I'm trying to add an additional 1GB RAM to a 1GB system. After the grub screen the kernel panics ("trying to delete idle process").

The system is a dual processor Athlon 2400+. The kernel panics under both RH8.0 and RH9.0.

I have used "mem=2048M" int the kernel line of the grub configuration. When I use "mem=1024M" it still panics. The only way I can boot is to physically remove the memory.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Since you have got the 1GB RAM yet I am not sure is it a reason but try to change the kernel option CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM (with 'make menuconfig': Processor type and features ---> High Memory Support) and let me know if if it helped.

I recompiled the kernel with NOHIGHMEM off. Same result.

Are both sticks the same brand ? Sometimes 2 diferent brands can cause conflict.

Bruno

I have four sticks of 512MB 333Mh. Two sticks work ok.

With four sticks, the bios works ok (reporting 2GB), the grub screen comes up ok, but it panic shortly after in the boot process.

The board is a Tyan "Thunder K7X Pro" with two Athlon MP 2400+ processors. The board supports up to 4GB.

Yes but are they the same BRAND ?

Yes.

Beats me . . .

Bruno

Off??? See 'help' or any readme!

did you try setting your bios settings to conservative
ones. like turning off memory interleaving and setting
the memory timings to the slowest?

In my config file, there are four parameters:
a) for less than 960M physical RAM there is CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM (not set),
b) for 1GB-4GB there is CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G (set)
c) for > 4GB there is CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G (not set)
d) and, CONFIG_HIGHMEM (set).

I believe these are the correct settings for RH9.0.

Will any random two sticks work? What about three? How about non-random; try one from the old batch, one from the new batch. You might try the memtest86 kernel that runs a suite of tests on the memory (unless you have NO reason to suspect the memory).
http://www.memtest86.com/

Have you tried it with no command line option?

Did you buy the more expensive (only slightly more) Registered DDR SDRAM. I looked at the specs for that board and it says "Supports up to 4GB* of Registered DDR 200/266". I have seen many other AMD chipset based motherboards with the same limitation. They can only support memory in all 4 slots if you buy registered memory. With any non-registered memory in there it will only work with a max of 2 (or sometimes 3) DIMMS. I could be wrong about this particular board, but the spec on the tyan page is pretty vague on the subject.

EDIT: Ok, ignore this, according to Crucial this board doesn't support non-registered memory in any way, shape, or form. So this can't be your problem.

For AMD MP boards buy ECC memory. Below is what Aberdeen Inc recommends for the board.

Corsair:
CM72SD256R-2100
CM72SD512R-2100
CM73SD512R-2100
CM74SD1024R-2100

Also set the FSB to 266 MHz. If you want a higher FSB, gradually increase the speed.