Re: Grub bug #12271

[Leon Lynch]

On 3/26/07, Leon Lynch <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> According to the following, Grub loads the Linux initrd at an address
> that is too high for the Linux kernel to access when the 'vmalloc=' boot
> parameter is set greater than 128M:
>
> Grub bug #12271
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/4/4/283
>
> This appears to still be the case on Grub-0.97 that is shipped with
> Fedora Core 5.
>
> My boot entry is:
> title Fedora Core (2.6.16-prep)
>          root (hd0,0)
>          uppermem 524288
>          kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.16-prep ro vmalloc=256M mem=1536M
> memmap=512M$1536M root=/dev/sda3
>          initrd /initrd-2.6.16-prep.img
>
> When I boot without 'uppermem 524288', Linux complains:
> <snip>
> initrd extends beyond end of memory (0x37fef49d > 0x2ffff000)
> disabling initrd
> </snip>
>
> When I boot with 'uppermem 524288', Grub complains:
> <snip>
> root (hd0,0)
>   Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
> uppermem 524288
> kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.16-prep ro vmalloc=256M mem=1536M memmap=512M$1536M
> root=/dev/sda3
>     [Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1e00, size=0x187a4d]
> initrd /initrd-2.6.16-prep.img
>     [Linux-initrd @ 0x37f0c000, 0xe3d6e bytes]
>
> Error 28: Selected item cannot fit into memory
>
> Press any key to continue...
> </snip>
>
> Much googling indicated that many have tried and many have failed :-(.
> Applying a custom patch to Grub is not an option due to my client's lack
> of understanding anything. Is there a way to trick/manipulate Grub into
> loading the initrd at a lower address?
>
> Thanx in advance,
> Leon
>
> Side note: Is it preferred that I subscribe to this list before posting?
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bug-grub mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-grub

The attached patch is what both Suse and Gentoo seem to use. I have
confirmed that it works when both the 'vmalloc=' and 'mem=' parameters
are specified.

Regards,
Leon

070_all_grub-0.97-initrd_max_address.patch
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