Memory problems in 9.1

[johnnyv]

recently i tried upgrading from 512 to 1024mb ram on my kt333 mobo.

i used 1 x 512 & 2 X 256 sticks but when i went to boot the screen would go blank and the caplock and scroll lock lights would flash on the kboard.

 

thought it may have been the kt333 chipsets dislike of 3 sticks of ddr333 mem

 

so i got another 512mb stick so that i would have 2 of them.

 

well same problem, this time i was using the multimedia kernel, lilo boot menu to blank screen.

 

i rebooted and instead of using lilos graphical menu i hit escape to go to the boot prompt.

from there i loaded up the kernel, and it doesn't have the blankscreen problem if done that way.

 

using the free command i get this:

[john@bob john]$ free

            total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached

Mem:        904200     221224     682976          0      11996     124144

-/+ buffers/cache:      85084     819116

Swap:       425680          0     425680

[john@bob john]$

so it looks like the multimedia kernel doens't have high memory support

 

Ok so my questions are:

 

Is the multimedia kernel limited in ram support like the standard kernel?

 

If so how can i rebuild the src.rpm of the multimedia kernel to support 1GB of memory?(as i like the mm kernel).

 

How can i boot from graphical lilo without the blackscreen problem?

 

The 9.1 errata state that to solve this problem when installing pass "linux vga=0" at the boot prompt. Anyone know what this actually does and would it effect game performance?

 

Cheers :D

[pmpatrick]

There's an errata on this re installation describing the same symptoms on

high memory(over 1 gig) configurations:

 

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/errata.php3

 

You might try doning an upgrade with the "linux vga=0" as described in the errata. Don't select any packages for install and reconfigure X.

[johnnyv]

I assume i could just append it in lilo.conf rather than a using the install disks.

Is this actually just a problem with the graphical lilo display?

Is lilo using the framebuffer for display, i think it must be as the nvidia modules are not loaded untill after lilo is running.

[Michel]

If it is still not working..I've asked it before here and here is the answer..

 

linux kernel met high-memory-support:

You don't need to apply any special patch, just select the option "Processor type and features --> High Memory Support" when configuring and then recompile the kernel

 

Code:

High Memory support

CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM

Linux can use up to 64 Gigabytes of physical memory on x86 systems.

However, the address space of 32-bit x86 processors is only 4

Gigabytes large. That means that, if you have a large amount of

physical memory, not all of it can be "permanently mapped" by the

kernel. The physical memory that's not permanently mapped is called

"high memory".

 

If you are compiling a kernel which will never run on a machine with

more than 960 megabytes of total physical RAM, answer "off" here (default

choice and suitable for most users). This will result in a "3GB/1GB"

split: 3GB are mapped so that each process sees a 3GB virtual memory

space and the remaining part of the 4GB virtual memory space is used

by the kernel to permanently map as much physical memory as

possible.

 

If the machine has between 1 and 4 Gigabytes physical RAM, then

answer "4GB" here.

 

If more than 4 Gigabytes is used then answer "64GB" here. This

selection turns Intel PAE (Physical Address Extension) mode on.

PAE implements 3-level paging on IA32 processors. PAE is fully

supported by Linux, PAE mode is implemented on all recent Intel

processors (Pentium Pro and better). NOTE: If you say "64GB" here,

then the kernel will not boot on CPUs that don't support PAE!

 

The actual amount of total physical memory will either be auto

detected or can be forced by using a kernel command line option such

as "mem=256M". (Try "man bootparam" or see the documentation of your

boot loader (grub, lilo or loadlin) about how to pass options to the

kernel at boot time.)

 

If unsure, say "off".

 

4GB

CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G

Select this if you have a 32-bit processor and between 1 and 4

gigabytes of physical RAM.

 

64GB

CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G

Select this if you have a 32-bit processor and more than 4

gigabytes of physical RAM.