i have just installed 2x2GB DDR2 667 bars in to my toshiba laptop. started it up only to see that my system finds only 3GB :eek:
i started up Kinfocenter and KDE system guard and both show me that i have only 3GB of memory. where did i lose my 1GB???
please help me find it…very please.
Can u see all 4GB at BIOS?
yes…in bios total memory is 4096mb…
ok…i’ve been reading around and it seems that 32bit systems are limited to use 3gig of memory. if this is true then this life sucks. i just payed €34 per 2gig bar of memory. i could have just bought one 2gig bar and replace my 1gig bar with it, saving €34…
i don’t have €34 lying arround you know…i’m very sad
ok…i’ve been reading around and it seems that 32bit systems are
limited to use 3gig of memory. if this is true then this life sucks. i
just payed €34 per 2gig bar of memory. i could have just bought
one 2gig bar and replace my 1gig bar with it, saving €34…
i don’t have €34 lying arround you know…i’m very sad
Hi
Sounds like your processor doesn’t support the pae flag. Are you not
running the pae kernel? Can you check if the flag exists;
cat /proc/cpuinfo |grep flag
and
uname -a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SLED 10 SP2 i586 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.25-default
up 1 day 5:02, 1 user, load average: 0.19, 0.24, 0.18
GPU GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE Version: 173.14.09
hi,
this is output of cat /proc/cpuinfo:
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep flag
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
and this is my uname:
Linux nikoshiba 2.6.25.11-0.1-pae #1 SMP 2008-07-13 20:48:28 +0200 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
there is one more thing… could anyone also check if there system configured same way? please… i’m interested in output of:
cat /boot/config-2.6.25.11-0.1-pae | grep HIGHMEM
cat /boot/config-2.6.25.11-0.1-pae | grep HIGHMEM
# CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM is not set
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set
CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=y
CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y
# CONFIG_DEBUG_HIGHMEM is not set
i think my problem is in “# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set” part
hi,
this is output of cat /proc/cpuinfo:
Code:
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep flag
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr
pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe
constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr
pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe
constant_tsc arch_perfmon bts pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
and this is my uname:
Code:
Linux nikoshiba 2.6.25.11-0.1-pae #1 SMP 2008-07-13 20:48:28 +0200
i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
Hi
Hmmm, I would have thought you would have been ok then running the pae
kernel and having the flag. What is the output;
free
and
dmesg |grep Mem
It’s not a dual boot system, if so boot into the other OS and check
the memory.
Else try a live linux cd and run the two commands with a
different kernel (wonder if its a kernel error??)
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SLED 10 SP2 i586 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.25-default
up 1 day 5:46, 1 user, load average: 0.43, 0.70, 0.57
GPU GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE Version: 173.14.09
this is outputs you asked for:
free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 3114004 818728 2295276 0 42600 437128
-/+ buffers/cache: 339000 2775004
Swap: 4200988 0 4200988
dmesg | grep Mem
HighMem 229376 -> 786032
HighMem zone: 4348 pages used for memmap
HighMem zone: 552308 pages, LIFO batch:31
Memory: 3107572k/3144128k available (1953k kernel code, 35236k reserved, 1676k data, 264k init, 2226624k highmem)
pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0xf0900000 - 0xf09fffff
pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0xc4000000 - 0xc7ffffff
It’s not a dual boot system, if so boot into the other OS and check
the memory.
well…i’m suse only
Else try a live linux cd and run the two commands with a
different kernel (wonder if its a kernel error??)
i will try that when i get home…
thnx
Hi,
just read this post while browsing trough the mailing list.
I had a similar question with my laptop, based on an Intel 945 chipset.
I found out, that using this chipset you can only use approx. 3 GB of RAM, regardless of using an 32 or 64bit system. It’s an hardware limitation. You’ll find details in the technical specification provided by Intel.
Hope this helps,
user 2304.
My AMD desktop motherboard has a 3 GB ram limitation, although the user manual says the limit is 2 GB. They just say that to make it an even number I think.
so my laptop has hardware limitations? how come then that bios is capable of recognizing all 4gigs? and toshiba specifications do tell me that it can be upgraded to 4gigs max (originally laptop came with 1 gig). it should work shouldn’t it?..what’s going on?.. … i.m about to cry here.
If you are like me and wouldn’t want to accept that it is a limitation of your laptop, you could try what I did when I had the same exact problem on my desktop.
All I really did was uninstall the pae kernel, install the default kernel, then reboot. After that, I uninstalled the default, reinstalled the pae, rebooted and had my gig back.
Maybe, as mentioned, if it’s bases on an intel 945 chipset. In my specific case, my laptop (Thinkpad X60) is specified with an max. RAM of 4 GB too, though i can use just something around 3 GB.
Another “feature” of the 945 chipsets - as i understood - is, that if you want to have dual channel enabled, the 2 slots have to be equipped symmetrically (2 x 2 GB). So don’t bother about the “useless” 1 GB.
user 2304
well…same here 2.97GB
Another “feature” of the 945 chipsets - as i understood - is, that if you want to have dual channel enabled, the 2 slots have to be equipped symmetrically (2 x 2 GB). So don’t bother about the “useless” 1 GB.
user 2304
would you please explain me what do you mean here. i’m afraid i didn’t really understood you. you mean if i have in my slots one 2gig bar and another is 1gig memory bar then it wouldn’t work? and did you mean that it have to be 2x2gigs to make it work…
If the bios is seeing four gigs, and the OS isn’t I really doubt that it is a hardware limitation.
Since I had a similar problem, I would really suggest you at least try what I suggested (as simple as it sounds) as opposed to just accepting defeat because it might be your chipset. =\
Of course, RAM is working, but not in dual-channel mode.
A good (german) explanation:
Dual Channel Betrieb für DDR2-basierende Systeme
From what i know about, this configuration shouldn’t work in dual-channel-mode on an 945 chipset. With the newer 965, dual-channel is enabled even in this configuration (so calles flex-mode)
I’ve spent a sleepless night finding out these technical limitations and why I just see 3 GB of RAM in openSuSE :o
what’s dual-channel-mode?
i have tried your suggestion…unfortunately for me it didn’t worked. i will reinstall system tonight…see if that’s fix it.
i have reinstalled suse and it’s still 3 gigs… i guess user2304 was right all a long - laptop based on Intel® 945PM chipset not meant to know pleasure of 4GB internal memory. now i know what to be alert about when i buy my next laptop.
PS it’s shame - i have payed 70 euros for extra gig of memory.