[syslinux] very strange kernel problem

[Roberto De Leo]

Hi,
I am trying to produce a syslinux bootable floppy.
I already manage to do it before but this time it fails even though the 
configurations I am using are not very different from other configs that 
worked.

The odd thing is the behaviour of the floppy: after the kernel starts 
loading, so that you see the dots running on the screen, right when it 
seems that syslinux is about to go on and read the initrd.gz it is 
possible to hear a very unusual loud sound from the floppy drive, a 
sound that it never does when it works correctly, and the boot procedure 
stops claiming that "Boot failed" and it asks for inserting a new disk.

The very odd thing is that if I add an entry to my PC lilo.conf to load 
the very same kernel with the very same initrd.gz, then it boots fine!

I tried with different floppies and different formats (1.44MB and 
1.68MB) and I get always the same odd behaviour :-(
What is going on?

Any hint would be greatly appreciated,
  Roberto De Leo