Author Topic: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory  (Read 16433 times)

Martin Vieregg

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ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« on: April 29, 2018, 10:16:49 pm »
I have switched on an AM4 board from Bristol Ridge processor to the newest Ryzen with Graphics processor Ryzen 2200G and tried to start from ArcaOS USB stick. I got this error message:

Code: [Select]
MemDisk 2011.05.01
Startup drive is floppy or hard disk (80).
Detecting extended memory size ... using INT 15 EAX=E820 'SMAP'
  63 MB starting at 1 MB
Not enough memory

I failed before getting the pre-install menu.
It seems to be an incompatiblity for DOS programs (I assume the first steps on the ArcaOS USB Stick is in DOS).

I have tested it on two different AM4 boards (Asrock and Asus), same effect. Bristol Ridge works, Ryzen G fails.

Any ideas?

Doug Bissett

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2018, 07:05:38 am »
Without more to go on, all I can say is that this (or something similar) can happen if you simply updated the ISO file on the stick, without updating the root of the stick. Do the whole setup procedure, following the instructions, and try again.

Martin Vieregg

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2018, 10:33:22 am »
But the stick worked fine the past weeks. The problem only occurs when using the Ryzen G processor in the mainboard. Switching back to the old Bristol Ridge processor let the problem disappear.

ivan

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2018, 11:48:57 am »
There is a possibility that the problem is associated with the custom ASMedia USB that is incorporated in the newer Ryzen processors.  For some reason ASMedia do something that makes their chips incompatible - their USB and AHCI will not work with anything we have.

Lars

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2018, 12:27:53 pm »
The error message:

Detecting extended memory size ... using INT 15 EAX=E820 'SMAP'
  63 MB starting at 1 MB
Not enough memory

seems to imply that the SMAP call to determine amount of memory miserably fails. That may have more than one cause: either the BIOS implementation of that INT 15 call is broken or, more likely, there are more and more boards that have large "system memory gaps" in the lower 4 GB area that they then use for PCI address space (so they have plenty of addressing space for old PCI cards that can only address 32-bit addresses) instead of addressing system memory.
The assumption of these boards is that you are using a 64-bit operating system that can address memory beyond 4 GB without any problem. If it is the latter then you are sadly out of luck using OS/2.
I don't know if changing the processor on the very same board qualifies as changing the board in this respect. But I think that is possible.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2018, 12:33:37 pm by Lars »

ivan

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2018, 03:17:11 pm »
Lars, you are correct about changing the processor being equivalent to changing the board in the case of the Ryzen processors because they carry AHCI and USB controllers built in.

The attached table is for the early Ryzen processors and support chipsets and shows the various combinations between support chipset and processor.

Lars

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2018, 07:11:54 pm »
Maybe that also explains why AHCI won't work: if the AHCI controller should expect a 64-bit base address for its memory mapped register space then OS/2 won't work with it ...
« Last Edit: April 30, 2018, 07:13:32 pm by Lars »

Doug Bissett

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2018, 08:53:06 pm »
This appears to be a known problem with the newest processors. No resolution in sight.

Lars

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2018, 12:37:01 pm »
Are there any reports that the Ryzen CPU will no longer work with 32-bit versions of Windows ?

If yes, that is a strong indication that the built-in I/O components of the Ryzen CPU expect a 64-bit physical base address for their memory mapped registers. That means "good bye" to OS/2 (unfortunately, it does not mean "good buy" for OS/2 ...)

ivan

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2018, 02:03:27 pm »
It appears that some people have installed 32-bit win XP on Ryzen systems with the only slight problem being the AHCI support.

Edit to add some info about the processors.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2018, 02:43:24 pm by ivan »

Lars

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2018, 10:23:57 pm »
It appears that some people have installed 32-bit win XP on Ryzen systems with the only slight problem being the AHCI support.

Edit to add some info about the processors.

I had understood that there are people who are able to run 32-bit Win XP in some 32-bit emulation mode (just like you can run a 32-bit application under 64-bit Windows). But that goes on top of the base 64-bit operating system, doesn't it ?

Lars

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2018, 10:29:20 pm »
It appears that some people have installed 32-bit win XP on Ryzen systems with the only slight problem being the AHCI support.

Edit to add some info about the processors.

I am confused. I also have a AMD FX-8350 eight core processor but it is not a Ryzen but rather follows the Vishera architecture (I seem to remember) and is already say 6 years old. Is AMD reusing their processor names ?

ivan

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2018, 01:14:58 am »
Hi Lars,

I was told that they have XP running on a Ryzen 5 system as the only OS but that they had to patch a couple of drivers to do so.  I haven't seen it and the youngsters that did it did it for fun just to say they had.

The CoreInfo dump was sent to me by the guy I built a Ryzen system for so I hope it is the correct one - I have two Ryzen systems here but they are running Linux until I can, hopefully, get OS/2 running on them and I can't find a Coreinfo program for Linux or I would have done it myself.  I will be seeing the guy over the weekend and will make sure it is the correct coreinfo dump.

EDIT:

Changed a hard disk on my Ryzen 5 box, installed win 10 (yuck) and did a coreinfo dump - see below.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2018, 04:26:36 pm by ivan »

Martin Vieregg

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #13 on: May 04, 2018, 02:16:39 pm »
If you try to install ArcaOS 5.0.2 on a Ryzen board, you have to
- install a PCIe USB 2.0 card, because there is no USB 2.0 controller onboard (only 3.0)
- in the pre install menu, use "modern hardware, safe mode".

Lars

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Re: ArcaOS 5.0.2 USB stick - MemDisk not enough memory
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2018, 02:50:38 pm »
... and, as far as I understand from what I have read so far, you cannot use AHCI or you will have to buy yourself an AHCI PCIe card where I don't know how you would tell OS2AHCI.ADD to skip the Ryzen built-in AHCI controller and instead use the controller of the plug-in card.

Or maybe use SATA ("IDE mode" in BIOS).

Looks like for an OS/2 user, the new Ryzen CPU is more of a hinderance than help. Additionally, Intel seems to go the same way for their new generation of CPUs/boards. I deduce this from the fact that the new Intel boards will only work with Windows >= 10 because you will need drivers specially adapted to the specific HW (say good bye to standards). There clearly is no interest/business case in providing these drivers for Windows 7 or 8.