ATI X1650pro VideoRam Problem?

[Kano]

Do you use HIGHMEM?

[tinux]

Do you use HIGHMEM?

Hello Kano, thanks for dropping in. No i don't :

# grep HIGHMEM .config
CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set

[Kano]

1 GB without HIGHMEM you loose about 100 MB. Why don't you try a standard kernel with HIGHMEM?

[tinux]

1 GB without HIGHMEM you loose about 100 MB. Why don't you try a standard kernel with HIGHMEM?

Oh, didnt know that. Thanks! I changed it to CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y.

I think i'm going to give up with this issue. I would still like to know what the problem is... my hardware (memory chip defect), the linux-kernel, fglrx driver, or a configuration problem ? Googling a bit, it looks like i'm not alone... so i guess (hope) it's not a hardware problem.

I made some more attemps to fix it by modifying mtrr (following advices given here). I tried to do things like :

echo "base=0x40000000 size=0x20000000 type=write-combining" >| /proc/mtrr

with various "base" values, and various sizes. Whenever i try to use 512MB size, i get hard locks. But low level memory stuff puzzle me. It's totally obscure to me. I dont understand why the kernel puts some stuff above 3Gigs, i dont understand how AGP memory mixes with the 512MB of x1650pro memory, i don't know at which stage the AGP memory is "mapped" to 0xd0000000 and who/what decides ATI memory starts at 0xe0000000, and how to reallocate it after agpgart has been loaded, etc. I'm a low quality geek and i would probably have to read much stuff before i'm up to the task.

Anyway, thx to all who have popped in, and if it doesn't take too much knowledge/time, i'll try anything you might suggest ;-)

[Kano]

The 3G/1G split is normal for 32 bit. Usually set by

CONFIG_VMSPLIT_3G=y

[tinux]

The 3G/1G split is normal for 32 bit. Usually set by

CONFIG_VMSPLIT_3G=y

Thanks Kano. My current kernel was built with 3G/1G split (and i tried most of the other splits too). Xorg still gives a blank screen if i dont add "VideoRam 393216" to my fglrx device section.

[Kano]

Same problem with Windows?

[tinux]

Same problem with Windows?

No, both catalyst info and windows driver info report 512MB for the x1650pro. But windows, in the details of the main card (PCI 1.0.0), also reports the main memory range beeing 0xE0000000-0xEFFFFFFF, which, if i'm not wrong, translates to a size of 256MB !?

[tinux]

Ah, it looks like it is a power supply problem. The recommended power for the
x1650pro is 450W and the power delivered by my Dell Dimension 8300 is 305W. So
with my normal setup i get

# grep "PCI Bus #01" /etc/iomem
e0000000-efffffff : PCI Bus #01
...

And when i remove 2 hd's, 2 CD-Rom readers, 1 floppy reader, the sound card,
one of the 2 RAM modules and the main fan i get

# grep "PCI Bus #01" /etc/iomem
d4000000-efffffff : PCI Bus #01

... better but still not the 512MB. At least i understand why it will never
work

[Kano]

The only thing that could make a difference is a PCI device, so let's say your soundcard.