docs: guidance for 512MB and 1GB boards

Documents the memory ceiling on small boards and, more usefully, what
running into it actually looks like: sshd accepting connections and
closing them before the banner, the web UI still responding normally,
clean ping, a dark panel, and a wrong clock after the next boot. None of
those read as "out of memory", which makes the failure hard to identify
from the symptoms.

Cross-referenced from SSH_UNAVAILABLE_AFTER_INSTALL.md, since "I can't
SSH in any more" is how most people will first meet this.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Chuck
2026-08-18 19:20:49 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 8927a1b6b1
commit ef1e9e0eee
3 changed files with 121 additions and 1 deletions
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@@ -20,7 +20,22 @@ The installation script:
- Installs and configures `dnsmasq` (DHCP server for AP mode)
- These services can interfere with normal WiFi client mode
### 3. Reboot After Installation
### 3. The Board Ran Out of Memory
On a 512MB or 1GB board, memory exhaustion stops `sshd` being able to fork a
session process. The connection is accepted and then closed immediately, before
any banner:
```
kex_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host
```
The giveaway is that the board is otherwise healthy — ping is clean and the web
UI still responds — but nothing that needs to start a new process works, and
the panel is usually dark. Only a power cycle clears it. See
[LOW_MEMORY_BOARDS.md](LOW_MEMORY_BOARDS.md).
### 4. Reboot After Installation
If the script reboots the Pi (which it recommends), network services may restart in a different state, potentially triggering AP mode.