Syslinux - Mar 2006 - Strange MEMDISK problem with XP Bootfloppy images

Hello all. I am pretty new to this list but I have looked through the
archives and did not see any reference to this problem. 

I have an MS-DOS boot floppy image that I am trying to load using MEMDISK.
The disk is simply a boot floppy made using XPSP2. I have tried it on 4
different machines, all Dells. PowerEdge 2650 Server, Latitude D610
Notebook, Optiplex GX280 Desktop and Optiplex GX520 Desktop. The boot is
successful on the server and laptop but somewhat unsuccessful on the
Optiplexes. The optiplexes have SATA drives but I don't know if that makes a
difference.

I say somewhat unsuccessful because through some trial-and-error I have
discovered that it will successfully boot the image on the 4th try. It will
try to boot and return:

Loading boot sector... booting...

Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key

When I press the space bar to continue it goes back to the beginning of the
PXE boot (not a total reboot of the machine). I try again and get the same.
There is a bunch of info on the screen and I can send a txt file of it if
necessary. It does note in the "count" variable which try it is on. On
the
4th try it is successful!

Is this possibly a MEMDISK problem? Or is it something to do with the PXE
code on the card??? The network cards in the optiplexes are Broadcom 57XX
series. I believe it is the same in the notebook. Not totally sure about the
server but I think it is also the same.

Since I couldn't get that to work I tried other avenues. I tried a FreeDOS
bootdisk and it worked fine every time! It even ran ghost which is what I
wanted. Now I am just curious as to why the XP/MSDOS boot disk would not
work.

Has anyone else experienced the above? Any suggestions?

Regards,
Gordon Mills

Gordon J. Mills III wrote:
> 
> When I press the space bar to continue it goes back to the beginning of the
> PXE boot (not a total reboot of the machine). I try again and get the same.
> There is a bunch of info on the screen and I can send a txt file of it if
> necessary. It does note in the "count" variable which try it is
on. On the
> 4th try it is successful!
> 
Please.  This is utterly bizarre behaviour!

	-=hpa

My apologies to the list. I forgot to mention that this is using PXELINUX. I
am using the pxelinux package from syslinux. My tftp server is atftpd.

Regards,
Gordon Mills 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gordon J. Mills III [mailto:Gordon.Mills at usa.net] 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 3:28 PM
> To: 'syslinux at zytor.com'
> Subject: Strange MEMDISK problem with XP Bootfloppy images
> 
> Hello all. I am pretty new to this list but I have looked 
> through the archives and did not see any reference to this problem. 
> 
> I have an MS-DOS boot floppy image that I am trying to load 
> using MEMDISK. The disk is simply a boot floppy made using 
> XPSP2. I have tried it on 4 different machines, all Dells. 
> PowerEdge 2650 Server, Latitude D610 Notebook, Optiplex GX280 
> Desktop and Optiplex GX520 Desktop. The boot is successful on 
> the server and laptop but somewhat unsuccessful on the 
> Optiplexes. The optiplexes have SATA drives but I don't know 
> if that makes a difference.
> 
> I say somewhat unsuccessful because through some 
> trial-and-error I have discovered that it will successfully 
> boot the image on the 4th try. It will try to boot and return:
> 
> Loading boot sector... booting...
> 
> Invalid system disk
> Replace the disk, and then press any key
> 
> When I press the space bar to continue it goes back to the 
> beginning of the PXE boot (not a total reboot of the 
> machine). I try again and get the same. There is a bunch of 
> info on the screen and I can send a txt file of it if 
> necessary. It does note in the "count" variable which try it 
> is on. On the 4th try it is successful!
> 
> Is this possibly a MEMDISK problem? Or is it something to do 
> with the PXE code on the card??? The network cards in the 
> optiplexes are Broadcom 57XX series. I believe it is the same 
> in the notebook. Not totally sure about the server but I 
> think it is also the same.
> 
> Since I couldn't get that to work I tried other avenues. I 
> tried a FreeDOS bootdisk and it worked fine every time! It 
> even ran ghost which is what I wanted. Now I am just curious 
> as to why the XP/MSDOS boot disk would not work.
> 
> Has anyone else experienced the above? Any suggestions?
> 
> Regards,
> Gordon Mills
>

> From: H. Peter Anvin [mailto:hpa at zytor.com] 
> 
> Gordon J. Mills III wrote:
> > 
> > When I press the space bar to continue it goes back to the 
> beginning 
> > of the PXE boot (not a total reboot of the machine). I try 
> again and get the same.
> > There is a bunch of info on the screen and I can send a txt 
> file of it 
> > if necessary. It does note in the "count" variable which 
> try it is on. 
> > On the 4th try it is successful!
> > 
> 
> Please.  This is utterly bizarre behaviour!
> 
> 	-=hpa
>
I realize how bizarre it seems but it is very reproduceable.

Kind Regards,
Gordon

> From: H. Peter Anvin [mailto:hpa at zytor.com] 
>
> Gordon J. Mills III wrote:
> > 
> > I realize how bizarre it seems but it is very reproduceable.
> > 
> 
> Indeed, hence I would like as much information as possible.
> 
> 	-hpa
> 
>
Peter, attached is a txt file with as much of the boot screen information as
I can provide. If there is something more that I can provide please let me
know. If the file will not go through to the list I can just put the text in
an email.

Regards,
Gordon 
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> From: H. Peter Anvin [mailto:hpa at zytor.com] 
> 
> Gordon J. Mills III wrote:
> > 
> > Peter, attached is a txt file with as much of the boot screen 
> > information as I can provide. If there is something more that I can 
> > provide please let me know. If the file will not go through to the 
> > list I can just put the text in an email.
> > 
> 
> It would appear that MEMDISK is installed over itself four 
> times, and that apparently the boot works with four MEMDISKs 
> installed, but not less...
> 
> 	-hpa
> 
Peter, any guess as to why that might happen? Is there any parameter I might
add to the arguments that may help? Currently I am using the 'raw'
option. I
have tried 'bigraw' but it did not help.

Thanks,
Gordon