# Upgraded RAM from 1G to 2G; now boot hangs

## kaarlo

Hi all,

I upgraded the amount of RAM from 1G to 2G yesterday. My laptop (dual) boots ok to windows, and there I can see the whole 2G. Also, two hours of memtest86 didn't report eny errors (the first test if I understood it) and 2G was recognized. 

My problem is that I can't boot to linux. That is, to any linux! Well, it takes 20 min to boot to ixnays RR4 gentoo live CD, and I waited 30 min for knoppix and gave up (=error was "check your bios"). I set my very minimal bios to "safe defaults", no luck. Also, RR4 reported 600k of lowmem and ~2000000k of highmem; does this make sense?

I have three kernels to choose from; beyond3, beyond2, and gentoo-sources with the reiser4 patch. They all "hang", or at least proceed painfully slow, when the bootsplash should appear (=initrd?).

In the kernel configs, I have already set (when I had 1G of RAM) the parameters HIGHMEM=y and HIGHMEM4G=y. But at least with the beyond-sources there are many more MEM parameters in the config which I'm not sure how to set them.

Can someone help, please? How can I boot my system? Is there a live CD that can mount my reiser4 partitions, so that I can give you some more information (and repair things); with RR4 I didn't manage to mount. Also, at this point I woulnd't like to physically deal with the RAM sticks, because then I'd lose the warranty or whatever. RAM is not cheap.

Regards, Kaarlo

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## syg00

Does "upgrade" imply a new stick was added ???. i.e., did you keep the original stick and add another, or did you totally replace the installed memory with a new (matched) pair ???.

Linux seems *extremely* sensitive to mismatched memory. Much more so than memtest - Windows appears to have such loose timings it doesn't care what you use.

In a desktop I'd say try each stick separately (which will probably work), before trying to get matched memory.

You call as regards your laptop.

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## kaarlo

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm losing my mind here...   :Confused:  Well, a serviceman did the upgrade for the laptop, but I think that another (new) 1G stick was added. At least this is what I paid for.

What do you mean by mismatch or matched memory? The sticks should be identical according to the specs; Kingston 1024 MB sodimm 200-pin DDR333. Ok, I can try (at my own risk, hmm) to use the sticks separately later, but I dont have time for that now....

----********---

Ok, I called to the store and they confirmed that the old 1G stick (0.5 year old) could very well be different than the new one. So they agreed to change both sticks, so that they would be from the same pack, i.e. as identical as possible. Should I do this? I guess I don't have to pay for this.

Hey, I'll appreciate any thoughts on this, because I couldn't find anything with google and I was really lost! Thanks a lot.

Kaarlo (already feeling better   :Smile:    )

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## syg00

Accept the offer to exchange the memory - even if you have to pay a little more.

Have a look at this thread.

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## kaarlo

Well I'm kind of reproducing the steps in that thread, indeed!  *Quote:*   

>  So...our lesson for today -- DON'T MIX THAT RAM! 

 

I'll visit the store next week. Before that I have a long weekend with my windows-only laptop..   :Shocked: 

10^9 thanks to you, syg00!

Kaarlo

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## kaarlo

So, to the store I went... We tried every possible combination of 1G + 1G of RAM with four different sticks (separately and together in different slots, took almost 3 hrs) and concluded that linux (gentoo, gentoo live, ubuntu live, knoppix...) works only with one single 1G stick at a time.

Luckily, the laptop was bundled with a Cyberlink linux for DVD watching when I bought it, so they agreed to "provide support for linux" too. Consequently, my computer is now officially "broken", and they promised to fix the situation somehow   :Confused: 

Kaarlo

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## Cintra

I guess your .config is correct for the 2GB, since you've been using 1GB OK..? 

```
# grep -i mem .config

CONFIG_SHMEM=y

# CONFIG_TINY_SHMEM is not set

# CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM is not set

CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y

# CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set

CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y
```

I just upgraded from 768MB through 1.5GB, and then on to 2GB as it didn't like the 1.5GB match.

Kanotix and Slax had no problem finding the new memory at each stage, and Gentoo booted OK before correcting the kernel config.

What model of laptop do you have and what ram are they putting into it? You can check for your model here http://tinyurl.com/qar5m (norsk)

Mvh

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## kaarlo

Hi Cintra,

Yes, I can grep exactly the same lines from the kernel config. Oh yeah, its good to know that Kanotix and Slax are worth of trying in case of memory problems. Currently, I'm waiting for the response from the store...

About the laptop model, I can't really say  :Embarassed:  Umm, I mean this thing is branded as D-code http://www.d-code.fi/ but I've heard that Uniwill has manufactured some essentials (motherboard?)  Sorry, I'm no cadget guy  :Razz:   All memory sticks that were tried are Kingston 1024 MB sodimm 200-pin DDR333. Ideas/suggestions what to do next?

```

prompt $ lspci 

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)

00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)

00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)

00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)

01:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)

01:07.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)

01:0a.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)

01:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

```

Kaarlo

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## Cintra

Hei kaarlo

One thing I did when changing RAM was to enter BIOS and make sure the memory settings were still set to 'auto' or 'By SPD' for my SDRAM memory.. not sure what you would have in your BIOS, but it might be worth a look at your memory config options, even though Windows seems to find 2GB.

Yes, Slax 5.1.4 is a great little distro. I've made a Poorman's Install of it, with an extra Linux partition for the changes I make. Together with use of the 'copy2ram' cheatcode this works amazingly fast, and boots up in under 50 seconds.

Mvh

Edit: seems you have this card http://tinyurl.com/dkka5 but I couldn't find the laptop.

Its probably this one http://tinyurl.com/p98b5 but from what I could make out on a German page http://tinyurl.com/epp4m its based on a 'barebones' machine labelled by a number of company's, including D-code. Makes it difficult finding bios info, but at least it says it should handle 2GB. 

Well, some of them do.. others are limited at 1GB! Are you 100% sure Windows uses 2GB?

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## kaarlo

Hejssan Cintra,

This box has a very minimalistic BIOS. There are no memory settings at all, for instance; I consider myself lucky to be able to set the date and time...   :Razz: 

The laptop model you pointed out is a newer version of this machine, but its fairly close to this one. And yes, windows indeed reported 2G of RAM; it had no problems dealing with it. At the moment I'm back to 1G.

As mentioned, I'm waiting for this guy to contact me (when he gets back to work). I'm expecting him to advice me how to flash a more functional BIOS and to get 2G of working RAM, damn it!   :Twisted Evil: 

Thanks anyway for your effort in searching the specs!

Kaarlo

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## Cintra

You are welcome, and all the best videre  :Smile: 

Mvh

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## kaarlo

Hi again,

After some tedious investigations, it has turned out that my laptop should NOT even support more than 1G of RAM!! There has been a misunderstanding somewhere between the manufacturer of the motherboard (Uniwill) and the seller, or at least this was the explanation. I was informed that 2G *may* work (windows?), but the spesifications of the motherboard say <= 1G.

Well, I'm gonna continue my gentoo life with "only" 1G of RAM then   :Confused: . Thanks for your suggestions and help syg00 and Cintra!

Kaarlo

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## linuxinit

If it was advertised as accepting 2G of RAM, then I would request a notebook that will accept 2G of RAM. That's false advertisement, misunderstanding or not.

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## kaarlo

Hi linuxinit,

Yes, that was my first try (macbook for me, now  :Twisted Evil: ), but they wouldn't accept that. Actually, I'm also looking for a bunch of other improvements in hardware, so I guess I start looking for a brand new laptop anyway soon.

Kaarlo

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