[syslinux] isolinux puzzle
H. Peter Anvin
hpa at zytor.com
Thu Apr 11 10:32:18 PDT 2002
Peter Stein wrote:
>
> And it does work on all other CDROM drives except the one attached to
> the Promise controller. I'm really baffled. Why is the WIN2K CD
> recognized as bootable, but not the Linux CD created with ISOLINUX?
>
Probably because it's the only one they ever tried, and their BIOS is so
broken that it's the only thing they'll ever boot.
ISOLINUX actually spends a lot of effort at being similar to the Win2K
boot, just because too many BIOSes just don't give a shit about anything
else. Unfortunately, seems yours is still not happy.
> I followed your web page ISOLINUX instructions to the letter and as I
> mentioned above the CD does boot on other CDROM drives. I'm willing to
> roll up my sleeves and do some research, but I'm not sure how to
> proceed. I suspect you may have an idea of what the problem area could
> be or at least how to go about zeroing in on a solution in the most
> efficient way. I am a veteran developer and have previously created
> bootable Linux CDs using syslinux, but don't have the expertise to size
> up this problem. Any pointers/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I suspect the BIOS is buggy as hell and can only boot something that
looks more-or-less exactly like the Win2K CD. What exactly it is that
trips it up is nearly impossible to tell without having both CDs and
access to the system.
-hpa
More information about the Syslinux
mailing list