LDME not recognizing my additional RAM <SOLVED>

[Nocturn Adrift]

Hi all,
So recently I have taken to fixing up an old family computer of mine. It has been a fun project restoring the first computer I ever touched. It's an old Gateway "GT5449E" desktop that, from what I could tell, was released in 2004 going from the BIOS (there is no information on this particular model, go figure). In relation to topic subject, it utilized two 1GB DDR2 RAM sticks in one channel, with the other two being empty. I eventually decided to order another two DDR2 RAM sticks to fit the slots the original motherboard came with. These new RAM sticks were 2GB respectively.

Each of these "channels" (slots) were marked white and black respectively, in the order of white, black, repeat. I put the new 2GB RAM sticks in the original channel (the two white slots), and proceeded to move the original two 1GB RAM into the other channel (the two black slots). I used hardinfo to check and see if the RAM was recognized by the OS. hardinfo gives the total amount of memory as 3589480 KiB (when I put this through a converter, it calculated to about 4GB of RAM).

I decided to turn off the PC, reconnect the RAM with their respective slots, and boot into the BIOS of my PC. The BIOS was able to read all of the RAM, noting that each slot had 2048 MB (2GB), 1024 MB (1GB), 2048 MB, 1024 MB of RAM in each slot respectively. Booting back into LMDE and running hardinfo again yielded the same result as the paragraph before. My conclusion is that LMDE recognizes the two 2GB RAM sticks in the white channel (slots), but not the two 1GB RAM sticks in the black channel (slots). Anyone know why is this may be the case?

[Moonstone Man]

My conclusion is that LMDE recognizes the two 2GB RAM sticks in the white channel (slots), but not the two 1GB RAM sticks in the black channel (slots). Anyone know why is this may be the case?

You provide no technical information to go on, so only general pointers can be given to you. You might like to click the link at the top of the page. You can't miss it, it's in red and says...

Forum rules
Before you post please read how to get help

Pay particular attention to item 5. If you reply with code from a terminal, wrap it in code tags [code]output.here[/code]. You'll see the code tags icon </> when you reply.

There are a number of possible causes, and you're going to have to do some leg work to find out what cause is the most likely.

First, your BIOS could be lying to you. While it might see 6GB, it might not be able to drive 6GB of unmatched memory so it's dropping the 2 x 1GB sticks when the CPU boots fully.

Second, your BIOS could be lying to you. While it might see 6GB, it might not support anything above 4GB, even if the CPU is 64bit capable.

Third, your LMDE is 32-bit, in which case it can't see 6GB because a 32bit OS is only capable of seeing 4GB.

In any case, it's a PEBCAK error, not a LMDE error.

[Nocturn Adrift]

You provide no technical information to go on, so only general pointers can be given to you. Read the forum rules. In particular, item 5.

My bad. It's been a while and I should've refreshed on the rules. Here is the output of inxi -Fxxxrz:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: haven Kernel: 4.19.0-16-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 Desktop: i3 4.16.1 
           info: i3bar dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: LMDE 4 Debbie base: Debian 10.2 buster 
Machine:   Type: Unknown Mobo: Intel model: D945GCF v: AAD73937-203 serial: <filter> BIOS: Intel 
           v: CF94510J.15A.0038.2007.0226.1646 date: 02/26/2007 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 4300 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core Merom rev: 2 
           L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 7199 
           Speed: 1435 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1435 2: 1312 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GF119 [GeForce GT 610] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 390.141 bus ID: 01:00.0 
           chip ID: 10de:104a 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 610/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.141 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Gateway driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:27d8 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GF119 HDMI Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
           chip ID: 10de:0e08 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-16-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family LAN vendor: Gateway driver: e100 v: 3.5.24-k2-NAPI port: 1000 
           bus ID: 07:08.0 chip ID: 8086:27dc 
           IF: enp7s8 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Ralink MT7601U Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: mt7601u bus ID: 5-2:2 chip ID: 148f:7601 
           serial: <filter> 
           IF: wlxe84e06755da5 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 104.61 GiB (11.2%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST31000524AS size: 931.51 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm 
           serial: <filter> rev: JC4A scheme: MBR 
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel 82801GR/GDH (ICH7R/ICH7DH) SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: 30a0 
           bus ID: 00:1f.2 chip ID: 8086.27c3 rev: 01 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 36.42 GiB used: 10.62 GiB (29.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: /home size: 873.72 GiB used: 47.00 GiB (5.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 5.59 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 51 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com debbie main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb https://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           3: deb https://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           4: deb http://security.debian.org buster/updates main contrib non-free
           5: deb https://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
Info:      Processes: 151 Uptime: 4h 38m Memory: 3.42 GiB used: 796.4 MiB (22.7%) Init: systemd v: 241 runlevel: 5 
           Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 running in: lxterminal inxi: 3.0.32 

There are a number of possible causes, and you're going to have to do some leg work to find out what cause is the most likely... [if] your LMDE is 32-bit... it can't see 6GB because a 32bit OS is only capable of seeing 4GB.

We can eliminate this possibility. My OS is 64bit.

First, your BIOS could be lying to you. While it might see 6GB, it might not be able to drive 6GB of unmatched memory so it's dropping the 2 x 1GB sticks when the CPU boots fully.

Second, your BIOS could be lying to you. While it might see 6GB, it might not support anything above 4GB, even if the CPU is 64bit capable.

I'm having trouble interpreting what this means. For the first statement, are you stating that the some BIOSs cannot drive RAM sticks that have a different GB attached to them? For the second statement, are you saying that that the BIOS can't use 6GB of RAM because it was coded not to?

[Moonstone Man]

I'm having trouble interpreting what this means. For the first statement, are you stating that the some BIOSs cannot drive RAM sticks that have a different GB attached to them? For the second statement, are you saying that that the BIOS can't use 6GB of RAM because it was coded not to?

Yes to both. However note that I used the word 'might'. In both cases, you need to consult the manufacturer's specifications.

[Nocturn Adrift]

In both cases, you need to consult the manufacturer's specifications.

Are there any commands or programs you may know of to get that kind of information on a motherboard? I have been trying to web search information for this computer multiple times, and can't seem to find who manufactured the default motherboard for this thing.

[Moonstone Man]

...I have been trying to web search information for this computer multiple times, and can't seem to find who manufactured the default motherboard for this thing.

Gateway manufactured it, and a google search for Gateway "GT5449E" turns up a lot of resources to check.

[Moonstone Man]

As does gateway gt5449e specifications

[Nocturn Adrift]

According to this resource, and this resource, it seems like your original statement regarding the BIOS not being able to read more than 4GB of RAM was true. I'm considering this solved, and will change the title accordingly.

Thanks for your help, Kadaitcha Man. This was the first time I ever messed with changing desktop PC hardware before. It is truly appreciated.