Ibex - Aperture beyond 4GB ? - Update problems

[zika]

Well so far I have found 3 settings to try in /boot/grub/menu.lst for this issue.

iommu=noaperture <--- According to ASUS
iommu=memaper <--- According to AMD
iommu=calgary <--- According to linux.com

I was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada but I'm still not sure what the calgary setting does.
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But even after setting iommu=memaper in menu.lst /boot/config-2.6.27-7-generic does not show this setting, it shows:

GART_IOMMU=y
AMD_IOMMU=y
CALGARY_IOMMU=y
CALGARY_IOMMU=enabled by default
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System Messages displays:

Phoenix BIOS detected, possible corruption [forgot this part] trying to work around.
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Anyways AMD says if you don't have an IOMMU setting in BIOS you should add iommu=memaper to the kernel line in menu.lst This got rid of the error message but I still have to repeatedly hit a key to boot.
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Confused?

Me Too!

add iommu=noaperture at the end of the line in /boot/grub/menu.lst starting with #defoptions. then do sudo update-grub and, finally reboot ...

update: or, better, read this:

IOMMU (input/output memory management unit)

 Currently four x86-64 PCI-DMA mapping implementations exist:

   1. <arch/x86_64/kernel/pci-nommu.c>: use no hardware/software IOMMU at all
      (e.g. because you have < 3 GB memory).
      Kernel boot message: "PCI-DMA: Disabling IOMMU"

   2. <arch/x86_64/kernel/pci-gart.c>: AMD GART based hardware IOMMU.
      Kernel boot message: "PCI-DMA: using GART IOMMU"

   3. <arch/x86_64/kernel/pci-swiotlb.c> : Software IOMMU implementation. Used
      e.g. if there is no hardware IOMMU in the system and it is need because
      you have >3GB memory or told the kernel to us it (iommu=soft))
      Kernel boot message: "PCI-DMA: Using software bounce buffering
      for IO (SWIOTLB)"

   4. <arch/x86_64/pci-calgary.c> : IBM Calgary hardware IOMMU. Used in IBM
      pSeries and xSeries servers. This hardware IOMMU supports DMA address
      mapping with memory protection, etc.
      Kernel boot message: "PCI-DMA: Using Calgary IOMMU"

 iommu=[<size>][,noagp][,off][,force][,noforce][,leak[=<nr_of_leak_pages>]
    [,memaper[=<order>]][,merge][,forcesac][,fullflush][,nomerge]
    [,noaperture][,calgary]

  General iommu options:
    off                Don't initialize and use any kind of IOMMU.
    noforce            Don't force hardware IOMMU usage when it is not needed.
                       (default).
    force              Force the use of the hardware IOMMU even when it is
                       not actually needed (e.g. because < 3 GB memory).
    soft               Use software bounce buffering (SWIOTLB) (default for
                       Intel machines). This can be used to prevent the usage
                       of an available hardware IOMMU.

  iommu options only relevant to the AMD GART hardware IOMMU:
    <size>             Set the size of the remapping area in bytes.
    allowed            Overwrite iommu off workarounds for specific chipsets.
    fullflush          Flush IOMMU on each allocation (default).
    nofullflush        Don't use IOMMU fullflush.
    leak               Turn on simple iommu leak tracing (only when
                       CONFIG_IOMMU_LEAK is on). Default number of leak pages
                       is 20.
    memaper[=<order>]  Allocate an own aperture over RAM with size 32MB<<order.
                       (default: order=1, i.e. 64MB)
    merge              Do scatter-gather (SG) merging. Implies "force"
                       (experimental).
    nomerge            Don't do scatter-gather (SG) merging.
    noaperture         Ask the IOMMU not to touch the aperture for AGP.
    forcesac           Force single-address cycle (SAC) mode for masks <40bits
                       (experimental).
    noagp              Don't initialize the AGP driver and use full aperture.
    allowdac           Allow double-address cycle (DAC) mode, i.e. DMA >4GB.
                       DAC is used with 32-bit PCI to push a 64-bit address in
                       two cycles. When off all DMA over >4GB is forced through
                       an IOMMU or software bounce buffering.
    nodac              Forbid DAC mode, i.e. DMA >4GB.
    panic              Always panic when IOMMU overflows.
    calgary            Use the Calgary IOMMU if it is available

  iommu options only relevant to the software bounce buffering (SWIOTLB) IOMMU
  implementation:
    swiotlb=<pages>[,force]
    <pages>            Prereserve that many 128K pages for the software IO
                       bounce buffering.
    force              Force all IO through the software TLB.

  Settings for the IBM Calgary hardware IOMMU currently found in IBM
  pSeries and xSeries machines:

    calgary=[64k,128k,256k,512k,1M,2M,4M,8M]
    calgary=[translate_empty_slots]
    calgary=[disable=<PCI bus number>]
    panic              Always panic when IOMMU overflows

    64k,...,8M - Set the size of each PCI slot's translation table
    when using the Calgary IOMMU. This is the size of the translation
    table itself in main memory. The smallest table, 64k, covers an IO
    space of 32MB; the largest, 8MB table, can cover an IO space of
    4GB. Normally the kernel will make the right choice by itself.

    translate_empty_slots - Enable translation even on slots that have
    no devices attached to them, in case a device will be hotplugged
    in the future.

    disable=<PCI bus number> - Disable translation on a given PHB. For
    example, the built-in graphics adapter resides on the first bridge
    (PCI bus number 0); if translation (isolation) is enabled on this
    bridge, X servers that access the hardware directly from user
    space might stop working. Use this option if you have devices that
    are accessed from userspace directly on some PCI host bridge.

I vote for

iommu=off,noagp,noaperture

if You do not have AGP card.

[warpasylum]

Having the same issue on my acer aspire 5050-3087. I get the message "Aperture beyond 4 GB ignoring / Your BIOS doesn't leave a aperture memory hole / Please enable the IOMMU option in the BIOS setup / This costs you 64 MB of RAM". BIOS is V1 3302. Tried version 3309 and 3315. Blank screen with blinking cursor after boot splash on 3309, just a blank screen with 3315. I get the message and then Ubuntu boots like normal. No issues other than not seeing all the RAM. BIOS doesn't have an IOMMU option. Hope this helps.

[Slim Odds]

[/code]I vote for

iommu=off,noagp,noaperture

if You do not have AGP card.

"iommu=off" disables my USB ports.

I think that the noagp and noaperture are fine.....

[zika]

"iommu=off" disables my USB ports.
I think that the noagp and noaperture are fine.....

sorry to hear that. it did not in my case. I hope that I did not cause You to loose any time or data ...

[Slim Odds]

sorry to hear that. it did not in my case. I hope that I did not cause You to loose any time or data ...

No problem, I just had to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

But my point was that there is no need to turn iommu off just to fix the AGP issue. Just use iommu=noagp,noaperture, which works just dandy.

[zieglerj]

So I came back to this thread after your fix worked perfectly to thank you. I would do so formally but the little icon disapeared. Anyway thank you guys, I would have never got this on my own.