Re: Missing memory

[Michael Grice <grice@binc.net>]

* David Purdue <davidp@canb.auug.org.au> [010101 22:22] wrote:
> I am trying to install OpenBSD on to a Compaq LTE 5400 notebook
> (circa 1996 vintage).
> 
> This notebook has 16Mbyte of memory on the main board, and a 64Mbyte
> add-on memory, for a total of 80M.
> 
> Now I am pretty sure the memory is all there and working, because the BIOS
> check sees 80M, as does windows and NetBSD.  However, when I boot OpenBSD,
> it only sees 16M.
> 
> Any ideas? Can this be fixed with a kernel config, or will code change be
> necessary?

The stinking Compaq BIOS probably won't tell OpenBSD how much memory
you have.

The man page for boot.conf will help, I think.

>From the prompt before the machine goes into the final stage of booting,
you should be able to get it to see the final 64 MB of RAM with
something like:

machine mem +0x4000000@0x1000000

The + tells it to add memory, the first number (4000000) is the amount
of memory to be added (hopefully 64 MB in octal, but for God's sake check
my math) and the third number (1000000) is the position to add it (i.e.,
after the first 16 MB).

If you can get that to work (and I have in the past, with a machine that
isn't currently up), then I believe you can put those parameters in
/etc/boot.conf so it'll do it automatically on reboot. 
--Michael