[syslinux] Re: SYSLINUX Digest, Vol 29, Issue 2

Tue Aug 2 12:44:17 PDT 2005

Sure, I don't mind testing it out on there for you, but, where do I
find the pre releases to try then?

At least we know it's between 2.13 and 3.00.  That narrows it a bit I
would think.  Mind you, if it jumps up a major revision number, I
guess that means a lot of changes went in.

On 8/2/05, syslinux-request at zytor.com <syslinux-request at zytor.com> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly. Can indirectly? (Nazo)
>    2. RE: Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly. Can indirect ly?
>       (Luis.F.Correia)
>    3. Re: Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly. Can indirect ly?
>       (H. Peter Anvin)
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Nazo <nazosan at gmail.com>
> To: syslinux at zytor.com
> Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005 19:36:39 -0500
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly. Can indirectly?
> On 8/1/05, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
> > Nazo wrote:
> > > I've installed Syslinux on a somewhat old system.  The motherboard is
> > > based on an Intel 440GX chipset (specifically it's the Supermicro
> > > P6DGE if that means anything.)  The harddrive has been split up into
> > > partitions of one hidden FAT16 (marked as active) to which syslinux is
> > > installed (hda1), one normal FAT32 which has windows and dos (hda2.)
> > > It also has an extended partition containing an EXT2 and linux swap
> > > partition, however, it didn't originally have these when I first saw
> > > the problem so I know they aren't the issue.
> > >
> > > The issue is that for some reason it won't boot the harddrive
> > > directly.  It just freezes every time.  It shows the word SYSLINUX,
> > > the version (3.09) and date (2005-06-17) but stops there.  Never
> > > clears the screen or any of that either.  I have installed it in safe
> > > "slow" mode, but, what's more importantly, this same setup worked
> > > perfectly fine for several weeks on the previous board I had in that
> > > system, an Asus KN-97-X (Intel 440FX.)  This leads me to believe it's
> > > something weird to do with the bios.
> > >
> > > Currently I'm having to boot my rescue disc using isolinux and load
> > > chain.c32 to manually boot that partition for it to work.  When I do
> > > this, it boots without a problem.  I'd say definitely bios, however,
> > > before this latest time I've installed syslinux on there, it was set
> > > to boot partition "0" (aka the MBR!)  As far as I can tell, it doesn't
> > > cross the 1024 boundary (I haven't the vaguest idea how to verify
> > > this, but, the FAT16 partition is the first 510 or so MB of a 60GB
> > > drive, so it's hard to imagine it would do that.)
> > >
> > > Any idea what's going on?  Is it somehow still past the 1024 boundary?
> > >  Any way to verify short of knowing how to add up those numbers on the
> > > drive (which is such a pain to get to right now I'm not sure it's
> > > worth the trouble.)
> > >
> >
> > Do you know if this problem goes away with an older version of syslinux?
> >   There seems to be some issues with newer syslinuxes on some old
> > hardware, which is still unresolved.
> >
> >         -hpa
> >
> >
> 
> 
> Yikes.  I had just assumed later version = greater compatibility and
> gone straight for the latest...  Well, I had to go all the way back to
> 2.13 (even 3.00 didn't work,) but, it seems to be working alright now.
>  I guess that it doesn't make much difference if I have to use an old
> version in this case, it seems to have all the features I need for
> this particular setup.  It's strange that I was ok with the latest
> version on that older KN-97 though.  Still, I can understand better
> Asus compatibility than Supermicro (who apparently are actually still
> around -- I found a website and it still has archives for the old
> products even -- just they aren't exactly concentrating on many
> desktop systems anymore.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Luis.F.Correia" <Luis.F.Correia at seg-social.pt>
> To: syslinux at zytor.com
> Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 11:23:05 +0100
> Subject: RE: [syslinux] Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly. Can indirect ly?
> Hi!
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Nazo [mailto:nazosan at gmail.com]
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 1:37 AM
> > To: syslinux at zytor.com
> > Subject: Re: [syslinux] Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly.
> > Can indirectly?
> >
> >
> > On 8/1/05, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
> > > Nazo wrote:
