[syslinux] ISOLINUX problem booting with no Hard Disk

[Michael E Brown]

Ok, but I still don't exactly understand what is failing. 
isolinux-debug.bin doesn't print out anything except what was in my first 
message. Is there a particular line of output that says "BIOS BUG" that I 
missed?

Basically, because it gets all of the way down to "Ready.", I am a bit 
perplexed as to what is going on. Is the transfer off of the CD getting 
corrupted, or what?

I'm taking an x86 asm class right now, and my asm skills are probably just 
barely up to the task of what you describe below, but I still don't know 
what I am looking for.

--
Michael

On Tue, 1 Apr 2003, H. Peter Anvin wrote:

> 
> Michael_E_Brown at Dell.com wrote:
> > I suspected that, but how can I prove it. I _am_ the vendor :-(
> >
> > I need some trace code or something to prove they are wrong. Basically, a
> > testcase I can give them and tell them they are broke. Do you have any DOS
> > executable things that I can run that would prove they are broke, or
> > possibly a debugging isolinux version.
> >
> 
> There is one already (isolinux-debug.bin).  The other thing you could to
> is to wrap all calls to INT 13h and record the contents of the registers
> and the EDD transfer area; this should give you a complete record of
> what is happening.
> 
> > If I can get this, I can walk downstairs to the BIOS guys and hand them a
> > defect report.
> >
> > I am _VERY_ motivated to fix this, as it is a _HUGE_ impact on a project I
> > am on.
> 
> Good, on both of those.  Both El Torito and PXE BIOSes seem to be
> complete shit these days.
> 
>         -hpa
> 
> 
>