On 2011-08-18 21.16, Dave Anderson wrote: > I've been looking at a bunch of notebook dmesgs (i386, single processor) > recently and have noticed that the value reported for 'real mem' is > almost always much lower than the amount of memory actually installed. > A typical example is > OpenBSD 5.0 (GENERIC) #39: Mon Aug 8 14:53:43 MDT 2011 > dera...@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC > real mem = 2900148224 (2765MB) > spdmem0 at iic0 addr 0x50: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM PC3-10600 SO-DIMM > spdmem1 at iic0 addr 0x52: 2GB DDR3 SDRAM PC3-10600 SO-DIMM > > I understand that i386 cannot see more than 4GB due to architecture > restrictions, but even allowing for that well over a gigabyte has > vanished here. > A quick look at the code that generates this number shows that it's > skipping various areas reserved by the BIOS, etc., but the total amount > being skipped seems absurd. > > Is there really supposed to be this much reserved space, or is something > wrong?
The most likely culprit is your graphics adapter. Nowadays video memory of 512 MB - 1GB seems to be more norm than exception, and it has to co- exist with the processor's memory in the 32 bit addressable space. Use amd64 instead and you'll likely get all your memory back, and since you seem to be running a recent snapshot you'll have no 4GB barrier to cope with either. /B -- internetlabbet.se / work: +46 8 551 124 80 / "Words must Benny Lofgren / mobile: +46 70 718 11 90 / be weighed, / fax: +46 8 551 124 89 / not counted." / email: benny -at- internetlabbet.se