No PCI IOMEM space available below 4GB
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux |
Confirmed
|
High
|
|||
linux (Ubuntu) |
Triaged
|
Medium
|
Unassigned | ||
nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 (Ubuntu) |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
Binary package hint: nvidia-glx-180
This can affect almost all releases (6.10 7.04, 7.10, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04+)
It usually only shows up dramatically with video cards that have large memory (e.g. 256MB) and on systems that
a) have 3GB or more RAM and/or
b) have 64-bit CPUs on 32-bit north-bridge chipsets (e.g. Intel 945)
Typical symptom: "failed to load the nvidia kernel module"
This issue could affect all versions of the Nvidia proprietary drivers and others.
Recently I've seen several users in IRC #ubuntu asking for help but without solving the issue. When I saw Keith Dewitt asking the same question on 2009-03-14 I arranged with him to access his system via SSH and a multiuser screen session to diagnose the issue. Keith was very patient and supportive and his assistance led directly to this discovery.
There are also threads on the nvidia forums with the same issues.
The symptoms are that users report that systems with Nvidia-based graphics cards won't start the X server successfully. There are a wide range of reports that don't immediately pin-point the cause.
The fact the nvidia kernel module failed to load is the biggest clue.
Check dmesg and /var/log/kern.log for something along these lines:
[ 20.137717] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
[ 20.412849] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNEB] enabled at IRQ 18
[ 20.412858] nvidia 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNEB] -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 20.412862] NVRM: This PCI I/O region assigned to your NVIDIA device is invalid:
[ 20.412862] NVRM: BAR1 is 256M @ 0x30000000 (PCI:0002:00.0)
[ 20.412865] NVRM: This is a 64-bit BAR mapped above 4GB by the system BIOS or
[ 20.412865] NVRM: Linux kernel. The NVIDIA Linux graphics driver and other
[ 20.412866] NVRM: system software do not currently support this configuration
[ 20.412867] NVRM: reliably.
[ 20.412872] nvidia: probe of 0000:02:00.0 failed with error -1
[ 20.412887] NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine failed for 1 device(s).
[ 20.412889] NVRM: None of the NVIDIA graphics adapters were initialized!
Also check /var/log/Xorg.0.log or /var/log/
(--) PCI:*(0@2:0:0) nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400 GS rev 161, Mem @ 0xfd000000
/16777216, 0x130000000/
S @ 0x????????/131072
(**) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
(==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888
(==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling RENDER acceleration
(II) NVIDIA(0): Support for GLX with the Damage and Composite X extensions is
(II) NVIDIA(0): enabled.
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
Notice that the video card's IOMEM allocation is at 5GB (0x130000000/
/var/log/dmesg shows:
[ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: 0000000100000000 - 0000000130000000 (usable)
[ 0.477047] pci 0000:00:0b.0: BAR 9: can't allocate resource
[ 0.477047] pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 1: can't allocate resource
lspci -nn reveals:
00:0b.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP73 PCI Express bridge [10de:056
e] (rev a1)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400 GS [10
de:0404] (rev a1)
lspci -vvnn -s 02:00.0
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400 GS [10
de:0404] (rev a1)
Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device [3842:c738]
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Step
ping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort-
<MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
Region 0: Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Region 1: Memory at 130000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Region 3: Memory at fa000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
Region 5: I/O ports at ec00 [size=128]
Expansion ROM at febe0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Kernel modules: nvidia, nvidiafb
The reason for the failure is that the video chipset's PCI IOMEM RAM (in this case 256MB) cannot be allocated in the PCI IOMEM region below 4GB (from 3GB-4GB) since other devices have already been given assignments that mean there isn't a 256MB gap available on a 256MB boundary - in other words, either at 3GB or 3.25GB.
The host system has 4GB of system RAM which causes the kernel to prevent the use of the 3GB-3.25GB range, and other allocations prevent the use of other ranges.
Workarounds:
a) alter the BIOS video IOMEM position to below 4GB (on 64-bit architectures), or
b) some BIOSes allow setting the "top of memory below 4GB" If so, set it to less than or equal to 2.75GB and try progressively lower values - one should allow a hole large enough for the video IOMEM to fit starting at 3GB (below 4GB), or
c) reduce the system's RAM to less than 2.5GB to leave sufficient free space.
For the last year I've had an ongoing project to write a completely new PCI IOMEM system for the Linux kernel. I've added the mainline bug report that triggered the development to this report. Additionally, here is a link to my Wiki describing the issue and solutions.
http://
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
Changed in linux: | |
status: | Unknown → Confirmed |
Changed in linux (Ubuntu): | |
assignee: | nobody → intuitivenipple |
importance: | Undecided → Medium |
status: | New → Confirmed |
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
description: | updated |
Changed in linux (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Confirmed → In Progress |
Changed in nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Incomplete → Invalid |
Changed in linux (Ubuntu): | |
assignee: | TJ (intuitivenipple) → nobody |
status: | In Progress → Triaged |
Changed in linux: | |
importance: | Unknown → High |
tags: | added: needs-kernel-logs |
Changes made to BIOS:
Enter BIOS setup
Select:
Advanced Chipset Setup
Select:
Top of Memory Under 4GB
Set to:
2.75GB (Has to be set under 3GB)
Save Changes
====
ECS GF7100PVT-M3 LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7100 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard.
For this report the video card is the Gf8400 GS overriding the onboard Gf7100. The Gf7100 should work as is.
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 6 GenuineIntel ~2666 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 080015, 10/30/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB