[syslinux] Version 3.35 problems with Broadcom BCM5780 chipset

[Ole Holm Nielsen]

H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Ole Holm Nielsen wrote:
>>
>> But when I use those very same SYSLINUX menus on an AMD Opteron server
>> (IBM x326m), it is capable of loading up vesamenu.c32 and menu.c32
>> and displaying a list of menu items.  But as soon as I select any item
>> whatsoever in the menu list, the server locks up and must be power 
>> cycled.
>>
> 
> I wonder if this is the same class of problems which is affecting IBM 
> laptops.  Either way, I'm afraid it falls under the same category -- I 
> simply have no way to debug this without access to the machinery.  There 
> isn't any "obvious" explanation for this behaviour, other than possibly 
> BIOS misuse of high memory (which would have to be further diagnosed.)
> 
>     -hpa

Sorry, I can't offer you an IBM server :-)  Do you have any friends
in IBM who could help out ?  I'd be happy to test any SYSLINUX test code,
but I'm an utter amateur on diagnosing these hardware-related issues...

The AMD Opteron BIOS has some setting "Memory Hole Adjustmend" and a
"4GB Memory Hole Size".  Could this feature somehow affect SYSLINUX ?
I do not understand this feature, and whether it should be enabled or
disabled (we want maximum performance from these compute servers).
Does anyone have pointers to authoritative info on the AMD memory hole ?

Thanks,
Ole

-- 
Ole Holm Nielsen
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark