arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

blix88 · 2008-04-19 20:57:05

My machine has 4gb of ram, when I installed the x86_64 version of arch and ran 'free' from bash it said I only had 3.2gb of ram. Checked the bios to make sure all 4gb were recognized and they are. I'm probably missing a flag or something simple. Been crawling all over the forums/wiki and it looks like it should support more then 4gb out of the box.

Appreciate the help,
blix

bender02 · 2008-04-19 21:04:37

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=45958 see zyghom's post
EDIT: sorry, that's probably for i686, since I couldn't find HIGHMEM options in my kernel config.

Last edited by bender02 (2008-04-19 21:06:58)

lilsirecho · 2008-04-19 22:55:16

Perhaps some of the ram is in use for arch64 system leaving you with the 3.2GB of useable ram.

blix88 · 2008-04-19 23:08:39

Perhaps, but wouldn't it show up under total ram, then show what was used and then the remainder as free. The total ram should equal 4gb. I also had arch i686 on the machine and it saw the memory as 3.2gb, which is why i installed the x86_64 version so i could access all of the ram.

lilsirecho · 2008-04-19 23:41:27

I think some of the posts refer to setting the kernel option to 64G in order to obtain the 4G result.

You may have better luck with that option. This calls for a kernel change.

methuselah · 2008-07-14 02:10:23

blix88 wrote:

My machine has 4gb of ram, when I installed the x86_64 version of arch and ran 'free' from bash it said I only had 3.2gb of ram. Checked the bios to make sure all 4gb were recognized and they are. I'm probably missing a flag or something simple. Been crawling all over the forums/wiki and it looks like it should support more then 4gb out of the box.
Appreciate the help,
blix

I have the exact same problem. I just got a brand new HP Pavilion dv9920us laptop, and instead of showing 4GBS of ram, I only show 3.6GB.

stats:

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor    : 0
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 15
model        : 104
model name    : AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60
stepping    : 2
cpu MHz        : 2000.186
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 2
core id        : 0
cpu cores    : 2
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 1
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow rep_good pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch
bogomips    : 4005.55
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps

processor    : 1
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 15
model        : 104
model name    : AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60
stepping    : 2
cpu MHz        : 2000.186
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 2
core id        : 1
cpu cores    : 2
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 1
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow rep_good pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy 3dnowprefetch
bogomips    : 4002.11
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps

and free -m stats:

$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3696       1098       2598          0        101        483
-/+ buffers/cache:        513       3183
Swap:         4769         98       4671

info from the hp site: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu … 562&dlc=en

... any help would be cool. This is my first time using an x86_64 OS and a AMD64 chipset, so I don't really know all of the facts regarding dual cores and 64bit Operating Systems.

skottish · 2008-07-14 02:30:13

[skottish@iasE ~]$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3950        519       3430          0         75        263
-/+ buffers/cache:        180       3769
Swap:          258          0        258

This is an AMD 6400+. Obviously I'm not seeing this problem.

methuselah · 2008-07-14 03:18:37

Yeah, I'm new to having a decent computer with so much ram... my last computer had a celeron m with only 512MB ram and embedded intel graphics. When I would run "free -m", it would list as 495MB for total ram.

But in my post in the Arch64 section, someone suggested that my nvidia graphics card might be using that ram. I would think that it would still show as my total ram on the "Gnome System Monitor", as well as with the free command.

My "Nvidia X Server Setting" app has my Graphics Processor: GeForce 7150M /nForce 630M saying that it uses 256MB of Memory, but wouldn't that still show as total memory when using the free command?

3696MB + 256MB = 3952MB, but I would like to know for sure if it is my graphics using that mem, or if the nvidia's 256MB of mem is already being used in the 3696MB.

Last edited by methuselah (2008-07-14 03:23:56)

kendosperling · 2008-07-14 07:25:31

To verify this you could change the memory settings of your Graphics Processor to 128 MB. But i am pretty sure the memory is used by the geforce

wuischke · 2008-07-14 11:46:52

At least Intel onboard graphic will not reduce the total amount of RAM, only increase the used one.

btw: Grüße aus DD-Friedrichstadt.

heleos · 2008-07-14 16:12:34

I have 6 gigs of ram running x86_64 arch and I didn't have to change/add any options to use it.

pheon · 2008-07-14 16:57:55

Hello,
can you please check your BIOS for settings like Enable PAE, Boot to 32/64Bit OS and PCI Hole Granularity?

If they do exist, please tell us what they are set to.

BTW.: did other OS see the hole 4GB?

Best regards

methuselah · 2008-07-14 19:54:16

pheon wrote:

Hello,
can you please check your BIOS for settings like Enable PAE, Boot to 32/64Bit OS and PCI Hole Granularity?
If they do exist, please tell us what they are set to.

