[syslinux] PXE linux starts slowly

[H. Peter Anvin]

On 12/15/2010 05:35 AM, Helmut Hullen wrote:
> Hallo, H. Peter,
> 
> Du meintest am 02.12.10:
> 
>>> Thanks for your quick response, what exactly do you mean with the
>>> deaf receiver syndrom? The PXE rom was able to retrieve the
>>> pxelinux.0 file, but pxelinux does not receive anything. Do you
>>> think it is hardware related or is it a bug in the ethernet driver?
> 
>> A bug in the Ethernet driver.  You might try substituting gpxelinux.0
>> for pxelinux.0, since they call the network stack differently.
> 
> Maybe a problem with some of my Thinkpad laptops is related. Some have  
> the Intel Pro 100 (e100), some T40 have the Intel Gigabit (e1000, not  
> e1000e).
> 
> Booting over the e1000 is very slow (something like 300 Baud). Booting  
> over e100 (or other NICs on other machines) works well.
> 
> Syslinux 4.03 (and some older versions). Changing from pxelinux.0 to  
> gpxelinux.0 (or back) doesn't change the boot speed.
> 
> When booting via PXE has finished and the desired distribution is  
> installed the transfer speed is high, as expected - the NIC seems to be  
> ok.
> 

It seems somewhat unlikely, both e100 and e1000 tend to have reasonably
good PXE stacks.

	-hpa

-- 
H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center
I work for Intel.  I don't speak on their behalf.