Member Avatar for ret801

hello I have just installed ubuntu over my windows partition and I like it but im having minor issues, when I open system monitor and look at the memory usage I see I have 741 mb of memory wtf!?! cause I know I have 2gb installed

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A focused troubleshooting note for this thread: when Ubuntu reports only ~741 MB while 2 GB is installed the cause is usually hardware/BIOS reporting or a kernel boot limit, not the installer or normal Linux caching. Replies from , and raised useful possibilities; the checklist below prioritizes verifiable checks that rule out each major cause.

Software-side quick checks (what the kernel and firmware actually see)

uname -m
cat /proc/meminfo
cat /proc/cmdline
sudo dmidecode -t memory
sudo lshw -C memory
dmesg | egrep -i 'memory|ram|reserved' | head -n 30

Compare “MemTotal” from /proc/meminfo to the total shown in BIOS/UEFI. If they match the low value, Linux is accurately reflecting what the firmware reports.

Hardware checks and safe handling

  • Power down, unplug and ground yourself before touching components. Reseat each DIMM and test one stick at a time in the primary slot (A1). Try each slot individually to rule out a bad slot.
  • Run memtest86+ (available from GRUB or a live USB) to test modules for faults. A failing DIMM or DIMM slot will show errors quickly.

Other diagnostics and notes

  • Some motherboards reserve large blocks of RAM for integrated graphics or hardware; check BIOS for shared-GPU memory settings.
  • A kernel boot parameter (for example a restrictive mem= setting) will limit usable RAM; cat /proc/cmdline shows any such option.
  • WUBI or the installer rarely "hides" RAM permanently; if BIOS and memtest report full RAM but Linux does not, focus on kernel cmdline or firmware settings.

This summary complements and ’s request for command output and expands on // observations without repeating their exact examples. Collect the outputs above and the BIOS memory figure for a definitive next step.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for ITkat

ubuntu uses 256mb of ram to install and 8mb ram is consumed by graphics i don't know of the remaining 995mb of ram but my guess is that it might have been used during installation. ubuntu can run with 256mb ram

Member Avatar for jbennet

Type "free -m" into the console

Give me the output.

Member Avatar for 117
I guess you are using WUBI to install Ubuntu alongside Windows.

WUBI was origionally created for Windows users to try out the Linux Operating System,
in order for the users to later install a full copy of the operating system on another HDD or on a
another partition, even completely switch to Linux from Windows.

However, some things are stricted and very limited, when using WUBI.
For example, the maximum system size is limited to 30GB, even if you have more HDD space.
I don't really believe that RAM would be limited, while using WUBI.

Have you checked your RAM?
One of your RAM-stick or RAM-Ports may be damaged.

Hope this helps.

Member Avatar for rubberman

How are you determining this amount of RAM? Post the output of the "free" command here.

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