Grub, Linux, initrd, and virtual memory layout

[Christian Mautner]

Hello,

I had a problem with Grub loading Linux, that I could only resolve by
using lilo. The main Grub Bug Tracking System (as pointed to in
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub) seems to be down, so I am posting
this. 

It might very well be that this has been fixed some time ago, as what
I am describing happened to me with the Grub version that came with
RedHat 7.3. In that case I my apologies for wasting your time.

I am using a kernel that has its PAGE_OFFSET at 3.5GB (instead of
3GB), to be able to run bigger processes. If I load this kernel with
grub, and try to load an initial ramdisk, the kernel dies with the
message: 

initrd extends beyond end of memory ... disabling initrd

If I create a kernel that does not use an initrd, it works just fine. 

This is a production machine, and I cannot take it down for any tests.

With lilo it worked out of the box.

regards,
chm.

-- 
christian mautner -- chm bei istop punkt com -- ottawa, canada