Re: avail memory is short by 1G on my FreeBSD 6.0-STABLE MP Dell

Quoting eculp_at_bafirst.com:

> Quoting Paul Saab <ps_at_freebsd.org>:
>
>> Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC wrote:
>>> I assume you are talking about the "phenomenon"  of RAM "missing" 
>>> due to PCI and other I/O mapping into the 4GB address space?  What 
>>> struck me about the OP is that the amount of RAM "missing" is more 
>>> than I have ever seen due to this.  My systems are usually 
>>> 3.4-3.6GB of RAM with 4GB installed, not 2.86GB (3005MB)...  So are 
>>> we sure that the PCI space mapping is the problem?
>>>
>> Enable PAE and you'll get all your ram.
>
> Done that but I am going to wait until early tomorrow morning to 
> reboot because I want to get a verbose boot with this kernel and then 
> try the PAE kernel, for whatever.

For Closure, enable PAE seems to get all ram as Chad said.  I found the 
amounts a bit strange but a heck of a lot better.

Boot with PAE now shows:
   real memory  = 5368709120 (5120 MB)
   avail memory = 4185292800 (3991 MB)

Boot withoug PAE shows:
   real memory  = 3220963328 (3071 MB)
   avail memory = 3151077376 (3005 MB)

Of course now I will need to recompile the kernel with the modules that 
we now load, some of which I forgot but probably a small price for 
almost a GB more memory and if I'm lucky the kernel might even be a bit 
faster ;)

Thanks again for all your suggestions and comments, it was definitly a 
learning experience.

ed

P.S. No problem at all with the kernel booting or anything, just be 
sure     to compile in all the modules that you are now using.