[syslinux] syslinux problem... (?)

[Δημήτρης Ανδριόπουλος]

I'm an archlinux user. Arch linux installation ISO uses syslinux as bootloader

I'm coping (not verbatim) this from bugs.archlinux.org/32774

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I wrote:

The CD boots fine, but when it reaches at the initial screen which displays the 
available options (Install x86_32 or x86_64 version etc) the screen scrolls up 
and I get a screen filled with   [14;5H[H[19;5 

If I press a key a few times it displays the initial screen for a few moments 
and then it scrolls up again displaying the above strange sequence. This is an 
endless loop.

My board is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (v1.6) bios version FK.

Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied

According to your description such string appears in syslinux screen.
Verify if it was burned OK MD5SUM is 1ceb835d6b3c8e390d0ec4b6c913dc27. If is 
right, then such BIOS is really broken.

I wrote:

I've just checked. MD5SUM is OK.

Bios problem? It's been at least two years since I've installed arch linux 
(using AIF). I came from debian. My question is how/why my pc boots fine 
archlinux (x86_64 - grub2) all this time?

My pc has the same hardware. Nothing changed all these years.

A month ago after a problem (due to my mistake), locked me out of arch. I had 
to boot from a cd and to chroot to my system. I had switched to systemd 
already and it was a very tricky to use the old AIF cd I had.

That's why I've tried to get an updated installation cd for just in case but 
when I've tested it, I had this strange problem.

Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied

Since two years installation ISO uses syslinux as bootloader, previously grub 
(grub-gfx) was used.

If you hit "ESC" you will see a "boot:" prompt for syslinux.
You can try to prepare a syslinux boot usb-disk.

I wrote:

I've prepared a usb boot disk as described at the link above.

It boots but I've got the same problem as above. If a press nothing screen 
fills with L.............. 
If I press enter, the menu screen (archlinux istallation options) shows for a 
second and scrolls up filling the screen with m..............

I've pressed enter a lot of times to be able to read a message just before the 
scrolling up.

There are two lines. The first line says bla bla bla /vmlinuz .......
The second one says bla bla bla /archlinux.img ........ aborted

Then it scrolls up as the screen fills with m..............
Esc key at any point does nothing (ie I don't get a "boot:" prompt)

Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied

OK. Then syslinux does not work in your machine. You can try to contact 
upstream, maybe they can help to you to debug the issue and found a 
workaround.
You can also try other syslinux versions, compiling yourself or using 
precompiled binaries from webpage.
Anyway you can prepare a usb boot disk with grub, that works in your system, 
with arch/ directoy.

("aborted" if you did not hit any key?, weird...)

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This is my problem. Is this a syslinux problem? I can test / try anything you 
want. Sorry for the email length...