hi guys,
my pc is of the following configuration:
PIII 933
256 MB SD RAM
INTEL i810 Mother Board

Previously, I had 128MB RAM and a few days back I added another 128 MB.... but after i added 128MB linux system behaved erratically.... at times it was reasonably fast while at other times it was agonizing slow...
i used *free* command to check ram... it showed 256MB... but when i booted the system using the following option:
linux mem=254M
my linux system was really flying... (am using Red Hat 8)

However, if I use any value more than 254 in the boot option... then the system becomes very slow indeed...
can anyone please tell me why linux fails to take 256MB RAM or when it attempts to use 256MB RAM it becomes very slow....

cheers!
abhijit

Just a thought..... doesn't the Linux Kernel reserve a couple megs of RAM for itself, and only leaves the rest to the system? Maybe the 254 means that 2 mb is for the kernel, and the remaining 254 is for the system?

Just guessing here.... Someone probably has a better idea than me.

slight

yes you are correct slightcrazed.. if you really think something is going on with your ram you can always run 'memtest86' on it..

but before i mention the option linux mem=254M
why did the system behaved erratically... at times the way it is behaving right now ... but at other times it was really really slow..

also i would like to know why linux becomes exceedingly slow when i use the boot option linux mem=255M (or greater)

cheers
abhijit