Windows Fix: “Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API”
This post was written on July 22, 2007 at, or around 3:29 am by Drew. This post is composed of 460 words from the English language and currently has 17 comments to its name. Additionally, this article is tagged under Hardware, Memory/RAM, The Notebook, Tips, Windows, Windows XP, Workaround and you can trackback to this article using this link. This post was last updated on Apr 4, 2008. Enough talk, carry on.
Ugh. Another Windows error. Another Windows error that really doesn’t tell you what is really wrong; some (most) people aren’t nerds. Don’t worry, I’ve got your fix right here. This has to do with memory on your Windows XP system. Have you tried Hibernating or putting your system into standby after upgrading your RAM? If you have, keep on reading.
Alright, while this isn’t a very descriptive error message to the average computer user, a simple Google search can have your answer in no time. Microsoft is already aware of the issue, and has released a fix for it. The issue that you are encountering is only on Windows XP with Service Pack 2. When you try to put the computer in hibernation, the computer occasionally does not hibernate; this is also the same for when trying to get your computer to stanby (even though Microsoft doesn’t exactly say this). I was able to standby the system about 8 times, and then I got the same error. Also, not only does it not hibernate, but you now do not have the option to even hibernate the computer, and if you go to Control Panel » Power Options, the Hibernate tab will also be missing. You have to restart the computer to get any Hibernation option back, and even at that, after the reboot, it will not hibernate and it will give you this same exact error, and its a never-ending loop.
Microsoft has nailed this down to when your system has more than 1GB of RAM. This is not also true with all systems, but if you do get this error message, then more than likely this is the reason you are getting the error message. If you have more than 1GB of memory in your system and you aren’t getting an error, then good for you.
Either way, if you do get the error message, the fix is just a download away. Download, install, and as always (with Windows), reboot your computer. Should work, it did for me.
Let me know if you get any other weird error messages and/or if this does not resolve your issue, and, as always, good luck!
Discussion always soothes thy heart.
Err… Giving me more hopes? :D
I’ll still be wiping my computer soon even though the last Service Pack 2 bugs seem to still be popping up. :-)
Nope, just letting everyone know that this is something that happens with 2GB+ RAM on some systems running Windows XP SP2.
Remember, it’s not on all of them.
As I told you before, you should slipstream SP2 into your SP1 Windows XP CD. If you want to know why, let me know.
Regards,
Drew
I’m getting this error on a system that has been thrown at me to repair.
Trouble is, it only has 512Mb, and the error is occurring during a repair install, not during hibernation.
Thanks for the tip. I was getting this problem and the fix fixed it. :-)
Thanks for the initial description. However I tried to repair this problem by installing the recommanded patch (WindowsXP-KB909095-x86-ENU.exe), it seemed to work in the beginning, however after reboot the problem came back. Any more comment?
Alex,
This should have resolved the issue. If it has not, then you might have other problems. Is this a reoccurring issue, or did this just start happening? If this just started happening recently, try replacing your memory. If you don’t think it is your memory and you want to test it first, then try running it through a few cycles of Memtest.
Also, try going through your Application and System logs in Event Viewer by right-clicking My Computer and clicking Manage. In Event Viewer under System Tools, have a look at the Application and System logs just as a good measure.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to let me know.
Thanks,
Drew
I too installed the fix. It worked for 2 days and then the problem came back.
It now refuses to hibernate ever, and additionally keeps changing my power options to “do nothing” every time i try to hibernate.
The fix may work for some, but not for all.
I’m getting this error on a system that has been thrown at me to repair.
Trouble is, it only has 512Mb, and the error is occurring during a repair install, not during hibernation.
Same here. I just had this littel 10″ VAIO brought in on Saturday. 512MB, Only had SP1. So I tried to install SP2. It failed while I wasn’t watching and backed out. I then tried again and kept a closer eye on it. It failed, backed out, but not completely. After rebooting, the system claimed to be SP2 but various things were missing (Security center, enhanced Wireless functionality). So I figured I’d do a repair install with a SP2 disk. Came in this morning and the system is constantly rebooting with this error.
Did you ever figure it out?
I too installed the fix. It worked for 2 days and then the problem came back.
It now refuses to hibernate ever, and additionally keeps changing my power options to “do nothing” every time i try to hibernate.
The fix may work for some, but not for all.
That’s weird. Try searching Google for more information, as I don’t know why it would be doing this. Have you tried reinstalling the Operating System?
You probably need to reinstall the OS from scratch and install SP2 or slipstream SP2 into your current Windows XP SP1 disk and install that (so that it installs SP2 when installing the OS).
Let me know if you have any questions.
Regards,
Drew
I have a Dell Latitude D620 here, and after upgrading to 2GB, I had exactly the same hassle. The laptop would wake up in my bag after getting off a train or bus, and get really hot. Thanks for the info.
I have a Dell Latitude D620 here, and after upgrading to 2GB, I had exactly the same hassle. The laptop would wake up in my bag after getting off a train or bus, and get really hot. Thanks for the info.
Awesome! Glad I could help.
Regards,
Drew
I applied the fix about 6 months ago. It fixed the problem. Then it came back for a while, then it went again and has (mostly) stayed away.
It has also been suggested by our local guru that I should apply a fixed paging file next time I rebuild to see if that helps. I haven’t got there yet, but I can see the logic that avoiding Windows management of the page file might help lower fragmentation rates and leave more single large chunks of space free.
Anyone else tried this?
Anyone else tried this?
My issue never came back. I’ve never tried it.
The NT kernel files that are supplied with this patch are now rather old: dated from year 2005. It is likely that more recent Microsoft updates and hotfixes are upgrading the kernel to a more recent version that (unfortunately ) appears to lack this hibernate fix. I also have the hibernate problem, and my choices appear to be to either replace my current kernel with this “fixed version” that almost 3 years old, or stay with the current newer version of the kernel and suffer with the hibernate problem.
The NT kernel files that are supplied with this patch are now rather old: dated from year 2005. It is likely that more recent Microsoft updates and hotfixes are upgrading the kernel to a more recent version that (unfortunately ) appears to lack this hibernate fix. I also have the hibernate problem, and my choices appear to be to either replace my current kernel with this “fixed version” that almost 3 years old, or stay with the current newer version of the kernel and suffer with the hibernate problem.
I agree - I have 2 laptops with the same issue installed from a SP2 disk.
It appears that the kernel files were updated in Feb’07 & they have the bug back in them.
I too do not want to go back to ‘05 files - I imagine this is just an elaborate way of getting you to use Vista ;-)
Hi Drew!
Well, reason why im here is because im looking around trying to figure out how to resolve my prob. Im getting that kind of error but not when im in windows itself.
I just reformatted my pc and right after the page where there runs a blue check disk screen on one of my harddisk(not the main one), it will prompt me that its gonna prepare setting up the new windows copy, but before i can even see its setting itself up, theres gonna be a mini popup window saying that “Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API 
my rams are all fine… (even tried removing one and the other just to check) my powersupply box is new. have u encountered this prob before?
Gem,
I’ve never had that issue, nor have I seen it. Have you actually “tested” your RAM? Why is there a blue checkdisk screen after a base install? Sounds like there’s some hardware issues. I’d look into that first.
Regards,
Drew