Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:14:45 +1100 From: Robert Leftwich <freebsd@rtl.fmailbox.com> To: Steve Kargl <sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> Cc: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD 6.0, amd64, A8N-SLI and 4gb ram Message-ID: <43F31B35.6080308@rtl.fmailbox.com> In-Reply-To: <20060213190831.GA1510@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> References: <1139828635.13761.254227794@webmail.messagingengine.com> <20060213190831.GA1510@troutmask.apl.washington.edu>
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Steve Kargl wrote:
>
> 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.
>
Here is the output of dmesg when both the s/w and h/w PAE options are disabled
in the bios (the bios is only reporting 3gb available):
FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE #0: Mon Jan 30 17:49:29 EST 2006
root@black-betty:/usr/src/sys/amd64/compile/BLACKBETTY
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+ (2472.16-MHz K8-class CPU)
Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0x20f32 Stepping = 2
Features=0x178bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT>
Features2=0x1<SSE3>
AMD Features=0xe2500800<SYSCALL,NX,MMX+,<b25>,LM,3DNow+,3DNow>
Hyperthreading: 2 logical CPUs
real memory = 3221159936 (3071 MB)
avail memory = 3106529280 (2962 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <Nvidia AWRDACPI>
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
Is this enough of the dmesg output?
Now if I enable the h/w PAE option in the bios, it reports 4gb available and
dmesg is:
FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE #0: Mon Jan 30 17:49:29 EST 2006
root@black-betty:/usr/src/sys/amd64/compile/BLACKBETTY
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+ (2472.16-MHz K8-class CPU)
Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0x20f32 Stepping = 2
Features=0x178bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT>
Features2=0x1<SSE3>
AMD Features=0xe2500800<SYSCALL,NX,MMX+,<b25>,LM,3DNow+,3DNow>
Hyperthreading: 2 logical CPUs
real memory = 5100273664 (4864 MB)
avail memory = 4125216768 (3934 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <Nvidia AWRDACPI>
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
However during bootup it runs visibly slower, the DHCP lookup never completes
and it is generally very flaky. I compared the 2 full dmesg outputs and they are
identical apart from the real/avail memory sizes.
If I disable the h/w PAE and enable the s/w PAE, the bios again reports 4gb
available but FreeBSD fails during startup, printing continually, 'entry of
nVidia Mediashield metadata is NOT supported'.
Robert
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