Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 09:00:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> To: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: i386/14282: Using FreeBSD 3.* ThinkPad 600E doesn't recognize IBM's 64MB DIMMs Message-ID: <199910121600.JAA95571@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR i386/14282; it has been noted by GNATS. From: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> To: jarkko.hietaniemi@nokia.com Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: i386/14282: Using FreeBSD 3.* ThinkPad 600E doesn't recognize IBM's 64MB DIMMs Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 09:55:08 -0600 > >Number: 14282 > >Category: i386 > >Synopsis: Using FreeBSD 3.* ThinkPad 600E doesn't recognize IBM's 64MB DIMMs > >Confidential: no > >Severity: serious > >Priority: medium > >Responsible: freebsd-bugs > >State: open > >Quarter: > >Keywords: > >Date-Required: > >Class: sw-bug > >Submitter-Id: current-users > >Arrival-Date: Tue Oct 12 04:00:00 PDT 1999 > >Closed-Date: > >Last-Modified: > >Originator: Jarkko Hietaniemi > >Release: 3.3 > >Organization: > Nokia Research Center > >Environment: > FreeBSD hotspur.research.nokia.com 3.3-RELEASE FreeBSD 3.3-RELEASE #0: Thu Sep 16 23:40:35 GMT 1999 jkh@highwing.cdrom.com:/usr/src/sys/compile/GENERIC i386 > >Description: > Using either FreeBSD 3.3-RELEASE or 3.2-RELEASE an IBM ThinkPad 600E > doesn't boot if there are any IBM 64MB DIMMs installed. 32MB DIMMs > work okay. Correct, this is a bug in FreeBSD 'memory sizing' code. However, *once* you get FreeBSD installed, you can build a custom kernel that states how much memory is in the system (using the number printed in the upper-left corner), and it will work fine. > That's the last thing ever that happens: after that the boot hangs, > in a major way: floppy drive keeps whirring, nothing happens > on the screen, and nothing short of ripping the battery out > resets the nirvana. FreeBSD has accessed non-existent memory which hangs the hardware. Rip out any memory you have so you have less than 64M, and then install FreeBSD on it. Build a custom kernel with the MAXMEM option set to 1MB less than what is in the kernel (you can get more, but that's a good start). Something like options "MAXMEM=(127*1024)" (Where in reality you have 128. Change to whatever your box *really* has, possibly 96MB/95*1024). After building and installing the custom kernel, halt the box, re-install the memory, and boot again. Everything should work fine. This *might* be fixed in -current, as I believe -current now uses the VM86 code to determine how much memory a system has, but I'm unsure of this. The bootloader will not be correct, since I believe the BIOS is limited to only report 64M of memory. Nate To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-bugs" in the body of the message
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