Linux doesn't recognise all my RAM

Hi,

I'm currently learning to use Linux (Mandriva One Spring 2008). I found something called System Monitor, which I loaded. It says I have only 884.3MiB (I assume MiB = mb) of RAM. The BIOS, however, reports 1792mb (2048 - 256 graphics).

XP always recognised all of it ok, so why isn't Linux?

Thanks, Thomas

Update: I'm suspecting faulty RAM. I have 2 sticks of DDR2 1024mb RAM. I tried each stick on it's own, but the same amount was reported, so I will run MemTest86 overnight.

 

Please run the following command with both sticks present, then post the results:

Code:

cat /proc/meminfo

 

are you confusing the amount of RAM you have & the amount of free RAM (unused) available on your system ?

 

sorry AT i didn't mean to shove to the front:O

Edit:

@AT presumably you suspect something similar to me[ot]but you know the commands

BTW smart arse[/ot]jk

 

Hmmm would be embarrassing if I am getting the mixed up!!

Code:

[thomas@localhost ~]$ cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:       905548 kB
MemFree:        495476 kB
Buffers:         26708 kB
Cached:         156176 kB
SwapCached:          0 kB
Active:         224432 kB
Inactive:        97196 kB
SwapTotal:     3172796 kB
SwapFree:      3172796 kB
Dirty:            2788 kB
Writeback:           0 kB
AnonPages:      138744 kB
Mapped:          62224 kB
Slab:            16552 kB
SReclaimable:    10076 kB
SUnreclaim:       6476 kB
PageTables:       2248 kB
NFS_Unstable:        0 kB
Bounce:              0 kB
CommitLimit:   3625568 kB
Committed_AS:   339428 kB
VmallocTotal:   122564 kB
VmallocUsed:     24072 kB
VmallocChunk:    98324 kB
HugePages_Total:     0
HugePages_Free:      0
HugePages_Rsvd:      0
HugePages_Surp:      0
Hugepagesize:     4096 kB

But looking at that I don't think I am!

 

Nope, looks like your OS has only 884.32~ MB of RAM to play with! Something's definitely not right there. Of course if you're running a lowmem kernel, it will only address a maximum of 1GB. And if your video is already stealing some of that, it could explain your situation. Please type

Code:

uname -a

and post the output.

 

Code:

[thomas@localhost ~]$ uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb #1 SMP Thu Mar 27 14:20:33 CET 2008 i686 AMD Turion(tm) 64 Mobile Technology MK-36 GNU/Linux

Thanks!

Edit: Here is the output from my Memtest86+ test. I'm not sure what it means

 

well, to me it looks like 1 stick is faulty, looking @ that memtest screenshot, so, your system (mandy) is not recognizing the faulty stick

you need to remove 1 stick & retest to find the faulty stick

BTW: it's also worth moving the RAM around the DIMMS, to see if it'll work in another DIMM

try forgetting your using Linux because memtest works completely independent of the OS

 

Well I thought it might be a faulty stick of RAM, but Mandriva will boot on either on it's own, just to confuse matters. The sticks are currently in different slots.

I tried booting the latest version of Ubuntu (8.04), but that stuck on loading the CD Driver :S. I can live with Mandriva as it is, but it's a bit annoying that I manually upgraded the RAM, and it doesn't recognise it all.

 

just read on memtest forums

try disabling BIOS support for USB, but, i personally don't think it will make any difference but it's worth a try, & memtest only reports on ECC status & errors if memtest recognizes the chipset

Source

have a look @ source, see what you think

Edit:

never did like mandy, does hardy boot successfully with both sticks ?

 

Nope no luck with that! My BIOS doesn't have that option (it's a really simple BIOS). I tried resetting everything to default with no luck!

Hardy was trying to boot with both sticks in. Tomorrow I will try with each stick in individually, and see how it works.

I like Mandriva because it's easy to use

 

OK, your problem is two-fold, which is confusing things. First off, the kernel you are using in Mandriva is configured to only address up to 1gb of RAM, as it has the CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y option set. You will never be able to use more than 1gb of RAM until you use a himem kernel (use your package manager to choose a different kernel).

The second problem is this. One memory error is one too many. You may have a bad stick, your RAM/CPU might be overheating, or your timings may be too aggressive. In any case, you need to get that worked out or you will have problems down the road that may result in some pretty severe data corruption.

 

oh well, didn't think it would work, but, if your BIOS doesn't have the option it makes it a useless post, but, personally i've not seen a memtest error before & there's no screenshots to explain the output screen, unless you can find any, i only had a quick look

let me know how it goes

i can't actually remember why i didn't like mandriva, i may have to try it again, in fact i'll download it tomorrow

Edit:
@AT :beer: cheers AT, i get the memtest, but, how do you know kernel only accesses >1Gb ?

 

[ot]

I downloaded the kernel config from mandriva and read it. Also, it's < 1gb, not > 1gb, or he wouldn't be having a problem. [/ot]

 

[ot]

:beer: cheers AT, i guess you need to know what your looking at :donkey has his puppy paw out:

wasn't sure, but figured you'd know what i meant & you did

 

Thanks AT you were correct, I installed the latest Kernel using gurpmi, and Mandriva now recognises all my RAM. Still got a couple of small problems:

1) When it booted, it mentioned that it couldn't find the video card driver, and it was going back to using a different one. This meant that compiz couldn't load, and the windows didn't have the minimise buttons etc around the edge.

2) It takes about an hour to boot (ok, maybe that's a bit more than a small problem...).

 

You'll have to install the nvidia kernel module that matches your kernel version. It should be in your repositories, if that's the way you installed them the first time.

Yeah, that's not good. Of course, until you've dealt with the malfunctioning RAM, it'll be difficult to troubleshoot any other system issues. Bad memory will manifest in various strange ways until it's fixed.

 

I dug out the old RAM that was in the laptop when I bought it (1 x 512mb). All the same problems still occour, the latest kernel won't boot, although the old one still does. Also, Ubuntu sticks at the same place!

Doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomed

 

How do you know the old stick is the bad one? My advice is to run memtest86+ with one still in at a time until you find the faulty one.

 

The old one doesn't normally get used in my laptop, but I thought I'd try it to see if stuff starts working again.

I've installed the ATi Catalyst Drivers now, which means I can now use the 3d effects. However, everything is gray!! When I logon, everything seems normal, but after the window manager has started everything goes gray except the mouse. The mouse icon changes over the Menu button (KDE), so it's still there. When I try the 3D cube, it works but everything is gray