From owner-freebsd-amd64@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Feb 13 19:08:32 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A3B6B16A420 for ; Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:08:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu) Received: from troutmask.apl.washington.edu (troutmask.apl.washington.edu [128.208.78.105]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5AF5943D45 for ; Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:08:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu) Received: from troutmask.apl.washington.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by troutmask.apl.washington.edu (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k1DJ8VS5001582; Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:08:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu) Received: (from sgk@localhost) by troutmask.apl.washington.edu (8.13.4/8.13.1/Submit) id k1DJ8VWM001581; Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:08:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from sgk) Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:08:31 -0800 From: Steve Kargl To: Robert Leftwich Message-ID: <20060213190831.GA1510@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> References: <1139828635.13761.254227794@webmail.messagingengine.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1139828635.13761.254227794@webmail.messagingengine.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i Cc: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD 6.0, amd64, A8N-SLI and 4gb ram X-BeenThere: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the AMD64 platform List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:08:32 -0000 On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 10:03:55PM +1100, Robert Leftwich wrote: > > I've been running FreeBSD 6.0 stable on an A8N-SLI Premium amd64 box > with 2gb of ram for a few weeks now and it has been running well, but > some of the analysis I run needs more ram, so I dropped in another 2 gb > and started having all sorts of weird problems, such as DHCP failure and > running very slowly. I tracked it down to 2 bios settings, both related > to PAE (one turning on s/w PAE, the other h/w) - if i turn both of those > off, then everything works, but FreeBSD can only see 3gb of ram. Some > documentation suggested a custom kernel with 'options PAE' enabled > would be required, but adding that generates an 'invalid option PAE' > error when running make. Is it possible for FreeBSD to access the full > 4gb on this m/b? > You don't need "option PAE" on FreeBSD-amd64. If you have 4+GB, then FreeBSD-amd64 should have access to the memory. We need to see the top portion of your dmesg concerning the 3 GB versus 4 GB question. This is a FAQ in that a small amount of memory is reserved for the hardware/kernel. -- Steve