[SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

Guisanti · 2016-12-12 22:26:43

Problem solved: First of all try to use your DIMMS in another computer, I wasted a lot of time looking for a solution when the problem was that my ram died
Hello arch community. I have recently switched to arch on my main PC (I will leave specs at the bottom).
I have had tons of trouble with my computer and linux. It was mainly because I had problems with disk partitioning and because my motherboard isn't really linux friendly without touching some parameters. However I'm finally with a stable linux system.
Well now I'm trying to get arch as best as I can and while I was looking for the performance improvement wiki page I found a problem. Arch doesnt detect my RAM at all. I looked on forums for a solution but i haven't found a solution.
I have 8 gigabyte of ram installed on my PC but however if I input "free -m" I have this output
EDIT: I changed it with swap added

free -m

              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           3921        2276         121         135        1523        1287
Swap:          9578           5        9573
            0           0           0

Why does it only shows 4 GB of ram? ~~(Well I should also have a 10 GB partition of swap which is isnt't used but this is because I probably haven't configured it properly)~~
I have already tried pulling out and back in the RAM (digging it to the bottom of the socket) but I still have the same problem.

I think that it might be relevant for you to know that I have followed This guide

Finally I will let you with and extract of dmesg with memory "greped".

EDIT: I changed it updated and with grep -i

dmesg | grep -i memory
[    0.000000] Scanning 1 areas for low memory corruption
[    0.000000] Base memory trampoline at [ffff880000099000] 99000 size 24576
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x00000000-0x00000fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x0009f000-0x0009ffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x000a0000-0x000dffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x000e0000-0x000fffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xce909000-0xce944fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xce945000-0xce954fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xce955000-0xced46fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xced47000-0xcf15efff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xcf160000-0xcf365fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xcf800000-0xf7ffffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xf8000000-0xfbffffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfc000000-0xfebfffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfec00000-0xfec00fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfec01000-0xfec0ffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfec10000-0xfec10fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfec11000-0xfec1ffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfec20000-0xfec20fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfec21000-0xfecfffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfed00000-0xfed00fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfed01000-0xfed60fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfed61000-0xfed70fff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfed71000-0xfed7ffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfed80000-0xfed8ffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfed90000-0xfeefffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0xfef00000-0xffffffff]
[    0.000000] PM: Registered nosave memory: [mem 0x100000000-0x100000fff]
[    0.000000] Memory: 4006524K/4158724K available (6131K kernel code, 1051K rwdata, 1912K rodata, 1256K init, 1036K bss, 152200K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.004868] Freeing SMP alternatives memory: 24K (ffffffff81c42000 - ffffffff81c48000)
[    0.869020] x86/mm: Memory block size: 128MB
[    1.885230] Freeing initrd memory: 5480K (ffff88003753b000 - ffff880037a95000)
[    1.885562] Scanning for low memory corruption every 60 seconds
[    1.927935] memory memory8: hash matches
[    1.929057] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1256K (ffffffff81b08000 - ffffffff81c42000)
[    1.929919] Freeing unused kernel memory: 2044K (ffff880001601000 - ffff880001800000)
[    1.930207] Freeing unused kernel memory: 136K (ffff8800019de000 - ffff880001a00000)

Finally my specs are:
Processor: AMD fx 8350 octa-core
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
Video card: Nvidia GTX 760
Memory: G.Skill Ares DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 8GB 2x4GB CL9

If you think that I should give some extra info or that I have done something wrong tell me. I'm here to improve and to learn

EDIT: I also checked that BIOS showed me that I have 8 Gigs of ram

Last edited by Guisanti (2016-12-14 23:40:27)

V1del · 2016-12-12 22:41:29

You likely installed an x86 version instead of a 64bit version by accident, check the output of

uname -a

,

Guisanti · 2016-12-12 22:56:27

V1del wrote:

You likely installed an x86 version instead of a 64bit version by accident, check the output of
uname -a
,

