[syslinux] unable to install Debian using syslinux 4.05

[Martin T]

Hi,

I'm trying to install debian-6.0.5-amd64-CD-1.iso from USB
memory-stick. The problem is, that Debian-Installer is not able to
"Detect and mount CD-ROM" during the installation process. The USB
memory-stick is a 2GB model containing MBR and FAT32 file system:

# fdisk -lu /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 2013 MB, 2013265920 bytes
62 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1022 cylinders, total 3932160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4a02df63

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          62     3928567     1964253    b  W95 FAT32
# file -s /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1: x86 boot sector, code offset 0x58, OEM-ID "SYSLINUX",
sectors/cluster 8, Media descriptor 0xf8, heads 62, sectors 3928506
(volumes > 32 MB) , FAT (32 bit), sectors/FAT 3832, serial number
0x4373da42, label: "debian64   "
#

MBR has code needed for booting(first 440 bytes) and syslinux(4.05) is
installed to mentioned partition. Syslinux configuration(syslinux.cfg)
is very simple:

# cat syslinux.cfg
DEFAULT vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=initrd.gz iso-scan/filename=/debian-6.0.5-amd64-CD-1.iso
#

Debian-Installer starts successfully and I'm able to specify locales
and keyboard layout, but "Detect and mount CD-ROM" fails. If I start
the ash("Execute a shell" option in Debian-Installer menu) and mount
memory-stick FAT32 partition to /cdrom using BusyBox mount utility,
I'm able to pass the "Detect and mount CD-ROM" step, but then I'm
stuck in "Load installer components from CD". I even copied entire
content of the debian-6.0.5-amd64-CD-1.iso image to a directory in
memory-stick and then mounted this directory using the
Debian-Installer shell, but this didn't help either to pass the "Load
installer components from CD" step.

Any ideas how to proceed here? Am I doing something wrong?


regards,
Martin