Frank Golden Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Hi Folks, Just recently updated my notebook's ram from 2GB to 4Gb using a 4GB kit from Crucial.As expected XP 32 bit reports only 3GB of ram installed. My laptop has a Core2Duo (merom) processor which according to Intel is a 64 bit setup with the chipset I have. A member of this forum suggested, in another forum, that I give 64 bit Ubuntu a try to utilize all of the installed ram. So not missing an opportunity to tinker I did just that (Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS 64 bit).That was a bit of an adventure in itself as the 64 bit version needed some special attention and research on my part to install correctly. Mostly Amd/ ATi's latest drivers and multimedia codecs/plugins gave me fits.I finally got it set up and running very well.Imagine my surprise when checking System Monitor (see screen shot below) to see Ubuntu reporting 3Gb of installed ram. free -m output shows 3GB also. frank@frank-laptop:~$ free -m total used free shared buffers cachedMem: 3023 1032 1991 0 26 598-/+ buffers/cache: 407 2615Swap: 823 0 823frank@frank-laptop:~$ I thought 64 bit OS's were capable of seeing and uses much more than 4GB of ram.Any thoughts?BTW, my BIOS reports 3GB also and there appears to be no way to change it.I have the latest BIOS update from Acer Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyj12 Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Ii think you need a PAE kernel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 Ii think you need a PAE kernel.????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urmas Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Frank,Is "Memory Remap Feature" enabled in your BIOS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 I thought 64 bit OS's were capable of seeing and uses much more than 4GB of ram. This depends on the kernel you use . . . . in general there are kernels that go up to 1GB or 2GB RAM and kernels that go up to 4GB RAM . . and Kernels that handle more then 4GB RAM. ( they should be available for your Ubuntu . . . just look in Synaptic and do the upgrade ) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 (edited) Frank,Is "Memory Remap Feature" enabled in your BIOS?Hi Urmas, there is no such feature in my BIOS.Hi Bruno, I have the latest kernel from the repos (proposed) installed, it is 2.6.24-19-generic.I don't see any other kernel listed other than the earlier ones for hardy.I read somewhere that Linus had just recently released a new kernel, 2.6.25 that is supposed to supportmore memory etc. I wonder if the dev's will make it available as a backport for hardy or will we have to wait for the next edition of Ubuntu.BTW, the M$ Vista SP1 update for 32 bit Vista "fixes" this issue. It tells the OS's to lie to you and report your4GB of installed ram even though it is not usable. Way to go Microsoft. Edited June 12, 2008 by Frank Golden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Hi Frank . . . it's not that you would need a "newer" kernel then the 2.6.24-19 . . . it ican be the same version number . . but the "-generic" part could be different. ( like "-server" or something like that, those often have large RAM support )For the "-generic" kernel: there are more people that have the 4GB problem: http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&q=4B...amp;btnG=Search BrunoPS: Looks like the 2.6.24-19-server does exist: http://www.google.com/linux?q=Ubuntu+2.6.2...;hl=en&sa=2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted June 13, 2008 Share Posted June 13, 2008 Hi Frank, I've just recently ditched Ubuntu 64bits HH due to a nasty bug in printing fonts.I've changed to F9 64bits and am testing it now.Regarding Ubuntu 64bits: see this:http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=17336I wonder if you need the propriatary driver for your video card: I didn't and had a A OK screen,resolution and refresh rate. (1680 x 1050 at 61Hz) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 14, 2008 Author Share Posted June 14, 2008 (edited) Hi Frank, I've just recently ditched Ubuntu 64bits HH due to a nasty bug in printing fonts.I've changed to F9 64bits and am testing it now.Regarding Ubuntu 64bits: see this:http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=17336I wonder if you need the propriatary driver for your video card: I didn't and had a A OK screen,resolution and refresh rate. (1680 x 1050 at 61Hz) Hi Striker,After a couple of fits and starts and two reinstalls (got to learn to partimage a new install before messing with it)I finally got 64 bit hardy installed and customized to my liking. No printer issues. My ATi mobility radeon video card can use the latest 8.5 driver from AMD/ATi but it took a little more work on my part to install.The wikihttp://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Main_Pageis a godsend for anyone contemplating installing the latest drivers but you had better know a little about linuxbefore attempting to install on 64 bit hardy. Not for the faint of heart.It was worth the effort to have hardware 3-D though. I don't game but GoogleEarth and Stellarium need hardware 3-D. Besides my card is capable of hardware acceleration so why not enable it.Wi-Fi worked out of the box but the wireless indicator light suffered from the same problem as the 32 bit install.The light doesn't come on