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I have 6 GB installed, which as a 64-bit OS, it should see, but it only sees 3.5 GB! How do I remedy this?

Output as requested:

seann@seann:~$ dmidecode --type memory | grep -E "(Size|Maximum.Capacity)"
    Maximum Capacity: 4 GB
    Size: 2048 MB
    Size: 1024 MB
    Size: 2048 MB
    Size: 1024 MB

seann@seann:~$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3513       3328        185          0        373       2083

-/+ buffers/cache:        870       2642

Swap:         3907          4       3903
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The whole point in switching to an x64 OS was to be able to use the full 6GB! – Seann Jan 29 at 23:37
1  
Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! We'll need more information to be able to answer your question. Please provide the output of sudo dmidecode --type memory | grep -E "(Size|Maximum.Capacity)" and free -m run from the terminal. Please edit your question to include this. – gertvdijk Jan 29 at 23:57
2  
Does your motherboard support more than 4 GB of ram? – psusi Jan 30 at 0:59
1  
@Seann Your mainboard may support this memory configuration, but it's not showing it to the OS: Maximum Capacity: 4 GB. My best bet: in your BIOS there's an option to limit the amount of memory displayed to your OS for compatibility reasons. Disable that. – gertvdijk Jan 30 at 1:48
1  
@gertvdijk It sounds like you may be able to post an answer. – Eliah Kagan Jan 30 at 4:01
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1 Answer

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Limitation of the BIOS. Though it reports 6 GB installed, only 4 can be used. Dell does have a flash available but it's unclear as to weather or not it addresses the upper-limit issue described here. Still waiting for Dell to get back to me.

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