[syslinux] PXELINUX LocalBoot 0 fail; hunting for bug

[Gene Cumm]

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 16:56, Gene Cumm <gene.cumm at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 20:36, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
>> On 08/07/2010 10:45 AM, Gene Cumm wrote:
>>> Recently, I decided to pull out a new model laptop for testing related
>>> to my job at work.  Dell Latitiude E6400, BIOS A14.  Normally I have
>>> it set to boot CD, USB, Net, then HDD and noticed that with
>>> PXELINUX-4.02 and 'LOCALBOOT 0', it hung on me before leaving the PXE
>>> stack.  I then tried 3.86 and it worked.  4.00 and 4.01 both hung when
>>> I tested them as well.  Changing to 'LOCALBOOT -1' or using 'chain.c32
>>> hd0' both resolved this issue.
>>>
>>> At this time, I'm just trying to post to give people an FYI in case
>>> they run into a similar situation and to say that I'm going to be
>>> trying to hunt for where/how things are hanging.
>>>
>>> I still have to get another test environment configured to obtain the
>>> exact displayed messages.
>>>

And to add even more fun: The tweak I did (using 'LOCALBOOT -1') fails
on a Dell OptiPlex GX240, BIOS A05, 3c920 LoM (also referred to as a
3c905C in some places), MBA 4.31 PXE 2.41.  BIOS is latest and I
became aware of the GX240 issue because I got a report from a
co-worker about a group of machines running BIOS A02.

The situation on this model is that using 'LOCALBOOT -1' appears to
exit from the PXE, load something from the hard drive and then proceed
no further, hanging, and not responding to Ctrl-Alt-Del with what
appears to be a completely black screen (at 720x400 at 70Hz, same as all
other BIOS stuff).  The Windows XP splash screen changes the video
mode to 640x480 at 60Hz (but is not loaded with 'LOCALBOOT -1').  Hitting
<F8> quickly after 'LOCALBOOT -1' gets me to the "Windows Advanced
Options Menu" but the keyboard is unresponsive once I see it.

Back to the way I really wanted it in the first place: 'chain.c32 hd0'

-- 
-Gene