Insufficient System Resources to Complete API – part 2

Okay, so apparently, I was a tad optimistic in saying that I had solved my hibernation issues on my laptop by simply disabling and then re-enabling the hibernation feature (which did have the desired effect of building a larger hiberfil.sys file).

As it turns out, Microsoft have this one covered – in a manner of speaking. There’s a knowledge base that addresses exactly this problem – apparently, after you install more than 1GB of memory into a machine running Windows XP, it may occasionally (every damn time) refuse to hibernate, citing “Application Popup: Windows – System Error : Insufficient System Resources exist to complete the API” in the System Event log.

Meaningless as that message is, it apparently comes from a requirement to have an area of contiguous free memory, a somewhat ludicrous proposition on a heavily-loaded operating system, such as you might get when running a memory pig such as Outlook or Outlook Express.

The KB (Knowledge Base) item referred to above is of great help, however, because it describes a hotfix that is available.

All hotfixes are available free from Microsoft, no matter what your contract is with them.  Here’s a description of how my call for a hotfix went:

• Searched the knowledge base for the exact error message, read through three results, to see which one fit my description best.
• Click the “Contact us” link.
• Call the number listed.
• Listen to all the prompts. Press ‘0’ to speak to a customer rep if you don’t hear something that sounds right.
• Give the customer rep your name and phone number.
• Before they ask for a credit card number, tell them you’re calling for a hotfix.
• You picked the wrong number to call, so they’ll tell you that they’re transferring you to another number.
• Tell the new person your name and phone number, and that you’re calling for a hotfix.
• When they ask you for the hotfix article ID, give them the 6-digit KB article number – in this case, 909095.
• Give them your email address. Spell it, phonetically if necessary.
• Listen to the speech about “this hotfix is not regression-tested, don’t install it on a production machine without testing it for yourself, etc, etc” – and pay attention, it’s a real warning.
• Fish the hotfix email out of the Junk Mail folder.
• Download the hotfix.

Wow – that was really hard – NOT. Twelve minutes on the phone, two of which were me telling the occupants of the room I was in to “shut up, I’m on the phone”. To resolve an issue that causes me such irritation, ten minutes of time is well worth it.

Part three of this series will be me installing the hotfix and seeing if it works for me.