[syslinux] Pxelinux freezed

[Peter Capriccio]

> Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 14:02:39 -0300
> From: "Samuel Rios Carvalho" <nhawkbr at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] Pxelinux freezed
> To: "For discussion of SYSLINUX and tftp-hpa" <syslinux at zytor.com>
> Message-ID:
>         <4ed0bc0810071002v7ffe22e0l4e50eb27f2b8fba6 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> This is happen in all clients.
> isn't laptop, it is a desktop. Here only exist desktops to etherboot.
> after some seconds, the menu freeze, stop. Ctrl+alt+del don't work too.
> The operator (me), is scrolling up an down, then after some seconds, stop all.
> with or without operator, this problem happen.
>
> Samuel Rios Carvalho
>   
Just so we are clear here:

- are all the client machines the same, that is, the same network card, 
BIOS version, etc, or are there a variety of different types of desktops?

You stated, "with or without operator" -- to me that says that in the 
case of no operator intervention, after 10 seconds has elapsed, the 
ONTIMEOUT statement becomes true which should then set the command line 
to "label 1"'s definition:

> ==== START ====
> >>
> >> # golf: 192.168.1.67
> >> DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
> >> #DEFAULT 1
> >> PROMPT 0
> >> MENU TITLE GOLF
> >> MENU BACKGROUND 40
> >> menu color sel 7;37;40
> >> NOESCAPE 1
> >> ALLOWOPTIONS 0
> >> TIMEOUT 100
> >> ONTIMEOUT 1
> >>
> >>
> >> label 1
> >>   menu label OPENSUSE 11.0
> >>   kernel vmlinuz-2.6.25-suse
> >>   append root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.1.5:/mnt/imagens/golf_suse
> >> ip=::::golf::dhcp rw
> >>
If it was unable to find the kernel file, I'm pretty sure that it would 
reload the DEFAULT (vesamenu.c32) and then begin the countdown to the 
TIMEOUT again (or at least that has been my experience). Have you tried 
booting "label 1" locally from, say, SYSLINUX instead of PXELINUX, just 
to eliminate any chance that the PXE BIOS on your [embedded] NIC card 
is, say, crappy?

In the case where you are just scrolling up and down the menu, that 
should stop any TIMEOUT countdown in progress, so I can't understand why 
it should freeze by just scrolling up and down the menu. Can you boot 
any other menu entries? Do you get the same results using the text menu 
(menu.c32)? [I'm clearly grasping at/for straws here]

Here's hoping any of this is helpful and not just adding a lot of noise 
to the list...

Pete Capriccio