BTW.: did other OS see the hole 4GB?
Best regards

Hello, I didn't mean to hi-jack blix88's thread with my similar problem... I also have my own thread open in the Arch64 area: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=51692

My entire bios is posted on that thread, and I could not find the phrase PAE, Boot to 32/64Bit, or Hole Granularity... I did find a part that metined a "memory hole", if this is something that might explain something about my missing ram:

Checking aperture...
Node 0: aperture @ 4860000000 size 32 MB
Aperture beyond 4GB. Ignoring.
No AGP bridge found
Your BIOS doesn't leave a aperture memory hole
Please enable the IOMMU option in the BIOS setup
This costs you 64 MB of RAM
Mapping aperture over 65536 KB of RAM @ c000000
PM: Registered nosave memory: 000000000c000000 - 0000000010000000
Memory: 3783940k/4980736k available (2463k kernel code, 147012k reserved, 927k data, 276k init)

rooloo · 2008-07-15 11:45:53

I use abit mb.

the option in my bios, under the DRAM configuration menu

32 bit DRAM memory hole

[x]auto
[ ]software
[ ]hardware
[ ]disabled

pheon · 2008-07-16 17:21:41

rooloo, try disabling memory remapping.

Unfortunately I've read on other forums that this memory remapping sometimes causes instability.

Regards

toad · 2009-02-15 14:21:31

rooloo, try disabling memory remapping.

It didn't work, so I tried oven cleaner. To my surprise that didn't work either but it did get rid of all the grease from cooking my pizza on my old AMD processor (ah, good old days of running at 65 degrees minimum...).

I actually had to enable memory remapping to get my BIOS to recognise all 4GB. Ah... so there.

Ranguvar · 2009-02-15 14:59:38

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=62696
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 47#p486347

Xyne · 2009-02-15 15:27:09

As I haven't seen anyone mention it yet, keep in mind that manufacturers tend to abuse the gigabyte/gibibyte distinction to quote higher numbers.
E.g. 1 gigabyte (1000^3) is about 0.93 gibibytes (1024^3), which explains mild discrepancies (but not the OP's 800 MB difference).
It's like fast food advertising... what you see in the image is not really what you get, although they can claim that it technically is.

lilsirecho wrote:

Perhaps some of the ram is in use for arch64 system leaving you with the 3.2GB of useable ram.

Arch would lose every claim to "lightweight" if it reserved 800 MB of RAM by default.

methuselah · 2009-02-15 17:47:02

Xyne wrote:

As I haven't seen anyone mention it yet, keep in mind that manufacturers tend to abuse the gigabyte/gibibyte distinction to quote higher numbers.
E.g. 1 gigabyte (1000^3) is about 0.93 gibibytes (1024^3), which explains mild discrepancies (but not the OP's 800 MB difference).
It's like fast food advertising... what you see in the image is not really what you get, although they can claim that it technically is.
lilsirecho wrote:
Perhaps some of the ram is in use for arch64 system leaving you with the 3.2GB of useable ram.
Arch would lose every claim to "lightweight" if it reserved 800 MB of RAM by default.

This is true. When I made my first post in this old thread I had just got this new HP Pavilion dv9920us notebook that advertised 4GB RAM. I joined into this thread and a few other threads about the same thing..... and it turns out that there is a "small print" section on the side of the HP box that reads:

1GB = 1 billion bytes: Actual formated capacity is less.
1MB = 1,000,000 bytes

The Byte conversion charts say this....

1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes
1MB = 1,048,576 bytes

So.....

4,000,000,000 bytes = 3.72529 GB

..... and not 4GB.....

Then I lose another 117.93408 MB (or 118 MB) somewhere else?????

4 GB becomes 3.6 GBs...... it seems like false advertising becasue the description in both the catalog and the Office Depot specs on the in store display model all said 4GBs RAM. My Vista Partition also says 3.6 GB RAM when checking my memory stats.

Last edited by methuselah (2009-02-15 18:01:49)

toad · 2009-02-15 18:08:44

@ methuselah

I haven't seen any of the other threads so I'm probably repeating stuff... Forgive

Possibilites:

shared memory (graphic card)
pci memory hole

But to have two "unique" modules of 1.8 GB seems beyond even HP. What does your BIOS say?

methuselah · 2009-02-15 18:41:15

toad wrote:

@ methuselah
I haven't seen any of the other threads so I'm probably repeating stuff... Forgive
Possibilites:
shared memory (graphic card)
pci memory hole
But to have two "unique" modules of 1.8 GB seems beyond even HP. What does your BIOS say?

