3.2gb Out Of 4.0gb 16.04

Question

I hope I'm putting this on the right website. I'm not completely use to terminal commands, so sorry if I put the wrong ones.

I upgraded from 2gb to 4gb DDR2 RAM. In bios, it shows up with the full 4096 (4gb), but in Ubuntu 16.04 it only sees 3.2gb.

Output of free -m:

free -m
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           3249         908        1259         164        1081        1996
Swap:          3315           0        3315

In the lshw command under the memory part, it shows:

 *-memory
          description: System memory
          physical id: 0
          size: 3249MiB

Thanks for the help. :)

64 bit. I looked it up and it said somewhere it might be caused by OnBoard graphics, so I changed that to Intergrated but no change in RAM. — RedStar12, Sep 05 '16 at 00:46
Yes, it can be but changing graphics has nothing to do with it. Besides, it's the integrated chip that requires reserved system memory, not the other way around. You may change the reserved memory for video at BIOS/UEFI settings if that option is available. — , Sep 05 '16 at 00:49
@DougSmythies your link doesn't fully explain things because s/he should have 3.85 GB not 3.2GB visible. — WinEunuuchs2Unix, Sep 05 '16 at 01:20
I'm using a Dell Inspiron 530.
@ByteCommander it says:

width: 64 bits — RedStar12, Sep 05 '16 at 02:46

WinEunuuchs2Unix · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-05T04:11:53.537

1

The same problems with your Dell Inspiron 530 have been reported with Windows users in the past and the solution was to update the BIOS.

This link 4GB Installed 2.75GB Usable describes what others encountered.

Your BIOS was released in 2009 but was updated in 2012 under version number 1.0.18.

You can download the latest BIOS from: inspiron-530/drivers. Sorry it's the Dell Canada website, but a US website should have the same if not newer driver.

The BIOS update is an .exe file that doesn't run under Linux. There are many tutorials on how to Flash BIOS under Linux on google searches. However in this case the link to Dell: Updating the Dell BIOS in Linux and Ubuntu Environments is probably the best one to start with.

edited Sep 05 '16 at 04:11

answered Sep 05 '16 at 03:25

WinEunuuchs2Unix

102,282

Thanks for the reply! The only problem is, it's an exe file. Would Wine be able to install it without problems? – RedStar12 Sep 05 '16 at 03:57
Now that is a good question. When I updated my Dell BIOS it was probably under Windows. Give me a few minutes and I'll update the answer. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Sep 05 '16 at 04:01
@RedStar12 I updated the answer with Dell's instructions for flashing BIOS under Linux / Ubuntu. Dell says pretty much the same things as Arch and Debian on the google searches I just did. But because you have a Dell I put their link in the answer. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Sep 05 '16 at 04:15

3.2gb Out Of 4.0gb 16.04

1 Answers1