Suse 8.2 RAM problem

I just installed Suse 8.2 and during the install process had the same issue I had while installing Mandrake. If you have over 1 gig of RAM the install just pops up a blank screen. I fixed this with Suse and MAndrake by removing RAM down to 512mb, however with Suse when I put back in the remainder of my RAM Suse will boot up a blank screen...Mandrake didn't do this.

Is there a solution to this problem?

Thanks!

Had the same problem here (>1GB RAM install hang). If you're installing SuSE 8.2 and still having problems try adding

vga=normal

as an additional command at the install screen. That will lead you through the rest of the installation. On certain systems there is some weird conflict that the kernel can't resolve. Over 1GB RAM and certain vid card mix... Hope they fix that in SuSE 9.0 (due out in October).

Mandrake 9.1 is in the same kettle of fish. If you can hold out for another week, Mandrake 9.2 will be out - I had no problems installing it using my 1.5GB RAM... smooth install.

I've got it installed...but the screen goes blank after the installation when I put back in the RAM. I took it out so that I'd have 512 for the install, but the same problem happens on bootup.

Did this happen to you?

Well here's the reason it goes blank.

(Very loosely translated)
When you install linux it builds a kernel based to some degree on your system. When you took out the RAM and then installed linux it keeps thinking that you have only 512MB RAM in there. Ok, that's fine if you add up to 768MB of RAM - it will recognize the extra RAM. It will still work but if you add up to 1GB RAM then the system will go cookoo - unless you told it that you had a ton of RAM during the initial installation.

So, the present kernel - at least the way its compiled by the major distros (SuSE 8.2, Mandrake 9.1 and RH9) - has problems recognizing 1GB RAM or more. Out of those, Redhat seems to be ok when installing the "out-of-the-box" version - but kernel upgrades will force back the RAM amount to 880 maximum. Even with Mandrake 9.1 - when you add the RAM (after the installation) it will work but only recognize 880MB of that 1GB you have in there.

Type "free" in a console and you'll see what I mean. (it shows physical memory size and how much is used)

SuSE is a bit different. It doesn't like 1GB RAM period. So in your case if you install SuSE and add RAM later (after the install) then you can do one of two things:
1) add the RAM, boot safe mode and recompile the kernel itself and adjust it to recognize the entire amount of RAM.
2) at the boot manager screen add: "mem=880M" without the quotes. This will allow you to use only the amount of RAM that SuSE 8.2 will recognize (880MB). You can then edit your GRUB file (grub.conf) and add "mem=880M" ... this will keep the command in place for future boots without you having to type in the additional command everytime you boot up SuSE.

I understand (read: hope) that SuSE 9.0 release will address the issue of amounts of RAM greater than 1GB... The upcoming release of Mandrake 9.2 already supports large amounts of RAM.

Awesome ~ Thanks a ton

Hope I don't have to wait for Suse 9...unless the upgrade is very cheap or free.

Thanks!