[syslinux] pxelinux.0 hangs after it is downloaded.

[Geert Stappers]

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On Tue, Jan 24, 2006 at 03:16:32PM -0500, David T. Pheasant wrote:
> David T. Pheasant wrote:
> 
> >Hello Everyone,
> >
> >   In short, I have the following questions:
> >       Is there a known problem with PXE booting and LinuxBIOS?
> >       Will pxelinux.0 not work with a serial console?
> >       Is there a way to convert pxelinux.0 into an ELF file?
> >
 <snip/>
> >
> >Obviously, because the nodes have no CD-Rom or floppy drives, network 
> >booting is my only option. I have resolved the second point by chain 
> >booting etherboot. The old version downloads an ELF formatted version of 
> >Etherboot 5.2 which has ELF, PXE and NBI support. My problem is that when 
> >I tell the 5.2 version to load pxelinux.0 it downloads the file and then 

 five point two

> >just sits there. If I tell it to boot an ELF formatted memtest86 the file 
> >is downloaded and executed perfectly, which makes me think that the 
> >LinuxBIOS has some problem with the PXE file format. Is this true?
> >
> >The nodes also use a serial console. There is no graphics card installed. 
> >Is this a problem for PXE? I have added the console=ttyS0,96008n1 to the 
> >append line in /tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/default file but that made 
> >no difference.

Start a seperate E-mail thread for using the serial port

> >
> >Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

On the Etherboot mailinglist I did read about sysadmin
that do use Etherboot on top of the (broken) BIOS network boot.

Where EB 5.2 is written in stone^WROM, let it load EB 5.4.
Use the ELF version of it.

> I read more of the Syslinux website and found the 'serial' and 'console' 
> configuration directives.. I tried them but still to no avail.. even 
> putting a 'say hello' line wont produce output from a booting machine.. 
> I'm stumped. Here is the pxelinux.cft/default file:
> 
 <snip/>
> 
>    label ks
>            kernel vmlinuz
>            append ks initrd=initrd.img ramdisk_size=150000 lang=
>    devfs=nomount hea\
>    dless pxe kssendmac selinux=0

Is append line mangled by an E-mail programm or is it really mangled?

> 
> And here is the output from a booting machine:
> 
> Etherboot 5.4.1 (GPL) http://etherboot.org

  five point four point one

> Drivers: EEPRO100   Images: NBI ELF PXE   Exports: PXE
   <snip/>
> Me: 192.168.1.253, DHCP: 192.168.1.1, TFTP: 192.168.1.1, Gateway 192.168.1.1
> Loading 192.168.1.1:pxelinux.0 ...(PXE)........done
> (Machine HANGS HERE!)
> 
> Any ideas?

Because pxelinux.0 works, I guess you have a mangled piece.
Get a fresh copy and avoid damage ( e.g. FTP as binary )

> >Thank you,
> >
> >-David
> 
> -David


Seems you have at least three technical problems
 * EB 5.2 can't do "PXE"
 * output to serial port
 * pxelinux.0 doesn't come alive on EB 5.4.1
Yes, it was stated before, but don't put it in one thread. Focus on one.

And there is a culture clash, not understanding the logical quoting order.
See http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/bottom-post.html
for more information.


HTH
GSt
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