wrong memory detection
 

Hi,

I have installed memory of 64MB and 128MB on two slots and I've mandrake 9.2 running.

Sometimes the memory is detected as 64Mb and then if restart, it reads as 76MB and then again if I restart, it reads correctly as 196MB.
I don't have a clue what's wrong.

Add mem=196MB to your kernel command line. This usually shouldn't be needed, it sounds like Mandrake either has a screwy kernel patch that is messing with mem detection or your bios is doing something wierd.

First, go in and make sure it's in place properly.

Next, occasionally (though more and more rare these days) you have to pass memory size (in bytes) to lilo when it boots like so:

mem=134217728 (this would be 128mb in decimal form)

of course you can add this in lilo.conf as well under the particular install image for your kernel:

append="mem=128M"

Still, your Linux kernel recognizing different amounts depending on the time of reboot may indicate a hardware problem of some sort.