PCLOS not showing ram

[kentpower]

I run an old dell XPS 600 series desktop with a pentium d  processor, 40and 500gb hard drives, and 2.5gigs of ddr2 ram that run at about 400 mhz(according to the Bios).

recently i have notice when i go to browse and configure hardware program under the PCLOS control center under memory that it says Cache (Not Specified) and the amount om memory that it does display is nowhere near what i have .

the system has run the same as it usually does but i would like to know if my OS is using the actual ram or just the swap partition that is 2gig ?

[old_guy]

kentpower
Open a terminal and type:
free

It should show you something like this:

[earl@new ~]$ free
               total          used         free           shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       3839012    1676788    2162224          0      75284    1206804
-/+ buffers/cache:      394700     3444312
Swap:      2393644              0     2393644

And welcome, hope you enjoy your stay.

Earl

[horusfalcon]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong 

PCLOS is a 32-bit OS, and that means it won't ever see more than about 3 gigabytes of RAM.
I just ran free on my wife's computer (she has 4 gigs) and it only sees the first three which kinda confirms my suspicions.

You were saying that you are supposed to have 2.5 gigs?  How does that work?  do you have two 1 gig sticks and 2 256 MB sticks?  (Isn't the XPS line set up for dual-chanel memory?)

That's a desktop you're running, so I'd think you were not sharing RAM with a video card onboard, huh?

If it's really a significant drop in RAM capacity, you might shut down, reseat your RAM and check again.

Later On,
D

[Bald Brick]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong 

PCLOS is a 32-bit OS, and that means it won't ever see more than about 3 gigabytes of RAM.

Not true anymore if you run a PAE kernel:



(Even with a default kernel the amount of RAM seen by the system should be closer to 3.5 GB.)

I just ran free on my wife's computer (she has 4 gigs) and it only sees the first three which kinda confirms my suspicions.

You were saying that you are supposed to have 2.5 gigs?  How does that work?  do you have two 1 gig sticks and 2 256 MB sticks?  (Isn't the XPS line set up for dual-chanel memory?)

That's a desktop you're running, so I'd think you were not sharing RAM with a video card onboard, huh?

If it's really a significant drop in RAM capacity, you might shut down, reseat your RAM and check again.

Later On,
D

[ElCuervo]

I think this thread has been derailed a bit. The OP was NOT talking about trying to run 4GB of RAM, in fact nowhere near that:

I run an old dell XPS 600 series desktop with a pentium d  processor, 40and 500gb hard drives, and 2.5gigs of ddr2 ram that run at about 400 mhz(according to the Bios).

recently i have notice when i go to browse and configure hardware program under the PCLOS control center under memory that it says Cache (Not Specified) and the amount om memory that it does display is nowhere near what i have .

the system has run the same as it usually does but i would like to know if my OS is using the actual ram or just the swap partition that is 2gig ?

It sounds to me like that refers to PCC>Hardware>Browse and configure hardware>Memory. On my machine that shows RAM (aka memory) and Cache (aka what's built onto the CPU/mobo). I have 4GB of RAM, easily accessible via the PAE kernel, and only 128Kb of internal cache. I don't know about an "old computer" with a Pentium D processor, but maybe it's true that he doesn't have any cache memory.

[horusfalcon]

I think this thread has been derailed a bit. The OP was NOT talking about trying to run 4GB of RAM, in fact nowhere near that:

I run an old dell XPS 600 series desktop with a pentium d  processor, 40and 500gb hard drives, and 2.5gigs of ddr2 ram that run at about 400 mhz(according to the Bios).

recently i have notice when i go to browse and configure hardware program under the PCLOS control center under memory that it says Cache (Not Specified) and the amount om memory that it does display is nowhere near what i have .

the system has run the same as it usually does but i would like to know if my OS is using the actual ram or just the swap partition that is 2gig ?

It sounds to me like that refers to PCC>Hardware>Browse and configure hardware>Memory. On my machine that shows RAM (aka memory) and Cache (aka what's built onto the CPU/mobo). I have 4GB of RAM, easily accessible via the PAE kernel, and only 128Kb of internal cache. I don't know about an "old computer" with a Pentium D processor, but maybe it's true that he doesn't have any cache memory.

Okay, fair enough, but I got from what kentpower said that he could neither see cache nor all of his installed RAM.  Thanks for the reminder about the pae kernel - I've been meaning to try that when the wife is ready to turn loose her machine for experimentation (read:  probably somewhere around 12 Never 10,191... )

Later On,
D

[Bald Brick]

I think this thread has been derailed a bit. The OP was NOT talking about trying to run 4GB of RAM, in fact nowhere near that:

I run an old dell XPS 600 series desktop with a pentium d  processor, 40and 500gb hard drives, and 2.5gigs of ddr2 ram that run at about 400 mhz(according to the Bios).

recently i have notice when i go to browse and configure hardware program under the PCLOS control center under memory that it says Cache (Not Specified) and the amount om memory that it does display is nowhere near what i have .

the system has run the same as it usually does but i would like to know if my OS is using the actual ram or just the swap partition that is 2gig ?

It sounds to me like that refers to PCC>Hardware>Browse and configure hardware>Memory. On my machine that shows RAM (aka memory) and Cache (aka what's built onto the CPU/mobo). I have 4GB of RAM, easily accessible via the PAE kernel, and only 128Kb of internal cache. I don't know about an "old computer" with a Pentium D processor, but maybe it's true that he doesn't have any cache memory.

