[syslinux] Locally attached disk is seen, 40 gig PATA in USB enclosure is not.

Miller, Shao Shao.Miller at yrdsb.edu.on.ca
Sat Apr 4 11:48:49 PDT 2009


I would suggest that you edit the initrd to include USB kernel modules
as well as edit the init/linuxrc/whatever to insmod these so that
/dev/sdb will be available when installation disks are scanned-for.

As far as I can tell, this has little to do with Syslinux.  Once Linux
loads, Syslinux is out-of-scope for any issues you might encounter.

Try taking a look at 'lsmod' from your booted environment (if possible)
and check for the USB storage device module.

Good luck!

- Shao Miller

-----Original Message-----
From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On
Behalf Of Chris Miller
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 13:30
To: syslinux at zytor.com
Subject: [syslinux] Locally attached disk is seen,40 gig PATA in USB
enclosure is not.

Hi Folks,

When I boot ISOLinux, the locally attached disk is visible but the PATA
40 Gig in a USB attached enclosure is not.  The locally attached disk
has no bearing on what I am doing and to avoid confusion will not be
mentioned again.  Everything is happening on the 40 Gig.

Let me explain.

The goal is: Copy an installation iso to the disk, boot the disk and
install it on that disk.  I have done this using GRUB to call ISOlinux
and it works, but there are problems with GRUB and I decided to design a
straight SYSLINUX solution.  Here is a list of the steps I took:

Initialize the USB disk (I will call it /dev/sdg until farther notice)
	dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdg bs=512 count=63
	cat /usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin /dev/sdg
	fdisk - create one partition of consuming the full disk
	mount /dev/sdg1 /mnt/p1
	mkdir -p /mnt/p1/boot/extlinux
	extlinux -i /mnt/p1/boot/extlinux

At this point qemu -hda /dev/sdg demonstrates that things are working
and that extlinux doesn't know what to do, which is correct, since I
haven't yet said.  I have more bootloader configuration to do but that
comes in a little bit.  So far do good...

Configure the installation image:

	mkdir -p /mnt/p1/boot/Fedora-10
	cp  <iso image> /mnt/p1/boot/Fedora-10/F10.iso
	mount -o loop -t iso9660 /mnt/p1/boot/Fedora-10/F10.iso /mnt/iso
	cd /mnt/p1/boot/Fedora-10/
	cp -prv /mnt/iso/isolinux .   (This is referenced by extlinux in
extlinux.conf)
	cp -prv /mnt/iso/images .  (The installation procedure wants
this.

Complete the boot loader setup:

	cd /mnt/p1/boot/extlinux
	cp /usr/lib/syslinux/*.c32 .
	cp /mnt/p1/boot/Fedora-10/isolinux/*.msg .
	cp /mnt/p1/boot/Fedora-10/isolinux/splash.jpg .





And finally, extlinux.conf (included later in this message)  At this
point qemu -hda /dev/sdg demonstrates that things are working perfectly.
I get a splash screen with two choices, just like extlinux.conf
describes.

When I attach this disk to my Dell Imspiron 9100, it works brilliantly.
I get language and keyboard "dialogs" the anticipate the installation.
Then I am asked where the installation image is.  At this point I know
from previous experience I should have TWO disks as choices -- /dev/sda1
and /dev/sdb1.  /dev/sda1 is the locally attached disk that I promised I
would not mention again and the erstwhile and  notably
invisible /dev/sdb1 is the 40 Gig PATA in the USB enclosure.  Needless
to say, installation from and invisible image is a bit tricky.

I have no USB choices in the BIOS and despite the other problems I had
with GRUB, this did work and I have successfully installed Fedora Ten to
at least one other USB attached disk.

Can anybody advise me?

Chris.

















DEFAULT /boot/extlinux/vesamenu.c32
#DEFAULT ins-F10

DISPLAY /boot/extlinux/boot.msg
F1 /boot/extlinux/boot.msg
F2 /boot/extlinux/options.msg
F3 /boot/extlinux/general.msg
F4 /boot/extlinux/param.msg
F5 /boot/extlinux/rescue.msg

menu title Kit
menu background /boot/extlinux/splash.jpg
menu color border 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color sel 7 #ffffffff #ff000000
menu color title 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color tabmsg 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color unsel 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color hotsel 0 #ff000000 #ffffffff
menu color hotkey 7 #ffffffff #ff000000
menu color scrollbar 0 #ffffffff #00000000

LABEL ins-F10
    MENU LABEL ^Install Fedora-10 or Upgrade an existing system
    SAY Booting the installation DVD for Fedora Ten
    KERNEL /boot/Fedora-10/isolinux/vmlinuz
    APPEND initrd=/boot/Fedora-10/isolinux/initrd.img ro

LABEL ins-F10-Rescue
    MENU LABEL ^Rescue an existing system
    KERNEL /boot/Fedora-10/isolinux/vmlinuz
    APPEND initrd=/boot/Fedora-10/isolinux/initrd.img ro mode=rescue







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