Memory vs. Display Card
 

Since memory has become quite cheap lately I decided to move from 2 GB
to 6. When I installed the memory every thing was fine until I went to
run level 5. At that point the screen turned to garbage and the system
froze. Is there a way to fix this so I can use the memory I bought? Do
I need a new display card?

Current hardware:

Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV505 [Radeon X1550 64-bit]

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Memory vs. Display Card
 

On Sun, Mar 08, 2009 at 03:00:59AM +0000, Rick wrote:
> Since memory has become quite cheap lately I decided to move from 2 GB
> to 6. When I installed the memory every thing was fine until I went to
> run level 5. At that point the screen turned to garbage and the system
> froze. Is there a way to fix this so I can use the memory I bought? Do
> I need a new display card?
>
> Current hardware:
>
> Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
> VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV505 [Radeon X1550 64-bit]

That sounds pretty strange. Have you confirmed that removing the "new"
memory allows you to run in runlevel 5 again?

If so, maybe you need to adjust some memory timing settings in BIOS.

Ray
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Memory vs. Display Card
 

Rick <ellis@spinics.net> writes:

> Since memory has become quite cheap lately I decided to move from 2 GB
> to 6. When I installed the memory every thing was fine until I went to
> run level 5. At that point the screen turned to garbage and the system
> froze. Is there a way to fix this so I can use the memory I bought? Do
> I need a new display card?


Have you tried memtest86?

without a serial console, it'd be hard to see if that's the problem,
but it is a good place to start.

Often if you have bad memory the problem doesn't show until you use something
that actually uses more of your memory (like starting the GUI)
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Memory vs. Display Card
 

On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:00 PM, Rick <ellis@spinics.net> wrote:
> Since memory has become quite cheap lately I decided to move from 2 GB
> to 6. When I installed the memory every thing was fine until I went to
> run level 5. At that point the screen turned to garbage and the system
> froze. Is there a way to fix this so I can use the memory I bought? Do
> I need a new display card?
>
> Current hardware:
>
> *Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
> *VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV505 [Radeon X1550 64-bit]
>

First of all, lots and lots of data "missing" here .....

Secondly, I agree with other posters --> make sure that memtest86+ runs
successfully and finds all your memory. Let it run *at least* overnight before
accepting the new memory. [Note: Three explicit things that you need to
check and report the results of here -- if you'd like more help.]

Third, check your BIOS settings -- particularly w.r.t. VGA memory, memory-hole
re-mapping, etc. I'd do this before I'd run the memtests, btw. Does the BIOS
see the memory? Is the BIOS configured to map the VGA + PCI + ... (typically
up to 1 GB) memory to higher space? Is your MTTR set to Discrete or
Continuous? I'd run the Intel Linux Firmware BIOS test to see if the BIOS /
Memory are configured and compatible at this point.

Forth, what (precisely) CentOS kernel are you booting?? Does it support
greater than 4 GB of RAM?? Does it see all the memory -- both the 6 GB
of physical RAM plus the VGA + PCI re-mapped -- e.g., does it see almost
7 GB of memory?? How does the kernel see the memory (e.g., the MTTR
block -- which is one of the first things the system reports when it boots up)??

Fifth, after the GUI scrambles the screen, did you kill the session and/or
switch to an alternate Virtual Console and review both /var/log/messages
and X.org logfiles??

Once, you've got that, you might have a better idea of what's going on ...
(and maybe where your problem is ...)

HTH

-rak-
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Memory vs. Display Card
 

On Sun, 2009-03-08 at 09:16 -0400, Richard Karhuse wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:00 PM, Rick <ellis@spinics.net> wrote:
> > Since memory has become quite cheap lately I decided to move from 2
> > GB
...
> Forth, what (precisely) CentOS kernel are you booting?? Does it
> support greater than 4 GB of RAM??

Lots of good suggestions, but this would seem to be a likely cause, and
easiest to check. If you are running i386 you need a PAE kernel.

http://wiki.centos.org/FAQ/CentOS5#head-d70935212ce3b7b072b0075c1807a4bd3ea175b7

Phil


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Memory vs. Display Card
 

In article <20090308031754.GA11794@bludgeon.org>,
Ray Van Dolson <centos@centos.org> wrote:

>That sounds pretty strange. Have you confirmed that removing the "new"
>memory allows you to run in runlevel 5 again?

Yes, that's how I'm running right now.


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Memory vs. Display Card
 

In article <1236521803.29529.43.camel@poq1.tabb.loc>,
Phil Schaffner <centos@centos.org> wrote:

>Lots of good suggestions, but this would seem to be a likely cause, and
>easiest to check. If you are running i386 you need a PAE kernel.

I thought of that. But I'm running 64 bit mode.


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Memory vs. Display Card
 

Rick wrote:
> In article <20090308031754.GA11794@bludgeon.org>,
> Ray Van Dolson <centos@centos.org> wrote:
>
>
>> That sounds pretty strange. Have you confirmed that removing the "new"
>> memory allows you to run in runlevel 5 again?
>>
>
> Yes, that's how I'm running right now.
>

now, try taking out the OLD memory and putting in just the NEW memory.
see how it runs that way. if this works, try with the new 4GB as the 0
bank, and the old 2GB as the 1 bank.

also, in the BIOS, check the memory timings, I'd leave them all on
'automatic' or 'default' or whatever the limited choices are in the
Intel BIOS, trying to squeeze an extra clock out of CAS or whatever
doesn't really help much under the best of conditions and it can
destabilize a system under suboptimal conditions.


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Memory vs. Display Card
 

In article <49B47E99.1090307@hogranch.com>,
John R Pierce <centos@centos.org> wrote:

>now, try taking out the OLD memory and putting in just the NEW memory.
>see how it runs that way. if this works, try with the new 4GB as the 0
>bank, and the old 2GB as the 1 bank.

Tried that before I posted and got the same results.

>also, in the BIOS, check the memory timings, I'd leave them all on
>'automatic' or 'default' or whatever the limited choices are in the
>Intel BIOS, trying to squeeze an extra clock out of CAS or whatever
>doesn't really help much under the best of conditions and it can
>destabilize a system under suboptimal conditions.

They should all be on their default settings. But I'll take another look
when I get a chance. Thanks.

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Memory vs. Display Card
 

On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 8:39 PM, Rick <ellis@spinics.net> wrote:
> In article <49B47E99.1090307@hogranch.com>,
> John R Pierce *<centos@centos.org> wrote:
>
>>now, try taking out the OLD memory and putting in just the NEW memory.
>>see how it runs that way. * if this works, try with the new 4GB as the 0
>>bank, and the old 2GB as the 1 bank.
>
> Tried that before I posted and got the same results.
>

I assume the following in this reply: you are using DIMMs, one (or
two) cards for 2GB and one (or two) cards for the other 4GB.

1) You probably did this, but until the above reply, it was not clear
that this was your memory configuration: make absolutely sure that the
memory timings on all your DIMMs are the same. If any one is off by
even one in any of the settings, they will not work together. Period.

2) Your answer above was not clear: did the 4GB work by itself without
the other 2GB? If so, the above is your problem. If not, you're in
deeper guano that you think, BUT:

3) Some motherboards (many) will not accept different size DIMMs at
the same time. If yours works with the 2GB alone and the 4GB alone
but not both together, that's probably the problem and you can't do it
at all on your present hardware.

Also, by "running in 64-bit mode" (previous reply), do you mean that
your are running the 32-bit PAE kernel or the x86_64 kernel? Some
hardware doesn't seem to like the former, but that's just what I've
read here before. (I use the x86_64 kernel....)

HTH

mhr
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