processor issue (hope someone here can advise)

[abstract]

hi all, not sure if this is the right place for this but. . .

my powerspec 7124 has a pentium d 2.8 ghz processor. although some websites refer to this as 'the poor man's dual-processor', i believe it's actually not. anyway, trouble is: if i go to 'configure your computer' and 'hardware', it's seeing it as a dual-processor too, which also may account for only 1/2 of my 1ghz of ram being recognized (just a guess).

so yeah: 1/2 the ram, pseudo-double the brains

now, this is probably not a pclos-thing, just wondering if anybody had any thoughts.l

thanks (ps, i'm running pclinuxos 2009 ldxe - if that matters)

[MadCatMk2]

It is a dual core recognized as a dual core; each core is considered a different processor which is normal as far as I know.

RAM size is measured in GB, not GHz.
Maximum amount of RAM that can be used by PCLinuxOS at the moment is ~3GB.
Open up a console and type (edited)

Code:

X=`cat /proc/meminfo | egrep 'MemTotal' | sed "s/[^0-9]//g"` && echo "scale=1; $X / 1048576" | bc

This will return the amount of RAM you have in gigabytes.

[ThirdOfSix]

abstract,

I see that that motherboard will take 1GB of ram in the form of two 512MB memory sticks.

You did not by any chance insert a single memory stick of 1GB into it did you?

Many motherboards will work with larger memory than they are designed for but will only recognize it as being the maximum size that the board is designed for.

In your case, if the motherboard will work with a 1GB memory stick, it will only read half of it.

If that is not what you have done, try removing your memory and re-seating it in its socket.

Then run the memory check utility that is probably on the liveCD that you installed from.

[menotu]

I see that that motherboard will take 1GB of ram in the form of two 512MB memory sticks.

According to the link below it takes 2Gb of ram (2 x 1Gb)

http://www.powerspec.com/systems/system_components.phtml?component=1269&selection=7124

If that is not what you have done, try removing your memory and re-seating it in its socket.

I would agree with thirdofsix and try reseating your memory stick(s) - if you do have 2 sticks you could also try switching them (put stick1 into slot 2 and put stick2 into slot 1)

There are other things you can try (e.g. memtest, but that can be time consuming)

[ThirdOfSix]

menotu,

Well, now I am confused. I was going by this link:

http://www.powerspec.com/systems/system_specs.phtml?selection=7124

I guess that abstract needs to be certain which version of that board he actually has.

Oops, never mind. I just realized that the link I was looking at is for the system with Windows XP installed and yours is for the motherboard which ought to be the correct specification.

[menotu]

ThirdOfSix,

Lets just hope it helps the OP in some small way.

[abstract]

thanks fellas,

yeah, i think my bios said i had around 500 mhz ram even if i took one of them out (right now i've got 2x512s installed) haven't tried switching them though.

in the grand scheme of things, the computer is a P4, that while still not fast by current standards, completely blows away my old P3 - and it was free (a cast-off  computer at my job that got replaced). and believe it or not, 500 Mhz ram is the most i've ever had in a box, and seems fine with lxde.

maybe i'm just gettin' greedy,
abstract

[menotu]

Hi Abstract;

yeah, i think my bios said i had around 500 mhz ram even if i took one of them out (right now i've got 2x512s installed)

Just to clarify something for you (and re-iterate what MadCatMk2 mentioned;

Memory (RAM) is measured in MegaBytes (MB) OR GigaBytes (GB) not  mhz (megabytes and megahertz and completely different...

You mentioned that your bios is only recognizing 500 (of your 2 x 512 sticks) so one of the sticks may be faulty or not "sitting" correctly in the motherboards memory slot

Where are you reading the bios info from? Are you reading it from the "boot screen" or are going directly into the bios setup screens at boot time and getting the info there?  Or are you using a third party app to read it?  If you are reading the info from outside the bios you may be getting info saying you have 500MB free

One quick way of checking your memory status is when you have lxde up and running open Konsole and type:
free -m (and press enter)

then copy/paste the results back here to the forum and we can see check it ourselves.

Note: the free -m command shows you how much ram you have installed (or being seen); how much you are using; how much you have free etc etc...

[Was_Just19]

I did not look at any of the links so .............  it seems to me that there is a Pent D processor in that machine and it is likely that it has Hyperthreading turned on in the BIOS which would cause two CPUs to be reported in the machine.

It is also possible, depending on the options in that BIOS that the memory is either part disabled or not properly recognised.

Some little time going through the machine BIOS and checking the options available would be worthwhile IMO.

regards.

[menotu]

JohnBoy

Pent D processor in that machine and it is likely that it has Hyperthreading turned on

Quite right JB - I'd figured that Hyperthreading was "reporting" two CPUs in the machine, but it was the memory side of things I was trying to pin down (no pun intended :-)

And yes, I agree, the bios would definitely be worth checking out.