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

[Ferenc Wagner]

Michael Kasprowicz <booomerangg at gmail.com> writes:

> 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.

Looks like there isn't much to debug with USB then.  Maybe the kernel
EDD detection.

> if I land into the boot prompt and call initrd first, that gets loaded
> successfully, I get the OK...

What do you mean by "calling initrd first", exactly?

> so everything here is OK with my hardware and IRQ assigment as well,
> the system however hangs when I call linux-kernel.

Try booting via linux.c32, that may provide more diagnostics, see
http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Linux.c32.  Also, if you are
determined, don't be afraid of compiling and instrumenting Syslinux
yourself.  Just be prepared for other issues, possibly introduced by
your build system.  Read the files in the doc directory, and have a look
at http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Development.

> Calling
> COM32 sysdump.c32 ymodem 0 9600
> before the 'KERNEL vmlinuz0 ' or after??? could you please show an example?

COM32 is a specific KERNEL type, just like LINUX for example, see the
documentation.  If you start sysdump.c32, it dumps data and returns to
Syslinux.  If you start vmlinuz, the kernel is booted, and you don't get
back to Syslinux.

> 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. ?

Have you seen the Syslinux debugging page?
http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Development/Debugging#Syslinux_Dynamic_Debugger
You switch on debugging, then you do what you want to debug.
-- 
Regards,
Feri.