Tech Guy Stumped: Weird problem - Empty rendered windows, Unability to open programs etc.

First of all I'm a professional tech support guy so I know how to troubleshoot a computer and I usually figure out the problem, but this one stumps me..

I've got a Zepto 6324W with these specs:

14,1" WXGA+ 1440x900 - 6324W
2.0 GHz Intel C2 DUO
3GB(1gb + 2GB) DDR2 SODIMM
NVIDIA® Geforce 8600M GT
250GB HM250JI 5400rpm SATA Hårddisk
Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN - 300Mbit

The computer that has been behaving very weirdly ever since I got it. I've had these problems both in Windows XP Pro and Vista Ultimate.

Here are the symptoms:

After using the computer for a while without restarting and letting some programs(firefox,photoshop,etc) build up a solid amount of memory. In total 1500MB is used of my total 3GB. All of the sudden programs won't start and IE7 will crash when I try to open a new tab. Another thing that leds me to believe that it could be the memory or somthing about the memory handling is that I can "fix" the problem temporarily by closing a program then it works fine again for a while.. This is what the "My computer window" looks like when it's acting up:



What I've tried:

• MEMTEST - Passed!
• Reformat and install Windows Vista - Same behaviour
• Reformat and install Windows XP - Same behaviour
• Use only the 1GB or 2GB stick seperatly - Same behaviour

My first instinct was that it was the memory but it passed memtest and it can't be that it needs more. My previous computer had 1GB and when it was full it didn't behave like this it just was sloooooow since it had to swap from the HD.

This has led me to suspect the harddrive. The c omputer works fine and it's torrenting away 24/7 stable as a rock and I can't think of why the problem with the HD would manifest itself like this but I'm desperate!

Sadly I have no replacement SATA drive to swap to but I'm thinking I can boot from the USB..!?

Before I do this does anybody have an idea of what to try before I proceed with reinstalling vista on a USB HD!?

 

Try rebooting

 

try with other memory mayb the problem is the memory..

 

I posted the same question to the sysinternals forums here. And I think I found the culprit. When I have Firefox,iTunes, Photoshop,e-testeditor(running under cygwin) and playing a video at the same time I run out of GDI Objects!

Basically I went into [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems\Windows] in the registry and changed Windows SharedSection=1024,3072,512 to Windows SharedSection=1024, 8192, 2048

I have not concluded that this was the problem but it sure seams like it. Here's a page talking a bit more about the problem and describing the fix.

 

Same with me, It happened to me several times when I used my laptop for several days without turning it off.

Here's the quick fix for WINDOWS VISTA, " Windows Vista Desktop Bug, (Not opening, Blank screen, Hang, toolbars missing)"