[syslinux] Syslinux Text menu not redrawing/resetting the screen

Ady Ady ady-sf at hotmail.com
Fri Jul 8 02:46:49 PDT 2016


> Hi,
> 
>  I have been using syslinux on my portable disk with success on many
> types of machines  (both bios boot and EFI boot)
> 
>  I however hit a small issue recently
> 
>  If I use menu.c32, on some UEFI systems (HP) the menu does not appear
> after the vendor splash screen. The system however goes ahead and
> after the timeout configured in the menu system syslinux boots the
> kernel. I can then (after kernel is loaded) see the kernel messages
> 
>  If I change menu.c32 to vesamenu.c32, the menu is now displayed.
>  I think menu.c32 must reset the display which is missing ?
> 
> Is there a config line where I can explicitly reset the display so
> that the text menu is shown compulsarily ?
> 
> 
> Thanks
> Bhasker C V
 
 
UEFI tries to replace the traditional VGA BIOS standards with something 
else (UGA in some implementations, GOP in newer ones).

My guess would be that your UEFI implementation doesn't completely / 
correctly support the default display mode for menu.c32.

There might be some setting in your firmware, such as "fastboot" or 
some additional / similar names; have you tried disabling / changing 
their status?

Is this HP model capable of booting in Legacy BIOS (CSM) mode, or only 
in UEFI mode? This might give us a clue about its video capabilities / 
support.

What is the screen resolution being displayed when you are using 
vesamenu.c32? Do you also use a menu background image and/or the MENU 
RESOLUTION directive?

Have you tried updating your firmware?

Are you able to boot to the Syslinux boot prompt instead of using a 
menu?

Are you able to boot into a UEFI shell and then select syslinux.efi 
from it?

In the past we have seen some people from HP(E) posting in this 
Syslinux Mailing List, although I doubt they are following it. Their 
input / comments might be helpful, not only for this particular case 
but for others, and for improving both, the UEFI implementations in HP 
machines and (vesa)menu.c32 under UEFI.

Regards,
Ady.

PS: MS requires 1024x768 32bpp as minimum GOP mode in WHQL. I would not 
be surprised if some UEFI Class 3 systems end up not supporting 
640x480.


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