Visionfive2 booting spi version starfive 5.11.3 firmware.  U-boot sees the 8GB RAM.  I am using Armbian_community_24.5.0-trunk.433_Visionfive2_jammy_edge_5.15.0_xfce_desktop.img.

I suspect there is something broken with the dtb file.  I am loading this dtb:

load nvme 0:1 ${fdt_addr_r} /boot/dtb/starfive/jh7110-visionfive-v2.dtb

When I use OpenBSD 7.5  the 8GB is seen, but that is a different dtb file and EFI boot process.
Is there a different dtb file to use?

Moved

Here is my solution.
I created a sdcard with u-boot firmware according to the instructions on this webpage:

https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/board/starfive/visionfive2.html

I noticed these instructions will use OpenSBI v1.4.  The Starfive firmware is still using OpenSBI v1.2.

Flip the boot selector switch on the board ==> to select boot from sdcard.

Insert the sdcard  created from that u-boot website.

Boot the system.  It will boot without starting any operating system.

U-Boot 2024.07-rc1 (Apr 26 2024 - 10:32:34 +0300)
OpenSBI v1.4

 

Swap the sdcard with the Armbian sdcard.

Enter these commands:

mmc list
 mmc dev 1
 load mmc 1:1 ${fdt_addr_r} /boot/dtb/starfive/jh7110-visionfive-v2.dtb
 load mmc 1:1 ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-edge-starfive2
 load mmc 1:1 ${ramdisk_addr_r} /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-edge-starfive2
 setenv bootargs 'root=/dev/mmcblk1p1 rw console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200 earlycon rootwait stmmaceth=chain_mode:1 selinux=0'
 setenv kernel_comp_addr_r 0x5a000000
 setenv kernel_comp_size 0x04000000
 booti $kernel_addr_r $ramdisk_addr_r:$filesize $fdt_addr_r

 

This will boot Armbian and recognize the 8GB RAM.

I also found there is a problem recognizing the UUID of the sdcard or nvme during operating system boot.
For sdcard boot I needed to edit the /etc/fstab -- switch the UUID to the device name

sdcard example:

# cat /etc/fstab
/dev/mmcblk1p1 / ext4 defaults,noatime,commit=600,errors=remount-ro 0 1
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,nosuid 0 0

 

These instructions also worked with Ubuntu 24.04.  I saw the same memory problem as with Armbian.

 

 

 

For people getting there via search -- some context:

https://forum.rvspace.org/t/debian-12-build-recognized-only-4gb-of-ram-from-8gb-installed-on-device/4511