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

[Michael Kasprowicz]

Hi,
First of all thank you so much for your prompt suggestions/help. I really
appreciate this.
Here is the syslinux.cfg which works perfect with syslinux-4.06
----
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 50
SERIAL 0

DEFAULT mylabel
LABEL mylabel

KERNEL vmlinuz0
APPEND initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rootfstype=ext3
console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600
----

To further round off the error possibilities I used the same configuration
as above with syslinux-6.03 but with USB, initially i got the system
hanging at Probing EDD, but after using 'edd=off' in the APPEND line I was
successfully able to boot my kernel/initrd with syslinux-6.03 using a USB.

So, lets assume my BIOS does not support EDD, but because it worked with
USB (edd=off) so I assume one of the changes like (EDD,  the __intcall()
16-bit interrupt mechanism has been replaced with direct function
calls(32-bit) using ELF object support, memset() calls are added prior to
intcall()) is responsible for not loading the kernel properly into the
memory, PLEASE note, if I land into the boot prompt and call initrd first,
that gets loaded successfully, I get the OK... so everything here is OK
with my hardware and IRQ assigment as well, the system however hangs when I
call linux-kernel.

I have tried most of the suggestions you offered above already, no success.
Even tried different kernels, but they all get stuck while loading.

Now I want to use the debug.c32 and sysdump.c32 so that I could somehow
debug and figure out where exactly the problem occurs. Please provide me
with some examples of how could I use the both.

Calling
COM32 sysdump.c32 ymodem 0 9600
before the 'KERNEL vmlinuz0 ' or after??? could you please show an example?
also on minicom ymodem reception I only receive headers NO files. why so?

Using debug.c32 like below in a syslinux.cfg is OK?, but then where do I
call the kernel? right below or in a separate label? where do I get the
error messages?
DEFAULT dbg
 LABEL dbg
   COM32 debug.c32
   APPEND bios_boot_linux free

please provide some examples if possible if my above shown syslinux.cfg
file. ?

Please advise other possible debugging methods.

best regards.

2014-11-19 13:49 GMT+01:00 Ady <ady-sf at hotmail.com>:

>
> >
> > Hi
> > I have tried to install syslinux 4.06 on the SD card again, it works
> > like a charm.
> >
> > I am being very carefull with c32 files from the same version
> > bootloader. No success.
> >
> > I am also unmounting /dev/sdb1 before installing syslinux, as mentioned
> > in the given documentations.
> > In the pasted syslinux.cfg content--- I have also tried using only one
> > DEFAULT directive. No success.
> > syslinux boots successfully into SD-CARD thats for sure, as I do get
> > the boot prompt and I can even choose to load initrd0.img first, which
> > shows loading successful. But when it comes to loading the kernel, the
> > system hangs.
> >
> > UEFI mode is disabled in my BIOS.
> > Also I tested today the same installation procedure on a USB. Now here
> > is the interesting part, in booting from a USB with the same settings
> > and configuration. The kernel loads successfully but a new error shows
> > up resulting in a system hang.
> >  ' Loading vmlinuz0 ... ok
> > Loading initrd0.img... ok
> > Probing EDD (edd=off to disable)... '
> > The problem starts when syslinux tries to load kernel file into the
> > memory, for some reason it tries to read the wrong addresses, or maybee
> > it calculates the addresses wrongly. I have tried several paritions
> > sizes <128M  >128M ... no success.
> > On your changelog, i see that you converted lots of assembly code into
> > C, somewhere there is the bug, which is not allowing for a successful
> > load of the kernel for the SD-Card case, and for the USB-case kernel is
> > loaded but again Probing EDD gets to compute the addresses wrongly.
> > there is a bug in the Syslinux-6.03 code, otherwise syslinux-4.06
> > should have also shown similar issues, but it works like a charm.
> >
> > Could you please point me to a documentation which allows for complete
> > compilation from scratch???
> >
> > /micheal
> >
>
> I doubt recompiling can give you a better result. Recompiling could
> also introduce potential interaction problems.
>
> The best chance for someone to be able to replicate the problem is by
> using official pre-built binaries included in the official upstream
> archives downloaded from kernel.org, and not by rebuilding or using
> some package.
>
> The fact that you are receiving different behaviors (instead of getting
> the same consistent error each time) might indicate that perhaps the
> problem is related to hardware or to the filesystem. Syslinux 6.03
> (final) might be only the trigger (or, as you say, it might be the
> culprit; we don't know yet).
>
> Some possible suggestions:
> 0_ Check whether there is a BIOS (firmware) update available for your
> hardware.
> 1_ Wipe the first few MBs of your SD-Card, (warning: data will be
> erased!).
> 2_ Create a *new* MBR, partition table, and FAT filessytem.
> 3_ Use (and post here) an adequate, complete syslinux.cfg (especially
> if it works with 4.06).
> 4_ Use official prebuilt binaries downloaded from kernel.org.
> 5_ Test on another hardware combination (different mainboard / USB port
> / USB cable / USB boot device...).
> 6_ Please also test in an adequate VM and report the results.
>
> Thank you,
> Ady.
>
> PS: Not only that rebuilding Syslinux binaries is not recommended for
> troubleshooting; but additionally there have been some reports about
> building issues with nasm 2.11.06, and/or gcc 4.9.x, and/or gnu-efi
> and/or ovmf.
>
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