Windows 8 Memory Leak - Killer E2200 NIC

[kevink817]

I actually ran into this memory leak issue a while back when I first built my current computer and installed Windows 8.1. After getting everything up and running, I couldn't figure out what was consuming 16GB of RAM. A reboot would fix it, but it kept re-occurring every other day or so. Finally I got to the bottom of it, and it turned out to be a compatibility issue with the Killer E2200 NIC and the Windows Network Data Usage Monitoring driver (NDU).  Well I just recently reloaded the OS with a brand new clean install, and the issue re-occurred. I didn't think about sharing my findings back then, but because i just went through it again, I thought I might give people a heads up in case they are having similar issues. Here it is in a Knowledge Base type format:

 

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Applies To:

• Windows 8, Windows 8.1
• Computers with motherboards featuring the Killer E2200 NIC

 

Symptoms:

Computers running Windows 8 with the Killer Ethernet E2200 NIC may experience poor performance due to high memory utilization. Heavy network usage such as downloading large files, or streaming media can accelerate the issue, causing games, applications, and the operating system itself to perform poorly. After a reboot, the system operates normally until the issue re-occurs.

 

Cause:

The Windows Network Data Usage Monitoring Driver is a kernel mode driver that was introduced with Windows 8. This driver is apparently incompatible with some specific NIC drivers including the Killer E2200 NIC, as well as some Realtek NICs. Heavy data usage causes this driver to consume available system non-paged memory until there is no more available.

 

Resolution:

Disable the Windows Network Data Usage Monitoring Driver (NDU) by performing the following steps:

1. Open the registry editor by right-clicking on the Windows Start Button, select Run, and type regedit. Click OK.
   • Warning, per Microsoft: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.
2. In the left-hand pane, expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > ControlSet001 > Services and select Ndu.
3. In the right-hand pane, double-click on the "Start" key and change the value to 4.
4. Close the registry editor and reboot your computer. 

 

[Guest]

Windows 8.1 is very bad for memory leaks I have found, luckily the only memory leak I get now is on ArmA 2, Operation arrowhead and Combined operation. 

 

Not too major but only occur on windows 8.1 I have found/