Can’t find the reason why openSUSE 11.3 (32 bits) doesn’t boot up when I change laptop’s ram cards.
I changed my 2gb 667Mhz (1gb x2) for 4gb 800Mhz (2gb x2). BIOS recognize the 4gb, GRUB comes up and then the black screen stops the load.
The weird thing is that the system seems to be working but the screen doesn’t display anything.
I tested the ram running a live CD (100% ram).
Someone told me that a re-installation should work but I want to be sure if this is related to an OS or motherboard issue.
reinstall is seldom the correct first response with Linux.
when you ran memtest off the live CD you need to let it run 12 hours,
at least…if you get ANY errors then you will have problems…if you
have errors remove one of the 2GB cards and test it…do that until
you find the bad card and return it for replacement…
but, does the manufacturer’s documentation tell you that you can
install the RAM that you did?
can you boot up to a working desktop with the live CD?
are you dual booting? will the other OS boot to a working desktop?
–
DenverD
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
I’ve seen this several times on 32 bit machines with open/SUSE 9x,10x but never 11x.
My remedy,
– power off
– remove all pci cards, except graphics
– restart, if OS boots into GUI, power off and replace cards, (two on/off cycles may be required)
Have you tried booting with only 1 of the 2 new 800mHz modules ? This would test the new memory in the same capacity that worked with 667mHz modules. If this works, then the problem may lie in the ATI Radeon 2400 using memory in the last (4th) GB (normally outside of 32-bit addressing range).
You mean openSUSE starts with either one module, but not with both? I.e. you tried both as a single module?
You might solve the problem by installing the 64bit version. I suppose you run the kernel-desktop flavor now, that should be optimized for PAE (which makes RAM > 3GB usable). Download a 64bit LiveCD, burn it to disk or create a USB-install disk from it, boot from that, see if it has the same problem.
My ASUS is a x86 machine so not sure about this. So you suggest me to try the PAE kernel?? I thought that DESKTOP already supports more than the 3gb or at least run but using no more than 3gb.
The original post stated the configuration was 2GB (1GB x 2), which would be two (2) modules (SODIMMs, I believe). Therefore, the count of modules would not appear to be the problem. Can you attempt booting with one (1) 1GB and one (1) 2GB module, for a total of 3GB ?
As to the kernel, I defer to Knurpht. My 11.3 32-bit shows a separate (and uninstalled) -pae kernel. I have -default and -desktop installed, but my 32-bit machines are all less than 3GB memory.
What does your BIOS show for each memory module configuration ? You indicate that 2GB (1GB x 2) and 2GB (2GB x 1) boot correctly; 3GB (1GB x 1 + 2GB x 1) and 4GB (2GB x 2) fail. It would be helpful to see the BIOS display for each memory configuration.
Also, can you test the 3GB configuration with each of the 2GB modules ? As I look back, I have not seen "“memtest” on the new memory modules. (This is a long shot, as almost all SODIMMs work correctly).
You can find a thread like this one in openSUSE mailinglists. Some people in there told me how to make the memtest. Test that actually finished with “No Errors”.
Some news.
My last decision was to make a new installation from scratch. The surprise here was that this is not possible. (This looks like a bad joke).
Useful info:
Just after the kernel load at the openSUSE 11.3 installation the screen gets black just exactly in the same way as in GRUB when I try to boot the installed OS.
If I change video to text or VESA mode It DO works. I mean the installation starts in text mode.
This tells me that the issue is related to video problems.
Second useful info:
If I try openSUSE 11.2 the installation starts without problems in normal video mode (1024x768).
This tells me that the problem is related to this current kernel 2.6.34.
No I know that I don’t win anything reinstalling my OS. I need to find the way how to stand up my video in kernel 2.6.34 with 4GB of ram.
Seems that I’ve found something big.
I successfully run openSUSE with verbose, noresume and nomodeset kernel parameters. Of course with no video.
Then I check the Xorg.0.log file and find some errors with the fglrx module. I uninstalled it and some new and important error messages came that are directly referenced to videoram issues.
Finally! As I thought the problem was because of the 2.6.34 kernel
version. Don’t know why but it doesn’t work well on my laptop with 4GB
on RAM. (No videoram error).
I took the 2.6.35 kernel version enabling the
multi-kernel option (zypp.conf). The system starts and recognize the 4GB
just perfect!
Now I’m worried about the support for this 2.6.35 kernel version as the
Kernel HEAD repo offers the 2.6.36 only.
What woud be the best choice? An upgrade to the last 2.6.36 kernel
(unstable)? or to keep this 2.6.35 unworried about updates?
