Buffer over-run--- do I need more RAM?

Not for the first time I have just experienced what a warning notice calls a "buffer over-run" --- this during a save in PaintShopPro which then shuts itself down as a prog

Does this mean I could do with more RAM? I have a slot empty for a 3rd matching stick. See below for existing spec. Bruce +++

AFAIK, a buffer overrun has nothing to do with a lack RAM and is more to do with a problem with the program code (which can also have security implications for the rest of the system).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow

Have you tried seeing if there are any updates for the version of Paint Shop Pro you're using?

Yes there are later versions of PaintShopPro but these are now owned by Coral and the chat forums in PSP itself are full of uncomfortable remarks concerning the new owners & what has been done to PSP.

So I am sticking to PSPv7 aka The 10th Anniversary Edition. Buffer over-run is a fairly new experience for me whereas I have been using PSP for a very long time.

Thank you for your response, Bruce +++

You've completely missed the point of what I was asking. I was asking if the version of PSP (in this case, 7) you have is up to date, not suggesting you should check to see if there are later versions available (the most recent being 10).

A quick scan of Corel's website reveals that the latest update to version 7 is 7.04:

Link

Has this problem only just recently started? If that is the case, could it be related to a recent software or hardware update or something like that? I would be willing to bet that getting some more RAM would almost certainly not resolve the issue.

Edited by PlexShaw (Mon 11-Sep-06 19:50:32)

Bruce, give us the full text of the warning notice please.

"ffox" --- I will try to help. When working on a photo in PSPv7 (Jasc mf'd, not later Coral) I make incremental saves adding x's as suffixes, then I do not have to go back to the start if things go belly-up. Occasionally & when doing a save I get a warning saying something like "Buffer over-run........."

What happens is that the save has actually been initiated by me but it does not take place. Much worse is that the image itself is also lost because PSP as a prog then shuts down putting me back to the start-up desktop --- the pc is still running, the pc has not crashed, it is the programme that has hit the end-stops.

So now I have to re-open PSP, access the most recent suffix of a save & carry on working from there.

I have one empty slot of RAM & two 512 sticks of PC2700 DDR installed. I have never had RAM problems so far as I know. I have not downloaded any Coral updates to PSPv7 (aka the 10th Anniversary Edition) because I am satisfied with Jacs's v7, I understand most of it, and I have my own opinion about the new owners Coral. I could spend approx

Hi Bruce

This sounds very much like a program bug. I'm guessing that your incremental saves are causing it to fill a buffer allocated at start-up, hence the message. I doubt adding RAM would help.

One other observation. Every time you save an image in JPEG format, you lose some more quality, so repeated re-saves are definitely not recommended when working an image. Use a lossless format, such as TIFF, and only switch to JPEG when you want to send the image to someone else.

In reply to:

---

I have not downloaded any Coral updates to PSPv7 (aka the 10th Anniversary Edition) because I am satisfied with Jacs's v7, I understand most of it, and I have my own opinion about the new owners Coral.

---

The updates have nothing to do with Corel. They just happen to be posted on their website because... well... where else would you expect them to be hosted?

In fact, if you look at the Release Notes for the update, they only ever make reference to Jasc. I have absolutely no idea what exactly the issue for you here is because regardless of what you think of Corel, they had nothing to do with the creation of any of the updates for version 7, given that that appear to date back to circa 2001. Incidentally you still haven't said what version number of PSP 7 you are running (i.e. 7.0x).

I'm not saying that applying this update will fix the problem, but it is one method of troubleshooting to explore, is it not?

Edited by PlexShaw (Tue 12-Sep-06 11:51:03)

The reason I was asking is that some programs restrict the permissible length of file pathnames (and the buffer that holds them). The limit is often 80 characters. A longer pathname than that will result in a buffer overrun error.

So:

C:\My Programs\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\Teneriffe 2005\Barbara Swimming xxx.jpg

would just be OK, but

C:\My Programs\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\Teneriffe 2005\Barbara Swimming xxxxxx.jpg

is too long.

Could this be a possible cause?

Does event viewer have any related entries and could it be something to do with this-
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04%2D028.mspx

Hi Bruce,
Version 7.04 of Paintshop pro works fine for me on an old 730 Mhz pc with just 128 MB RDRAM
which is also running XP pro

Re-sizing, copy, paste into new, saving as different formats etc etc with no such errors.

Can you open Painshop pro, click on *Help*, click on *about Paintshop Pro*
Then click on *System Info* (next to Ok)
Then click on *Copy* (next to Ok)

That will copy the info in that window to the clipboard, so you can post it here for someone to comment on.

Just for reference, this is how mine looks on that pc.

In reply to:

---

Paint Shop Pro Build Information:
Build Date Jul 13 2001 @ 16:15:07
Build Mode Release (7000404)

Hardware Configuration:
Processors 1
Processor Type 586
MMX Support Yes

Memory / Drive Status:
Memory Load Index 74 pcnt.
Total Physical Memory 127MB
Available Physical Memory 32MB
Total Paging Memory 498MB
Available Paging Memory 365MB
Total Managed Memory 2MB
Total Handles: 19
Temp Drive Free Space 1324MB

Video Driver Information:
Bits Per Pixel 32
Number of Colors 16777216
DIB Output 24BPP
Palette Size Non-Paletted
Resolution 800 x 600

Operating System Information:
Operating System Windows NT/2000
Version 5.1
Additional Info Service Pack 2

Plug-in Information
Total Plug-ins Scanned: 0
Memory Used: 0KB
Filter Plug-ins Loaded: 0
Import Plug-ins Loaded: 0
Export Plug-ins Loaded: 0
Format Plug-ins Loaded: 0

WinTab Tablet Status
Driver Version: None

---

I recently upgraded AppleQuicktime to the pro version so I could join together .mov files from my Panasonic F27 cam.

