Matlab runs out of memory

Submitted by Marisa on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 08:09

 Hi there,

I've got the Matlab problem that it runs out of memory when I start the filtering preprocessing step with a bigger (150 Volumes) dataset (rest runs under windows with 4 GB RAM; Matlab 2008b). Therefore I've tried the following solution which completely crashed my system:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124810(EXCHG.65).aspx

 To Set the /3GB Startup Switch in Windows Server 2003

  1. Right-click My Computer and select Properties. The System Properties dialog box will appear.

  2. Click the Advanced tab.

  3. In the Startup and Recovery area, click Settings. The Startup and Recovery dialog box will appear.

  4. In the System startup area, click Edit. This will open the Windows boot.ini file in Notepad.

  5. In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB

  6. Save the changes and close Notepad.

  7. Click OK two times to close the open dialog boxes, and then restart the computer for the change to take effect.

Afterwards I saw, that you advise the following solution to this problem, which I do not dare to try after the latest desaster. Can you discribe to me what exactly is the difference between the two possibilites and how I can solve the problem if my system crashes again?

Thanks a lot!!!
Marisa

Solve Problem "Out Of Memory"

The error of out of memory depends on your available size of memory and the complexity of the memory allocating strategy. There are some suggestions to avoid this situation:
  1. Reboot your computer and do not run any other programs except MATLAB, REST and DPARSF. 
  2. Enlarge your memory.
  3. MATLAB Version 7.1 or above is suggested.
  4. You can turn on the 3GB switch of Windows!!! 

Enable the 3GB switch on Windows XP

  • Right-click My Computer. Click Properties.
  • In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
  • On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
  • In the Startup and Recovery dialog box, under System startup, click Edit. The Windows boot.ini file will be opened in Microsoft® Notepad.
  • Create a backup copy of the boot.ini file. Note: Boot.ini files may vary from computer to computer. 
    Select the following line in the boot.ini file:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

  • Press Ctrl+C to copy the line and then press Ctrl+V to paste it immediately below the original line. 
    Note: Your text string may be different from the text string in this solution, so be sure to copy the text string from your boot.ini file, and not the text string included here. 
    Modify the copied line to include “ /3GB”, as shown in the following example:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect

Note: Do not overwrite any existing lines.

  • Save and close the boot.ini file.
  • Click OK to close each dialog box.
  • Restart your computer.
  • During startup, select the 3GB option. If you do not select the 3GB option, the system will default to the 2GB total memory setting.

Note: If problems occur during startup, you may need to update some of your drivers.

Forums:

YAN Chao-Gan

Sat, 08/21/2010 - 17:05

There are some notebook computers will crash after add the /3GB switch.
I am sorry I don't know why they crashed.
The strategy I suggested makes a backup. When you restart your computer, then second option is the system with 3GB on and can use larger memory. If this option crashed, you can use the first option, that is the system you used before.