[syslinux] pxelinux localboot

[Jim Wright]

as a data point, I have a few dozen machines in a test lab, with about
a dozen different motherboards and various combinations of peripherals.
I haven't found a system yet where the existing "localboot 0" doesn't
work.  in fact, several systems I have configured to always boot PXE
first and if I want to use the on-disk image I'll select "local".


On Tue, 18 Jun 2002, H. Peter Anvin wrote:

> 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