Sometimes I can join together 4 or 5 files with no problems, other times I get the same buffer overrun message as Bruce does!

Your suggestion ffox is worth looking at next time it occurs

Version 7.04 purchased under licence and installed 2004, thanks for help, Bruce +++

Paint Shop Pro Build Information:

Build Date Jul 13 2001 @ 16:15:07
Build Mode Release (7000404)

Hardware Configuration:
Processors 1
Processor Type 586
MMX Support Yes

Memory / Drive Status:
Memory Load Index 27 pcnt.
Total Physical Memory 1024MB
Available Physical Memory 744MB
Total Paging Memory 2461MB
Available Paging Memory 2290MB
Total Managed Memory 1MB
Total Handles: 17
Temp Drive Free Space 972MB

Video Driver Information:
Bits Per Pixel 32
Number of Colours 16777216
DIB Output 24BPP
Palette Size Non-Paletted
Resolution 1024 x 768

Operating System Information:
Operating System Windows NT/2000
Version 5.1
Additional Info Service Pack 2

Plugin Information
Total Plugins Scanned: 58
Memory Used: 46KB
Filter Plugins Loaded: 6
Import Plugins Loaded: 0
Export Plugins Loaded: 0
Format Plugins Loaded: 0

WinTab Tablet Status
Wintab version %i.%i present.None

This help at all? I did not know I could do such a thing!

btw I do not use long file names & I only ever need one incremental save & yes I do understand the advantage of TIFF over JPEG & image degradation. The possibility that some sort of cache might be swamped by many incremental saves is compelling reasoning --- were I to use enough such saves but I don't. Am very glad of all your help, thanx, Bruce

Hi Bruce,
I should say that i'm not a big user of Paintshop pro. For ordinary day-to-day stuff i tend to use the free Irfanview (although mine is an older version)
Irfanview does a superb job of resizing/sharpening jpegs, and makes nice small file sizes.

Well, we've established that we are both running the same version of Painthop pro (7.04) on the same os, XP pro.

Clearly you have vast amounts more memory than my old pc, so that doesn't appear to be the problem

Here are some possibilities, suggestions.

The first simple thing you could try is to clear out your temp folder.
As you probably know, each account has its own temp folder
Open Windows Explorer,
go to C:\Documents and Settings\account username\Local Settings\Temp
and clear everything out.
The temp folder location used by Paintshop pro can be checked
by going to Files==>Preferences==>File Locations==>Undo/Temporary Files



Do you have *Autosave* enabled? I don't !
To check, go to Files==>Preferences==>Autosave Settings



You could try clicking on Edit==>Empty clipboard, and Clear Command History each time you open a new jpeg to work on. See if that clears the problem



I see you have some plugins installed. Wouldn't have thought they would cause the problem, but

can easily be ruled out by not loading them at startup.
Go to Files==>Preferences==>File Locations==>Plugins

Remove the tick next to *Enable plug-ins - Allow the use of Adobe-compatible plug-ins*
Click ok, then close Psp, then reopen.
check the system info as in previous post to make sure no plugins loaded.
If that doesn't clear the problem. then put the tick back in to re-load them.



If you can determine the exact stage of events that cause this, then i could try similar, to see if the same thing happens.



By now, it's getting desperate, with possibilities like de-installing Psp, then re-installing it. But before doing that i would make a backup copy of the folder containing the sub-folders with plugins etc.


Just to mention also that i see you have 60GB drives with just a few hundred MB showing as free on one of them. That free space can easily be eaten up playing around with image/sound/video files, so i would consider doing something about that, perhaps transferring some to another disk.

User101 --- thanx. Have changed plug-in setting as you suggest.

What I do not understand is your comment about hard-drive usage. I do have two HD & these set as mirror RAID.

The usual rightclick on their properties reveals nominal capacity as 60GB with 55.8 actual. It also says 22.9 used and 32.9 free. I also know that the Mirror RAID assembly is functional because that always comes up during boot.

I am not saying you are wrong about free space remaining on ?-one HD but (a) I don't see how you are viewing that from my paste and (b) if the array is functional surely both drives will be the same?

Just because I have made a lot of ADSL posts does not mean I have much understanding, it only reveals I am often assuaging my doubts by consulting these excellent forums. Bruce +++

Hi Bruce,
I am not really familiar with raid, so perhaps someone else may have some ideas??

I prefer simpler installs, just using extra drives and partitions.

On the free space issue, what i was referring to was the system info from Paintshop pro that you posted.

when i posted mine, it states:-
Temp Drive Free Space 1324MB

This appears to be referring to the free space on my C: drive where Psp is installed, and in fact it is correct in saying that. There is indeed 1324MB of free space.


While your post of system info states:-
Temp Drive Free Space 972MB

Now if you're saying that is incorrect, then that is possibly what may be confusing Paintshop pro?