From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Sep 27 21:14:33 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A07C916A40F for ; Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:14:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@collaborativefusion.com) Received: from mx00.pub.collaborativefusion.com (mx00.pub.collaborativefusion.com [206.210.89.199]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A096D43DC9 for ; Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:12:48 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wmoran@collaborativefusion.com) Received: from collaborativefusion.com (mx01.pub.collaborativefusion.com [206.210.89.201]) (TLS: TLSv1/SSLv3,256bits,AES256-SHA) by wingspan with esmtp; Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:12:47 -0400 id 0005643A.451AE94F.00016A4D Received: from Internal Mail-Server (206.210.89.202) by mx01 (envelope-from wmoran@collaborativefusion.com) with AES256-SHA encrypted SMTP; 27 Sep 2006 17:10:44 -0400 Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:12:46 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20060927171246.18706a5a.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> In-Reply-To: <20060927210746.GA26374@icarus.home.lan> References: <26865.207.47.2.114.1159390739.squirrel@207.47.2.114> <20060927210746.GA26374@icarus.home.lan> Organization: Collaborative Fusion X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 2.2.7 (GTK+ 2.8.20; i386-portbld-freebsd6.1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Intel se7230NH1-E, 6gb memory not working on FreeBSD 6.0 X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:14:33 -0000 In response to Jeremy Chadwick : > On Wed, Sep 27, 2006 at 01:58:59PM -0700, mailinglists@net-virtual.com wrote: > > I am having a very hard time getting an Intel se7230NH1-E motherboard with > > 6gb of memory to work. I keep getting two messages about "Too many holes > > in the physical address space, giving up". > > > > I'm not sure what the BIOS is (it seems to be OEMed to Intel), but with > > the menu structure I'd have to throw a dart at AMI BIOS. > > > > I've scanned the newsgroups/message boards for issues surrounding this and > > most suggest that there is a BIOS setting that can be tweaked to make > > things come together. However, I just don't see any of those options - > > the only thing there with respect to memory involves memory timing. > > > > Other posts have talked about unlocking "hidden menus" in the BIOS (I'll > > save my tirade on hiding BIOS menu options for another day - but whoever > > did this should be ashamed of yourself). Alas, none of these have given > > me any luck. > > > > So, with that in mind... Anyone have any ideas on how I can get this to > > recognize the 6gb of memory we have installed on the motherboard? > > Based on what I understand of Intel x86 architecture, to address more > than 4GB of memory space, you have to use Intel's PAE feature. I > don't think the FreeBSD kernels are built with PAE enabled. This > might explain why the kernel states there's too many memory holes. > > I'd recommend either 1) disabling PAE (Physical Address Extensions) > in the BIOS if possible, or 2) removing some RAM from the system, > getting FreeBSD installed + upgraded to 6.2, building a kernel that > has PAE enabled and then putting the extra RAM back in. > > Any other administrators have tips/comments? I have no idea if the problem is related to PAE, but have you tried booting an amd64 kernel on the system? -- Bill Moran Collaborative Fusion Inc.