[syslinux] Re: 2.4.20, 2.4.21-pre2 and 2.4.20-ac2

[Jonathan Thorpe]

Greetings,

I forgot to mention, I just installed LILO on the same disk (hence
replacing Syslinux) and it booted the new Kernel perfectly. Hope this
information helps.

Regards,
Jon



> Greetings,
> 
> I have just tested Syslinux 1.75 and Syslinux 2.00 on a floppy disk that
> worked fine with Kernel 2.4.19 on a 1.44Mb floppy disk (the kernel about
> 1.1Mb in size). I decided to update the Kernel to the new 2.4.20 (as
> well as 2.4.21-pre2 and 2.4.20-ac2) which I tested to work fine when
> booting from the HDD using Lilo, but when I took my original disk that
> used 2.4.19 and replaced the Kernel with the new one (and then updating
> the syslinux installation on the floppy), the boot gets to a certain
> point on the loading of the Kernel and stops, saying "Boot Failed:
> Please change disks and press any key to continue".
> 
> This same problem exists with even the latest pre3 version that I just
> downloaded, and even when using the slow, safe and stupid mode. The new
> kernels have I have tested are 980Kb in size and are built in the exact
> same manner to the 2.4.19 using the "make bzImage" method.
> 
> Originally my disks were formatted as 1.77Mb, but after seeing the error
> message for the first time, I built a few 1.44Mb floppy images that also
> don't work (they seem to stop at exactly the same point of loading the
> Linux Kernel). The contents on the floppy are fine, this was tested with
> various disks and a few different floppy drives and all contents can be
> copied from the floppy to the HDD without incident.
> 
> Are you aware of any problem with the latest Kernels and Syslinux? Is
> there a workaround for this?
> 
> I've been using Syslinux for about two years now and I have never
> experienced a problem like this before.
> 
> Any comemnts are welcome, if you require a copy of one of my new boot
> disks (that don't work, as they're using the 2.4.20 kernel), please let
> me know and I'll gladly send one.
> 
> Your help is appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Jonathan Thorpe