[syslinux] [SYSLINUX] Slow timeout

[Gene Cumm]

On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 11:07, mammar <mammar at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Gene,
>
> Thanks for your quick reply.
>
> Yes, i m using quiet so that user should not see the boot messages. Instead
> a plymouth theme will be displayed on screen.
>
> The problem is only with external usb hdd. Everything is working fine with
> the same steps when i make a usb/flash drive bootable with syslinux.
>
> Even with external usb hdd everything is fine and linux boots successfully,
> the only problem is that control stays more than specified timeout in
> syslinux.cfg.
>
> The timeout is set to 3 sec but it stays there for around 7 to 10 sec and
> then start booting the linux.

What do you mean "control stays more than specified timeout"?  I'm
guessing as I said before that it counts down as expected, the display
stays constant while loading the kernel and initrd-related files then
switches to your plymouth themed screen?  If this is so, your hdd
might just be slow to load files as your UFD works "fine".  Have you
tried a different hdd, USB-HDD adapter or computer?  It's possible the
computer only wants to use that USB-HDD adapter at Full Speed.  I've
seen some computers with High Speed USB interfaces only use devices at
Full Speed when controlled by the BIOS rather than a full OS (which
does use it at High Speed).

-- 
-Gene

> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 7:34 PM, Gene Cumm <gene.cumm at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 09:15, mammar <mammar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> >
>> > Following are the steps i used to install syslinux on a external usb hdd.
>> >
>> >
>> >   1. Create a 1GB partition
>> >   2. Format it with FAT32
>> >   3. Extract live iso on partition
>> >   4. Install syslinux on partition.
>> >
>> > Note: Default timeout is 3 seconds in syslinux.cfg
>> >
>> > The problem is that Automatic boot in # seconds...** stays on screen for
>> > more than 5 seconds. Counting starts from 3 to 1 but message is still
>> there.
>>
>> 1) "Automatic boot" sounds like you're using menu.c32/vesamenu.c32 as
>> a user interface rather than the CLI.
>>
>> Does it count normally down from 3 to 1 (ie, per second) then the
>> screen stays constant?  If so, you probably have the keywords "quiet
>> in the commandline.  menu.c32/vesamenu.c32 listen to this and don't
>> output anything further.
>>
>> 2) I'd suggest posting the used LABEL and any global directives.
>>
>> > Is this some issue with external usb hdd interface?
>>
>> Probably not.
>>
>> > How can i fix it?
>>
>> Remove "quiet".  It's a feature that some Syslinux users like for
>> their end users.