[syslinux] floppy image issues

Wed Apr 27 03:07:07 PDT 2005

Hi!

sorry for the top post.

I have had some troubles in the past trying to make equipment to 
boot a floppy with MS-DOS that also used ms networking to access
the network.

Particularly the Gateway GSX 500 cannot have the onboard NIC with
PXE enabled, as it eats about 92k of highmemory, which in turn
makes impossible to start Windows XP setup due to low memory.

On that particular machine I had to disable PXE boot in order to
make the damn thing boot my floppy.

This is a BIOS problem, and apparently not solvable on it's own.

There will be issues in the future, as the PC Manufacturers will
start to make the machines less PC-compatible...

Luis

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Karsten [mailto:carl at personnelware.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:01 PM
> To: Carl Karsten
> Cc: SYSLINUX Mailing List
> Subject: [syslinux] floppy image issues
> 
> As long as I am bothering to post this, maybe now's the time 
> to get some 
> help on some things.
> 
>  > label pxesmb
>  > # SMB on pxe TCP/IP stack
>  >         kernel memdisk
>  >         append initrd=smb/pxesmbboot.IMA keeppxe
> 
> This took some doing to get everything to fit into memory.  I 
> couldn't 
> do it with himem.sys, so I pulled out QEMM386.sys.  I never had the 
> problem with dedicated nick drivers (like the dell V333 
> below.) Anyone 
> have any advice for getting everything loaded?  Here is 
> config/autoexec:
> 
> root at shaz:/var/lib/tftpboot/smb/pxesmbboot # cat config.sys
> DEVICE=\qemm\QEMM386.SYS ram FR=NONE
> DOS=HIGH,umb
> files=12
> buffers=1
> stacks=0,0
> FCBS=1
> DEVICE=\net\ifshlp.sys
> 
> root at shaz:/var/lib/tftpboot/smb/pxesmbboot # cat autoexec.bat
> path=\qemm;\dos;\net
> \net\net initialize
> if errorlevel 1 pause
> \net\netbind.com
> \net\umb.com
> \net\tcptsr.exe
> \net\tinyrfc.exe
> \net\nmtsr.exe
> \net\emsbfr.exe
> \net\net logon carl abc /yes
> 
> Yes, I went nuts with Loadhigh and all. I removed all that once qemm 
> opened up enough upper mem for some of these things to use 
> automaticaluy 
> I guess.  If someone would give me a one line descritpon of what the 
> /net/ commands do, that would be great.  whe could put it on the wiki.
> 
> Also, this works on my toshiba 6100, but not a dell v333 with 
> etherboot 
> floppy - QEMM throws an exception error.  Is there an etherboot list?
> 
>  >
>  > label sbm-floppy
>  > # smart boot manager - menu of all bootable devices on the 
> local box
>  >         kernel memdisk
>  >         append initrd=util/sbm.img
> 
> This works better when I expanded it to a 1.4 flopy image.  
> at least one 
> thing didn't like the HD shell game, but was fine with the 
> floppy swapping.
> 
>  >
>  > label menu
>  > # makes a menu out of this file, allows editing the 
> options on the client
>  >         kernel menu.c32
> 
> Has issues when I edit default and re-run menu.c32, like it 
> sees the new 
>   "lables" but not changes to kernel lines or something. is 
> this expected?
> 
>  >
>  > label memtest86
>  > # test memory of local box
>  >         kernel memtest
>  >
>  > label memtest86+
>  > # a better version?
>  >         kernel memtest1
> 
> Anyone know why the old version is still around?
> 
>  >
>  > label tomsrtbt
>  > # Linux on one floppy (doesn't work with pxe - help?)
>  >         kernel memdisk
>  >         append initrd=linux/tomsrtbt.raw pause
> 
> linux boot loader loads, kernel loads, but when it goes to mount the 
> floppy the floppy light comes on and it can't find the image. 
>  I have a 
> feeling this is Tom's "problem"
> 
>  >
>  > label linux
>  > # ubuntu instaler
>  >         kernel ubuntu-installer/i386/linux
>  >         append vga=normal initrd=ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
>  > ramdisk_size=13318 root=/dev/rd/0 rw  --
> 
> Ubuntu rocks.
> 
> 
>  >
>  > label image
>  > # hard disk imager, will burn multipe CD's on a local burner
>  >         kernel memdisk
>  >         append initrd=BootItNG/image-exe.img
>  >
>  > label dosimage
>  > # hard disk imager, will burn multipe CD's on a local burner
>  >         kernel memdisk
>  >         append initrd=BootItNG/dosimage.IMA
> 
> I haven't tried it in a while, but I think it runs, but when 
> it goes to 
> actually read the HD errors and aborts.  Never tried a real floppy 
> image, so not sure what was going on.
> 
> 
> And a long shot: Win98, format a: /s, something.sys and 
> mscdex.exe, boot 
> on a box with  a DVD drive.  it will read CD's but freaks out 
> on DVD's. 
>   Is this expected?  I was hoping to put a 3.5 gig ghost.exe 
> image on a 
> DVD and be able to install it back to the HD, but no such luck.  So I 
> leave the files on an samba server.
> 
> Carl Karsten
> 
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