top and RAM

bickford · 07-19-2000, 12:27 PM

In my machine of have 128mb of RAM in the configuration of one 128mb DIMM. When my computer boots the BIOS does a full check of all 128mb w/ out reporting any problems. Yet in linux, this is the result of my top.

Mem: 64136K av, 62552K used, 1584K free, 52152K shrd

Should that not say 128,000K av? not 64,000K? I even added append "mem=128M" to my lilo.conf, but to no avail.... is there really a problem here or is this just how top reports my memory?

jeremy · 07-19-2000, 04:33 PM

Top should display the whole amount (probably something like 127800K). The append in lilo.conf should take care of it, although the syntax is append="mem=128M" (notice the two equals signs). If that does not work let us know.

bickford · 07-19-2000, 09:49 PM

Still no luck w/ that modified lilo.conf. Now I'm putting the append="mem=128M" in the first "section" of lilo where the timeout and the default OS to load are declared. Does it belong in the section where I'm actually configuring which kernels to boot and how to boot them? Any other ideas?

bickford · 07-19-2000, 09:57 PM

also.... do I have to actually RUN lilo again after adding the append and before rebooting to test it?

jeremy · 07-19-2000, 10:15 PM

Changes made to lilo.conf will NOT take effect until after you run /sbin/lilo as root. I usually put the append= line in between the label and the read-only line, but anywhere in the image section is probably fine.

bickford · 07-19-2000, 10:16 PM

Welp, problem solved. It would seem as if one has to add the append="mem=128M" to the VERY first line of lilo.conf, and then run 'lilo'. Doing this made linux recognize all 128mb of my RAM, and made me a happy guy (after rebooting of course) . =)

jeremy · 07-20-2000, 12:15 PM

Glad to hear that the problem is fixed. Does the machine seem any faster?

bickford · 07-20-2000, 04:25 PM

Yep, I can see a markéd difference, mostly when loading up Netscape or doing stuff in Gimp. Doesn't seem to boot any faster though.

veloctTX · 10-13-2000, 12:16 PM

I had the same problem with Mandrake only seeing 64M, once I fixed it and got it to read my whole 256M all I can say is WOW!!!!! Very fast.

summerwolfe · 03-26-2001, 03:08 AM

I've been having the same problem with Slackware Kernel 1.3.30 and was looking for a way to fix it.. even posted the question elsewhere on this board.. glad I kept reading..

SummerWolfe
root@computerkeys (Not on net yet)