Arch Linux

vanvalium

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2010-10-09

Posts: 86

Half my ram is missing

after the last update, today, I only have 245 left instead of more than 500.
I don't really know what I should check.

In dmesg.log I found this:

RAMDISK: 0fd37000 - 0fed0000
ACPI: RSDP 000f7d30 00014 (v00 P4M80P)
ACPI: RSDT 0fee3040 0002C (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 42302E31 AWRD 00000000)
ACPI: FACP 0fee30c0 00074 (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 42302E31 AWRD 00000000)
ACPI: DSDT 0fee3180 051A1 (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 00001000 MSFT 0100000E)
ACPI: FACS 0fee0000 00040
ACPI: APIC 0fee8380 00084 (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 42302E31 AWRD 00000000)
ACPI: Local APIC address 0xfee00000
0MB HIGHMEM available.
254MB LOWMEM available.

In the kernel.log this:

Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: RAMDISK: 1fd37000 - 1fed0000
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: RSDP 000f7d30 00014 (v00 P4M80P)
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: RSDT 1fee3040 0002C (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 42302E31 AWRD 00000000)
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: FACP 1fee30c0 00074 (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 42302E31 AWRD 00000000)
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: DSDT 1fee3180 051A1 (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 00001000 MSFT 0100000E)
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: FACS 1fee0000 00040
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: APIC 1fee8380 00084 (v01 P4M80P AWRDACPI 42302E31 AWRD 00000000)
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: ACPI: Local APIC address 0xfee00000
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: 0MB HIGHMEM available.
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: 510MB LOWMEM available.
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: mapped low ram: 0 - 1fee0000
Mar 12 12:26:54 localhost kernel: low ram: 0 - 1fee0000

Help would be appriciated

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,771

Re: Half my ram is missing

Could you post the output of:

uname -a
and
free -l

Thanks.

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vanvalium

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2010-10-09

Posts: 86

Re: Half my ram is missing

uname -a
Linux pepper 2.6.37-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Mar 15 11:40:49 UTC 2011 i686 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

free -
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        251412     242868       8544          0      18012     120964
-/+ buffers/cache:     103892     147520
Swap:       996024      30036     965988

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: Half my ram is missing

Its because you have installed a 32 bit version of Arch which can only address upto 4GB of RAM (unless you go into intricacies). Either use a 64 bit version of Arch, or just use half your RAM.

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lives2evil

Member

From: GMT+7

Registered: 2010-03-21

Posts: 244

Re: Half my ram is missing

Its because you have installed a 32 bit version of Arch which can only address upto 4GB of RAM (unless you go into intricacies). Either use a 64 bit version of Arch, or just use half your RAM.

It's a bit strange, isn't it?

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        251412     242868       8544          0      18012     120964
-/+ buffers/cache:     103892     147520
Swap:       996024      30036     965988

Shouldn't this mean he only has 256MB RAM instead of 512MB at the moment?

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tesjo

Member

Registered: 2007-11-30

Posts: 164

Re: Half my ram is missing

At 0.5GB 32 bit shouldn't be an issue. Check also with

cat /proc/meminfo

If the ram is still missing there, boot to BIOS and check it is still showing there.

Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: Half my ram is missing

Doh !!

I think i miscalculated..

I probably had one beer too many...

I should probably log off before I make any more snafus. 

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vanvalium

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2010-10-09

Posts: 86

Re: Half my ram is missing

forgot the m after the free -
I also blame it on the beer

cat /proc/meminfo also showed only 256MB Ram

after that I rebooted and now it's back to normal
any ideas why (not that I'm unhappy with it)?

TigTex

Member

From: Portugal

Registered: 2008-06-19

Posts: 301

Re: Half my ram is missing

Maybe you have a ram module that is about to fail... give it a check using "memtest".
if that happens again, try to reseat both ram modules (remove and insert them again on the motherboard slots)

Last edited by TigTex (2011-03-18 13:38:42)

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vanvalium

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2010-10-09

Posts: 86

Re: Half my ram is missing

Maybe you have a ram module that is about to fail... give it a check using "memtest".
if that happens again, try to reset both ram modules (remove and insert them again on the motherboard slots)

I will do that, after some information gathering a hardware problem seems like the only possible explanation

Behemot

Member

Registered: 2010-12-10

Posts: 96

Re: Half my ram is missing

Try to reseat or even swap memory modules in banks.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,771

Re: Half my ram is missing

Have you tried a different OS?  Try the Arch install media, a live CD from another Linux distribution, or maybe even an offering from the Pacific Northwest.
It is an easy way to see if it is hardware/BIOS vs your kernel.

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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Behemot

Member

Registered: 2010-12-10

Posts: 96

Re: Half my ram is missing

First thing is to discover whether the RAM itself is good - look at BIOS as suggested, than MemTest from Arch CD. Than, if everything about HW is fine, you can deal with SW problems.