Memory Limitation on Power Edge 1850

Question

Hi,   I have a Power Edge 1850 Server originally used by McAfee SCM appliance   The server itself has 1 GB of RAM but the BIOS shows only 256 MB which is on a separate board than the motherboard itself   I have tried to add more memory but the system keeps on showing 256 MB only   When I log to the BIOS management it shows the whole memory but during the POST the system gives a warning that only 256 MB is there   Kindly advice   Thanks

Mark_A_Smith · Answer

Reboot the server and hit F2 to go into the BIOS config.  Arrow down to OS Install Mode and set it to OFF.  Save and exit.

Raedaljarrah · Answer

Thanks , I will try that and let you know

Dev Mgr · Answer

The OS install mode caps the memory at 256MB. Some OSes (NT4 is the only one I remember/know of) won't install properly if there's 512MB or more memory in the system.

After the install of the OS is done you'd disable the install mode and the OS would work fine with 512MB or more memory.

This is why the bios has the OS install mode which caps the memory at 256MB.

Raedaljarrah · Answer

Thanks , I have solved the problem   I think I need to reset the BIOS as well since I have RAID problems.The server some times see two HDD and sometimes it sees only one   It has two HDD which were initially configured in RAID-1.I have no problem with any data since I need to format it   Please advice

PowerEdge Hardware General

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