I do lose 64MB in my dmesg with a memory hole, and I also have a shared graphics memory NVIDIA GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M card..... so I think that is where I lose some memory from 3.72529 GB to 3.60978 gigabytes. My Phoenix bios doesn't have any other settings that I can use..... and I flashed it with the most recent update (6 months ago). I just think it's HP that is doing something funny. (like the box said)

EDIT: But yes, 1.7 GB and 1.8 GB is a lot to lose..... so maybe it's something else?

Last edited by methuselah (2009-02-15 18:43:29)

R00KIE · 2009-02-15 19:34:45

I think some of the posts refer to setting the kernel option to 64G in order to obtain the 4G result.
You may have better luck with that option. This calls for a kernel change.

Tried that, it sure does get you all the ram back on a 32 bit system but requires you to recompile your kernel everytime there is an update and also some other packages like catalyst (OSS too I think) .... too much of a hurdle for me.

Check the output of dmesg (from the beginning) and check for any warning or error message.

I do lose 64MB in my dmesg with a memory hole, and I also have a shared graphics memory NVIDIA GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M card..... so I think that is where I lose some memory from 3.72529 GB to 3.60978 gigabytes. My Phoenix bios doesn't have any other settings that I can use..... and I flashed it with the most recent update (6 months ago). I just think it's HP that is doing something funny. (like the box said)

You can loose only 32MB just add iommu=0 to your kernel line and it should give you 32MB back (if I'm not mistaken). But I'm not sure if it will break something else.

methuselah · 2009-02-15 19:50:57

R00KIE wrote:

I do lose 64MB in my dmesg with a memory hole, and I also have a shared graphics memory NVIDIA GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M card..... so I think that is where I lose some memory from 3.72529 GB to 3.60978 gigabytes. My Phoenix bios doesn't have any other settings that I can use..... and I flashed it with the most recent update (6 months ago). I just think it's HP that is doing something funny. (like the box said)
You can loose only 32MB just add iommu=0 to your kernel line and it should give you 32MB back (if I'm not mistaken). But I'm not sure if it will break something else.

I use "iommu=noaperture" in my kernel line and I don't get that message anymore..... I'm not sure if it gives me back that 64mb though.

R00KIE · 2009-02-15 20:40:47

I have tested all options I could find and after boot I would check the result of free -m and I'm not sure if that option did any change.
Most options would either make no difference (still 3950M of ram) or I would get less 1 or 2M of total ram. The only option that would really give me back some ram would be that one "iommu=0" ... didn't check if the warning was gone or not ... I was just trying to get near the 4050M of ram I can get if I recompile the 32bit kernel with 64G support.
Oh but I guess my notebook is a bit "special" .... I'm absolutely sure it has 4GB of ram, I've checked the dimms but look at what free -m says

Memory: 4043016k/5242880k available (2532k kernel code, 149452k reserved, 1041k data, 336k init)

methuselah · 2009-02-15 22:16:07

R00KIE wrote:

I have tested all options I could find and after boot I would check the result of free -m and I'm not sure if that option did any change.
Most options would either make no difference (still 3950M of ram) or I would get less 1 or 2M of total ram. The only option that would really give me back some ram would be that one "iommu=0" ... didn't check if the warning was gone or not ... I was just trying to get near the 4050M of ram I can get if I recompile the 32bit kernel with 64G support.
Oh but I guess my notebook is a bit "special" .... I'm absolutely sure it has 4GB of ram, I've checked the dimms but look at what free -m says
Memory: 4043016k/5242880k available (2532k kernel code, 149452k reserved, 1041k data, 336k init)

my kernel26-AMD64 on HP dv9920us:

Memory: 3783228k/4980736k available (2124k kernel code, 1049264k absent, 147276k reserved, 1109k data, 356k init)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-04-19 20:57:05

arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#2 2008-04-19 21:04:37

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#3 2008-04-19 22:55:16

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#4 2008-04-19 23:08:39

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#5 2008-04-19 23:41:27

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#6 2008-07-14 02:10:23

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#7 2008-07-14 02:30:13

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#8 2008-07-14 03:18:37

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#9 2008-07-14 07:25:31

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#10 2008-07-14 11:46:52

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#11 2008-07-14 16:12:34

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#12 2008-07-14 16:57:55

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#13 2008-07-14 19:54:16

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#14 2008-07-15 11:45:53

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#15 2008-07-16 17:21:41

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#16 2009-02-15 14:21:31

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#17 2009-02-15 14:59:38

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#18 2009-02-15 15:27:09

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#19 2009-02-15 17:47:02

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#20 2009-02-15 18:08:44

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#21 2009-02-15 18:41:15

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#22 2009-02-15 19:34:45

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#23 2009-02-15 19:50:57

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#24 2009-02-15 20:40:47

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

#25 2009-02-15 22:16:07

Re: arch64 not seeing 4gb ram

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