> It sounds like a chipset/motherboard/BIOS problem to me.  You may need to
> compile a custom kernel.  (There are some comments in the GENERIC config
> (/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/conf/GENERIC) about memory visibility on some
> systems.)
> 
> The good news is that compiling a custom kernel, per se, isn't hard.  I

i know, on every system, if possible, i build a costum kernel, never
had any problems i could not solve.

but this time it seems very strang, i builded a costum kernel with
the options you described, no errors or strange behaviour until
i booted it.
everytime the kernel tried to boot, i got a reset on the machine.

i now install 1.5.2 and look what happens.

on the hardware i got several os's installed for testing, like different
linux types, openbsd, freebsd, windows2000 and i got no errors or
something, the only strange thing is the graphiccard (nvidia riva tnt2).
everytime i tried to enable glx at linux or trying opengl getting to 
work with windows2000 it failed, in this case rebooting, freezing the
screen or slowing the system down to crawl.

some time later ...

installed 1.5.2, same problem with the ram, the ram is a 256mb siemens
pc 133 type, the machine only got a pc 100 bus, but that is not a 
problem, i tried pc 100 128mb rams too, same problem.

now i am installing freebsd 4.6 and look what will happen.

i only got good experience with netbsd, i run it on a ss2 with 24mb ram 
and a 700mb hd, very nice thing, fast (if you look at other os types on
this arch or with this cpu speed).
and i tried it on another pc, p 166, 32mb ram and 2gb disk, running fast
and clean.

some time later ...

hardware seems running nice, freebsd got no problem with the ram, damn.

any ideas what could be broken ?


thanks for everything.


> # The following options override the memory sizes passed in from the boot
> # block.  Use them *only* if the boot block is unable to determine the correct
> # values.  Note that the BIOS may *correctly* report less than 640k of base
> # memory if the extended BIOS data area is located at the top of base memory
> # (as is the case on most recent systems).
> #options        REALBASEMEM=639         # size of base memory (in KB)
> #options        REALEXTMEM=15360        # size of extended memory (in KB)

-- 
gruesse 

joerg "joerch" buechner

bis dann bis bald und danke fuer das unix

http://www.home.mayn.de/helix