Only 32 bit distros are working on a 64 bit Intel Atom CPU, what could the problem be?

Question

Intel Atom N2600.

The Intel link says it's 64 bit but I can only get the 32 bit Lubuntu 16.04 to run on it. Slacko Puppy Linux 32 bit also worked.

It still works mostly fine (bar some screen tearing which I'm also trying to fix) but I couldn't figure out why the 64 bit versions won't work.

Solution 1

The vendor disabled 64-bit support.

There is a bios with 64-bit support in this topic. Good luck with flashing it.

Solution 2

According to Wikipedia it's probably the chipset or BIOS.

Intel states the Atom supports 64-bit operation only "with a processor, chipset, BIOS" that all support Intel 64. Those Atom systems not supporting all of these cannot enable Intel 64.[26] As a result, the ability of an Atom-based system to run 64-bit versions of operating systems such as Ubuntu or Debian GNU/Linux may vary from one motherboard to another.

I actually eventually found this answer while writing the question but figured it was worth posting since I couldn't find an answer here. It might not be specific enough to Ubuntu though?

Comments

[Rinzwind]

Here is an official response: bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-REQUEST-Asus-eeepc-1025C

[foofecker]

Thanks! I was wondering if that was possible but I probably won't try it. Messing with the BIOS is a bit too risky for me.

[mckenzm]

Not only that, but there may be on board peripherals that are 32 bit as well, hence the need to lock it to 64. A lot of laptops shipped with 64 bit capable CPUs on 32 bit architecture.

[Rinzwind]

@foofecker good choice :D scary stuff.

[somasekhar]

@mckenzm: I had a HP Pavailion PC which had a 32-Bit memory controller and although the Core 2 Duo was able to run a 64-Bit Windows or Linux, it could only access less than 4 GB of memory.