Ole Holm Nielsen
2007-Feb-02 15:20 UTC
[syslinux] Version 3.35 problems with Broadcom BCM5780 chipset
I have used the SYSLINUX 3.35 successfully to boot up vesamenu.c32 as well as menu.c32 on an HP Intel PC (Intel 965 chipset) and a few other types of PCs. But when I use those very same SYSLINUX menus on an AMD Opteron server (IBM x326m), it is capable of loading up vesamenu.c32 and menu.c32 and displaying a list of menu items. But as soon as I select any item whatsoever in the menu list, the server locks up and must be power cycled. The TFTP server reports that menu.c32 was downloaded, but any files in the menu items were never downloaded, so the lock-up must occur before a TFTP get is attempted. Apparently, the SYSLINUX problem is specific to this type of chipset. The IBM x326m server has a Broadcom chipset with this dual-Gigabit Ethernet controller on the motherboard: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5780 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 03) It has the latest IBM firmware: Version 1.20.25, November 09, 2006, and the Broadcom firmware update utility reports the version as 5780-v3.24. I'd love to get SYSLINUX menu control of my IBM servers, so I wonder if anyone can solve this problem ? -- Ole Holm Nielsen Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark
H. Peter Anvin
2007-Feb-02 17:01 UTC
[syslinux] Version 3.35 problems with Broadcom BCM5780 chipset
Ole Holm Nielsen wrote:> > But when I use those very same SYSLINUX menus on an AMD Opteron server > (IBM x326m), it is capable of loading up vesamenu.c32 and menu.c32 > and displaying a list of menu items. But as soon as I select any item > whatsoever in the menu list, the server locks up and must be power cycled. >I wonder if this is the same class of problems which is affecting IBM laptops. Either way, I'm afraid it falls under the same category -- I simply have no way to debug this without access to the machinery. There isn't any "obvious" explanation for this behaviour, other than possibly BIOS misuse of high memory (which would have to be further diagnosed.) -hpa