RAM Test

[anonprivate]

Things are running very slowly. I see no messages, but I wonder if checking the RAM would be a good idea.

I have memtest86+ installed. Evidently it runs at bootup. I can't seem to run it from the command line.

Advice please.

On a related point.

I am thinking of upgrading my RAM from 1 GB to 4 GB

I have two 512 MB cards installed and two spare slots.

Some say I should keep these modules and add 2X 1GB ram cards.

Others say remove these modules and install 4 x 1 GB cards

What do you think

[Snowhog]

As to your slowness, a more likely cause is either dirty caches or available space on the root partition is very low. But, increasing available RAM won't hurt at all.

As long as the remaining two slots (BANK 1) are filled with the same RAM chips you are fine. What you don't do is to mix RAM chips (type/size/speed) in available BANK slots.

[anonprivate]

As to your slowness, a more likely cause is either dirty caches or available space on the root partition is very low. But, increasing available RAM won't hurt at all.

As long as the remaining two slots (BANK 1) are filled with the same RAM chips you are fine. What you don't do is to mix RAM chips (type/size/speed) in available BANK slots.

So, it would be a good idea to clear the cache. Do you mean the cache in Firefox?

I don't know how to check the available space on the root partition, or what action I could take.

Regarding the RAM slots. I have four slots and two have 512 MB cards - the RAM. I have been advised to either fill the other two slots with 1 GB RAM cards; or, to remove the cards and install 4 x 1 GB ram Cards. On my system, the maximum ram is 4 GB with a 32 bit OS

[Snowhog]

See https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-...space-command/ for how to check disc space usage.

[vinnywright]

1GB of RAM is rather minimal on a recent Kubuntu , even on 14.04 ,,,,,,,,heck hear with just firefox,dolphin,Okular and 1 console open the system is using 1.7GB of RAM .

if I were you and could afford it , I would be getting the 4-matched 1GB sticks ,,,,4GB RAM is not unreasonable.

wile you are up and running and things are kinda slow ,,,,,,,,,,,,open a konsole and do

free -h && df -h

then post the results in the code tags ,,,,,# button above the text input field you typing in .

VINNY

[anonprivate]

andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$ free -h && df -h
            total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          998M       935M        62M        52M        13M       207M
-/+ buffers/cache:       714M       283M
Swap:         1.0G       959M        61M
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            483M  4.0K  483M   1% /dev
tmpfs           100M  1.1M   99M   2% /run
/dev/sda1       229G   16G  201G   8% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            500M  105M  395M  21% /run/shm
none            100M   20K  100M   1% /run/user
andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$

Regarding the ram modules. I would be adding modules that only differ in their capacity.

Some of the 'experts' take the view that at 4GB, the maximum that my motherboard supports with a 32 bit OS, about 075 MB is stolen for the video, hence, they advise 3 MB of ram. But, it seems to me that, again. 0.75 MB would be stolen, so 4 x 1GB would seem to me to be the best. Evidently, I should expect to see 3 GB. I am a little confused

[vinnywright]

andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$ free -h && df -h
          total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          998M       [COLOR=#ff0000]935M[/COLOR]        62M        52M        13M       207M
-/+ buffers/cache:       714M       283M
Swap:         1.0G       [COLOR=#ff0000]959M[/COLOR]        61M
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            483M  4.0K  483M   1% /dev
tmpfs           100M  1.1M   99M   2% /run
/dev/sda1       229G   16G  201G  [COLOR=#0000ff] 8%[/COLOR] /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            500M  105M  395M  21% /run/shm
none            100M   20K  100M   1% /run/user
andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$

Regarding the ram modules. I would be adding modules that only differ in their capacity.

