Only 4 GB RAM recognized

[okie2003]

My hardware is a Dell E6510 i7 CPU with 8 GB RAM. I am running Kubuntu 14.04 LTS 32 bit as recommended on the Kubuntu download page. (For almost all PCs. This includes most machines with Intel/AMD/etc type processors and almost all computers that run Microsoft Windows, as well as newer Apple Macintosh systems based on Intel processors. Choose this if you are at all unsure.) My kernel is 3.16.0-46-generic. System info only shows 3.8 GB RAM. And it does seem that things are not as snappy as they used to be (but that could be just may imagination.) I booted into a Mint 17 install that I have and it sees all the RAM. Even though this is a 32 bit install I thought the new kernels were PAE and could use extended RAM. I do need it for VirtualBox. An install of Ubuntu 15.04 also only saw 4 GB.

Is there any way to get a kernel that will use all my RAM on a 32 bit system?

[vinnywright]

it should be using PAE ,,,,,,,,,but why 32bit when your CPU is 64?

what is

uname -a

showing ?

VINNY

[okie2003]

rob@rob-Latitude-E6510:~$ uname -a
Linux rob-Latitude-E6510 3.16.0-46-generic #62~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 11 16:28:19 UTC 2015 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

[vinnywright]

ya I thought it mite show something about PAE ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,been a long time since I did a 32bit install .

why agin ?

VINNY

[okie2003]

Vinny, thanks for responding. As to why? At the time I installed it seems I read something that indicated 32 bit had better software compatibility. As quoted above the Kubuntu site still indicates 32 bit is best option. If I have to reinstall I will go with 64 bit.

[oshunluvr]

My recollection is the Kubuntu download page recommendation is for 32bit for older systems. Any PC with an i-series CPU does not qualify as "older" IMO. A Pentium 4, maybe. Any web pages that discuss software compatibility issues are simply way out-of-date. It was still an issue in like, 2009 or something but not anymore. In fact, something I use (I can't remember which program at the moment) stopped developing 32bit versions and a couple distros are also only in 64bit now.

Anyway, to your issue; PAE is indeed the default in every Ubuntu kernel since 12.04. So if you're not getting all your available RAM, either your Mobo doesn't support PAE or it's not being detected properly by your kernel. I can offer a couple suggestions:

1) Add "forcepae" to your boot options and see if that works.
2) Upgrade to the 3.18 mainline kernel.
3) Re-install using 64bit version.

If it were me, I wouldn't mess with option 1 or 2. You could dump a list of installed packages from dpkg and then after re-install, use it to install everything you have now. This would bring to back to as close as your current state as possible as quickly as possible.

BTW: OK Ozarks? Any near Grand Lake? Spent some time there as a kid...

[okie2003]

oshunluvr, thanks for the advice. Since Mint 17 sees 8 GB I figured it was not a hardware issue. I will temporarily try "forcepae" and re-install when time allows. Yes, I am maybe 45 minutes south and a bit east of Grand Lake.

[okie2003]

Solved

Final update:
Apparently there was no problem. The System Information shows 4 GB and that is what I was looking at. The actual Memory tab shows 8 GB. (hopefully see attached screenshots). Thanks for your help and advice. I think I will install 64 bit next week on my day off. I will mark solved.

[oshunluvr]

Ahh, good catch. Open a terminal and type "free" and you should similar details.