SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

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Martin Köbele

27 Aug 2006 27 Aug '06

23:44

Hi, I'm struggeling with the following: My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only. By default the kernel has HIGHMEM enabled and is set to 64GB. I recompiled the kernel so that it is compiled for 4GB highmem only. Same result. I enabled the hidden CONFIG_EMBEDDED and selected the 3GB/1GB memory split. Same result. It seems, no matter what I do, all I get are the 3.5GB. The funny thing is, a slackware edition was run before on the same machine, and it detected the 4GB. What could I do? (not too keen about installing slackware....) Thanks! Regards, Martin

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suse＠rio.vg

28 Aug 28 Aug

01:05

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

Martin Köbele wrote:

...

Hi,

I'm struggeling with the following:

My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only.

By default the kernel has HIGHMEM enabled and is set to 64GB.

I recompiled the kernel so that it is compiled for 4GB highmem only. Same result.

I enabled the hidden CONFIG_EMBEDDED and selected the 3GB/1GB memory split. Same result.

It seems, no matter what I do, all I get are the 3.5GB.

The funny thing is, a slackware edition was run before on the same machine, and it detected the 4GB.

What could I do? (not too keen about installing slackware....)

What does /proc/meminfo show? (`cat /proc/meminfo`)

Patrick Shanahan

02:56

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

* Martin Köbele [08-27-06 19:46]:

...

My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only.

By default the kernel has HIGHMEM enabled and is set to 64GB.

Check your motherboard documentation. I have 4GB GA-K8NN Ultra-SLI 4200+ SMP dual x86_64 21:04 wahoo:~ > free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3349376 2275016 1074360 0 131076 1189104 -/+ buffers/cache: 954836 2394540 Swap: 514040 0 514040 -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2

Martin Köbele

03:43

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

On 8/27/06, Patrick Shanahan wrote:

...

* Martin Köbele [08-27-06 19:46]:

...
My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only.

By default the kernel has HIGHMEM enabled and is set to 64GB.

Check your motherboard documentation.

I will. what would it say? Why is that a motherboard issue? I have no RAID nor PCI controllers which could occupie the last 0.5GB. I have 4GB GA-K8NN Ultra-SLI 4200+ SMP dual x86_64

...

21:04 wahoo:~ > free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3349376 2275016 1074360 0 131076 1189104 -/+ buffers/cache: 954836 2394540 Swap: 514040 0 514040

so you have the same problem, don't you? actually I thought a 64bit system should not have this problem since it can address natively more memory than a 32bit system which can address only 3GB of memory. Thanks. Martin

Ken Jennings

04:28

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

On Sunday 27 August 2006 23:43, Martin Köbele wrote:

...

On 8/27/06, Patrick Shanahan wrote: [...]

...
Check your motherboard documentation.

I will. what would it say? Why is that a motherboard issue? I have no RAID nor PCI controllers which could occupie the last 0.5GB.

I have 4GB GA-K8NN Ultra-SLI 4200+ SMP dual x86_64

[...]

...

actually I thought a 64bit system should not have this problem since it can address natively more memory than a 32bit system which can address only 3GB of memory.

It doesn't matter that you don't have any boards plugged into it: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/FAQ_Model.aspx?FAQID=4577&ProductID=1883&ClassValue=Motherboard Q: When system get full DIMM memory, why did the POST screen show the incorrect information? A: Due to standard PC architecture, a certain amount of memory is reserved for system usage and therefore the actual memory size is less than the stated amount. For example, 4GB of memory size will instead be shown as 3.xxGB memory during system startup. THE MEMORY SIZE WILL BE VARIED according to different chipsets, different VGA card used, DIFFERENT ONBOARD CONTROLLERS like audio and LAN etc, different add on cards used. You should see a similar message in the manual under "Feature Summary". In the English manual that's section 1-2, page 12. All that onboard stuff -- lan, Audio, disks, etc. Have to live somewhere in the memory map, so some RAM is "lost" if you have maxed out your RAM.

stephan beal

12:58

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

On Monday 28 August 2006 06:28, Ken Jennings wrote:

...

