Syslinux - Jun 2003 - pxeLinux on an Intel SE7501WV2 with 82546EB

All:

I have recently discovered pxeLinux/memdisk and have been using them without
alot of pain in a somewhat unconventional setup.. Win2k DHCP server and tftpd32
on WinXP. Don't throw rocks at me - you use what you've got. Anyways,
thanks to HPA for a great tool.

I am running into an odd little problem now for which I was wondering if there
might be some remedy. On a particular motherboard (Intel  SE7501WV2 with 82546EB
onboard controller, latest mobo firmware) I am having problems. pxeLinux loads
fine, memdisk runs and does the drive detection. tftp delivers the boot image
(have tried Win98 dos and DOS 6.22) and then I get a lovely "non-system
disk" error. Sad thing is, these same images have booted fine on several
other configurations, including...

Intel STL2-based servers w/Intel 8255x 10/100 LOM
IBM eSeries x345 w/Intel 82546EB Dual-Port Gigabit LOM
IBM eSeries x235 w/Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit LOM
Dell PowerEdge 2450 w/Intel 8255x 10/100 LOM

It is also worthy of note that I have discovered that the problem appears to be
related to the absence of a floppy drive. The servers I'm using have no
floppy disk or CD-ROM (so you can see how I ended up running pxeLinux to get
them installed), but I was installing some S/W via a floppy I temporarily hooked
up and forgot to remove it when rebooting. To my surprise, the boot image
loaded. I thought I had inadvertently fixed something. Then I removed the floppy
and it was no go again. So I put the floppy back on and it worked again.

I'm wondering what information I might provide the group that would help
them tell me what I can do to avoid this. I have discussed it for awhile with
Intel's pxe guy and he seems to think that it has to do with the fact that
DOS doesn't like it if it doesn't detect a physical disk and blows if it
is not present. He claimed that DOS 6.22 did not make the check, but I have not
had any success with 6.22 either, so either he is wrong about 6.22 or there is a
slightly different issue. Any and all help appreciated.

Thanks
Jay Winks

Jay Winks wrote:
> 
> It is also worthy of note that I have discovered that the problem appears
to be related to the absence of a floppy drive. The servers I'm using have
no floppy disk or CD-ROM (so you can see how I ended up running pxeLinux to get
them installed), but I was installing some S/W via a floppy I temporarily hooked
up and forgot to remove it when rebooting. To my surprise, the boot image
loaded. I thought I had inadvertently fixed something. Then I removed the floppy
and it was no go again. So I put the floppy back on and it worked again.
> 
A lot of BIOSes seem to have this problem with no floppies in the
system.  Try using a hard disk image.  At some point I will try to make
a fix for this, although it's a bit complex since I don't have access to
a system which fails in this way.

	-hpa

> Jay Winks wrote:
> > 
> > It is also worthy of note that I have discovered that the 
> problem appears to be related to the absence of a floppy 
> drive. The servers I'm using have no floppy disk or CD-ROM 
> (so you can see how I ended up running pxeLinux to get them 
> installed), but I was installing some S/W via a floppy I 
> temporarily hooked up and forgot to remove it when rebooting. 
> To my surprise, the boot image loaded. I thought I had 
> inadvertently fixed something. Then I removed the floppy and 
> it was no go again. So I put the floppy back on and it worked again.
> > 
> 
> A lot of BIOSes seem to have this problem with no floppies in the
> system.  Try using a hard disk image.  At some point I will 
> try to make
> a fix for this, although it's a bit complex since I don't 
> have access to
> a system which fails in this way.
> 
> 	-hpa

I've had this problem as well. Sometimes, it works if a floppy is simply
"enabled" in the BIOS (same place you see your hard drives), no
physical
drive needed. Some systmes also need the floppy controller to be enabled
(usually "Integrated peripherials").

Oliver.

Oliver:

Thanks for the input. This particular mobo is one of the ones where that
doesn't help; if it does not explicitly detect a floppy at boot,  the BIOS
setting will automatically be set to "disabled" for the FDC. Peter
says the way to work around is to do an image that emulates HDD. Since I'm
doing the installs in a RIS-like manner (all the extra boot files on network
share as opposed to needing floppy) this may work.

Thanks, HPA!

VR
Jay Winks

-----Original Message-----
From: Oliver Schiff [mailto:oliver.schiff at schlund.de] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 3:09 AM
To: Jay Winks; syslinux at zytor.com
Subject: RE: [syslinux] pxeLinux on an Intel SE7501WV2 with 82546EB


 
> Jay Winks wrote:
> > 
> > It is also worthy of note that I have discovered that the
> problem appears to be related to the absence of a floppy
> drive. The servers I'm using have no floppy disk or CD-ROM 
> (so you can see how I ended up running pxeLinux to get them 
> installed), but I was installing some S/W via a floppy I 
> temporarily hooked up and forgot to remove it when rebooting. 
> To my surprise, the boot image loaded. I thought I had 
> inadvertently fixed something. Then I removed the floppy and 
> it was no go again. So I put the floppy back on and it worked again.
> > 
> 
> A lot of BIOSes seem to have this problem with no floppies in the 
> system.  Try using a hard disk image.  At some point I will try to 
> make a fix for this, although it's a bit complex since I don't
> have access to
> a system which fails in this way.
> 
> 	-hpa

I've had this problem as well. Sometimes, it works if a floppy is simply
"enabled" in the BIOS (same place you see your hard drives), no
physical drive needed. Some systmes also need the floppy controller to be
enabled (usually "Integrated peripherials").

Oliver.