AMD64 64-bit OSX

[t3hi3x]

Ok. So I have a nice installation of OSX on my Athlon X2. It's not perfect, but it does the job. I don't have any problems that keep me from running it, so OSX has become my main OS on this box.

 

Anyway, I started off with 2 GB of RAM, no problem, well in the limits of a 32-bit OS. I recently got a good deal on an additional 4 GB of RAM, so that makes a woppin' 6 GB...Sweet? Well...sorda. In the past I did some research and found out that my Kernel is 32-bit Only, so there's a limit on RAM. It's suppose to be 4 GB. I booted OSX and it's reconginzing all 6 GB; however, upon filling anything past 3 or so, I get a GSOD.

 

My questions is, is it in any way possible for me to get a 64 bit kernel running on this beast, so I can use all 6 GB of RAM? I know it's a stretch, but it's worth a shot. Would I have to compile one???

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Alex

[alicizmar]

Voodoo kernel should get you going. Just started supporting 64 bit recently and is the first on AMD to do so.

[Lanceomni]

I agree with alicizmar Voodoo Kernel is great and I highly recomend it but some of the memory problems are due to certain kexts being 32bit. From what I have found you have two options.

 

Option 2

Limiting the amount of memory osx uses at startup with the bootflag maxmem.

On startup add this to your boot options:

maxmem=****

 

Replacing **** with the amount of memory to use in MB. Many people have reported 3456 (3.38gb) works well. I have pushed mine to 3584 (3.5gb) and have not been able to make it freeze.

This is also where you put other flags such as "-v -s -l". If you are using any of these the syntax is:

The syntax goes something like this:

 

maxmem=3584 -v -s

 

Try the maxmem flag on boot and if it works add it to com.apple.Boot.plist located in: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

 

The syntax goes something like this:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string>maxmem=3584 -v</string>

 

If you are not using any boot flags it should look like this: <key>Kernel Flags</key>

<string> </string>

Each time I increased the speed I would open up Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab. I would then open Photoshop and and do something that would tax the system. On my computer when I went over the threshold it would freeze and I could read how much memory had been used. (Other people have mentioned that their computer would reset instead of freeze.) I ran that computer 24/7 and used Photoshop heavily and never had a memory related problem at 3.5GB.

 

Option 2:

There is a modified 64bit AppleNForceATA.kext (there are versions for other chipsets but I believe you have a nForce chipset) that I have been using for several weeks and has allowed me to use all 4GB with no freezes. I would definitely use maxmem first until you have solved all your other problems as these still may be buggy although I have not noticed anything strange yet. Here is the link http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=127611

[t3hi3x]

Thanks guys for the help. I stumble upon the Voodoo kernel last night shortly after posting this, and I was happy! haha

 

I just installed the NForceATA driver, and it works flawlessly. I didn't correlate the driver with the issue. It was crashing when I ran VMWare. The only thing that runs my ATA drives are that, so I'm good!

 

Thanks guys. This Kernel looks promising, and I look foward to future releases.

 

Thanks,

Alex

 

PS: How did you know I have an Nforce chipset?