gggord
asked on
can't register memory above 16M
I hope someone can help me with this. I have a P75 server with 32M ram running netware 3.11. It has a 3gig
scsi hard drive partitioned in 3 (1 gig each). It has 3 network cards, 1 token ring and 2 ethernet. We boot from
a floopy; there is no dos partition.
When booting, the memory test indicates 32M of ram, but after novell loads it only indicates 15.7 M of ram. I
have tried to register the memory without success. the 'register memory' command returns an error; and the
'set auto register memory above 16M' is set to on.
Any ideas. Thanks in advance.
scsi hard drive partitioned in 3 (1 gig each). It has 3 network cards, 1 token ring and 2 ethernet. We boot from
a floopy; there is no dos partition.
When booting, the memory test indicates 32M of ram, but after novell loads it only indicates 15.7 M of ram. I
have tried to register the memory without success. the 'register memory' command returns an error; and the
'set auto register memory above 16M' is set to on.
Any ideas. Thanks in advance.
ASKER
I found the papers from novell you referred me to some time ago but the problem persists. When I try to register the memory as the documents describe the server abends: 'non-maskable interrupt (parity error) generated by system board'.
I have loaded all the novell patches. At one point the server indicated that the memory was loaded successfully but then abended when I tried to load monitor. I have also tried loading the disk driver after the register memory.
All attempts at a solution results in an 'abend'.
I have loaded all the novell patches. At one point the server indicated that the memory was loaded successfully but then abended when I tried to load monitor. I have also tried loading the disk driver after the register memory.
All attempts at a solution results in an 'abend'.
Maybe you have bad memory. Try replacing them.
The autoregister memory should be set to off. What is your hardware? Was the system purchased with 16M and 16M added later?
If so are they the same type? It is not a bad idea to totally
replace server memory when you upgrade them. You can pass the
previous modules on to a workstation, and you are more likely
to have matched modules. Netware pushes the hardware more than
other OSes so parts that are close to the limit of the spec. may
fail in Netware but operatefor others. The major Q is What patches are installed?
If so are they the same type? It is not a bad idea to totally
replace server memory when you upgrade them. You can pass the
previous modules on to a workstation, and you are more likely
to have matched modules. Netware pushes the hardware more than
other OSes so parts that are close to the limit of the spec. may
fail in Netware but operatefor others. The major Q is What patches are installed?
One solution (bad) is to include
DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS
into your CONFIG.SYS on boot floppy (and place HIMEM.SYS into A:\). Sometimes it helps to solve 16M problem. SERVER.EXE obtains memory size from HIMEM.SYS. But HIMEM.SYS cann't utilize memory above 64M thus NetWare cann't utilize it too.
Another solution (very good) is to upgrade your NetWare 3.11 to 3.2.
DEVICE=A:\HIMEM.SYS
into your CONFIG.SYS on boot floppy (and place HIMEM.SYS into A:\). Sometimes it helps to solve 16M problem. SERVER.EXE obtains memory size from HIMEM.SYS. But HIMEM.SYS cann't utilize memory above 64M thus NetWare cann't utilize it too.
Another solution (very good) is to upgrade your NetWare 3.11 to 3.2.
You are likely to have an intermittend parity failure in one of your RAM banks. Try to replace them one by one to find out the bad,
NW3.11 is not able to proper recognize the full amount of RAM installed in PCI boards. It is a good workaround to split the autoexec.ncf in one part located in the boot directory of the DOS partition or floppy. Here you should place the
file server name ...
ipx internal net ....
then execute the
register memory 1000000 1000000
BEFORE loading any disk drivers, so these drivers can use the full adress room (the disk drivers should not be loaded in startup.ncf as usually done, because "register memory" cannot be done in startup.ncf).
After mounting SYS, the DOS part of autoexec.ncf will end with
SYS:SYSTEM\AUTOEXEC.NCF
to invoke the remaining part of this script.
I hope that will help you...
Harald
NW3.11 is not able to proper recognize the full amount of RAM installed in PCI boards. It is a good workaround to split the autoexec.ncf in one part located in the boot directory of the DOS partition or floppy. Here you should place the
file server name ...
ipx internal net ....
then execute the
register memory 1000000 1000000
BEFORE loading any disk drivers, so these drivers can use the full adress room (the disk drivers should not be loaded in startup.ncf as usually done, because "register memory" cannot be done in startup.ncf).
After mounting SYS, the DOS part of autoexec.ncf will end with
SYS:SYSTEM\AUTOEXEC.NCF
to invoke the remaining part of this script.
I hope that will help you...
Harald
ASKER
tried loading himem.sys and it gave me 'parity error NMI' as well. Looks like the memory is not good. Can I replace the parity memory with non-parity memory without problem.
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ASKER
opened the machine and found bank1 had two different memory types, each was chip was labelled 8mb 70ns. I tried them in an acer workstation and it registered them as 4mb each. I will get some good parity memory for the server.
Copy AUTOEXEC.NCF to your boot floppy and rename the version in SYS:SYSTEM.
In a:\autoexec.ncf, after the "ipx internal net" line, insert the line:
register memory 1000000 1000000
That should do it!
For an example and more details, enter 1003164 in the search field at
http://support.novell.com/search/kb_index.htm
For in-depth background, search for 2908018.
Peace ^^ Paul