Not Enough Memory To Load Specified Image...
tb
is fine. I am not much of an expert with Linux, but I just want to
install Slackware so that I can play with it in my free time and
hopefully learn new things.
I am trying to install on an 11-year-old computer. It has a Pentium III
1100 MHz, 1.5 GB of memory (that's the max allowed!), the motherboard
is a Tyan Trinity 400 (S1854).
Upon booting up with the install DVD, it reaches the point where it
says "Loading initrd.img" and then I get the following error message:
Not enough memory to load specified image.
I have tried using two kernels: hugesmp.s and huge.s. Same error
message! I've also tried adding the line MEM=1GB. It did not work.
Am I out of luck? Is my computer too old for Slackware 13.37? (No
problems running Ubuntu 11.04 or Windows 7...)
My system seems to be meeting the minimum requirements:
* 486 processor
* 64MB RAM (1GB+ suggested)
* About 5GB+ of hard disk space for a full install
* CD or DVD drive
I guess I could try to install an older version of Slackware, but was
wondering if there is anyone who knows some tricks for installing 13.37
on an old desktop.
As I said before, I am not much of an expert with Linux.
--
tb
John K. Herreshoff
I'm guessing rather strongly that 64 mb is not going to run anything but a
really slimmed down version of linux. 250 mb ought to get you out of chute,
and 500 would be a real minimum. Memory is cheap. I'd splurge for 1.0 mb
HTH.
John.
--
Using the Cubic at home.
John K. Herreshoff
Eh. I didn't read that right. You HAVE 1.5 megs, and it's not running?
That sounds odd.
tb
>
> Eh. I didn't read that right. You HAVE 1.5 megs, and it's not
> running? That sounds odd.
>
> John.
I had a similar problem with PartedMagic 6.1. The error message was
the same.
After I corresponded with them on their forum, they created a test file
for me which worked. They modified Syslinux, loading the kernel and
initramfs with linux.c32, meminfo.c32. (This is all Greek to me! I am
just reporting what they did.)
Thanks.
--
tb
Martin
> Upon booting up with the install DVD, it reaches the point where it
> says "Loading initrd.img" and then I get the following error message:
>
> Not enough memory to load specified image.
>
try adding "large-memory" to your lilo.conf and re-run lilo. You may also
want to add "lba32" and "compact"...
Martin
tb
>
> try adding "large-memory" to your lilo.conf and re-run lilo. You may
> also want to add "lba32" and "compact"...
>
> Martin
Thanks for your reply, Martin.
Slackware 13.37 is not yet installed on the hard drive. The error
occurs when I boot up with the install DVD. Correct me if I am wrong,
but I don't think that I can apply your solution in a case like mine.
But I am no Linux expert, so...
--
tb
Jim Diamond
> I downloaded Slackware 13.37 on a DVD (32-bit version). The MD5 check
> is fine. I am not much of an expert with Linux, but I just want to
> install Slackware so that I can play with it in my free time and
> hopefully learn new things.
>
> I am trying to install on an 11-year-old computer. It has a Pentium III
> 1100 MHz, 1.5 GB of memory (that's the max allowed!), the motherboard
> is a Tyan Trinity 400 (S1854).
1100 MHz? 1.5 GB of RAM? "Luxury!"
I am running 13.37 on a P3-700 with (wait for it...) 192 MB of RAM.
It is not speedy, but it runs ok. I use it to host a printer and
scanner, and to do a few other things.
> Upon booting up with the install DVD, it reaches the point where it
> says "Loading initrd.img" and then I get the following error message:
>
> Not enough memory to load specified image.
> I have tried using two kernels: hugesmp.s and huge.s. Same error
> message! I've also tried adding the line MEM=1GB. It did not work.
> Am I out of luck? Is my computer too old for Slackware 13.37? (No
> problems running Ubuntu 11.04 or Windows 7...)
No, I think lots of people are running 13.37 on older hardware. There
might be something weird with your particular hardware.
