Syslinux - Mar 2005 - Pxelinux freezes/reboots where PXE boot option boots normally.

Hello,

	I got in a situation where pxelinux 3.7 (or 3.6) reboots constantly after 
loading the configuration file and displaying the 'display' option file,
but
never showing 'boot:' prompt.

	config file is following:
# PXE SYSLINUX config file - look at
# http://syslinux.zytor.com/faq.php for syntax 
#
# ---------- This is gate configure file -------
timeout 20
prompt 1
display motd
default gate.zi
IPAPPEND 1

	I tried this with two old pentiums/133 with 3c509b or rtl8139 ethernet cards 
with etherboot 5.3.7 (5.3.12 does not work), same result.

	What is really vexing is that two newer computers - P4 and Athlon ?? that 
have 'PXE boot' option boot just perfectly using same configuration.

	I compiled the Syslinux package on P4 linux computer, however this should not 
matter at all. DHCP / Tftp set-up is fine, given that computers with 'PXE 
boot ' bios are able to load the kernel.

	Some ideas why this may happen?
	Thanks, George.

Hello Georgiev,

Quick question: How did you get pxelinux to load via etherboot?  As far 
as I know etherboot requires a network boot format image (nbgrub works 
fx).  Etherboot, afaik does not support a PXE stack.

Quinn

G. Georgiev wrote:
>	Hello,
>
>	I got in a situation where pxelinux 3.7 (or 3.6) reboots constantly after 
>loading the configuration file and displaying the 'display' option
file, but
>never showing 'boot:' prompt.
>
>	config file is following:
># PXE SYSLINUX config file - look at
># http://syslinux.zytor.com/faq.php for syntax 
>#
># ---------- This is gate configure file -------
>timeout 20
>prompt 1
>display motd
>default gate.zi
>IPAPPEND 1
>
>	I tried this with two old pentiums/133 with 3c509b or rtl8139 ethernet
cards
>with etherboot 5.3.7 (5.3.12 does not work), same result.
>
>	What is really vexing is that two newer computers - P4 and Athlon ?? that 
>have 'PXE boot' option boot just perfectly using same configuration.
>
>	I compiled the Syslinux package on P4 linux computer, however this should
not
>matter at all. DHCP / Tftp set-up is fine, given that computers with
'PXE
>boot ' bios are able to load the kernel.
>
>	Some ideas why this may happen?
>	Thanks, George.
>
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>  
>

> 	I tried this with two old pentiums/133 with 3c509b or rtl8139 ethernet
cards
> with etherboot 5.3.7 (5.3.12 does not work), same result.
> 	I compiled the Syslinux package on P4 linux computer, however this should
not
> matter at all. DHCP / Tftp set-up is fine, given that computers with
'PXE
> boot ' bios are able to load the kernel.
Etherboot 5.3.X and PXELinux work with my old PCs (Pentium I with 3Com 
or RTL8139 NIC). Use the file pxelinux.0 that comes with the syslinux 
package (you do not have to compile anything) and try again so we can be 
sure that your self-made PXELinux did not cause the problem.

Alex

Quinn wrote:
> Hello Georgiev,
> 
> Quick question: How did you get pxelinux to load via etherboot?  As far 
> as I know etherboot requires a network boot format image (nbgrub works 
> fx).  Etherboot, afaik does not support a PXE stack.
Etherboot supports PXE in the 5.3 version.  It supports many pxe stacks 
including pxelinux and MS ris.

Tim

> Trying to load pxelinux.cfg/01-00-50-fc-85-0c-ad
> Trying to load pxelinux.cfg/0A000005
> Missing parameter in configuration file.
I do not get the message about a missing paramter using your config file.
> timeout 200
> prompt 1
> display motd
> default gate.zi
> IPAPPEND 1
IMHO the configuration file syntax is ok.
> 	In /tftpboot catalog, among other things I have:
> -rw-r--r--   1 root root 1201587 2005-03-03 17:45 gate.zi
> -rw-r--r--   1 root root 2670141 2005-01-25 12:51 initrd.img
> -rw-r--r--   1 root root      42 2005-03-04 23:16 motd
> -rw-rw-r--   1 1026 1026   12912 2005-01-12 04:57 pxelinux.0
> 	So, where is the mystery?
My guess is, that maybe there is some kind of problem with Etherboot and 
your TFTP server (probably caused by the blocksize of EB 5.3.7).
Upgrade Etherboot to latest CVS and test it again.

Alex

>>     Etherboot: I tried also 5.3.12 from rom-o-matic, no any difference 
>> at all. I do not get any message for fragmented packets or another
error.
Please use Etherboot CVS (*not* 5.3.12!) and try again.

Alex