[syslinux] Loading plpbt.bin from Syslinux 4.02 causes reboot

[Gert Hulselmans]

You probably didn't follow the instructions, EXACTLY as stated:

==============================================================
# Check for the presence of PLoP (run by default)
#   When PLoP INT13 hook is found, run the first label
#   When PLoP INT13 hook isn't found, run the second label
label plopcheck
    com32 ifplop.c32
    append plop_detected -- plop_not_detected

# When PLoP INT13 hook was found, boot the menu system.
# PLoP can have added USB2.0 speed, so the entries we want to boot
# will be read from disk much faster (supposing that we have a BIOS
# that only supports USB1.1 speed).
label plop_detected
    com32 menu.c32
    append syslinux.cfg

# PLoP INT13 hook wasn't found, so we boot PLoP
label plop_not_detected
    linux plpbt.bin
==============================================================

It says "linux plpbt.bin", not "kernel plpbt.bin".

When you use the LINUX keyword, Syslinux will load and boot the file as a
linux kernel (doesn't look and doesn't care about the extension of the
loaded file).
When you use the KERNEL keyword, Syslinux will choose how to boot the
file, by looking at its extension.

Quote of Syslinux documentation:
================================

Because neither Linux kernel boot sector images, nor COMBOOT files have
reliable magic numbers, Syslinux will look at the file extension. The
following extensions are recognized (case insensitive):

 none or other	Linux kernel image
 .0		PXE bootstrap program (NBP) [PXELINUX only]
 .bin		"CD boot sector" [ISOLINUX only]
 .bs		Boot sector [SYSLINUX only]
 .bss		Boot sector, DOS superblock will be patched in [SYSLINUX only]
 .c32		COM32 image (32-bit COMBOOT)
 .cbt		COMBOOT image (not runnable from DOS)
 .com		COMBOOT image (runnable from DOS)
 .img		Disk image [ISOLINUX only]

================================

So if you use the LINUX keyword, you just can use plpbt.bin.
If you use the KERNEL keyword, you need to rename plpbt.bin to plpbt.

Also see the comments in the ifplop.c source file:
http://git.zytor.com/?p=syslinux/syslinux.git;a=blob;f=com32/modules/ifplop.c;h=a846df8db0449afe67a1a3e45aaaeb34be8eddd1;hb=HEAD

- Gert Hulselmans


mwesten wrote:
> OK, it's working now.  : )  I did some more searching and found the
> problem.
> I was using the example as shown,  i.e. trying to load plpbt.bin, and that
> doesn't work because of the .bin extension.  I did run across something
> that
> said the extension needed to be removed, but didn't know what that meant
> since the filename needs to be complete or it gives a "could not find
> kernel
> image..." error.  Now I see it's necessary to rename the file to something
> else without that extension at all, and then boot that.
>
> Cheers,
> -Mike
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm trying to setup a flash drive with Syslinux 4.0.2, ifplop.c32, and
>> plpbt.bin (5.0.10) as shown in the thread here:
>> http://forum.plop.at/index.php/topic,165.0.html
>>
>> Unfortunately, the system reboots as soon as I load plpbt.bin from
>> Syslinux.
>>
>> I don't think it's a problem with plpbt.bin because it works if I boot
>> Grub4DOS and load it.  : (
>> It will also work if I boot Syslinux, load grub.exe, and then have that
>> load the same plpbt.bin.
>>
>> Help...
>>
>> -Mike
>
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