Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 10:45:07 -0600 (MDT) From: <janb@cs.utep.edu> To: Stefan Molnar <stefan@csudsu.com> Cc: Marek Gorka <marek.gorka@tpi.pl>, <freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: FreeBSD 4.3 and 6G RAM Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.30.0107181043440.25094-100000@gecko> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.31.0107180919230.66935-100000@digital.csudsu.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I am interestied as to why this is. Is there a sound technical reason do not support this, or was it merely the fact that there are not too many machines that can take advantage of this anyway, and nobody got around to do this? Thanks, JAn On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, Stefan Molnar wrote: > > FreeBSD does not support PAE. PAE is a long time trick on getting x86 > machines to map and use more than 4GB. Solaris x86 and other OSs > support PAE. > > > > On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, Marek Gorka wrote: > > > (with the following problem i've addressed the comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc > > group at first, but actually there was no practical solution nor suggestion > > given; hope i'll find it here) > > > > ----- > > > > hello, > > > > i have an intel 4400 platform equipped with 4 xeon processors and 6G ram. > > the mainboard is based on the ServerWorks ServerSet II HE chipset (by > > intel), which supports up to 16G RAM (or 32G, i'm not sure at the moment). > > > > i have installed FreeBSD 4.3-STABLE. > > > > unfortunately, the system seems unable to work with this amount of ram. > > > > when the kernel is loaded, it says: > > > > -- > > 2GB of memory above 4GB ignored > > -- > > > > after which the booting process continues, but a while after hangs with the > > following message: > > > > -- > > panic: swap_pager_swap_init: swap_zone == NULL > > -- > > > > all i can do is reboot. > > > > the server, however, can be launched when i set the hw.physmem parameter to > > either 1G, 2G or 3G at the bootloader prompt. > > > > the swap partition is fully operational (5G). > > > > i think we might exclude hardware problems here, as the SMP works perfectly > > fine (what means that the mainboard is supported). i had windows 2000 > > advanced server installed before on this machine and there were no problems > > with ram. > > > > david malone at comp.unix* suggested, that maybe it is a problem with too > > big amount of swap partition. i've made several tests and even with the swap > > turned off this problem persists. > > > > the kernel i work on has the following option compiled in: > > > > options MAXMEM="(6144*1024)" > > > > basically, it doesn't change the situation. > > > > i have also tweaked the swap_pager.c file according to david's suggestion. > > the following line: > > > > n = cnt.v_page_count * 2; > > > > has been changed to: > > > > n = cnt.v_page_count / 2; > > > > this also doesn't change the situation. > > > > recently i made one observation: > > > > when the machine starts, bios tests 6G ram. next the bootloader is called, > > where i choose which partition to boot from. then bootloader shows the > > following message: > > > > -- > > BIOS 634kB/3767232kB available memory > > -- > > > > and yes, when i set the hw.physmem to 3G, everything is okay. at the same > > time, the kernel keeps showing the following message: > > > > -- > > 2GB of memory above 4GB ignored > > -- > > > > if i set the hw.physmem to 4G or more at the bootloader prompt, the system > > immediately hangs. the messages shown then says, that the page is out of > > range (or similar). like if i was trying to addresss ram that doesn't exist. > > > > i'm a bit confused here. the server, equipped with 6G ram, the operating > > system which once sees 6G (the kernel message: 4+2=6), sometimes 3.7G (BIOS > > 634kB/3767232kB available memory), it's all a bit strange. > > > > frankly speaking, i am not a good fbsd-hacker, and therefore the solution to > > this problem seems far beyond my possibilities. > > > > i hope that some of you have experience with this big systems and freebsd > > and will be willing to help me, as i am running out of ideas here. > > > > i'd be glad for any suggestions. > > > > -- > > [......Marek Gorka, tp.internet.......] > > [..........[ marekg@tpi.pl ]..........] > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message > > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.GSO.4.30.0107181043440.25094-100000>