[syslinux] syslinux 4.02 hangs at "boot:"

[Alex Zeffertt]

On Wed, 2011-02-02 at 12:49 +0000, Gene Cumm wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 06:25, Alex Zeffertt <alex.zeffertt at eu.citrix.com> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have a machine that won't boot syslinux 4.02 but will boot syslinux
> > 3.53.  We've installed syslinux 4.02 on a number of machines but only
> > this one has a problem.
> >
> > The problem is that the machine hangs entirely after printing "boot:" on
> > the tty.  The stanza being booted in /boot/extlinux.conf is:
> >
> >  label xe
> >  # XenServer
> >  kernel mboot.c32
> >  append /boot/xen.gz dom0_mem=752M lowmem_emergency_pool=1M
> > crashkernel=64M at 32M console= vga=mode-0x0311 --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen
> > root=LABEL=root-ldndebvr ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 quiet
> > vga=785 splash --- /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img
> 
> 1) There's some global directives that have relevance.  I'd suggest
> posting your entire config.
> 

Hi Gene,

Thanks for replying.  I've attached the full extlinux.conf below

> 2) For testing, remove the command line option "quiet" as this will
> change the behavior of any Syslinux variant.  It's possible that it's
> not hanging at the "boot: " prompt but after it tries to run
> mboot.c32.
> 

I don't think that removing "quiet" would help as this is a *linux*
command line parameter and we're not even seeing mboot.c32 output.  On
working machines we get the following on the tty immediately after the
"boot:" prompt

 Loading /boot/xen.gz... ok
 Loading /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen... ok
 Loading /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img... ok


> 3) Have you tried 4.03 or 4.04-pre5?  If not, I'd suggest trying them
> in this order after removing "quiet" and testing 4.02 without "quiet".
> 

Thanks, I'll have a go at that as soon as I am able.

> 4) Do you have any machines that are identical to this machine that
> have differing success?  If so, I'd compare BIOS versions.  I had one
> machine that actually caused more issues with a BIOS upgrade as there
> was a new memory hole around 32-64MiB.  I know that for Linux kernels,
> linux.c32 has the new "loader" (I know there's a better word but can't
> remember it; basically how it loads files into memory in order to work
> around the memory holes) but I don't know what strategy mboot.c32
> uses.
> 

Yes we have two machines with 

 "CPU: Family - 15, Model - 65, Stepping - 2"

one works and the other does not.  On the working one dmidecode shows
the following BIOS:

        Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
        Version: 080014 
        Release Date: 10/06/2006

and the not-working one has the following BIOS:

        Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
        Version: 080011 
        Release Date: 08/28/2006

Could this explain the difference in behaviour?

Regards,

Alex
-------------- next part --------------
# location mbr
serial 0 115200
#default xe-serial
default xe
prompt 1
timeout 50

label xe
  # XenServer
  kernel mboot.c32
  append /boot/xen.gz dom0_mem=752M lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M at 32M console= vga=mode-0x0311 --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=LABEL=root-ldndebvr ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 quiet vga=785 splash --- /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

label xe-serial
  # XenServer (Serial)
  kernel mboot.c32
  append /boot/xen.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga dom0_mem=752M lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M at 32M --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=LABEL=root-ldndebvr ro console=tty0 xencons=hvc console=hvc0 --- /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

label safe
  # XenServer in Safe Mode
  kernel mboot.c32
  append /boot/xen.gz nosmp noreboot noirqbalance acpi=off noapic dom0_mem=752M com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen nousb root=LABEL=root-ldndebvr ro console=tty0 xencons=hvc console=hvc0 --- /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

label fallback
  # XenServer (Xen 3.4.2 / Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7.1.xs5.6.199.354.170596xen)
  kernel mboot.c32
  append /boot/xen-3.4.2.gz dom0_mem=752M lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M at 32M --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.12-0.7.1.xs5.6.199.354.170596xen root=LABEL=root-ldndebvr ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 --- /boot/initrd-2.6.32.12-0.7.1.xs5.6.199.354.170596xen.img

label fallback-serial
  # XenServer (Serial, Xen 3.4.2 / Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7.1.xs5.6.199.354.170596xen)
  kernel mboot.c32
  append /boot/xen-3.4.2.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga dom0_mem=752M lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M at 32M --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.12-0.7.1.xs5.6.199.354.170596xen root=LABEL=root-ldndebvr ro console=tty0 xencons=hvc console=hvc0 --- /boot/initrd-2.6.32.12-0.7.1.xs5.6.199.354.170596xen.img