[syslinux] Debian bug#604245: Syslinux fails (does not receive key presses on Sony vaio Z12C5E)

[Gene Cumm]

On Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 10:58, Ferenc Wagner <wferi at niif.hu> wrote:
> Gyorgy Jeney <nog.lkml at gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On 24 November 2010 21:54, Ferenc Wagner <wferi at niif.hu> wrote:
>>
>>> Gyorgy Jeney <nog.lkml at gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> On 24 November 2010 20:25, Ferenc Wagner <wferi at niif.hu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> # sed -i '/^timeout/s/0/50/' /mnt/syslinux.cfg
>>>>> # umount /mnt
>>>>>
>>>>> and then try to boot the installer from the pendrive.  Now it should
>>>>> automatically choose the default item in the boot menu after 5 seconds
>>>>> (unless syslinux is actually frozen by this time).
>>>>
>>>> I tried that.  When the menu appears, at the bottom, it counts down 5,
>>>> 4, 3, 2, 1 and then reads something from the USB key for some time
>>>> (the activity light flashes on the key) and then just hangs at the
>>>> menu with the count being 1.  I waited about a minute before rebooting
>>>> at this point.
>>>
>>> Looks like it actually tries to load the kernel.  Could you please fully
>>> rewrite syslinux.cfg to contain only the following four lines and retest?
>>>
>>> default linux
>>> append initrd=initrd.gz
>>> prompt 1
>>> timeout 50
>>>
>>> This should skip the menu and also make the kernel more verbose.
>>
>> This results in the following output:
>>
>> SYSLINUX 4.02 debian-20101014 EDD Copyright (C) 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin et al
>> Loading linux.....
>> Loading initrd.gz.......ready.
>>
>> And then hangs.
>
> Thanks.  Looks like when installed this way, Syslinux can't pass
> execution to the loaded kernel on your machine.  #604560 looks rather
> similar, so yours may not be the only problematic machine.
> Unfortunately I can't reproduce this in Qemu, so further debugging isn't
> easy, unless hpa or another developer comes forward with a clever idea.
> I'm pretty much at the end of my wits...  Will try to repro this on some
> real hardware, though.

That's not fun.  However, this is a really good indicator of the real issue.

Three simple and quick ideas are (after extracting the image, of course):

1) Use the installer from the official distribution 4.02 to upgrade it.
2) Use 4.03 to upgrade it.
3) Use linux.c32 (with one of the three versions; preferably official
4.03) to load the kernel.

The only other quick idea is related to EFI but I'd rather that
someone else chime in as it requires a quick patch and core rebuild.

-- 
-Gene