X86 OpenSuse linux and maximum RAM ( 32-bit operating systems 3 GB barrier )

General Linux Help
1

I’m currently having 2GB of memory on my PC. I would like to double if not triple my RAM. How can I confirm that my system can take more than 3GB of memory. The CPU supports ( or has flags ): PAE (Physical address extension) which should be the key to get more RAM into the system. I’m I missing something? How much RAM I can add to my system?

Here is what I have at the moment: 2x1GB RAM

SMBIOS 2.4 present.

Handle 0x0040, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x003F
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: Unknown
        Data Width: Unknown
        Size: 1024 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM_A1
        Bank Locator: Bank0/1
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: 800 MHz
        Manufacturer: None
        Serial Number: None
        Asset Tag: None
        Part Number: None

Handle 0x0041, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x003F
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: Unknown
        Data Width: Unknown
        Size: No Module Installed
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM_A2
        Bank Locator: Bank2/3
        Type: Unknown
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: Unknown
        Manufacturer: None
        Serial Number: None
        Asset Tag: None
        Part Number: None

Handle 0x0042, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x003F
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: Unknown
        Data Width: Unknown
        Size: 1024 MB
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM_B1
        Bank Locator: Bank4/5
        Type: DDR2
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: 800 MHz
        Manufacturer: None
        Serial Number: None
        Asset Tag: None
        Part Number: None

Handle 0x0043, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
        Array Handle: 0x003F
        Error Information Handle: Not Provided
        Total Width: Unknown
        Data Width: Unknown
        Size: No Module Installed
        Form Factor: DIMM
        Set: None
        Locator: DIMM_B2
        Bank Locator: Bank6/7
        Type: Unknown
        Type Detail: None
        Speed: Unknown
        Manufacturer: None
        Serial Number: None
        Asset Tag: None
        Part Number: None

CPU:

SMBIOS 2.4 present.

Handle 0x0005, DMI type 4, 35 bytes
Processor Information
        Socket Designation: Socket 775
        Type: Central Processor
        Family: Other
        Manufacturer: Intel
        ID: F7 06 00 00 FF FB EB BF
        Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model 15, Stepping 7
        Flags:
                FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
                VME (Virtual mode extension)
                DE (Debugging extension)
                PSE (Page size extension)
                TSC (Time stamp counter)
                MSR (Model specific registers)
                PAE (Physical address extension)
                MCE (Machine check exception)
                CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
                APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
                SEP (Fast system call)
                MTRR (Memory type range registers)
                PGE (Page global enable)
                MCA (Machine check architecture)
                CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
                PAT (Page attribute table)
                PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
                CLFSH (CLFLUSH instruction supported)
                DS (Debug store)
                ACPI (ACPI supported)
                MMX (MMX technology supported)
                FXSR (FXSAVE and FXSTOR instructions supported)
                SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
                SSE2 (Streaming SIMD extensions 2)
                SS (Self-snoop)
                HTT (Multi-threading)
                TM (Thermal monitor supported)
                PBE (Pending break enabled)
        Version: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU           @ 2.40GHz
        Voltage: 0.0 V
        External Clock: 266 MHz
        Max Speed: 3800 MHz
        Current Speed: 2400 MHz
        Status: Populated, Enabled
        Upgrade: ZIF Socket
        L1 Cache Handle: 0x000B
        L2 Cache Handle: 0x000C
        L3 Cache Handle: 0x000D
        Serial Number:  
        Asset Tag:  
        Part Number:

Thank you

2

What does uname -r say? If you google opensuse pae kernel?

3

I have all reasons to believe that it will be ok. My motherboard supports up to 4x2GB RAM and :

# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep pae
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm dts tpr_shadow

will see what happens…

4

This are just notes if someone read this thread:

I added additional 4 GB to my current 2GB system and after boot I seen :

            total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3277       1258       2018          0         56        512
-/+ buffers/cache:        689       2587
Swap:         1906          0       1906

Great what now? I did little bit of search with zypper and found and installed package: kernel-pae

this also fetched some other packages:

    # zypper install kernel-pae
    Loading repository data...
    Reading installed packages...
    Resolving package dependencies...

    The following NEW packages are going to be installed:
      kernel-pae kernel-pae-devel ndiswrapper-kmp-pae virtualbox-guest-kmp-pae virtualbox-host-kmp-pae 
      vmware-guest-kmp-pae

This will install linux kernel with pae support and create a new grub entry. After reboot with PAE kernel everything is as it should be:

free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          5993       1266       4726          0         48        517
-/+ buffers/cache:        700       5292
Swap:         1906          0       1906

final note. Yes, opensuse support PAE by not by default…!