but wi-fi still works. It seems to be an issue with the new open sauce drivers.I did uninstall Network Manager. NM was causing slow, messy shutdowns. What a piece of crap program.The installed network tool works just fine.The fix for the indicator light problem involves following the directions herehttp://linuxtechie.wordpress.com/2008/04/2...n-ubuntu-hardy/I got everything running on the latest kernel from the "proposed" repo's (2.6.24-19-generic) and have the latest Firefox 3 RCinstalled. Flash and other multimedia plugins/codecs took a little work but was worth the effort.I can now view videos from CBS and NBC (no more missed episodes of NCIS and CSI etc.) and even view Apple movie trailers (Quicktime). Unfortunately Fox and ABC don't see fit to support linux (no viewers available for linux) but CBS and NBC do.Oh well, Fox and ABC aren't worth watching anyway. All in all I'm pretty happy with Hardy 64 even though I still can't use all 4GB of ram I have installed.I've discovered that this is an issue with my chipset and can't be fixed without changing to a different chipset. (Originally Posted by jdong at Ubuntu forums in a thread about the Acer Aspire 5672WLMi notebook.My model notebook. Great source of model specific info.)Not all 64-bit chipsets are capable of moving the PCI reserved window from 3.3->4GB up higher to another region. In fact with PAE on 32-bit you are able to do the same thing WITHOUT being in long (64-bit) mode.I believe for Intel mobiles, only the Santa Rosa chipset or higher can move around this reserved window; the bit-ness of your OS is irrelevant for the most part.EDIT: With that said, having 4GB RAM is not a waste; these systems use HyperMemory which extends video RAM with system RAM, so bandwidth and speed of system RAM is crucial to decent graphics performance, so using symmetrical sticks to get dual-channel and interleaving is almost mandatory.I still have 1GB more ram than I had and it is running in dual channel interleaved mode,worth the price of admission ($79.00) for the 4GB kit IMHO. I could run a 1GB and a 2GB stick for the 3GB total but it would run in asymmetric mode and I would give up the advantages of interleaved dual channel.I notice a great improvement in copying large files etc. with this combo. Much quicker.All in all a great learning experience. Edited June 14, 2008 by Frank Golden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 I did uninstall Network Manager. NM was causing slow, messy shutdowns. What a piece of crap program. Indeed, crap it is, you can say that for sure. I've had my hard times with it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urmas Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 Superfrank strikes again! Hey Frank... when you have the time, post the low-down here [the "Ubuntu runs on my laptop" thread]:http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=17336 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 (edited) Superfrank strikes again! Hey Frank... when you have the time, post the low-down here [the "Ubuntu runs on my laptop" thread]:http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=17336 Hey Urmas, thanks for turning me on to Hardy 64. I still can't use all my installed ram but at least I know why,and I got a quick, responsive OS out of the effort. Edited June 15, 2008 by Frank Golden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urmas Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 and I got a quick, responsive OS out of the effort.Faster than 32bit version, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 Faster than 32bit version, huh? Seems to be or it could be the extra ram. Copying large files is about twice as fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Use more than 3GB RAM on 32-bit Ubuntu 8.04http://samiux.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/use...bit-ubuntu-804/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Use more than 3GB RAM on 32-bit Ubuntu 8.04http://samiux.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/use...bit-ubuntu-804/ LOL . . . so my *-server kernel was not such a bad guess after all was it ?? . . . LOLB) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 LOL . . . so my *-server kernel was not such a bad guess after all was it ?? . . . LOLB) BrunoExcept that it didn't work for me. Also tried compiling a new kernel based on the latest kernel 2.6.25.Used a great little tool called kernelcheck that does all the work for you. Got a bootable kernel with no wi-fi and showing even less ram. I probably could have tweaked it into submission but without the ram fix it wasn't worth it. As jdong pointed out this issue is hardware related, my BIOS doesn't even recognize more than 3 GB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I would take it like it is Frank and don't muck around with a possible BIOS update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Golden Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 I would take it like it is Frank and don't muck around with a possible BIOS update.I agree striker, besides I already have the latest BIOS. Needed it for the Core2Duo (merom) upgrade 18 months ago. I am happy with what I got.My next notebook I will make sure I have the la Rosa chipset which supports more ram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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