Linux TPLINK 4.8.11-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Nov 27 09:26:14 CET 2016 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I think that means 64 bits

loqs · 2016-12-12 23:37:55

This thread on a similar issue might help diagnose it https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=220270
PS Guisanti in your first post you used quote tags instead of code tags

Guisanti · 2016-12-12 23:45:52

loqs wrote:

This thread on a similar issue might help diagnose it https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=220270
PS Guisanti in your first post you used quote tags instead of code tags

But it just says that he pulled it back and installed again. I did this, so... now what?

loqs · 2016-12-12 23:51:01

Guisanti wrote:

But it just says that he pulled it back and installed again. I did this, so... now what?

You appear to be ignoring the diagnostic commands used in the thread such as:

sudo dmidecode -t memory|grep Size
sudo dmidecode -t memory|grep  Locator
cat /proc/meminfo
dmesg | grep BIOS-e820

Guisanti · 2016-12-14 00:12:51

Okay, here it is.

sudo dmidecode -t memory|grep Size

        Maximum Memory Module Size: 2048 MB
        Maximum Total Memory Size: 8192 MB
        Installed Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Enabled Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Installed Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Enabled Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Installed Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Enabled Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Installed Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Enabled Size: 536870912 MB (Single-bank Connection)
        Size: No Module Installed
        Size: 4096 MB
        Size: No Module Installed
        Size: 4096 MB

sudo dmidecode -t memory|grep  Locator

        Locator: Node0_Dimm0
        Bank Locator: Node0_Bank0
        Locator: Node0_Dimm1
        Bank Locator: Node0_Bank0
        Locator: Node0_Dimm2
        Bank Locator: Node0_Bank0
        Locator: Node0_Dimm3
        Bank Locator: Node0_Bank0

I really dont understand the outputs
I have updated some things on first post hoping that it might help to diagnostice the topic

Last edited by Guisanti (2016-12-14 00:23:34)

x33a · 2016-12-14 04:31:12

You still haven't posted the output of /proc/meminfo. Also, can you try some other live distro to check if the problem is reproducible with that?

seth · 2016-12-14 08:50:56

And where's the BIOS-e820 output?
Also try reseating the modules to banks 1&2, 3&4 and 1&3 and try both modules in all four slots individually (expecting 4GB, maybe receiving none)

R00KIE · 2016-12-14 16:00:20

You should check your motherboard manual for the types of memory supported and which configurations. My only guess by looking at the limited information you have provided is that it might be something to do with single sided versus double sided ram.

I can't remember well but if you have a mother board that supports only single sided or if the ram configuration you are using supports only single sided dimms and you use double sided dimm you will see only half the amount of ram. I don't recall if the bios/dmi would still report the full size but only half is usable, I suppose this should not be a problem with more modern machines but if your machine is older it could be something like that.

Guisanti · 2016-12-14 22:28:11

First of all. Sorry for the lack of information I am doing university stuff while solving my problems so I get lost doing that and forgot to add the other outputs.

R00KIE wrote:

You should check your motherboard manual for the types of memory supported and which configurations. My only guess by looking at the limited information you have provided is that it might be something to do with single sided versus double sided ram.
I can't remember well but if you have a mother board that supports only single sided or if the ram configuration you are using supports only single sided dimms and you use double sided dimm you will see only half the amount of ram. I don't recall if the bios/dmi would still report the full size but only half is usable, I suppose this should not be a problem with more modern machines but if your machine is older it could be something like that.

My computer is quite modern. I haven't had any problems with that and when I used windows I was able to manage the whole amount but now I'm not.

