T40 thinkpad with 2GB of RAM

[Guest shlomoyona]

Hello,

 

I've recently bought 2 1GB memory modules in order to upgrade the current 256mb RAM on my T40 Thinkpad.

 

I'm using Linux Mandrake 9.1.

 

Replacing the memory and adding the second one was technically easy using the instructions at the IBM site.

 

However, it seems that Mandrake 9.1 didn't recognize my new memory. At least not in full. After some googling I have realized that for such amounts of memory one needs a kernel compiled with Hi-Mem. Mandrake has such an enterprise kernel (2421-13ent). I've installed it (rpm -Uvh) and now linux recognizes the memory.

 

BUT -- while doing this -- I might have powered off the laptop during one of the boots and I seem to have damaged some configuration or application because some things stopped working:

* KDE doesn't load anymore... after login I only get a background screen with a prompt

* I cannot mount USB devices (disk on key, smartmedia card readers...) because there isn't any /dev/sda or /dev/sda1

 

I was able to start KDE only using the following trick:

 

at lilo, press ESC and load your kernel on runlevel 3. In my case

2421-13ent 3

and then login

and then at the prompt run

startx

 

this worked nicely....

 

 

Now -- what I need is help restoring the KDE so I won't need to boot on runlevel 3 and load it manualy.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

Another question -- What should I do if I want to upgrade from Mandrake 9.1 to Mandrake 10 and I'd like to have the memory issue addressed during installation. Are there any special steps to take?

 

Thanks

[jlc]

If you upgrade to 10, I "assume" your ram would be detected. Distro's like MDK/SUSE/Fedora normally detect most hardware and install an appropriate kernelf or your system, If it detect 1GB + ram it "should" install a kernel that will handle it. I'm only guessing here so don't take this as the Gospel. ;-)

 

If you do go that route, back all your data and just do a fresh install.

 

As far as KDE, I'm not a kde user so this is another guess ;) in your /home/you dir you will see a .kde dir. I would move that.

 

mv .kde kde.old

 

Logout and log back in. That "SHOULD" recrete your kde session. Mind you that any settings you have set would/should be gone. Keep in mind like I said, I'm not a big KDE user so I could be wrong and that is why I suggest mv it and not deleting it.

 

If you want to boot into init3 with out messing with lilo each time, vi /etc/inittab and change it to "3" < but this is probably only because of your specific problems.

[Guest shlomoyona]

The thing with the KDE is as follows:

 

after boot

mdkkdm runs but fails to load a window manager

so I'm left with only X and an xterm.

 

Where to look for the problems?

[jlc]

Try kdm or gdm and see if they fail?

[Michel]

Can you see if your .xsession-errors-file (in you home-directory) has any contents of the moment when you login and if so, post it here ... ?

[Guest shlomoyona]

Try kdm or gdm and see if they fail?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What fails is the initialization of KDE.

X is being started, however, KDE isn't.

[Guest shlomoyona]

Can you see if your .xsession-errors-file (in you home-directory) has any contents of the moment when you login and if so, post it here ... ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I don't have such a file. I was looking for error logfiles... didn't find any.

[coverup]

What fails is the initialization of KDE.

X is being started, however, KDE isn't.

I had something like this... Mandrake suggested an enterprise kernel for my 1GB laptop. After the kernel upgrade, KDE failed to start (even from INIT 3) despite I was using matching ATI drivers and ATI-GLX library from the MandrakeClub with the enterprise kernel. IceWM was starting just fine.

 

Downgrading the ATI-GLX library made KDE happy.