Syslinux - Feb 2014 - Very slow download with pxelinux > 4.07 on specific hardware

Hi there,

We had to setup a pxelinux on a new server (windows 2012) and used the 
latest release of pxelinux 6.0.2.

Everything went ok on my first client test machine : dell optiplex 740. 
Pxe was really fast (vesamenu with large background image was appearing 
in less than 3 secondes)

But on different client machine i got different results :

On optiplex 790 (core i5 with intel 82579 nic) and 380 (core 2 duo with 
bcm 57xx), it takes 1 minute for the menu to appear.

On  optiplex 7010(core i5 92579lm), it is as fast as with optiplex 740.

At the beginning i thought it was because my newer machine were on an 
efi bios, but the 7010 is too and i have no problem(i always use legacy 
boot).

With pxelinux 4.0.7, everything is running smooth. I think i'll stick 
with this version. But i think i'm loosing some interesting features...

Any clue ?

-- 
Cheers,
Eric

On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 11:13 AM, Eric PEYREMORTE
<eric.peyremorte at iut-valence.fr> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> We had to setup a pxelinux on a new server (windows 2012) and used the
> latest release of pxelinux 6.0.2.
>
> Everything went ok on my first client test machine : dell optiplex 740. Pxe
> was really fast (vesamenu with large background image was appearing in less
> than 3 secondes)
>
> But on different client machine i got different results :
>
> On optiplex 790 (core i5 with intel 82579 nic) and 380 (core 2 duo with bcm
> 57xx), it takes 1 minute for the menu to appear.
>
> On  optiplex 7010(core i5 92579lm), it is as fast as with optiplex 740.
>
> At the beginning i thought it was because my newer machine were on an efi
> bios, but the 7010 is too and i have no problem(i always use legacy boot).
>
> With pxelinux 4.0.7, everything is running smooth. I think i'll stick
with
> this version. But i think i'm loosing some interesting features...
>
> Any clue ?
Have you checked if any BIOS/Firmware updates the PXE OROM on these
systems?  6.03-pre2 was just released last night and may also be worth
testing.  lpxelinux.0 uses lwIP instead of the traditional API calls
and might be another point worth testing.

-- 
-Gene

Yes on optiplex 790 i upgraded from A07 to A18 (there was a nic upgrade) 
but it didn't change anything..

On optiplex 380 i upgraded from bios A01 to A07(don't know if upgrade 
contained pxe or not)...

I tried, lpxelinux.0 and it wasn't faster.

Only v4.07 helped on these machines.

Tomorrow, i will give a try with 6.03pre2.

In wireshark, i saw no errors, the packet length was the same on a fast 
and a slow machine, the
only thing that changed was the number of packet per second. I didn't 
measure exactly, but when
a fast machine was receiving a tftp packet each 0.003 second, the slow 
one did each 0.02 s.

I can send you a wireshark trace if you want.

I know it's not easy for you to help remotely, so is there any trace i 
can produce ?
some option to make it more verbose ? I saw debug.c32, but it seems to 
intervene later in the process.

Cheers,
Eric
ps : sorry for my bad english :-(



Le 24/02/2014 18:16, Gene Cumm a ?crit :
> On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 11:13 AM, Eric PEYREMORTE
> <eric.peyremorte at iut-valence.fr> wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> We had to setup a pxelinux on a new server (windows 2012) and used the
>> latest release of pxelinux 6.0.2.
>>
>> Everything went ok on my first client test machine : dell optiplex 740.
Pxe
>> was really fast (vesamenu with large background image was appearing in
less
>> than 3 secondes)
>>
>> But on different client machine i got different results :
>>
>> On optiplex 790 (core i5 with intel 82579 nic) and 380 (core 2 duo with
bcm
>> 57xx), it takes 1 minute for the menu to appear.
>>
>> On  optiplex 7010(core i5 92579lm), it is as fast as with optiplex 740.
>>
>> At the beginning i thought it was because my newer machine were on an
efi
>> bios, but the 7010 is too and i have no problem(i always use legacy
boot).
>>
>> With pxelinux 4.0.7, everything is running smooth. I think i'll
stick with
>> this version. But i think i'm loosing some interesting features...
>>
>> Any clue ?
> Have you checked if any BIOS/Firmware updates the PXE OROM on these
> systems?  6.03-pre2 was just released last night and may also be worth
> testing.  lpxelinux.0 uses lwIP instead of the traditional API calls
> and might be another point worth testing.
>