[syslinux] very strange kernel problem

[H. Peter Anvin]

Roberto De Leo wrote:
> 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,
>

Sounds like your floppy disk is formatted with the wrong geometry in the
MS-DOS superblock.

	-hpa