[syslinux] OFF TOPIC: Chainloading CD-ROM boot after ISOLINUX + MEMDISK.

[Harald_Jensas at Dell.com]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com]
On
> Behalf Of H. Peter Anvin
> Sent: 25 July 2008 22:30
> To: For discussion of SYSLINUX and tftp-hpa
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] OFF TOPIC: Chainloading CD-ROM boot after
> ISOLINUX + MEMDISK.
> 
> Harald_Jensas at Dell.com wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > This is off topic for this list, but someone on this list may be
able
> to point me in the right direction.
> >
> > For a couple of years I have been using ISOLINUX + MEMDISK and Smart
> Boot Manager to chainload a CD-ROM boot after loading a floppy image
> into RAM with MEMDISK.
> >
> > My problem now is that Smart Boot Manager does not support/detect
> SATA optical drives used in new hardware.
> >
> > Does anyonw know if there are any other bootloader out there that
can
> chainload an CD-ROM boot?
> >
> 
> SATA is making this very difficult, since unlike PATA there isn't a
> standard interface for SATA (some, but not all controllers can be used
> in PATA emulation mode.)
> 
> What exactly are you trying to do?
> 
> 	-hpa
> 

I use MEMDISK to load 2x floppy images, A: and B: in the DOS world, into
RAM. The B: image has Mass Storage Drivers for Windows. Win2K3 (x86 and
x86_64) and WinXP (x86_64 only) installer will automatically load
drivers from the B: drive. The B: was added with Win2K3 to allow OEM's
to place driver in flash memory or similar to make a more pleasant user
experience...

Essentially a way to install Windows on systems that need 3rd party
storage drivers, but does not have a floppy drive.



As a workaround/replacement of SBM I just tried extracting the EL-Torito
boot image from a Windows CD. Then placed this in the B: image and
instruct SYSLINUX to boot this. Specifying timeout 0 to allow time to
removed the CD loading the MEMDISK images into RAM and replaced it with
the Windows Install CD. But this give me the following error: "CDBOOT:
Cannot boot from CD - Code: 4"

Google'ing the error indicate it is an error generated by the Windows
EL-Torito boot image. I guess SYSLINUX boots the EL-Torito boot image
fine, but then the EL-Torito boot image code does not try to load the
next stage from the CD as I would like It too do. It probably expect the
next stage file to be in the same location, or a subfolder, as the
EL-Torito boot image.



--
Harald