Ubuntu detects only 3.2GB RAM on a 64bit OS

11.10 ram

5,836

Your RAM modules are compatible with the board but the memory frequency is what the limiting factor is - and that is why you only have 3.2GB available to the operating system, 800MB is reserved for the motherboard system graphics.

Your intel board only supports 4 GB maximum total system memory using DDR2 800 DIMMs according to the product spec page from intel

The product numbers of both brands of RAM modules NT2GT64U8HD0BY-AD and OCZ2N800SR1G listed in your lshw output indicate they are PC2-6400 modules at 800MHz.

It appears from your screenshot that your bios is limiting the memory frequency to 667MHZ and does show them being 800MHz modules.

The reason you can see 6GB of RAM installed via lshw is because Ubuntu is listing all the hardware installed on your system - not what is in use.

To allow your board to use more RAM you need to purchase modules rated at 533 or 667MHZ - then you will be able to use up to 8GB.

5,836

Ashfame

Decentralization Evangelist, Entrepreneur, Life hacker, Backend engineer. Building a Multi-accounts Multi-cryptocurrency trustless wallet using an air-gapped hardware vault - Woodpckr.com You can get in touch via Twitter

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Ashfame almost 2 years

Possible Duplicate:
Only 3.2 Gb of memory being used on a 64-bit system

I have been running 64 bit version of 11.10 which was upgraded from 11.04 and wasn't a fresh install. I earlier had 2GB of RAM and just today I added 4GB of more RAM making it a total of 6GB but only 3.2GB is usable.

The BIOS detects it fine and shows 6GB. Even lshw shows 6GB memory but somehow only 3.2GB is usable.

Output of uname -a

ashfame@ashfame-desktop:~$ uname -a
Linux ashfame-desktop 3.0.0-13-generic #22-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 2 13:27:26 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Output of free -m

ashfame@ashfame-desktop:~$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3268       2304        963          0        134        969
-/+ buffers/cache:       1201       2066
Swap:         2027          0       2027

