Kieth Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Just a curiosity. Since everything is running slowly in my new 2010.0 x86_64 KDE clean install, I was wondering if the memory usage could be part of the problem. I found the following commands on the internet, and I was wondering if you could tell me if my 4 GB of memory is being used correctly. Thanks, Kieth [kieth@host-001 ~]$ vmstat procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu---- r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa 1 0 123912 15884 19124 360316 3 15 146 114 280 576 82 14 3 1 [kieth@host-001 ~]$ free -m total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 1001 976 25 0 18 340 -/+ buffers/cache: 617 384 Swap: 3992 122 3870 [kieth@host-001 ~]$ free -t -m total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 1001 973 28 0 18 340 -/+ buffers/cache: 614 387 Swap: 3992 122 3870 Total: 4994 1095 3898 [kieth@host-001 ~]$ dmesg | grep ^Memory: Memory: 1018600k/1048256k available (3709k kernel code, 452k absent, 29204k reserved, 2734k data, 612k init) [moved from Everything Linux by spinynorman] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 I find that strange, are you sure it's a 64 bit install? Reason I ask is because it looks like you only have 1GB of ram accessible: total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 1001 973 28 0 18 340 On mine: [ian@esprit ~]$ free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 3677184 1380936 2296248 0 48420 676516 -/+ buffers/cache: 656000 3021184 Swap: 995988 0 995988 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted November 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Yeh I'm sure, but what command would I give in Konsole to give that info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Easiest way is do: uname -a if you see anything other than x86_64 so likely i686 or similar, then you are running a 32 bit distro, it must say x86_64 if it's 64 bit, here's mine from CentOS 5 x86_64 so you can compare: Linux esprit 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5.centos.plusxen #1 SMP Wed Nov 4 10:10:32 EST 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux if not similar, then it is 32 bit distro installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 I'd say: Either you have the wrong kernel installed (by accident and more likely) or the default kernel has a bug (which would be nasty). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted November 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 :woops: After reading what Ian and Arctic said, I had doubts. I was sure I had I installed a 64 bit system: [kieth@host-001 ~]$ uname -a Linux host-001.homenet.telecomitalia.it 2.6.31.5-server-1mnb #1 SMP Fri Oct 23 01:19:00 EDT 2009 x86_64 AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3000+ GNU/Linux and I had a hard time believing I had installed the wrong kernel, so . . . I opened my box and I found my error. It's called an OE (operator error!). I only have 2 strips of 512 memory installed! Sorry. I guess I was only hoping to have 4 GB instead of 1! The fact that I was convinced I had 4 GB is the reason why I wanted to install a 64 bit system! Oh well, so much for pride. After this, who can have it! Now I guess I can alter my original question. The slowness of my system, could it be caused from the fact that I ONLY have ONE GB of memory? When I talk about slowness, I mean, for example, the mouse sometimes moves in a "jerky" fashion, switching desktops takes too long, and it takes longer than before for a menu to pop up. I do usually have at least 3 programs up and running at the same time (OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird). I will often have more, too. I did not have this problem with 2009 Spring - 32 bit. Thanks (and sorry for the OE!), Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tux99 Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 1GB is perfectly fine for normal desktop use with Linux. Check if you system is swapping a lot: # free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 2073680 1999788 73892 0 94588 1103992 -/+ buffers/cache: 801208 1272472 Swap: 4008208 268 4007940 See if the used swap value is high. Also what DE where you using with 2009.1? Gnome, KDE 3.5, KDE 4, XFCE, LXDE,...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted November 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 [kieth@host-001 ~]$ free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 507616 483424 24192 0 45648 68736 -/+ buffers/cache: 369040 138576 Swap: 4088500 96460 3992040 I used KDE 4 with 2009. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSurfer60 Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 You look to have 1/2 meg working there Kieth. Either you have one stick of ram that has gone bad or its not seated correctly is what I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 That is strange, your first post shows 1GB and your last one shows 512MB. As silversurfer says, when you took it out it probably didn't get seated correctly. I'd get onto it immediately, because if that chip moves when your computer is switched on, it'll short and then it'll blow. I had a soundcard do this when it worked loose from it's PCI slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted November 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Well Ian, you're right. It looks like my memory strip burned out. I will try again later, but even when I switch the two strips, the computer will not start, but "complains". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Well, it is quite possible that your RAM has just reached its EOL (end of lifetime). Run e.g. a RAM diagnosis-tool like Memtest in order to check for defective RAM. The even more unpleaseant scenario would be your motherboard slowly reaching it's EOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSurfer60 Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Are you saying the good bank of memory that you had will not boot now? Have you tried it with just the one bank of memory in? If either of the above questions are yes, it is looking quite serious I'm afraid to say. Let's hope not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted November 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 Whew, I got it fixed. After I had checked the memory strip, it was registering only one strip instead of 2. The computer would boot on the good one, so I switched them around and put in only the bad one, and the computer wouldn't boot up. So I rigorously cleaned the contacts on the bad strip, and that solved the problem!!! [kieth@host-001 ~]$ free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 1025732 730628 295104 0 19000 399516 -/+ buffers/cache: 312112 713620 Swap: 4088500 0 4088500 Thanks for the help, Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSurfer60 Posted November 8, 2009 Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 Glad you got that sorted. Quite a worry when you get something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.