[syslinux] Sysylinux-6.03 freezes at Loading kernel..., works smooth with 4.06 via SD-CARD

[Michael Kasprowicz]

Hi,
I am trying to boot syslinux with an SD-Card on COMe-mBTi10 board, it works
perfect with syslinux 4-06(as BIOS supports booting from SD-CARD), but
hangs with syslinux-6.03 during 'Loading vmlinuz ... '.
I tried various ways in which I could debug but no hints, just one time I
got the error below the loading screen.

'Loading vmlinuz0 ... CHS: Error 8001 reading sector 34(0/3/3)
EDD: Error 8000 reading sector 50'

After this I never got the error again and it hangs. I have also tried
using sysdump.c32 and debug.c32, even they don't work.

In source code, in various files I traced the pattern 'Loading $ ...' and
inserted strings to locate where exactly in the code my kernel hangs, then
I recomplied with
make bios installer
make install

After installation I tried installing syslinux using
syslinux -i /dev/sdb1   as well as
from the linux subdirectory ./syslinux.c --install /dev/sdb1
But no change.

The 'Loading kernel ...' pattern stays the same.
Also i could not find a documentation which shows how to compile from
source. Please help.

below is the Bios info and syslinux.cfg.
--
SMBIOS 2.7 present.
27 structures occupying 1122 bytes.
Table at 0x000E0840.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes
BIOS Information
    Vendor: Kontron Europe GmbH
    Version: MVV1R111 X64
    Release Date: 10/14/2014
    Address: 0xE0000
    Runtime Size: 128 kB
    ROM Size: 4096 kB
    Characteristics:
        PCI is supported
        BIOS is upgradeable
        BIOS shadowing is allowed
        Boot from CD is supported
        Selectable boot is supported
        EDD is supported
        Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
        8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
        Serial services are supported (int 14h)
        Printer services are supported (int 17h)
        CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)
        NEC PC-98
        ACPI is supported
        USB legacy is supported
        BIOS boot specification is supported
        Function key-initiated network boot is supported
        Targeted content distribution is supported
        UEFI is supported
    BIOS Revision: 2.9
--
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
    Manufacturer: Kontron Europe GmbH
    Product Name: COMe-mBTi10
    Version: C.0.4
--
syslinux.cfg
--
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 50

SERIAL 0

DEFAULT dbg
 LABEL dbg
   COM32 debug.c32
   APPEND bios_boot_linux free


#DEFAULT linux.c32 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2
#DEFAULT vmlinuz0 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2
DEFAULT mylabel
LABEL mylabel
COM32 sysdump.c32 ymodem xzy 0 9600
#KERNEL linux.c32
#APPEND vmlinuz0 initrd=initrd0.img root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait
rootfstype=ext3 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600

LINUX vmlinuz0
#KERNEL vmlinuz0
APPEND root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 bios_boot_linux free
INITRD initrd0.img

#APPEND root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rootfstype=ext3 console=tty0
console=ttyS0,9600
#APPEND initrd=initrd0.img root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rootfstype=ext3
console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600
--

I have tried every possible combination but no success at all. When i try
to use linux.c32 comboot module, it does not even say Loading vmlinuz0 ...
it hangs even before that.

The same kernel and initrd works perfectly with Syslinux-4.06 where it
boots from SD-card without any single error.
Please help or suggest.
best regards.
Micheal