RAM Isuues

rp181 · 2011-06-09 17:30:53

I have Arch installed on an Acer Aspire 5742-6413 with 4GB RAM installed. It is a 64 bit computer, but for certain software, I installed 32 bit. However, in GNOME, only 2.3 GB is showing.

lilsirecho · 2011-06-09 17:32:21

Perhaps you mean 3.2GB....

karol · 2011-06-09 17:48:21

Showing where? Please post the output of 'free -m' and 'cat /proc/meminfo'.

Info about memory http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605 Yes, it's about Windows but gives some insight into "why I can't see the whole 4GB" issue.

Last edited by karol (2011-06-09 17:53:58)

einhard · 2011-06-09 18:00:53

On 32 bit system you have 4GB addressing space for everything, so if you have discrete graphic card with 1GB RAM you will have 3GB available RAM, furthermore every extension card, peripherals also take something from the address pool. 0,8GB taken for addressing purposes is standard value but it may vary on different hardware. Even less than 1GB left is possible. I think you can handle it on 32-bit system with PAE. Are you sure gnome monitor shows correct value. Did you check with something else? For example:

cat /proc/meminfo

Do you know that you can run 32-bit applications on 64-bit system?

Last edited by einhard (2011-06-09 18:04:31)

rp181 · 2011-06-09 18:18:19

Nope, 2.3 GB. I do not have discrete graphics, just integrated Intel on the i5.

free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          2321        728       1593          0        166        432
-/+ buffers/cache:        128       2193
Swap:            0          0          0

cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:        2377684 kB
MemFree:         1519692 kB
Buffers:          170820 kB
Cached:           457812 kB
SwapCached:            0 kB
Active:           279664 kB
Inactive:         528968 kB
Active(anon):     180428 kB
Inactive(anon):    82768 kB
Active(file):      99236 kB
Inactive(file):   446200 kB
Unevictable:          48 kB
Mlocked:              48 kB
HighTotal:       1506416 kB
HighFree:         857588 kB
LowTotal:         871268 kB
LowFree:          662104 kB
SwapTotal:             0 kB
SwapFree:              0 kB
Dirty:                 0 kB
Writeback:             0 kB
AnonPages:        180060 kB
Mapped:            77184 kB
Shmem:             83200 kB
Slab:              26092 kB
SReclaimable:      14952 kB
SUnreclaim:        11140 kB
KernelStack:        2096 kB
PageTables:         2632 kB
NFS_Unstable:          0 kB
Bounce:                0 kB
WritebackTmp:          0 kB
CommitLimit:     1188840 kB
Committed_AS:    1016712 kB
VmallocTotal:     122880 kB
VmallocUsed:       23792 kB
VmallocChunk:      85468 kB
HardwareCorrupted:     0 kB
AnonHugePages:     45056 kB
HugePages_Total:       0
HugePages_Free:        0
HugePages_Rsvd:        0
HugePages_Surp:        0
Hugepagesize:       4096 kB
DirectMap4k:       20472 kB
DirectMap4M:      888832 kB

The DIMM sticks are fine, as Windows sees it all perfectly fine.

einhard · 2011-06-09 18:33:52

I do not have discrete graphics, just integrated Intel on the i5

I don't know how i5 graphic card handle address space but what is the maximum ammount of RAM it can use?

rp181 wrote:

The DIMM sticks are fine, as Windows sees it all perfectly fine.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit? If yes, you have your answer.

Last edited by einhard (2011-06-09 18:37:25)

lilsirecho · 2011-06-09 18:42:22

Little bo-peep has lost her ram!

stqn · 2011-06-09 20:09:27

I'm running Arch 32 bit on a Core i3 550 with 4GB ram, and free reports 3396MB total mem.
Looking at meminfo, the obviously different value is hightotal: mine is 2621320 kB.

rp181 · 2011-06-09 20:15:00

Yes, it is 64 bit windows. However, 32 bit should be able to see at least 3, right? On my desktop, same RAM, 64 bit comp, 32 bit arch sees 3.2 GB.

karol · 2011-06-09 20:17:11

rp181 wrote:

Yes, it is 64 bit windows. However, 32 bit should be able to see at least 3, right? On my desktop, same RAM, 64 bit comp, 32 bit arch sees 3.2 GB.

Yup, 3.2 GB seems about right. Test your might ram.

R00KIE · 2011-06-09 20:53:07

einhard wrote:

I do not have discrete graphics, just integrated Intel on the i5
I don't know how i5 graphic card handle address space but what is the maximum ammount of RAM it can use?
rp181 wrote:
The DIMM sticks are fine, as Windows sees it all perfectly fine.
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit? If yes, you have your answer.

