Running ESXi 4.0 on Intellistation M Pro (6225-27G) with 4GB of memory

[oscararlehamn]

Hi,

I am currently testing ESXi on an IBM Intellistation M Pro (6225-27G) with some extra memory. I have upgraded total system memory to 4GB but ESXi can only detect 3GB during boot. I checked BIOS and the full 4GB is detected OK. There are few variables I can change in BIOS, I have updated to latest revision 1.41. I have also been reading (googling) up on the issue and I came accross this thread:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1131089

BIOS finds 4GB and there is no setting to change "memory remapping" in BIOS. Should I boot up with lets say a Linux live CD to confirm that a os can see the all memory? To rule out hardware/other OS.

Anyone seen this before?

Regards

Oscar

[shsun]

Hi Oscar,

Do you have the log file? If yes, appreciated if you can upload the log files (vm-support or serial log), so that we can forward to developers for help.

Thanks,

shsun

[oscararlehamn]

Hi Shsun,

The plot thickens. I have checked my bios in more detail. Please look at the attached photo. BIOS is showing "Installed Memory: 4096MB" but "System Memory is 3072MB". I am guessing that this is why ESXi only picks up 3GB. I also booted the System with a Fedora 11 (x64) CD. Fedora can only detect 3GB.

I found this other thread that I will check: http://communities.vmware.com/message/1135740;jsessionid=0772DE35067BB9466ECBB10C12BD42BC

I suspect this might be a limitation of the machine itself. I might have to contact IBM for further info. Unless anyone got any other ideas?

Cheers

[shsun]

Agree with you!

ESXi4.0 support 4GB memory definitely.

[DSTAVERT]

It is a hardware related x86 memory addressing limitation.

[oscararlehamn]

Hi,

I am not convinced. The CPU in this machine have the following spec - "3.6GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 microprocessors with 800MHz front-side bus, 1MB L2 cache, and Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)". That to me looks like a proper 64bit CPU which should be able to handle the full 4GB. Maybe I am missing something? Can you please elaborate?

Link to System Overview:

Thanks

Oscar

[sjimmie]

Looks like your BIOS gives the answer.

You have 4Gb RAM installed but only 3Gb is available.

Probably you have a vga-card (onboard?) with shared memory, which takes the missing 1Gb RAM...