[syslinux] can't boot isohybrid-ized image on CG2100

Gene Cumm gene.cumm at gmail.com
Sat Mar 19 04:40:57 PDT 2011


On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 14:30, Greg Forte <greg.forte at trueposition.com> wrote:
> Sure, I'm desperate enough to try just about anything!  ;-)

I always find it encouraging when users are willing to test things to
help the project as a whole.

> No dice with isohybrid.pl from 4.04-pre13 - same behavior.  Is there any
> functional difference between the script and the compiled bin?  They appear
> to have produced identical images from the same source, so I'm guessing the
> answer is no.

I'm assuming you just extracted Syslinux-4.04-pre13 and didn't
recompile anything.  Normally even the Linux binaries are compatible
straight from the package.  If not, please do try then as extracted
(just to eliminate a build system error).

They should however I mentioned it as I knew both existed and was not
aware if there was a difference in their result.  I just tested by
creating an ISO with ISOLINUX 4.04-pre14, creating two copies then
using the C version on one and the Perl on the other and found that
they are different only in the MBR's disk ID which ideally should be
relatively unique.

> Yes, prior to "discovering" isohybrid, I was using syslinux + memdisk +
> isolinux to accomplish more or less the same intended result (except with
> the iso image situated as a file in a fat filesystem on the stick, along
> with the required syslinux files), and that was working on this system (and
> others) with no problems.  isohybrid just seems a whole lot more elegant and
> simpler.

OK, so it's not specific to this computer booting from a USB drive but
booting ISOHYBRID on a USB drive.  I'd assume that you were using
SYSLINUX 4.03 on your USB drive and it worked successfully?  Was the
drive partitioned or unpartitioned?  What was the geometry as fdisk
reported it in Linux (before using ISOHYBRID)?  What is the geometry
after using ISOHYBRID?

Also, do you have software that can handle an xz-compressed binary?  I
have an ISO that's 2MiB uncompressed that might be worthwhile to test.
 I can also make a quick build with isolinux-debug.bin.

-- 
-Gene

> Gene Cumm wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 12:37, Greg Forte <greg.forte at trueposition.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I have a isohybrid-ized image (isohybrid.pl from syslinux-4.03, no
>>> options
>>> passed) which works on several other systems, but can't boot a Kontron
>>> CG2100 from stick (same image boots fine from a portable CD-ROM drive
>>> though).  The BIOS shows its initial splash, accesses the stick, then the
>>> system reboots - no errors logged in the BIOS event log.  I tried
>>> disabling
>>> the "USB boot priority" option (which puts USB devices to the top of the
>>> boot order when it sees them), no change.
>>>
>>> Any hints on how to fix or troubleshoot would be greatly appreciated.
>>> Since
>>> the problem seems to be specific to one platform, I'm guessing that it's
>>> a
>>> quirk of the particular BIOS in question - I will probably be asking
>>> Kontron
>>> for support as well.
>>
>> Is there any chance you could try utils/isohybrid.pl and/or
>> utils/isohybrid (precompliled) from Syslinux-4.04-pre13?
>>
>> Have you tried a UFD (USB Flash Drive) with a more typical partitioned
>> layout with Syslinux and some appropriate file system like FAT*/ext*?
>> If not, that would be another testing point.  I'd also recommend
>> trying 4.04-pre13.




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