Yes ... windows does really report the total amount of _installed_ ram correctly. It used to report the _usable_ amount of ram but then users with a 32bit version and 4GB of ram installed saw only 3.2GB and I guess it caused lots of support calls asking why it said 4G in the box and only 3.2G on windows hence the change.

rp181 · 2011-06-09 21:35:08

So I did a memtest (1 pass, but even that saw 4GB) and no errors. Any ideas?

And also, at boot, it says something like hda(0,3) ext2fs. I formatted it as ext4 and GParted also reports ext4. Is this a problem? I don't know how to get the exact message, since it is in the very beginning.

einhard · 2011-06-09 22:00:48

Could you get some 32-bit liveCD, for example Arch and Ubuntu and check meminfo witch them. On your configuration it should see 3.2 GB, probably.

Last edited by einhard (2011-06-09 22:02:30)

rp181 · 2011-06-09 23:08:35

An Ubuntu live cd also reports the same 2.3 GB. Does this mean it is a HW problem?

lilsirecho · 2011-06-10 00:21:25

Googling states that windows reports 4GB but is limited to the same level that you report for Linux.

This is marketing at its best!

I would conclude that your results are accurate as the addressable ram is the key to the understanding of the disparity.

Addressable ram is established to provide for fixed needs of ram for video, bios and whatever else. The result is less physical ram is available because it cannot be addressed.

Thus 4GB is a nice sales gimick but not a practical user figure.

Many users are disappointed with the "4GB problem".

Solution might well be to go to higher memory sizes.

One might think that higher ram speed would perform faster. Marginally according to googling.

Many video devices are demanding greater addressing as well!

A balance is necessary between what is possible and what does the best job.

I am seeking a 16GB ram computer for video editing purposes and hopefully can get it without breaking the bank!

Your system is in line with those I noted in googling
many which report 2.3GB even in windows.

Addressable is the key.

einhard · 2011-06-10 10:53:05

rp181 wrote:

An Ubuntu live cd also reports the same 2.3 GB. Does this mean it is a HW problem?

HW problem or kernel problem. You can install PAE kernel http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=24469 and then Arch should (probably) see 4GB. Maybe it's some kind of bug in Bios which manufacturer make light of because Win 7 64 bit is preinstalled on your notebook.

lilsirecho wrote:

Googling states that windows reports 4GB but is limited to the same level that you report for Linux.

Windows 7 64 bit reports 4GB because it's 64 bit, if you had 32 bit version of Windows it will probably see the same amount as 32 bit Linux, in this case 2,3 GB. On my old laptop I had Vista 32-bit and system reported 2,8 of 4GB, I had 1GB graphics card there.

The simplest solution is installing 64 bit Arch and running 32 bit apps with 32 bit libs. Could you share with us what's this "certain software" you are talking about? Like I wrote earlier, there shouldn't be any problems running 32 bit programs on 64 bit system.

Last edited by einhard (2011-06-10 10:56:33)

rp181 · 2011-06-10 17:48:01

Ok, I thought the limit was always 3.2 GB, and 2.3 seemed really low. In all reality, for my purposes, 2.3 GB is fine for most of the time, especially on a laptop. Normal usage for me is 300-400 mb, and up to 1 GB when i am doing some stuff in netbeans. Windows startup RAM usage is more than 1 GB (granted i have eyecandy). I hate configuring arch from the very beginning, especially since wireless took me so long to get working right, so i will probably keep it. I have never seen noticeable difference in speed.

The software I was talking about is the XMOS development tools (a microproccesor), and more specifically, the XMOS JTAG drivers. I have never gotten it to work very stable in 64 bit, but 32 bit works absolutely fine. Also, the Logic (a USB digital logic analyzer) has shown some problems in 64 bit. I'm almost sure it is something i am doing wrong, but oh well, don't have time to figure it out (going out of town soon).

I will check the BIOS to see if it is something with that. Thanks for all your help!

Arch Linux

#1 2011-06-09 17:30:53

RAM Isuues

#2 2011-06-09 17:32:21

Re: RAM Isuues

#3 2011-06-09 17:48:21

Re: RAM Isuues

#4 2011-06-09 18:00:53

Re: RAM Isuues

#5 2011-06-09 18:18:19

Re: RAM Isuues

#6 2011-06-09 18:33:52

Re: RAM Isuues

#7 2011-06-09 18:42:22

Re: RAM Isuues

#8 2011-06-09 20:09:27

Re: RAM Isuues

#9 2011-06-09 20:15:00

Re: RAM Isuues

#10 2011-06-09 20:17:11

Re: RAM Isuues

#11 2011-06-09 20:53:07

Re: RAM Isuues

#12 2011-06-09 21:35:08

Re: RAM Isuues

#13 2011-06-09 22:00:48

Re: RAM Isuues

#14 2011-06-09 23:08:35

Re: RAM Isuues

#15 2011-06-10 00:21:25

Re: RAM Isuues

#16 2011-06-10 10:53:05

Re: RAM Isuues

#17 2011-06-10 17:48:01

Re: RAM Isuues

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