> I guess I could try to install an older version of Slackware, but was
> wondering if there is anyone who knows some tricks for installing 13.37
> on an old desktop.
>
> As I said before, I am not much of an expert with Linux.
You said the MD5 check worked; is that with checking the disk file you
downloaded? Is there any possibility that you had a bad burn? (Even
if you think that is unlikely, you might try a second DVD.)
Good luck.
Jim
Michael Black
No, he's just pointing out the stated "minimum". He said earlier he has
1.5gigs of RAM (which perhaps is a misreading on his part), which is more
than enough.
Booting Slackware should be fine for most computers in use now. Just
because the kernel no longer fits on a floppy doesn't mean it needs
massive amounts of RAM to boot. The kernel in Slack 12 that I'm still
using is only 4megs, which leaves quite a bit of memory even if he only
had 64megs. I have 512megs of RAM and it's pretty empty after I boot. Of
course, once I start up KDE, that tends to use up RAM.
Michael
Martin
oh, you're right.
It seems it is the loader that can't load the initrd prior to starting the
kernel, most likely due to some BIOS incompatibility. I know this doesn't
help, but there is a quote by Linus or HPA stating that most BIOSes were
considered functionally correct by their makers once they managed to load
Windows....
Maybe you can change a BIOS setting (believe it or not, I had a machine
where I coold only boot when disabling the USB keyboard in the BIOS), or re-
create the DVD with different mkisofs parameters. Last try: boot another
linux CD, partition and format the drive, load the Slackware initrd and
unpack it in some work directory via
gzip -d -c /path/to/initrd | cpio -id
Afterwards you chroot to that directory and call "setup", or you copy the
setup relevant files to /sbin and /bin in your current environment.
Good luck.
Martin
tb
I finally figured out what the problem was...
My eleven-year old desktop uses Award Modular BIOS v. 4.51PG. Under
Chipset Features Setup, there is an entry called Memory Hole. It was
enabled with a value of "15M - 16M". I disabled that and now the setup
DVD loads just fine.
I am not much of an expert and don't really understand the advantage of
having Memory Hole enabled, but the desktop seems to be working just
fine with this setting disabled!
--
tb
Eef Hartman
> I am not much of an expert and don't really understand the advantage of
> having Memory Hole enabled, but the desktop seems to be working just
> fine with this setting disabled!
The memory hole is mostly to support older O/S'es like Windows-9x/ME
and some OS/2 versions (2.1 and so), it makes sure the 15 to 16 MB
range is free to map the memory of the screen adaptor etc into (those
OS/es had a 16 MB limit in their memory addressing, so couldn't use
any higher addresses for it. In Linux it never was needed.
It is the same reason why a 32-bit kernel (without pae enabled) can't
use all of the 4 GB of RAM, it reserves the highest part of the
address range for memory on adaptors like video.
--
******************************************************************
** Eef Hartman, Delft University of Technology, dept. SSC/ICT **
** e-mail: E.J.M....@tudelft.nl - phone: +31-15-27 82525 **
******************************************************************
Aragorn
enlightened humanity with the following words...:
> tb <nos...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> I am not much of an expert and don't really understand the advantage
>> of having Memory Hole enabled, but the desktop seems to be working
>> just fine with this setting disabled!
>
> The memory hole is mostly to support older O/S'es like Windows-9x/ME
> and some OS/2 versions (2.1 and so) [...]
No, that was actually OS/2 1.x, which was still a 16-bit (protected
mode) operating system, and the Windows 3.0/3.1/3.11 versions for DOS,
because they too were only 16-bit. The reason was, as you stated, so
that there would be an address space for the video adapter on such
platforms.
There /was/ however also a memory issue with OS/2 2.x that required a
different BIOS setting, but that was of a different nature. It had to
do with OS/2 2.x handling memory above 64 MB differently compared to
other 32-bit operating systems.
The bottom line is that the 15-16 MB memory hole pertains to
compatibility with 16-bit protected mode. The x86 version of the Linux
kernel is at least 32-bit, so it doesn't suffer from this limitation.
--
Aragorn
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)