[syslinux] isolinux: Extremely broken BIOS detected

[Alexander Dick]

Memtest86+ booted fine from the SCSI controller.  The memroy tests
came back with all sorts of errors.  This does not mean that it's
correct through because the changelog stated it is compatible for
certain chipsets after a fix was done.  There's no "[rpgrammed
compatible list of chipsets and devices" posted on their site.

Windows 98 SE didn't have a problem with the memory and the isolinux
error message is non-specific to the layman with the HEX codes and
"Extremely Broken BIOS Detected" echo's.

Making boot floppies for the new kernel and the new distributions of
Linux I've found is impoosible at present because boot.img is too big
to fit on a floppy.

I disabled the SCSI BIOS Bootable CD-ROM setting in the Adaptec
SCSISelect Utility, changed the setting in the motherboard BIOS boot
order to: CD, A, HDD-0, installed the ATAPI Toshiba XM-6102B CD-ROM
drive and voila!  The install worked like a champ with every
distribution that had those "Broken BIOS" error messages.

This just tells me that you and I and everyone else who has posted a
problem with a SCSI controller don't have defective components.  What
has changed since Linux boot floppy days is support for SCSI.

I hope one day support for SCSI is restored because their are
thousands if not millions of computers in the world that may or may
not have a SCSI controller for the CD-ROM drive.  With computer prices
so low and expandability of those computers endless in prospect, new
users to Linux and Open Source will only increase the number of
possible installation faults due to newer and newer BIOSes that are
incompatible with SYSLINUX, PXELINUX and ISOLINUX from the 'latest and
greatest systems available' in their quest to go around the lack of
support for SCSI..

I really think a link off of the syslinuz.zytor.com page with 'the
most frequent error messages' link to 'the most common fixes' is a
nice way to provice a better customer experience with Linux and the
applications provided by you, H. Peter Anvin.

Thanks for all the help.

- Alexander


On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 04:18:53 +0100, Blaauw,Bernd B.
<B.Blaauw at student.fontys.nl> wrote:
> Try if Memtest86+ (www.memtest.org) ISO (burned to cdrom) works.
> It also uses non-emulation, and is just 100KB or so to download:
> http://www.memtest.org/download/1.40/memtest86+-1.40.iso.zip
> 
> H. Peter Anvin also has a small ISO at:
> http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/Testing/vesatest/isoimage.gz
> 
> but I have no idea how he got his ISO image so small!.
> MKISOFS seems to add a few 100KB (I tried recreating the Memtest86 ISO by using isolinux instead, then chainloading to memtest)
> 
> Only thing that now seems possible is to recreate your own cdrom:
> create a 2.88MB floppyimage and put Linux kernel and initrd in it (maybe use SYSLINUX for it?), then remaster the cdrom using floppy emulation (with 2.88MB bootimage).
> Most modern Linux distro's use Isolinux, not a thing you can do about it.
> As there's so much bad BIOS existing in the world, indeed there are a lot of complaints.
> 
> If you're able to use Linuxbios as system bios replacement, and then get Isolinux to work (not possible yet, IIRC), be my guest :)
> 
> I think your IDE drive will work! Most modern BIOSs are pretty decent.
> (otherwise they would not succeed in adding booting from USB!)
> My Yamaha SCSI CDRW also failed, on LSI1010-66 SCSI controller.
> 
> 
> 
> Bernd
> 
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