Comment 18 for bug 129172

I tried with the mem value (mem=8318M) and it was slow, so tried with (mem=7168M) and it booted quickly. But that hasn't solved the problem. Once I've started JBOSS on that server, the JBOSS was starting very slowly. So my gut feeling is that without the mem parameter the kernel puts itself into 'slow memory areas', and with the mem parameter we can make kernel put itself into 'fast memory', but other applications can be assigned 'slow memory'.
Will have to try with flashing the BIOS.

For others. If you don't have the floppy drive and still want to flash the BIOS, maybe you could find this useful:
http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-to-flash-motherboard-bios-from-linux-no-dos-windows-no-floppy-drive.html
I'ven't tried it yet, but it seems to be a good idea.