I suppose my real point was that KInfocenter will give real info about how memory is seen and utilized. PCC won't necessarily.

[T6]

i can confirm the original report, pcc doesn't see the right amount of ram

"PCLOS is a 32-bit OS, and that means it won't ever see more than about 3 gigabytes of RAM"

as said before pae kernel handles that

"That's a desktop you're running, so I'd think you were not sharing RAM with a video card onboard, huh"

desktops and laptops can share ram for video card, onboard pci-x and agp, some models using up to 1 gb of ram

intel video cards can do this dynamically so sometimes will use 8 or less and sometimes using 200 or more

my video card doesn't do that and i have the problem described in pcc, this is happening since maybe last year, can't remember

free command in konsole can give you more info, there is other commands giving more specific info, also some tools

[horusfalcon]

"That's a desktop you're running, so I'd think you were not sharing RAM with a video card onboard, huh"

desktops and laptops can share ram for video card, onboard pci-x and agp, some models using up to 1 gb of ram

intel video cards can do this dynamically so sometimes will use 8 or less and sometimes using 200 or more

Points well taken... I sometimes forget that newer motherboards can have integrated video cards on them that folks will actually use.  (I'm old-school and picky enough about performance when I build a desktop that I still see built-in video and sound cards as a bad idea even though some modern, highly integrated boards are pretty decent for most uses these days.)

Have we gotten any closer to solving the original issue here yet?

Later On,
D

[T6]

i'm old school but integrated sound card, ethernet card and video card is basic stuff this days

a mainboard without video card is hard to find sometimes and the price is prohibitive

about the original post, there was another post talking about the same problem a couple years ago

can't remember what happened to it, afik it is a error in pcc and since pcc is a tool made by others, we didn't do it, this should be reported to them, not sure if this is still maintained by mandriva or not

[Old-Polack]

i'm old school but integrated sound card, ethernet card and video card is basic stuff this days

a mainboard without video card is hard to find sometimes and the price is prohibitive

about the original post, there was another post talking about the same problem a couple years ago

can't remember what happened to it, afik it is a error in pcc and since pcc is a tool made by others, we didn't do it, this should be reported to them, not sure if this is still maintained by mandriva or not

What error? Maybe it helps to know what one is looking at, rather than make assumptions?

Here are screen shots of the memory section from this computer. The first shows the first RAM slot, and correctly identifies the 2 GB stick installed there.



The second shows the second RAM slot, and also correctly identifies the 2 GB stick installed there.



The third and fourth RAM slots are currently empty, and are correctly reported as such.



The internal cache is reported as 128 KB, which is exactly what the specs say it should be



And the on board External cache is reported as 512 KB, which is also what is specified by Gigabyte as being correct.



So the exact size of each RAM stick is reported correctly, the internal caches are reported correctly, and the external cache is reported correctly.

Where is the error of which you speak?

[T6]

"What error?"

this error





i only have 1gb module(first slot) and a 256 mb ram module(second slot), for a total of 1280, both ddr ram modules, markvision running at 400mhz if i remember correctly, this mainboard only has two ram slots

never in this life this mainboard can have over 4 gbs of ram, the kernel in use is 2.6.33.7-pclos6.a64

free says this

free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       1293864    1258960      34904          0      57428     615912
-/+ buffers/cache:     585620     708244
Swap:      4192924       2512    4190412

the cache for me is ok, 128kb in L2 and 128kb in L3, if i remember correctly this is all it has a amd semprom form 2005

"Maybe it helps to know what one is looking at, rather than make assumptions?"  and "Where is the error of which you speak?"

i m tired, don't you get tired?

eventually you have to get tired, this can't go on forever

[Old-Polack]

T6:

The software queries the hard ware and simply displays what the hardware reports back. If your hardware reports back inaccurate information, that's not the fault of the software. Every computer I've run PCLinuxOS on has reported my hardware accurately, including memory modules. I've used motherboards from SOYO, ASUS, and Biostar, but mostly from GigaByte, and I always use top quality RAM with the lowest CAS latency available. I've never had inaccurate memory module sizes reported in PCC.

The only machine I've had this century, that I didn't build myself, is an old Compaq of 2002 vintage that was given to me to salvage parts from. I cleaned it up and use it as my backup box. I have no idea who actually manufactured that MB, but the two 1 GB DDR RAM modules in it are from a previous build of my main computer, and are also reported accurately in PCC. I highly doubt it's the software at fault, in your case.

[ThirdOfSix]

I have a number of computers here including several different pentium based Dell machines.

None of the Dell machines or for that matter none of the pentium based machines show the system memory in PCC.

I assume that it has something to do with the chipsets on the motherboard that have been designed to Intel specs.

Up until now, none of my AMD based machines have had this problem.

I was very surprised just now to see that my newest quad core AMD machine also does not show system memory in PCC.

Anyway, this is nothing to worry about. Your machine is no doubt using all of its memory. The motherboard chipset just does not report it to whatever routine that PCC is using for its query.

As others have pointed out, there are CLI commands to get a true report of the status of your systems memory.

I repeat, out of five or more different Dell models that I have installed PCLOS on, none of them have reported the memory status using PCC.

[ElCuervo]

kentpower? Calling kentpower? Is there a kentpower here?