[syslinux] pxelinux localboot

[H. Peter Anvin]

Kevin Kobb wrote:
> Just download Syslinux 1.75 and set it up on my SuSE 7.3 box with latest ISC
> 3.x DHCP release. I am using the SuSE supplied in.tftp, and an IBM PC client
> with a IBM EtherJet (actually an Intel Pro 100) nic. Everything was actually
> quite straight forward to setup, and I got PXELinux working without too much
> trouble.
> 
> I am booting several different DOS images without problem, and think my
> Linux image will work fine once I make a small change. The only hangup is
> when I try to boot off the local HD instead of one my images. I setup a
> pxelinux.cfg file with a label for "localboot 0", but when I select it I get
> the message that local boot is about to start, and my system locks up.
> 
> I've tried updating to the latest Intel boot agent (4.1.06 I think), and it
> didn't make any difference. Tomorrow, when I get to work, I will try some
> 3Com cards and a different PC.
> 
> Just wondered if anyone had run into a similar problem, or had a suggestion.
> I saw that there is a keeppxe command, and wondered if there might be
> command to remove the pxe stack before a localboot, or if it all happens
> automatically.
> 

With "localboot 0" it should happen automatically.

When you run "localboot 0", the PXE stack unloads and then returns to 
the BIOS, which is supposed to then run the next boot device in 
sequence.  I would guess that the problem is your mainboard BIOS getting 
completely confused when PXE returns.

Now when I have finally figured out how to (at least most of the time) 
get the PXE stack to unload, I might support a more conventional "load 
the boot sector from device <foo>" type localboot.  If so, it will 
probably happen as part of all the other changes I'm making in SYSLINUX 
2.00.

	-hpa