Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 09:20:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Stefan Molnar <stefan@csudsu.com> To: Marek Gorka <marek.gorka@tpi.pl> Cc: <freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: FreeBSD 4.3 and 6G RAM Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.31.0107180919230.66935-100000@digital.csudsu.com> In-Reply-To: <3B554B58.973CD80F@tpi.pl>
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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
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