Cannot use RAM memory fully- ZFS problems

[tigerdom96]

Hi everyone,

I just did a complete reinstal of my whole Freenas setup as my motherboard reached its end ;(...

I basically installed the newest version: Freenas 8.0.4 x64 p3 from a CD

Now that I got the web interface up again, I am facing difficulties with auto importing my RaidZ array of disks. I get the message that I dont have enough RAM and need to add the following line to the loader.conf file:
vfs.zfs.prefectch_disable = 0

I did so, and hoped that I could then import it. I rebooted the system but still nothing :S

I then looked at my RAM, and Freenas only recognizes 3678MB of RAM while the BIOS tells me that I have a full 4096 MB or RAM ( I have a single stick of 4 gb or ram in my motherboard).

Does anyone have a suggestion in how I could get the full 4gb to be recognized by Freenas, so that ZFS will work??

Thanks for any support. It is much appreciated!! ;)
Regards
Dom

 

[praecorloth]

That's odd. Does this new motherboard have onboard video that may be using shared memory? I wouldn't think that's the problem, because usually that gets assigned right away and then your POST screen shows your remaining memory. But it's something to check.

 

[tigerdom96]

It is the ASUS E45M1M-Pro motherboard, which does have on board video, however I strongly doubt that it would use up some of the RAM. I previously had the E35M1M-Pro which did not have have this problem. I am using the exact same RAM, so I strongly doubt that this is the problem. Is there a way I could check this to eliminate this possible cause?

I will also try to reinstall the p2 version which worked with the old motherboard.

 

[praecorloth]

I don't know. The motherboard specifications don't mention anything about video memory. Usually they do say either X amount of dedicated memory, or shared memory. This one isn't saying anything. There should be a spot in the BIOS to check how much video memory you have. And if it's a shared amount, you'll likely see the amount of memory you're missing assigned to the video card. Alternately it may say somewhere in the motherboard manual.

Beyond this, you're not missing that much memory. Tell me a little bit about your ZFS pool(s). Sizes and RAID types. Maybe there's a fair chance you could squeak by without that bit of memory.

 

[tigerdom96]

I looked in the BIOS but didn't find any video memory. I did however change settings regarding the onboard graphics, and I managed to make Freenas recognize more. The problem however was that the system was unstable and the web interface crashed. The few minutes it was up and running, I tried to import the pool but still without success. My ZFS pool consists of 4 drives, each with 2 TB. They are all setup together in a RAIDZ array. I am running the system on a separate 150 Gb drive.

I will try to get hold of some more RAM, but it might some time as I am lost in the countryside...

 

[paleoN]

I am using the exact same RAM, so I strongly doubt that this is the problem. Is there a way I could check this to eliminate this possible cause?

How about the new motherboard? I'd still run memtest86+ on it overnight. Keep in mind it tests your entire memory subsystem and not just the RAM in isolation.

 

[jgreco]

I looked in the BIOS but didn't find any video memory. I did however change settings regarding the onboard graphics, and I managed to make Freenas recognize more.

Just so you know, those statements are contradictory. The onboard graphics settings are implicitly controls over the amount of memory your system sets aside for video use on these low-end embedded video boards.