826MB ram instead of 1024MB detected

Coolrunr · 09-06-2003, 10:02 PM

I'm using mandrake 9.1 on the chaintech nforce2 summit motherboard. I have two 512 sticks of ddr400 ram. Nfor drivers are installed and linux only sees 826MB ram while the bios sees the full gig.
Any suggestions?

loco82 · 09-07-2003, 12:47 AM

wich kernel version are you using? because maybe an upgraded kernel could help you mount all of your ram....

ps
i use 256 ram with a 500mb swap drive so I've never dealth with that problem.

Parksy · 09-07-2003, 08:58 AM

I believe you can specify how much RAM you have in LILO - just add a parameter like mem = 1024 (you might want to check on that though). If that doesn't work, you might have to recompile your kernel to support more memory.

Mad Merlin · 09-07-2003, 03:21 PM

I doubt compiling a new kernel would help, the high memory support barriers for the kernel are at 4 gigs and 64 gigs, so you should be safe there for now. I'd definitely just add the line to the propery entry in LILO, I remember seeing it somewhere, but I can't remember the exact command.

Coolrunr · 09-07-2003, 05:50 PM

When I changed the amount of ram specified for LILO it didn't work. I had to reinstall it. So is it a LILO problem? If it is, why does that affect the amount of ram linux sees?

jiml8 · 09-07-2003, 06:11 PM

Default Mandrake distro is compiled without the HIGHMEM option; 896 Megs is the limit. You will see that if you check your /var/dmesg file.

You need to obtain the sources and compile the kernel with the HIGHMEM option set. The sources that come with the mandrake distro are not complete; you will need to D/L a complete source distro.

Coolrunr · 09-08-2003, 07:48 PM

That sucks. I have no idea how to compile a new kernel so I'll just deal with it I guess. Thanks for the help.

jiml8 · 09-08-2003, 08:11 PM

It isn't that hard to compile, actually. Get the sources, read the instructions first.

You can always give it a try without removing the old version; do a separate install and switch over when you have debugged it.

Coolrunr · 09-08-2003, 09:25 PM

Sounds like a pain in the arse since I have everything setup except the autostart scripts. I don't care to start from scratch again, but thanks again.