Re: floppy0: Unable to allocate DMA memory
On Wed, 21 Oct 1998, Pere Camps wrote:
> Hi!
> floppy0: Unable to allocate DMA memory
[...]
> Sound error: Couldn't allocate DMA buffer
[...]
> I'm using Linux 2.0.35. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
The PC architecture cannot do DMA above 16MB. It's just not possible.
Since the PC was designed to run in less than 640KB, no one ever expected
it to be a problem. You have over 90MB of RAM, so now it's a problem for
you.
The kernel couldn't find a contiguous chunk of free memory below 16MB for
the floppy or the sound card to use. So, the DMA didn't work. I *think*
that development kernels let you reserve some RAM for DMA purposes, but
2.0.x definitely doesn't. You have a few options:
1. Use a development kernel.
2. Quit some apps and see if that frees up some RAM.
3. Reboot.
4. Use the 'swapout' program (from ftape) which tries to force the kernel
to swap out a contiguous chunk of RAM below 16MB.
5. Use an Alpha or SPARC.
6. Pull out some SIMMS and only install 16MB of RAM.
7. Go back in time and shoot the PC engineers.
Sincerely,
Ray Ingles (248) 377-7735 ray.ingles@fanucrobotics.com
"Computers let you make more mistakes faster than any other invention
in human history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila."
Mitch Radcliffe
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