[syslinux] After USB boot problems on Gigabyte GA-M55Plus-S3G

[Dean Graff]

the closest i have gotten to a consistent way to test a MS-DOS filesystem
setup is:

dd if=/dev/zero of=binary.img bs=1M count=500
i="$(losetup -f --show binary.img )"
parted binary.img mklabel msdos -s -m
dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of="${i}"
parted binary.img mkpart primary -a optimal -s -m 0% 100%
parted binary.img set 1 boot on
mkfs.ext4 $(kpartx -savu "${i}" | awk 'NR==1{print "/dev/mapper/"$3 }' )
mount $(kpartx -savu "${i}" | awk 'NR==1{print "/dev/mapper/"$3 }' ) /mnt
extlinux --install /mnt/boot
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/vesamenu.c32 /mnt/boot
cat > /mnt/boot/extlinux.conf <<EOF
UI vesamenu.c32
DEFAULT linux
LABEL linux
LINUX /boot/bzImage
APPEND root=/dev/sda1 init=/bin/ash
EOF
umount /mnt
kpartx -d "${i}"
losetup -d "${i}"
kvm binary.img

works
but not with gpt
-chris graff (dean)


On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 11:07 AM, Thomas Schmitt <scdbackup at gmx.net> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> hpa wrote:
> > LBA = (C * H' * S') + (H * S') + (S - 1)
> > [...]
> > Start LBA       63 = CHS    0   1   1
> > End   LBA 15794175 = CHS  982 254  63
> > If LBA 63 = CHS 0/1/1 then we know S'=62, but that is completely
> > inconsistent with the ending sector being 63.
>
> Wouldn't that be S'=63 ?
> 63 = (0 * H' * 63) + (1 * 63) + (1 - 1)
>
> Whatever, the stick producers seem to take the same freedom
> as needed when the disk size exceeds 1023*255*63 :
> Start LBA plus blocksize does not need to match end CHS.
>
> Ady's understanding seems not uncommon, that the end CHS address
> shall indicate H' and S' by (H + 1) and S.
> I wonder if this is specified anywhere.
> (It is equivalent to cylinder alignment of the partition end.)
>
>
> > Fortunately geometry is becoming a fading problem.  We're dealing with
> > an old board and BIOS here.
>
> My own hardware is of similar age.
>
> I am getting more and more pessimistic with the idea to
> propose at least one "normal" MS-DOS filesystem setup.
> If not Ady comes to the rescue, that is.
>
> It seems so unfair to leave the users alone with mad partitioning
> and naive boards. :o)
>
>
> Have a nice day :)
>
> Thomas
>
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