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Enable full memory for 512MB Rev 2.0 Pi

fustini

Hello - I finally tried out my 512MB Rev 2.0 Pi on Saturday night and am curious how others went about enabling the full memory.  I flashed the current Sept-18 Raspbian image.  The Pi booted ok but without the extra memory detected.  I installed rpi-update and ran it.  After the reboot, the memory was still the same, so I started researching.  I came across this helpful page:

 

http://hubcitylabs.org/unlocking-your-new-raspberry-pis-512mb-of-memory/

 

which explains that hexxeh's rpi-update is not currently working for the latest firmware.  I followed the instructions to grab the latest from github and copy into /boot.  Upon a reboot, the extra memory was detected, and I could further change the CPU vs. GPU allocation with gpu_mem in /boot/config.txt.

 

Does anyone currently know of a simpler process?

 

Thanks,

Drew

Parents

  • I suspect it's just a logistics problem that rpi-update will fix sooner or later.

     

    I haven't tried myself yet, but it should really just be bootcode.bin/loader.bin/start.elf that needs changed.  Probably not a good idea to use arm448_start.elf on a 256Mb board though, so it'll just be a case of identifying the board before giving you the option of what ones to pick.

     

    I was half expecting some of the problems behind the recent posts on 512Mb doa's to be something daft like the old firmware not booting on the new board for some reason, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

     

    Anyway, I'd definately recommend going the github route along with a self compiled kernel from the github source for a few good reasons:

    1. you learn something new
    2. you become independent of problems, or simply stuff like rpi-update not keeping up
    3. you get to pick the bits you need - no more missing wifi drivers etc
  • in reply to Former Member

    If you try to use any of the new images on the 256MB it won't boot. Yes the process is simple, just copy whatever image you want to boot to start.elf and reboot. I only tested the 448/64MB memory split.

     

    I've read some of the reports of issues with the 512MB, some of them smell more like a hardware/assembly issue.

     

    If you want to do some kernel development/building I'd strongly recommend you setup your development environment in a separate Linux machine.

  • in reply to jamodio

    My 512MB rev. 2 boots just fine with a 256MB Raspian image. It only shows 192 MB, but it does boot.

  • in reply to gdstew

    I think what jamodio is saying is that if you have an sd-card setup for 512Mb - i.e. with arm448_start.elf copied to start.elf - then it won't boot on a 256Mb Pi.

     

    256Mb card on a 512Mb Pi works ok as you've found..

  • in reply to jamodio

    jamodio wrote:

     

    If you want to do some kernel development/building I'd strongly recommend you setup your development environment in a separate Linux machine.

    Well yes. Assuming you have one.  Kernel compiling on the Pi itself is not for those short on patience image

     

    With crosstool-ng it's a fairly painless process to setup a kernel dev environment on an x86 linux system these days.

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  • in reply to jamodio

    jamodio wrote:

     

    If you want to do some kernel development/building I'd strongly recommend you setup your development environment in a separate Linux machine.

    Well yes. Assuming you have one.  Kernel compiling on the Pi itself is not for those short on patience image

     

    With crosstool-ng it's a fairly painless process to setup a kernel dev environment on an x86 linux system these days.

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