Originally posted by rich
300mb ram on a 2GB system? That's odd... can you post your mb file and I'll try rendering it on mine... (also 2GB)
300MB RAM? What post did you read that from? There's not even a number like that in this whole thread! :p
First thing I would check is your texture file.
1. 180cm X 180cm... How big is that in pixels? Since I use the U.S. standard of measurement, I'm not familiar with metrics. A texture file normally shouldn't exceed 1024 x 1024, depending on its usage.
2. 72 dpi... Increase that to 300. 72 ppi is webpage graphics resolution. Your texture will look like crap close up at 72. (and 72 ppi is definitely not high res) 
When you're dealing with resolution, you need to be concerned with the pixel ratio rather than the size of the entire image. A 512x512 pixel image at 300 ppi will have much more detal than one at 72ppi.
I'm thinking that the size of your texture is just way bigger than what Maya can handle, even with the 2GB of RAM.
Dave Baer
Professor of Digital Arts
Digital Media Arts College
Boca Raton, Florida
dbaer@dmac.edu