Total amount of RAM not detected

English Hardware
1

I am running openSUSE 13.2 on a system with a DG965WHMKR Intel motherboard. Up to now, I had a 4GB ram composed of four 1GB-DDR2 667 MHz Kingston.
I have changed these elements by four new 2GB-DDR2 667 MHz Kingston.
The BIOS reports an amount of 8 GB, but the OS reports 3.2 GB.
The following commands give:

free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3265       1573       1692         13          0       1090
-/+ buffers/cache:        482       2783
Swap:         2053          0       2053 

  cat /proc/meminfo | grep MemTotal
MemTotal:        3344088 kB

vmstat -s  | grep total
      3344088 K total memory
      2103292 K total swap

all report an amount of 3.2 GB, but the execution of

lshv -short | grep Mémoire
/0/17                             memory         8GiB Mémoire Système

reports 8 GB.
What is wrong?
Thank you in advance for your help.

2

What kernel do you run?

uname -a
3 
piantino@Piantino-9:~> uname -a
Linux Piantino-9 3.16.7-29-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Oct 23 00:46:04 UTC 2015 (6be6a97) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
4

Hi
Can you post the output from the follow command (need to be root user);


journalctl -ke |grep e820
5

OK, I wanted to check if it is 64-bit.

6

The output is:

Piantino-9:/home/piantino # journalctl -ke |grep e820
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000008efff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000008f000-0x000000000009ffff] reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000000e0000-0x00000000000fffff] reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000100000-0x00000000cfd8efff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfd8f000-0x00000000cfd9bfff] reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfd9c000-0x00000000cfe50fff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfe51000-0x00000000cfea8fff] ACPI NVS
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfea9000-0x00000000cfeaafff] ACPI data
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfeab000-0x00000000cfeeefff] ACPI NVS
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfeef000-0x00000000cfef1fff] ACPI data
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfef2000-0x00000000cfef2fff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfef3000-0x00000000cfefefff] ACPI data
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cfeff000-0x00000000cfefffff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000cff00000-0x00000000cfffffff] reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x00000000fff00000-0x00000000ffffffff] reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000100000000-0x000000022bffffff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: update [mem 0x00000000-0x00000fff] usable ==> reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: remove [mem 0x000a0000-0x000fffff] usable
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: last_pfn = 0x22c000 max_arch_pfn = 0x400000000
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: update [mem 0xcff00000-0x22bffffff] usable ==> reserved
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: update e820 for mtrr
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: modified physical RAM map:
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: last_pfn = 0xcff00 max_arch_pfn = 0x400000000
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: [mem 0xd0000000-0xffefffff] available for PCI devices
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0x0008f000-0x0008ffff]
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0xcfd8f000-0xcfffffff]
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0xcfe51000-0xcfffffff]
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0xcfef3000-0xcfffffff]
nov. 03 15:11:19 Piantino-9 kernel: e820: reserve RAM buffer [mem 0xcff00000-0xcfffffff]
7

Hi
So all the ‘usable’ parts converted from hex to decimal indicates 8GB of ram, what about the output from the following command (run as root and may need to be installed;


zypper in dmidecode
dmidecode -t memory
8

Hello,
dmidecode was already installed. The output is:

Piantino-9:/home/piantino # dmidecode -t memory
# dmidecode 2.12
SMBIOS 2.4 present.

Handle 0x0017, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
        Location: System Board Or Motherboard
        Use: System Memory
        Error Correction Type: None
        Maximum Capacity: 8 GB
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Number Of Devices: 4

Handle 0x0018, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0017
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: J6H1
        Bank Locator: CHAN A DIMM 0
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 667 MHz
        Manufacturer: 0x7F98000000000000
        Serial Number: 0x7F3A61FC
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: 0x202020202020202020202020202020202020

Handle 0x001A, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0017
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: J6H2
        Bank Locator: CHAN A DIMM 1
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 667 MHz
        Manufacturer: 0x7F98000000000000
        Serial Number: 0x793A6BFC
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: 0x202020202020202020202020202020202020

Handle 0x001C, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0017
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: J6J1
        Bank Locator: CHAN B DIMM 0
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 667 MHz
        Manufacturer: 0x7F98000000000000
        Serial Number: 0x7F3AA2FC
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: 0x202020202020202020202020202020202020

Handle 0x001E, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x0017
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: 64 bits
        Data Width: 64 bits
        Size: 2048 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: J6J2
        Bank Locator: CHAN B DIMM 1
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: Synchronous
        Speed: 667 MHz
        Manufacturer: 0x7F98000000000000
        Serial Number: 0x7F3A70FC
        Asset Tag: Unknown
        Part Number: 0x202020202020202020202020202020202020
9

Hi
Is the BIOS upto date, everything is default in the BIOS for the RAM, no tweaks etc?

10

Hello, thank you for your answer.

On the same PC, I can run different OSs, each one being placed on a different hard disk. I can run Meant, Debian and XP Pro and I have seen that these OSs detect also only 3.2 GB of RAM. It seems that this is a BIOS problem. Am I wrong?
I will try to make an update for my BIOS.

11

Run a memory test you may have bad memory. also maybe try removing and resetting ie corroded/oxidized contacts

12

On Wed 04 Nov 2015 10:26:01 AM CST, Gian-Piero wrote:

malcolmlewis;2734812 Wrote:
> Hi
> Is the BIOS upto date, everything is default in the BIOS for the RAM,
> no tweaks etc?

Hello, thank you for your answer.

On the same PC, I can run different OSs, each one being placed on a
different hard disk. I can run Meant, Debian and XP Pro and I have seen
that these OSs detect also only 3.2 GB of RAM. It seems that this is a
BIOS problem. Am I wrong?
I will try to make an update for my BIOS.

Hi
As long as the ones you tried were 64bit versions, I would guess it’s a
BIOS issue. They are 677MHz devices (check part number on device)? I see
on the specs for the motherboard that if they are 800MHz (which
can run at 677MHz) devices it will only work with 4GB of RAM…

Intel do provide an iso image to boot from for BIOS updates as well…

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 | GNOME 3.10.1 | 3.12.48-52.27-default
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

13

Be sure that the memory is correct for the mother board you can’t just drop in any random stick it has to be the right specs

14

malcolmlewis composed on 2015-11-04 14:08 (UTC):

> As long as the ones you tried were 64bit versions, I would guess it’s a
> BIOS issue. They are 677MHz devices (check part number on device)? I see
> on the specs for the motherboard that if they are 800MHz (which
> can run at 677MHz) devices it will only work with 4GB of RAM…

965 motherboard specifications that describe such a limitation usually have a
BIOS option or other provision to limit 800 RAM to behave as if 667 (limit
speed actually used) so that all 8 can be utilized, often automatically. As
owner of several 965 boards, I find this particular limitation rather
bizarre. I have 8G currently installed in only one. Its manual describes the
same limitation, yet memtest86+ says all 8G is accessible and running at 800.

15

Thanks to all of you, for your comments and suggestions.
All the components of the hardware were correct. There was a BIOS problem. By upgrading it, the 8GB of RAM are usable in all OSs.
Thank you again

Gian-Piero