> > > > I've installed Syslinux on a somewhat old system.  The
> > motherboard
> > > > is based on an Intel 440GX chipset (specifically it's the
> > Supermicro
> > > > P6DGE if that means anything.)  The harddrive has been
> > split up into
> > > > partitions of one hidden FAT16 (marked as active) to
> > which syslinux
> > > > is installed (hda1), one normal FAT32 which has windows and dos
> > > > (hda2.) It also has an extended partition containing an EXT2 and
> > > > linux swap partition, however, it didn't originally have
> > these when
> > > > I first saw the problem so I know they aren't the issue.
> > > >
> > > > The issue is that for some reason it won't boot the harddrive
> > > > directly.  It just freezes every time.  It shows the word
> > SYSLINUX,
> > > > the version (3.09) and date (2005-06-17) but stops there.  Never
> > > > clears the screen or any of that either.  I have installed it in
> > > > safe "slow" mode, but, what's more importantly, this same setup
> > > > worked perfectly fine for several weeks on the previous
> > board I had
> > > > in that system, an Asus KN-97-X (Intel 440FX.)  This leads me to
> > > > believe it's something weird to do with the bios.
> > > >
> > > > Currently I'm having to boot my rescue disc using
> > isolinux and load
> > > > chain.c32 to manually boot that partition for it to work.
> >  When I do
> > > > this, it boots without a problem.  I'd say definitely
> > bios, however,
> > > > before this latest time I've installed syslinux on there,
> > it was set
> > > > to boot partition "0" (aka the MBR!)  As far as I can tell, it
> > > > doesn't cross the 1024 boundary (I haven't the vaguest
> > idea how to
> > > > verify this, but, the FAT16 partition is the first 510 or
> > so MB of a
> > > > 60GB drive, so it's hard to imagine it would do that.)
> > > >
> > > > Any idea what's going on?  Is it somehow still past the 1024
> > > > boundary?  Any way to verify short of knowing how to add up those
> > > > numbers on the drive (which is such a pain to get to
> > right now I'm
> > > > not sure it's worth the trouble.)
> > > >
> > >
> > > Do you know if this problem goes away with an older version
> > of syslinux?
> > >   There seems to be some issues with newer syslinuxes on some old
> > > hardware, which is still unresolved.
> > >
> > >         -hpa
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > Yikes.  I had just assumed later version = greater
> > compatibility and gone straight for the latest...  Well, I
> > had to go all the way back to 2.13 (even 3.00 didn't work,)
> > but, it seems to be working alright now.  I guess that it
> > doesn't make much difference if I have to use an old version
> > in this case, it seems to have all the features I need for
> > this particular setup.  It's strange that I was ok with the
> > latest version on that older KN-97 though.  Still, I can
> > understand better Asus compatibility than Supermicro (who
> > apparently are actually still around -- I found a website and
> > it still has archives for the old products even -- just they
> > aren't exactly concentrating on many desktop systems anymore.)
> 
> H. Peter would appreciate if you could detect where it did got broken,
> Testing all the releases and the pre also...
> 
> Luis Correia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa at zytor.com>
> To: "Luis.F.Correia" <Luis.F.Correia at seg-social.pt>
> Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 11:56:02 -0700
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] Can't boot Syslinux from HD directly. Can indirect ly?
> Luis.F.Correia wrote:
> >>
> >>Yikes.  I had just assumed later version = greater
> >>compatibility and gone straight for the latest...  Well, I
> >>had to go all the way back to 2.13 (even 3.00 didn't work,)
> >>but, it seems to be working alright now.  I guess that it
> >>doesn't make much difference if I have to use an old version
> >>in this case, it seems to have all the features I need for
> >>this particular setup.  It's strange that I was ok with the
> >>latest version on that older KN-97 though.  Still, I can
> >>understand better Asus compatibility than Supermicro (who
> >>apparently are actually still around -- I found a website and
> >>it still has archives for the old products even -- just they
> >>aren't exactly concentrating on many desktop systems anymore.)
> >
> > H. Peter would appreciate if you could detect where it did got broken,
> > Testing all the releases and the pre also...
> >
> 
> Yes, please.  This has seemed to be a *damned* elusive bug, and I'm
> utterly puzzled by it.
> 
>         -hpa
> 
> 
> 
> 
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