AMD 64 Installation

[RonL]

I set up an AMD powered computer to install Linux. It is an Asus A8N-E board with a FX60 chip. Four gig of ram. Nvidia 7600GS video card. I ordered the AMD64 installation DVD. It has a Western digital 150 gig Raptor and a WD 320 gig SE16 (sata ). It has a Philips sata dvd. When I start to install from the DVD it gets to the point where it displays the following line:
<0> Kernel Panic-not syncing: attempted to kill the idle task!
Where am I going wrong?
Last time I went through this much planning to install an OS is when I installed OS/2.

TIA
RonL

[myNigga]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

What is this point where it display the error? Does it fire the graphical installer? Does it start copying files?

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation ( problem solved )

It was still in the text mode. I solved the problem. Went into bios and changed the settings for use of memory 4 gig or above.
Installation went extremely fast. I'm typing this on Konqueror.
I violated one of my primary rules. I disabled both the hardware and software remapping of memory in bios at the same time. When i do a system analysis it tells me that there is 2.7 gig of actual ram. Should I have changed only one parameter in bios?

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

Well, I went into bios and changed the memory mapping criteria one at a time. When I enabled hardware remapping of memory and rebooted it stopped at the same point as the initial installation. I went in and disabled hardware remapping of memory and enabled software remapping of memory. The system rebooted and showed 3.1 gig of memory. However, the system was now corrupted, it did not recognize the dvd recorder and would not mount a movie that I had already watched in Kaffeine.

[dibl]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

Youch!

Yep, you probably want to make sure you're done making changes in BIOS before you try to configure the rest of the system. I'm not sure how I've got the memory mapping set in this Intel D975XBX system -- I also have 4GB of RAM, and the last time I knew how to check it in my 64-bit Ubuntu setup, it showed something like 3.9GB. I forget why it doesn't quite show the entire capacity -- some "video sharing" thing, I think.

However, if it's any consolation, I've been watching the system monitor, while encoding audio and video files, and I've never yet seen it use much more than about 500MB of memory at any given time. I suspect I'd have to use this box as a network server and get a whole lot of users logged in, to ever use a lot of the available memory.

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

I went back into bios and disabled software remapping of memory. After reboot it went back to 2.7 gig of ram and everything worked as before. 400 meg of difference. I wonder where it would have been if I had changed only one parameter at a time before installing. Wondering if maybe I should wipe it and start over with a fresh install.

[dibl]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

I assume you're using the 64-bit OS, aka "AMD-64"? Do you use the "Alternate Install" CD?

Yeah, I think if you've twiddled some of the BIOS settings like you have, it may not be possible to change the applicable Linux settings accordingly. Changing drives and such is not so bad, but I dunno about processor speeds and bus speeds and memory maps.

[myNigga]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

It doesn't make any difference for Linux if you install it with a given BIOS option enabled or disabled, unlike Windows. If you install even XP wuth ACPI disabled in BIOS, then enable after the OS is installed, it will crash. SP1, if I'm not wrong, solved it.
But you should not need to reinstall Linux, the kernel is already Highmem, so it should support up to 4GB. For more than this, the kernel needs to be a server profile. You can try different profiles of the kernel and see if it works. For example, Lowlatency.
If your BIOS has any option to remap memory for 4GB recognition, it needs to be enabled.

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

The bios has two settings for memory of four gig and above. They are hardware remapping of memory and software (OS) remapping of memory. Both were enabled when I first attempted to install Kubuntu AMD 64. The install stopped with a kernel panic. I disabled both settings and the install worked beautifully. It, however, showed 2.7 gig of memory. I went back into bios and enabled the memory settings one at a time. Hardware enabled gave me the same kernel panic as when I initially tried to install. Software enabled allowed the system to boot and showed 3.1 gig of memory. However, the system no longer recognized my sata dvd recorder and would not allow me to mount a movie that I had already watched in Kaffeine. I went back into bios and disabled the software remapping and the system worked fine. It went back to showing 2.7 gig of memory.
Is the missing 1.3 gig of ram being utilized by system hardware or is it just being wasted?

[myNigga]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

It is not being "seen" by the OS, thus, is being wasted. Did you try another kernel profile, lowlatency, for example?

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

Strange behavior! I upgraded the bios. When I enabled HW remapping of the memory the system would reboot into kubuntu and show 3.8 gig of memory. It would not recognize the dvd burner. Same with both hardware and software remapping of memory enabled in bios. With just software memory remapping enabled it shows 3.1 gig of memory. It still does not recognize the DVD burner. With both hardware and software memory remapping disabled it shows 2.8 gig of memory and recognizes the DVD burner.
Also, should the plug and play OS option be enabled or disabled in bios. I get the same as above either way.

[myNigga]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

Leaving PnP OS disabled lets the OS itself configure interruptions instead of giving the BIOS this task (enabled). It has been some time (5 or 6 years) since the last time this option affected a system of mine. I always leave it disabled because Linux and Windows can manage the interruptions themselves.
Is the DVD burner IDE or SATA? How is it jumped (Master/Slave/Auto)?

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

The DVD burner is sata. It is a single disc. When the memory remapping options are disabled all the disc options except disc change option are available. When the memory remapping options are enabled all the disc options relating to dvd are lost.

[RonL]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

I'm beginning to think that this is a problem with the motherboard itself. I have been trying every possible combination and the problem continues. It defeats the purpose of using AMD64 if you cannot use all the memory installed.
The disc that I am using for installation is the DVD that I sent for. During the installation procedure it gets to the graphical menu. When I click on " check CD" icon it runs for awhile then locks up. I'm wondering if I got a bad copy. I was going to try and reinstall but if the DVD is bad I don't want to go through the effort.

[myNigga]

Re: AMD 64 Installation

It defeats the purpose of using AMD64 if you cannot use all the memory installed.

It would hold true if Windoze was the OS, since it only gives up to 2GB for applications, leaving the rest for the OS, regardless of how much memory you have. This was fixed in the x64 family. For Linux, you can still have all the 4GB if your kernel has the server profile (highmem), but if it didn't work for the 64bit Kub, I doubt it will work for 32bit.

I'm wondering if I got a bad copy

Personally I wouldn't believe it. If you got a bad copy, the OS wouldn't install at all. However, If you have a x86 disk handy, give it a final shot. You can always blame the hardware in the end. Hardware memory remapping in BIOS should fix it, but it's not working for you. It could either be a BIOS that is doing nothing or really a bad board.
The bad board is also hard for me to believe, it would give you random lockus, reboots, or not even boot.
Tricky one this is.