Some of the 'experts' take the view that at 4GB, the maximum that my motherboard supports with a 32 bit OS, about 075 MB is stolen for the video, hence, they advise 3 MB of ram. But, it seems to me that, again. 0.75 MB would be stolen, so 4 x 1GB would seem to me to be the best. Evidently, I should expect to see 3 GB. I am a little confused

and hears the reason it's slow ,,,,,,almost all your RAM is used (red)and almost all your swap (red)partition ,,,,,things get slow when swap has to be used to keep the system running .

your root partition is 92% free , your only using 8% (blue)so that is not a problem

IF your video uses the installed system RAM then yes YOU are correct that no mater how much RAM you install you can - out 75MB of it for Video ,,,get the 4GB ,,,,but as @Snowhog said try to make sure the chips match ,at least per bank ,,,,,,,usualy if you have 4 slots it will be bank 1 (2slots)bank 2 (2slots) you would match ram sticks by bank1-slot1 bank2-slot1 and bank1-slot2 bank2-slot2 ,,,check the documentation for the MB . you want them to be the same speed type and size ,,,,,what is your MB?

VINNY

[anonprivate]

and hears the reason it's slow ,,,,,,almost all your RAM is used (red)and almost all your swap (red)partition ,,,,,things get slow when swap has to be used to keep the system running .

your root partition is 92% free , your only using 8% (blue)so that is not a problem

IF your video uses the installed system RAM then yes YOU are correct that no mater how much RAM you install you can - out 75MB of it for Video ,,,get the 4GB ,,,,but as @Snowhog said try to make sure the chips match ,at least per bank ,,,,,,,usualy if you have 4 slots it will be bank 1 (2slots)bank 2 (2slots) you would match ram sticks by bank1-slot1 bank2-slot1 and bank1-slot2 bank2-slot2 ,,,check the documentation for the MB . you want them to be the same speed type and size ,,,,,what is your MB?

VINNY

I would buy four 1 GB cards of the same specification, and that are recommended for my machine.

On my machine, I have four slots. The first and third are paired (white) and the second and fourth (black)

Just on the reading of the table is not the root partition showing 16G/229G used

Best wishes

[jglen490]

Yes, in your / partition on your hard drive, 16GB is used of the available 229GB. And as noted, what is slowing your system is not your primary partition disk space but rather your RAM and swap space. 4GB of RAM will help your system very much with its processing speed.

[anonprivate]

Yes, in your / partition on your hard drive, 16GB is used of the available 229GB. And as noted, what is slowing your system is not your primary partition disk space but rather your RAM and swap space. 4GB of RAM will help your system very much with its processing speed.

Thank you,

After installing the RAM, would the swap space automatically adjust, or, would I need to take further action? If the latter, could I take action now before buying the RAM

Best wishes

[vinnywright]

Thank you,

After installing the RAM, would the swap space automatically adjust, or, would I need to take further action? If the latter, could I take action now before buying the RAM

Best wishes

this depends ,,,,,,did you create a swap partition before or during installation of the system ,,,,or did the installer automatically create a swap file during the install ,,,FYI a swap file is just that , a file in your file system , and not the same as a swap partition .

VINNY

[jglen490]

In a terminal could you enter

sudo fdisk -l

or

sudo parted -l

and post the results here?

[anonprivate]

this depends ,,,,,,did you create a swap partition before or during installation of the system ,,,,or did the installer automatically create a swap file during the install ,,,FYI a swap file is just that , a file in your file system , and not the same as a swap partition .

VINNY

I installed version 14 so long ago that I can't remember. But, I would probably have let the installer automatically create the file

[Snowhog]

In a konsole just type: cat /etc/fstab and look for an entry that identifies swap. If it's there, you have a swap partition.

[anonprivate]

In a terminal could you enter

sudo fdisk -l

or

sudo parted -l

and post the results here?

andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for andrew: 

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders, total 488281250 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000dad8b

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   486187007   243092480   83  Linux
/dev/sda2       486189054   488280063     1045505    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       486189056   488280063     1045504   82  Linux swap / Solaris
andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$

andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD2500JS-75N (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system     Flags
1      1049kB  249GB  249GB   primary   ext4            boot
2      249GB   250GB  1071MB  extended
5      249GB   250GB  1071MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)

andrew@andrew-Dell-DM061:~$