Output of lshw

ashfame-desktop           
    description: Desktop Computer
    product: ()
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.4 dmi-2.4 vsyscall64 vsyscall32
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop uuid=95649FA0-34EF-11DC-B2FF-000EA6292A3D
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: DG965RY
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       version: AAD41691-301
       serial: BTRY728008RN
       slot: Base Board Chassis Location
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          4400  @ 2.00GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 0
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          4400  @ 2.00GHz
          slot: LGA 775
          size: 2GHz
          capacity: 4GHz
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 200MHz
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm cpufreq
        *-cache:0
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: 1
             slot: Unknown
             size: 2MiB
             capacity: 2MiB
             capabilities: asynchronous internal write-back unified
        *-cache:1
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 3
             slot: Unknown
             size: 32KiB
             capacity: 32KiB
             capabilities: asynchronous internal write-back data
     *-cache
          description: L1 cache
          physical id: 2
          slot: Unknown
          size: 32KiB
          capacity: 32KiB
          capabilities: asynchronous internal write-back instruction
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 4
          version: MQ96510J.86A.1687.2007.0510.0258
          date: 05/10/2007
          size: 64KiB
          capacity: 960KiB
          capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect edd int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb zipboot biosbootspecification netboot
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 17
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 6GiB
        *-bank:0
             description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
             product: OCZ2N800SR1G
             vendor: 0x7F7F7F7FB0000000
             physical id: 0
             serial: 0xFFFFFFFF
             slot: J6H1
             size: 1GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 667MHz (1.5ns)
        *-bank:1
             description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
             product: NT2GT64U8HD0BY-AD
             vendor: Nanya Technology
             physical id: 1
             serial: 0xCB901004
             slot: J6H2
             size: 2GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 667MHz (1.5ns)
        *-bank:2
             description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
             product: OCZ2N800SR1G
             vendor: 0x7F7F7F7FB0000000
             physical id: 2
             serial: 0xFFFFFFFF
             slot: J6J1
             size: 1GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 667MHz (1.5ns)
        *-bank:3
             description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
             product: NT2GT64U8HD0BY-AD
             vendor: Nanya Technology
             physical id: 3
             serial: 0x1B911003
             slot: J6J2
             size: 2GiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 667MHz (1.5ns)
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: 82P965/G965 Memory Controller Hub
          vendor: Intel Corporation
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 02
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 33MHz
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82P965/G965 PCI Express Root Port
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:40 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:e0200000-e02fffff ioport:d0000000(size=268435456)
           *-display
                description: VGA compatible controller
                product: RV770 [Radeon HD 4850]
                vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                version: 00
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
                configuration: driver=fglrx_pci latency=0
                resources: irq:50 memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:e0200000-e020ffff ioport:2000(size=256) memory:e0220000-e023ffff
           *-multimedia
                description: Audio device
                product: HD48x0 audio
                vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
                physical id: 0.1
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
                version: 00
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm pciexpress msi bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
                resources: irq:49 memory:e0210000-e0213fff
        *-communication
             description: Communication controller
             product: 82P965/G965 HECI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:03.0
             version: 02
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=mei latency=0
             resources: irq:16 memory:e0326100-e032610f
        *-network
             description: Ethernet interface
             product: 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 19
             bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
             logical name: eth1
             version: 02
             serial: 00:19:d1:93:ad:2f
             size: 100Mbit/s
             capacity: 1Gbit/s
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
             configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=1.3.10-k2 duplex=full firmware=1.1-0 ip=192.168.1.2 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
             resources: irq:47 memory:e0300000-e031ffff memory:e0324000-e0324fff ioport:30e0(size=32)
        *-usb:0
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1a
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:16 ioport:30c0(size=32)
        *-usb:1
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1a.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:21 ioport:30a0(size=32)
        *-usb:2
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1a.7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.7
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:18 memory:e0325c00-e0325fff
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1b
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
             version: 02
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
             resources: irq:48 memory:e0320000-e0323fff
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
                 physical id: 1c
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:41 ioport:7000(size=4096) memory:e1200000-e13fffff ioport:e1400000(size=2097152)
        *-pci:2
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:42 ioport:1000(size=4096) memory:e0100000-e01fffff ioport:e1000000(size=2097152)
           *-ide
                description: IDE interface
                product: 88SE6101/6102 single-port PATA133 interface
                vendor: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
                logical name: scsi0
                version: b1
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: ide pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list emulated
                configuration: driver=pata_marvell latency=0
                resources: irq:17 ioport:1018(size=8) ioport:1024(size=4) ioport:1010(size=8) ioport:1020(size=4) ioport:1000(size=16) memory:e0100000-e01001ff
              *-cdrom
                   description: DVD-RAM writer
                   product: DVD RW AW-G170A
                   vendor: SONY
                   physical id: 0.0.0
                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
                   logical name: /dev/cdrom
                   logical name: /dev/cdrw
                   logical name: /dev/dvd
                   logical name: /dev/dvdrw
                   logical name: /dev/scd0
                       logical name: /dev/sr0
                   version: 1.62
                   serial: [
                   capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
                   configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
        *-pci:3
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.2
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:43 ioport:6000(size=4096) memory:e0c00000-e0dfffff ioport:e0e00000(size=2097152)
        *-pci:4
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.3
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:44 ioport:5000(size=4096) memory:e0800000-e09fffff ioport:e0a00000(size=2097152)
        *-pci:5
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1c.4
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.4
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pcieport
             resources: irq:45 ioport:4000(size=4096) memory:e0400000-e05fffff ioport:e0600000(size=2097152)
        *-usb:3
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:23 ioport:3080(size=32)
        *-usb:4
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:19 ioport:3060(size=32)
        *-usb:5
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: uhci bus_master
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:18 ioport:3040(size=32)
        *-usb:6
             description: USB Controller
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1d.7
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
             resources: irq:23 memory:e0325800-e0325bff
        *-pci:6
             description: PCI bridge
             product: 82801 PCI Bridge
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1e
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
             version: f2
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
             resources: memory:e0000000-e00fffff
           *-firewire
                description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
                product: TSB43AB22A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link) [iOHCI-Lynx]
                vendor: Texas Instruments
                physical id: 3
                bus info: pci@0000:07:03.0
                version: 00
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm ohci bus_master cap_list
                configuration: driver=firewire_ohci latency=32 maxlatency=4 mingnt=2
                resources: irq:19 memory:e0004000-e00047ff memory:e0000000-e0003fff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: 82801HB/HR (ICH8/R) LPC Interface Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
        *-storage
             description: SATA controller
             product: 82801HB (ICH8) 4 port SATA AHCI Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
             logical name: scsi1
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: storage msi pm ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list emulated
             configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
             resources: irq:46 ioport:3408(size=8) ioport:3414(size=4) ioport:3400(size=8) ioport:3410(size=4) ioport:3020(size=32) memory:e0325000-e03257ff
           *-disk
                description: ATA Disk
                product: ST3160215AS
                vendor: Seagate
                physical id: 0.0.0
                bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
                logical name: /dev/sda
                version: 3.AA
                serial: 5RX16VWR
                size: 149GiB (160GB)
                capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
                configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=00090294
              *-volume:0
                   description: EXT4 volume
                   vendor: Linux
                   physical id: 1
                   bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0,1
                   logical name: /dev/sda1
                   logical name: /
                   version: 1.0
                   serial: 6c158778-6562-40f5-9f4f-1d49d9d68b13
                   size: 147GiB
                   capacity: 147GiB
                   capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                   configuration: created=2011-05-01 10:12:11 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/ modified=2011-11-26 20:37:01 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered mounted=2011-11-26 20:37:47 state=mounted
              *-volume:1
                   description: Extended partition
                   physical id: 2
                   bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0,2
                   logical name: /dev/sda2
                   size: 2028MiB
                   capacity: 2028MiB
                   capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
                 *-logicalvolume
                      description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
                      physical id: 5
                      logical name: /dev/sda5
                      capacity: 2028MiB
                      capabilities: nofs
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1f.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
             version: 02
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: memory:e0326000-e03260ff ioport:3000(size=32)

