[syslinux] PXE-on-a-disk Intel EM64T reboot
Geert Stappers
stappers at stappers.nl
Sun Dec 11 06:20:53 PST 2005
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On Fri, Dec 02, 2005 at 01:07:11PM -0800, Josh Lehan wrote:
> Hello! I have been successful using SYSLINUX and Etherboot to create a
> generic "PXE-on-a-disk" package, a floppy image and CD image that
> support as many Ethernet cards as possible.
>
> These have support for all of Etherboot's modules that support real PCI
> cards: about 25-or-so drivers and 250-or-so cards. I've built Etherboot
> ZLILO images, one for each driver, set up to boot as a PXE stack. I've
> used "ethersel.c32" to choose the correct image for each detected PCI
> card, and it seems to work.
Sounds like http://etherboot.anadex.de/
> I made a fairly straightforward Perl script to take Etherboot's internal
> PCI device table and munge that into a fairly large SYSLINUX config file
> that is scanned by ethersel. I've tested it on a fair variety of
> different hardware and it works! It auto-detects the correct driver to
> load, without user interaction, and behaves just as a PXE BIOS would.
Please tell more about it
or even better: document it on a webpage.
> A limitation is that it will only work with the "first" card detected by
> ethersel. In a situation where 2 PCI cards are installed, both from
> different drivers (for example, one 3com and one Intel), only one of
> them will work. I was pleased to see that Etherboot can work with
> multiple copies of the same card, though, trying each in a round-robin
> fashion.
>
> I'd love it if the Etherboot module could somehow "return" to SYSLINUX,
> instead of rebooting the entire machine or trying forever in a loop, if
> there is a problem/timeout. Then, ethersel could have the chance of
> detecting another PCI card in the system, and continue trying with that.
> Then, it would work even in systems with multiple PCI cards from
> different vendors. However, that's an Etherboot question, not a
> SYSLINUX question, so I won't continue with it here.
But where will it be continued?
(did I mis a posting? ( here or at the etherboot mailinglists ))
> I use PXELINUX as my bootloader (of course), and have my TFTP and DHCP
> server set up and working correctly to serve it, and a Linux kernel/initrd.
>
> The flow of control:
>
> Boot
> --> SYSLINUX (or ISOLINUX if CD)
> --> ethersel (detect PCI card and choose Etherboot kernel)
> --> Back to SYSLINUX (load and run Etherboot kernel)
> --> Etherboot (PXE stack, download of PXELINUX)
> --> PXELINUX (downloaded from server and ran, downloads Linux kernel)
> --> Linux
>
> Kind of convoluted, but it works nicely!
>
> My main problem is on the Intel EM64T (Intel's clone of AMD's 64-bit x86
> architecture).
>
> Right after SYSLINUX prints the final "Ready." line, it reboots!
Mmm ....
> I see the kernel and initrd downloaded correctly by TFTP. There were no
> errors. However, instead of getting the normal kernel startup text
> after SYSLINUX's final "Ready." line, I get an immediate reboot!
>
> Yes, I'm downloading an Intel EM64T kernel, not an AMD64 kernel.
>
> Yes, the kernel boots fine when loaded from other means (local hard
> disk, for instance). For testing, I tried enabling the motherboard's
> on-board PXE BIOS for booting, and it worked. So, the problem seems to
> be in some difference between my Etherboot-created software PXE stack,
> and the BIOS's real PXE stack.
>
> Are there any known issues with the final handoff phase from
> SYSLINUX/Etherboot/PXELINUX to the kernel, on Intel EM64T machines?
You could be the first in that area.
( in other words: I haven't seen reports of Intel EM64T with syslinux
(no success, neither failures)
)
> Anything I can do to help troubleshoot this? At first, I had a feeling
> it has something to do with freeing the PXE stack in memory (from
> Etherboot), but since it works on other AMD64 machines and all 32-bit
> machines I have found, I don't think this would be the problem.
I think it is kernel start code for the EM64T
that differs too from AMD64 and plain i386.
> I'll post this to the Etherboot list as well, but thought I'd also
> mention it here, in hopes that someone else has seen this before (since
> a universal "PXE-on-a-disk" boot floppy/CD image is quite useful, and
> seems to be the killer app for Etherboot these days).
I also think it is a killer application, so please do that posting.
> Josh
GSt
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