Linux Distro

Step 1 Linux version is CentOS 5.11, 32 bit, non PAE.

CentOS 5.11 can be downloaded from http://vault.centos.org/. Only the PAE version is available, so after downloading, the nonPAE kernel must be downloaded and set to be the default upon booting.

Step 2 A non-PAE kernel can be acquired with:

 yum install kernel
 yum install kernel-devel

(Conversely, "yum install kernel-PAE" installs the PAE version).

The PAE kernel can then be deleted:

Determine kernels using

 rpm -qa | grep kernel

Delete kernel using

 rpm -e kernel-name.EL

See troubleshooting below if problems persist.

--> Troubleshooting:

If programs still think you are operating with 8gb of memory, do the following:

Use VIM or emacs to edit the kernel boot parameter. To do this, directly edit a GRUB config file located at /boot/grub/grub.conf. Add the following at the end of the line starting with "kernel /vmlinuz-".

 mem=4096M

Step 3. Turn off SELINUX

You can easily do this on the GUI: On the System menu, point to Administration and then click Security Level and Firewall to display the Security Level Configuration dialog box. Click the SELinux tab. In the SELinux Setting select Disabled and restart the computer.