Q: When system get full DIMM memory, why did the POST screen show the incorrect information?

A: Due to standard PC architecture, a certain amount of memory is reserved for system usage and therefore the actual memory size is less than the stated amount. For example, 4GB of memory size will instead be shown as 3.xxGB memory during system startup. THE MEMORY SIZE WILL BE VARIED according to different chipsets, different VGA card used, DIFFERENT ONBOARD CONTROLLERS like audio and LAN etc, different add on cards used.

Is the BIOS perhaps giving this memory to the video chipset? Some machines allow you to use system RAM as video RAM. -- ----- stephan@s11n.net http://s11n.net "...pleasure is a grace and is not obedient to the commands of the will." -- Alan W. Watts

Mike Coan

14:10

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

Martin,

...

...
...
My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only.

By default the kernel has HIGHMEM enabled and is set to 64GB.

Check your motherboard documentation.

I will. what would it say? Why is that a motherboard issue? I have no RAID nor PCI controllers which could occupie the last 0.5GB.

I have 4GB GA-K8NN Ultra-SLI 4200+ SMP dual x86_64

...
21:04 wahoo:~ > free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3349376 2275016 1074360 0 131076 1189104 -/+ buffers/cache: 954836 2394540 Swap: 514040 0 514040

so you have the same problem, don't you? actually I thought a 64bit system should not have this problem since it can address natively more memory than a 32bit system which can address only 3GB of memory.

You can reclaim the missing memory if your BIOS supports "Memory hole Remapping". I have an Epox board (9NPA Ultra) and under the DRAM configuration screen there is an option to enable Memory hole Remapping. Some BIOS's support Hardware remapping, some software remapping, and some both. Some don't support it at all. As others pointed out, the missing memory is reserved for PCI devices and the like. When this option is enabled, it remaps the memory reserved for those devices so that the OS sees all 4 GB. Not sure how stable the system is with remapping enabled. With it enabled I had a hang while doing an update, so I turned it off as the .5 GB that I was missing wasn't crucial. I haven't really tested it with the memory hole remapping enabled. Mike -- Michael A. Coan Woodlawn Foundation 524 North Avenue, Suite 203 New Rochelle, NY 10801-3410 Tel: 914-632-3778 Fax: 914-632-5502

Jan Engelhardt

06:23

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

...

Subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

Hi,

I'm struggeling with the following:

My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only.

Read. http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/7/26/204 Jan Engelhardt --

Basil Chupin

06:44

New subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

Jan Engelhardt wrote:

...

...
Subject: [SLE] SuSE 10.1 32bit and 4GB RAM, seen are 3.5GB

Hi,

I'm struggeling with the following:

My computer, a Dell Optiplex 620 has a Intel P4 XEON HT with 4x 1GB RAM. The kernel sees 3.5 GB only.

Read. http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/7/26/204

There is another trap for young players when installing large amount of RAM - and then discovering that you are not able to use it all (but this does not apply to this case being discussed here). When buying DDR for your motherboard, and which may also have dual-channel, make sure that you read the manual for the motherboard and see what is stated there about which DDR RAM may be used to be able to get the maximum amount of RAM. I didn't read my manual and bought 4 sticks of double-sided DDR only to find that I had to either install 2X double-sided dual-channel DDR and 2x single-sided DDR or 4x single-sided DDR in order to have all recognised and be able to use the total RAM installed. And they all had to be installed in certain configurations (slot-wise) for them to work. I had to remove 1x stick in order to get the computer to boot : -( . Cheers. This computer is environment-friendly and is running on OpenSuSE 10.1

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participants (8)

Basil Chupin
Jan Engelhardt
Ken Jennings
Martin Köbele
Mike Coan
Patrick Shanahan
stephan beal
suse＠rio.vg