Re: only 3 of 4GB memory available on amd64 8.1-RC1

On 19.06.10 22:26, Andriy Gapon wrote:
> on 19/06/2010 20:16 Andreas Tobler said the following:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I got my hands on a t60 with 4GB of RAM (BIOS displays it)
>>
>> And I installed 8.1-RC1 on it:
>>
>> FreeBSD 8.1-RC1 #0: Mon Jun 14 13:40:28 UTC 2010
>>      root_at_mason.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64
>> Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
>> CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T5600  _at_ 1.83GHz (1828.76-MHz
>> K8-class CPU)
>>    Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x6f6  Family = 6  Model = f  Stepping = 6
>>
>> Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
>>
>>    Features2=0xe3bd<SSE3,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM>
>>    AMD Features=0x20100800<SYSCALL,NX,LM>
>>    AMD Features2=0x1<LAHF>
>>    TSC: P-state invariant
>> real memory  = 4294967296 (4096 MB)
>> avail memory = 3092344832 (2949 MB)
>> ACPI APIC Table:<LENOVO TP-79>
>> FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
>> FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)
>>   cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
>>   cpu1 (AP): APIC ID:  1
>>
>>
>>
>> Do I need to configure something special to get the full 4GB of memory?
>>
>> I only found the PAE hint, but this is for x86 machines, right?
>
> Yes, PAE is for what we call in FreeBSD land "i386".
> "x86" we use for both i386 and amd64.
>
> Now, to the rest.
> I recently investigated this topic myself, so I can share what I learned.
> The first thing you'd want to have is SMAP information.
> You can get it at the loader prompt with 'smap' command.
> It is also reported by kernel during a verbose boot, but it is only printed to
> console; it is not saved to dmesg, because it is printed before msgbuf is created.
>
> Example of how SMAP information looks:
> SMAP type=01 base=0000000000000000 end=000000000009f800
> SMAP type=02 base=00000000000f0000 end=0000000000100000
> SMAP type=02 base=00000000fec00000 end=0000000100000000
> SMAP type=02 base=00000000e0000000 end=00000000f0000000
> SMAP type=02 base=000000000009f800 end=00000000000a0000
> SMAP type=02 base=00000000bfdf0000 end=00000000bfe00000
> SMAP type=01 base=0000000000100000 end=00000000bfde0000
> SMAP type=03 base=00000000bfde3000 end=00000000bfdf0000
> SMAP type=04 base=00000000bfde0000 end=00000000bfde3000
> SMAP type=01 base=0000000100000000 end=0000000130000000
>
> Type 1 ('01') is memory ranges free for OS use.
> Note that the ranges could be unsorted.
>
> SMAP would give you an idea what is free for OS use and what is taken away for
> BIOS and hardware needs.  Also note that what's reported as "avail memory" is
> smaller than sum of sizes of all unreserved regions.  Some space is taken away
> by FreeBSD virtual memory code to store some core page/memory management
> information (~3%).  Memory used by kernel and preloaded modules is also not
> included into "avail memory".
>
> If you discover that your system reserves, in your opinion, too much memory,
> then consider the following things.
> 1. Some memory might be allocated as video adapter's aperture and/or video
> adapter's memory in case of some integrated graphics solutions.
> 2. Some memory addresses below 4GB are used for MMIO (memory mapped
> input/output) - accessing those addresses is actually communicating with some
> hardware rather than accessing DRAM.  Some hardware+firmware combinations can
> hoist (or remap) DRAM that corresponds to such an address range to a different
> address range above 4G.  If you examine last line of my sample SMAP output, then
> you'll see that there is 756MB of "type 01" RAM above 4GB and that machine has
> exactly 4GB of DRAM installed - this is MMIO range 0xd0000000-0x100000000
> hoisted to 0x100000000-0x130000000.
> If your hardware doesn't support that option, then too bad - the memory is
> "overshadowed" by MMIO and is effectively lost.
> Sometimes hoisting option (under whatever name) has to be explicitly set in BIOS
> configuration.

Thanks for the explanation!

> That's about all.
> I am curious as to what you would discover about your system - please share with us.

I'd like to, but how do I get this information out of my box? There is 
no serial line. The only way I know is getting a screen shot. Do you 
know another way?
Unfortunately I do not have a docking station, there I guess I'd have a 
serial line.

Also, sorry for the delay, I had to upgrade the bios in hope that the 
em0 is recognized properly, but no chance:

em0: <Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection 7.0.5> port 0x3000-0x301f mem 
0xee000000-0xee01ffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci2
em0: attempting to allocate 1 MSI vectors (1 supported)
msi: routing MSI IRQ 256 to local APIC 0 vector 49
em0: using IRQ 256 for MSI
em0: Using MSI interrupt
em0: The EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid

Thanks again!
Andreas