Output of cat /proc/meminfo

ashfame@ashfame-desktop:~$ cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:        3346872 kB
MemFree:         1152164 kB
Buffers:           22152 kB
Cached:           871740 kB
SwapCached:          320 kB
Active:          1355716 kB
Inactive:         407872 kB
Active(anon):     695948 kB
Inactive(anon):   183108 kB
Active(file):     659768 kB
Inactive(file):   224764 kB
Unevictable:         248 kB
Mlocked:             248 kB
SwapTotal:       2076668 kB
SwapFree:        2075652 kB
Dirty:                 4 kB
Writeback:            44 kB
AnonPages:        869668 kB
Mapped:           195364 kB
Shmem:              9360 kB
Slab:              88080 kB
SReclaimable:      61084 kB
SUnreclaim:        26996 kB
KernelStack:        3712 kB
PageTables:        36956 kB
NFS_Unstable:          0 kB
Bounce:                0 kB
WritebackTmp:          0 kB
CommitLimit:     3750104 kB
Committed_AS:    3551040 kB
VmallocTotal:   34359738367 kB
VmallocUsed:      195492 kB
VmallocChunk:   34359536360 kB
HardwareCorrupted:     0 kB
AnonHugePages:         0 kB
HugePages_Total:       0
HugePages_Free:        0
HugePages_Rsvd:        0
HugePages_Surp:        0
Hugepagesize:       2048 kB
DirectMap4k:      189440 kB
DirectMap2M:     3217408 kB

Output of sudo dmidecode - http://pastebin.com/85VBDYmC

Trying with a bootable USB of 11.04 & 11.10 and booting from it, shows 3.2GB only as usable.

As per chat with fossfreedom, I tried removing the 1GB sticks and just keep the new 2GB sticks in it and booted from it. The system still showed 3.2GB of RAM. I even moved them to a single channel and still it showed 3.2GB of RAM.

And if it helps, 1GB sticks are from the same manufacturer - Corsair (infact a dual channel memory kit) and the newer 2GB sticks are from the same manufacturer - Kingston.

I was also adviced to upgrade BIOS but since it detects full 6GB of RAM, I doubt it has anything to do with that. BIOS release notes don't mention anything that fixes the problem. Here is the PDF - http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17520/eng/MQ_1761_ReleaseNotes.pdf (My BIOS version - 1687)

The only options I see in BIOS is of changing the frequency on which the RAM is running and the latency. Screenshot follows:

enter image description here

Any idea what's going on here?

One Zero over 12 years

plz let me know when u solved it..thankyou... same question askubuntu.com/questions/80721/…
Ashfame over 12 years

@fossfreedom I just removed the 1GB sticks and booted up. It still shows 3.2GB RAM. I am confused now :/
Ashfame over 12 years

@fossfreedom No! Right now. One in Channel A Slot 1 & another in Channel B Slot 1. And should I add the output of sudo dmidecode now that I only have two 2GB sticks?
Ashfame over 12 years

you mean adding them to a single channel? what about dual channel in that case?
Ashfame over 12 years

let us continue this discussion in chat
nilsonneto over 12 years

... one more comment - have you tried the 32bit live CD? - just want to confirm it it is a bug in the kernel or is a real hardware issue.
Ashfame over 12 years

ok will download the 32bit iso and try that too
Knowledge Cube over 12 years

Possible duplicate: askubuntu.com/q/80721/18612
debug about 12 years

this is odd. i also just installed ubuntu 11.10 and it only shows 3.2gb, whereas my 10.4 install used all 7.9gb. have you tried see what this shows in 10.4?
Ashfame about 12 years

@debug Nope! But yours can be a totally different issue though. Do go through what all is posted here. Good luck!

Ashfame over 12 years

I don't want 800MB to be reserved for the system graphics because I have an ATI card. Can I do something about it? There is no option in the BIOS to change this value. And you are right about the memory limit but the motherboard does support 8GB memory if running on 667 or 533Mhz and that's why I have manually underclocked them in the BIOS settings as you can see in the screenshot. Do you think it still shouldn't work?
Mark Rooney over 12 years

To be honest I'm not sure why 800MB is reserved by the system or how you could disable it using that amount. As far as the memory you have installed, changing the bus speed is not going to fix the issue - it is hardware related, the bios knows the memory is 800MHz and treats it as such, there is nothing you can do about this. With what you currently have installed you will only ever have 4GB max available to the operating system - changing the memory out to a lower speed will fix the issue.
Ashfame over 12 years

what do you think about trying out the mem parameter in kernel? I have seen a forum post where someone with the same board was running 4GB+ of 800Mhz RAM.
Mark Rooney over 12 years

You could try it - I'm doubtful it will fix the issue as the hardware on the motherboard is the limiting factor. If you recently purchased the RAM you may be able to take it back and change it for the lower rated frequency one.
Ashfame over 12 years

Yeah it didn't work. I tried mem=3500M. Also someone at SuperUser thinks this can be because of an imcompatible stick (Double-sided DIMMs with x16 organization are not supported). Can you please check once? superuser.com/q/361865/51291