Michael Kasprowicz
2014-Nov-19 10:26 UTC
[syslinux] Sysylinux-6.03 freezes at Loading kernel..., works smooth with 4.06 via SD-CARD
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
Ady
2014-Nov-19 12:49 UTC
[syslinux] Sysylinux-6.03 freezes at Loading kernel..., works smooth with 4.06 via SD-CARD
> > 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.
Michael Kasprowicz
2014-Nov-20 10:13 UTC
[syslinux] Sysylinux-6.03 freezes at Loading kernel..., works smooth with 4.06 via SD-CARD
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. > > _______________________________________________ > Syslinux mailing list > Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com > Unsubscribe or set options at: > http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux >
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