[syslinux] PXELINUX + LOCALBOOT disables network within operating system

[Shantanu Gadgil]

Hi,
I am using syslinux-3.85 (and before till 3.72) and I have seen a peculiar problem on a couple of machines that I have in my lab.

The problem is that if the machine boots onto PXE, and then does a "LOCALBOOT 0", the networking component of the OS stops working !!!

If I skip PXE boot, and just let the OS boot, the OS's networking is working fine.

The problem is seen of all the 3.8 and 3.7 versions that I have tested. This problem is NOT seen in the 4.0 versions (upto 4.0pre17). 

I m using the new MENU system and don't really want to go back to an even older pxelinux.0 :(

Also, this problem is seen only when booting up the SLES distro's.
If I have RHEL 4/5 on these machines, the networking starts up fine on these OSes.

Please tell me if any specific machine details are required.

The motherboard is a TYAN TIGER K8WE

$> lspci
00:00.0 Memory controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 Memory Controller (rev a4)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 ISA Bridge (rev b1)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE (rev f3)
00:07.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0d.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
00:19.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:19.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:19.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:19.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
04:00.0 InfiniBand: Mellanox Technologies MT25204 [InfiniHost III Lx HCA] (rev 20)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44 [GeForce 6200 LE] (rev a1)