Now for the rest of outputs.

cat /proc/meminfo

MemTotal:        4015464 kB
MemFree:         1332664 kB
MemAvailable:    1878008 kB
Buffers:            2092 kB
Cached:           797316 kB
SwapCached:            0 kB
Active:          1567900 kB
Inactive:         697600 kB
Active(anon):    1399400 kB
Inactive(anon):   142348 kB
Active(file):     168500 kB
Inactive(file):   555252 kB
Unevictable:           0 kB
Mlocked:               0 kB
SwapTotal:       9808892 kB
SwapFree:        9808892 kB
Dirty:                84 kB
Writeback:             0 kB
AnonPages:       1446476 kB
Mapped:           595800 kB
Shmem:             80936 kB
Slab:             131036 kB
SReclaimable:      51340 kB
SUnreclaim:        79696 kB
KernelStack:       41712 kB
PageTables:        37288 kB
NFS_Unstable:          0 kB
Bounce:                0 kB
WritebackTmp:          0 kB
CommitLimit:    11816624 kB
Committed_AS:    5920008 kB
VmallocTotal:   34359738367 kB
VmallocUsed:           0 kB
VmallocChunk:          0 kB
HardwareCorrupted:     0 kB
AnonHugePages:    169984 kB                                                                                                           
ShmemHugePages:        0 kB                                                                                                           
ShmemPmdMapped:        0 kB                                                                                                           
HugePages_Total:       0                                                                                                              
HugePages_Free:        0                                                                                                              
HugePages_Rsvd:        0                                                                                                              
HugePages_Surp:        0                                                                                                              
Hugepagesize:       2048 kB                                                                                                           
DirectMap4k:      304780 kB                                                                                                           
DirectMap2M:     3854336 kB                                                                                                           
DirectMap1G:           0 kB

[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000009fbff] usable
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000009fc00-0x000000000009ffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000000e0000-0x00000000000fffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000100000-0x00000000ce908fff] usable
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000ce909000-0x00000000ce944fff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000ce945000-0x00000000ce954fff] ACPI data
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000ce955000-0x00000000ced46fff] ACPI NVS
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000ced47000-0x00000000cf15efff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cf15f000-0x00000000cf15ffff] usable
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cf160000-0x00000000cf365fff] ACPI NVS
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cf366000-0x00000000cf7fffff] usable
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000f8000000-0x00000000fbffffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fec00000-0x00000000fec00fff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fec10000-0x00000000fec10fff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fec20000-0x00000000fec20fff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fed00000-0x00000000fed00fff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fed61000-0x00000000fed70fff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fed80000-0x00000000fed8ffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fef00000-0x00000000ffffffff] reserved
[    0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000100001000-0x000000012effffff] usable

R00KIE · 2016-12-14 23:11:45

You should post the full dmesg output, maybe there is some hint there that you are not seeing.

Guisanti · 2016-12-14 23:38:01

R00KIE wrote:

You should post the full dmesg output, maybe there is some hint there that you are not seeing.

Finally found the solution. Dimm is dead, frustrated after looking for solutions I tried to use it on another PC (I don't knoe why I haven't done it before) and it caused bootlop, then tested the other ram in my pc (is the exact same model) and i worked so the problem was hardware related. I will buy a new ram

jasonwryan · 2016-12-14 23:40:22

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

Guisanti · 2016-12-14 23:41:21

jasonwryan wrote:

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

Done, also put the solution first at the post because it might help people with same problem. Thank you all for help

Arch Linux

#1 2016-12-12 22:26:43

[SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#2 2016-12-12 22:41:29

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#3 2016-12-12 22:56:27

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#4 2016-12-12 23:37:55

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#5 2016-12-12 23:45:52

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#6 2016-12-12 23:51:01

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#7 2016-12-14 00:12:51

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#8 2016-12-14 04:31:12

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#9 2016-12-14 08:50:56

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#10 2016-12-14 16:00:20

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#11 2016-12-14 22:28:11

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#12 2016-12-14 23:11:45

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#13 2016-12-14 23:38:01

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#14 2016-12-14 23:40:22

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

#15 2016-12-14 23:41:21

Re: [SOLVED] Problems detecting the whole amount of memory

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