend the functionality of other apps will install libraries into other apps space as well - we've run into some IM programs that do so.


Firstly, if you have 4gb of RAM, you can set the /3GB switch in your .ini file. Instructions are here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

Lightroom 1.2 and up are Large Address Aware.

Secondly, try to install as few other apps as possible on the LR machine.

Thirdly, restart it occasionally.

We are working on a fix for this, but it will likely be an extensive amount of code to get right - requiring more substantial changes that we've had in dot releases.

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a shot although I think the young fellow who built our machines was on top of the XP RAM usage issue.

Our two machines have minimal apps installed. . .one of the reasons we built our own so we did not have all that add on, third party junk mucking up the works.

We just uploaded LR 1.3 but that did not change anything. . .if anything, LR 1.3 is more sluggish and acting buggy than 1.2. Sliders are unresponsive at times and move hesitantly, seems the program just freezes up for a few seconds. Also appears that, looking at Program Manager, CPU usage has gone way up with 1.3 with nothing else running. Can I just reinstall 1.3? We're going to need it since we have D3 bodies on the way but it sure is not running as smooth as 1.2 was. . .except for the OOM error.

Thanks so much,

 

[brian + gry]

It's difficult to add to what's been said previously on the thread. So, I'll just reinforce:

XP seems to have trouble effectively using more than 2GB Ram, and LR gets caught up in that. Melissa's advice about the /3GB switch is often cited.

Also, you might try isolating your machine temporarily from the net and completely disabling antivirus. LR creates seemingly a 'gazillion' files, principally the preview cache, which can really bog down AV. While this is more likely to help with disk and I/O bottlenecks, I haven't had an OOM (WinXP Pro SP2, 2GB) in quite a while. I don't use AV at all on my LR machine, finding the prevention far worse than the potential disease.

Incidentally, I also leave XMP autowrite "On", as I much prefer the 'belt and suspenders {braces for you commonwealth types}' data redundancy. I don't notice any performance penalty.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, if it's not a huge hassle, and you have the skill, and if the configuration makes it possible, you might experiment with reducing your physical memory to 2GB. I've seen a lot of discussion of problems in systems with 2+GB of RAM.

hope you find a cure ..... brad

Thanks Brad! I'll ask our computer guy who built the machines about reducing to 2GB and I'll try shutting off the AV software. Are all AV programs suspect? We're running Trend Micro Internet Security but at minimal protection levels and firewalls disabled.

Thanks again,

 

[Brad Snyder]

If you'll take a peek at the '....previews.lrdata/ folder tree you'll see a fairly shallow but very wide structure. If I'm doing the math correctly, there're potentially 64k folders on just the second level of that tree. That tree will be navigated more or less at random as you visit each preview. If any change affecting the preview is made, there's eventually gonna' be a write to the preview.

AV software (I don't have direct experience with Trend Micro's) that examines disk writes in real time, for suspect activity, is going to have it's hands full.

Again, in my limited experience, that speaks to performance/speed issues, due to bottlenecks in disk i/o, rather than memory issues. But, with Windows, who knows?

....brad

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Brian + Gry,

I've asked around a bit and here are a couple of opinions:
"Actually I have not been in any of the forums for a long time as they creep me out. But one of the last things I posted (which got me dragged and quartered by some who just don't believe that machines can be screwed up), was:

1) Do not use the full memory to 4 gigs as that is not managed in a uniform manner by Windows as the lower memory. If you are a low level programmer doing a dedicated (in house) app, then fine because you can control what goes where.

High level languages don't really second guess the opsys and if Windows doesn't go there don't expect stuff written in higher level languages to burp Windows on the fly.

2) if you want efficiency and speed and bang for your buck... don't buy the biggest newest most packed super fast machine. For less money buy three used slightly slower machines and on one of them add several large external drives. That's the one to leave OFF THE WEB!!!!! have no firewalls and no virus anything running. One main app per one machine.

Three computers and with your LEFT OVER MONEY buy airplanes and send them to edited who I am sure will be delighted. The actual real working processing speed will be FAR GREATER than a Binford2'''megaBuck machine choking with background crap.

Just doing those virus check tests (where I compared three products) nearly drove me batty. I felt like my machines were poisoned! "

"only if this is limited to an MS OS. Running AVs are a pain for any Win app related to data, as these demand too much from your hard and may even cause problems to simple services like auth smtp and such. This is why I turned to MAC some years ago, although I quickly achieved Unix knowledge to waste my time with. Now I even have my iMac serving my Photo Gallery from home, once I got my way around the /etc conf environment. Things just work smoother on Mac. "

So my guess would be to do some tests:
1. turn off/disable all the antivirus stuff (disconnect from internet first if you have a worry)
2. Test the ram configurations as suggested.
3. Try both together.

Inform us how it goes please.

 

[brian + gry]

I was going to reply to this before, but never did get all the info I wanted first.... so my info will come in piecemeal.

The OOM like you are describing are coming because LR can't get enough contiguous memory to do an operation - the memory stack is fragmented. Unfortunately, there are all sorts of reasons this happens. There are 2 Windows DLL's that load right into the middle of our address space. Apps that want to extend the functionality of other apps will install libraries into other apps space as well - we've run into some IM programs that do so.


Firstly, if you have 4gb of RAM, you can set the /3GB switch in your .ini file. Instructions are here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

Lightroom 1.2 and up are Large Address Aware.

Melissa,

I need help!! I tried what you suggested above with the /3GB switch and now I can not access my system drive, it's as if Windows is not installed. Tried to run a repair from the XP CD and fix the boot.ini file back the way it was but got this "the volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems".
I looked on the Microsoft site for phone in tech support but that costs over $5'' US.
This was the primary machine for our office, everything is networked through it and now we are basically out of business until this is resolved.
If anyone else can help please go to our website and call on our toll free number.

Wow!