Syslinux - Aug 2006 - Gigabyte recent bios & syslinux extlinux trow USB-IDE bridges or pendrives

Hello list, I'm having problems with newest BIOS updates from Gigabyte to my
Mother Boards, they don't want to boot syslinux, extlinux y usb-hdd mode.

Then I need to know if someone else are having same problem, and can send me 
the Mother Board versions and bios versions to report as a bios bug.

this is from the support, I'm awaiting for answer.
-------------------------------------------
>From : 	Gustavo Guillermo P?rez [ madgus at gmail.com ]
Sent : 	2006/8/17 03:09
Question : 	Dear Gigabyte Stuff, I was considering your test, and borrow from 
some firends many diferent usb-ide bridges to try, and I have two of your 
list, and on my other models of Gigabytes (recent ones) [K8VM800M-R2] got the 
same problem. On this model I do not have two bios, and of course I do not 
want to update casue is obious I'll got the same, this bios is more recent 
than my older one.
The boot message is this:
This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and
press any key to try again ...
Then, I was doing a new bootable disk, small one about 60MB to overwrite over 
diferent media, like a usb flash, micro sd reader, real hard drive over the 
proper adaptor, and so on, to try to fix this problem on Gigabyte mother 
boardas, thinking may be I'm doing something wrong.
The main problem is that we use to buy and recommend to our customers Gigabyte 
models over years, and this new issue, will start to corrupt our terminal 
system.
There is my new test, that can boot on many other Mother Board vendors, but I 
don't want the other ones.
http://www.compunauta.com/forums/linux/instalarlinux/img/memtest_usbhdd.zip

The Normal procedure to make a bootable usb:
make a partition as fat32/16(windows users) or ext2/3(linux users) and mark as 
bootable, install over there syslinux or extlinux
and use the mbr.bin bootsector provided by syslinux package, the mbr will boot 
the bootable flagged partition.

To use my example without making nothing, borrow some Linux Live distro and 
over there plug your usb device and execute dmesg 10 seconds later to see the 
device name assigned, for example if it was sda then, if my raw file provided 
into a zip file is on another CD unit, try something like:
dd if=/media/cdrom2/memtest_usbhdd.raw of=/dev/sda it will overwrite the 
device doesn't matter if is a 40GB real hard drive over USB or if is a usb 
stick about 64MB or more, it will allways should boot, and you'll see a nice
boot with memtest on it, checking your ram, as I said if I downgrade bios 
versions I can boot it as on many other M.B. from other vendors, but new BIOS 
code from yours, doesn't.

USB-CDROM boots perfect, is not corrupted, the only problem is with usb-hdd.

Syslinux is used to boot many rescue diagnostic tools, windows 98 emulation 
disquetes to update your bios mother boards, Linux on USB media to intall 
Linux and friends, and so on, I guess syslinux is more used to boot usb-hdd 
than any other boot loader, I really hope if you can take a look.

Best regards.
Answer - 382418
Answer : 	Dear Gustavo,

Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. About the issue you mentioned, in 
fact, USB boot up feature is not PC standard and AWARD BIOS can not support 
all type of USB boot devices, therefore, we can't make sure all USB boot 
devices will work properly with our MBs. If your USB boot device can't work 
properly, please try to change USB boot device type by BOOT DEVICE setting of 
BIOS setup prgram or use other USB boot devices for testing again later.

BTW, we have tested the USB bootable devices in our lab and provide the info. 
for your reference:

Terasys 2.5" External HDD
SONY DRX-710UL
I-O DATA HAD-i40G/i-80G
BUSLINK or IMPULSE CD-RW
I-O DATA CRWP-i24B
Transcend TS40GSJ25
Apacer USB1.1/2.0 128MB/256MB Pen Drive
Gigabyte USB1.1/2.0 128MB Pen Drive

At last, if you still have any further question or suggestion about our 
products/service, please do not hesitate to contact with us directly. We will 
try our best to help you resolve the problem ASAP.

******** Thank you for supporting Gigabyte products ***********
Question - 382418
>From : 	Gustavo Guillermo P?rez [ madgus at gmail.com ]
Sent : 	2006/8/5 02:32
Question : 	Well, I was tried the F7 version of the BIOS making a bootable ISO 
CD under linux, very well done and upgrade, (thanks for giving me 2 bios on 
the model),
In fact, F7 has a lot of new options, like sata boot order ( I wonder this 
option), BUT 2 MORE IMPORTANTs HAS GONE and NOT WORKING, PXE BOOT it just 
disappear, and I can not BOOT my USB Hard drive anymore, my bootsector 
complains that is invalid and replace to continue, cause we are developers, 
we should have 32 and 64 bit platforms as well, and I can not just upgrade my 
motherboard. There is any consideration to fix at least USB-HDD boot, cause I 
do really wish to have SATA boot order priority, and PXE STACK can be 
replaced with fake system code on system loaders.
Chainloading System loaders into partitions and fake ram floppys to have 
usb-hdd boot or pxe is a hell.

I roll back the bios to F4, that is on backup bios :)
Best regards


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model Name : GA-7VT600 1394
--------------------------
M/B Rev : 1394
BIOS Ver : F4 or F7
Serial No. : :)
Purchase Dealer : :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VGA Brand : Nvidia      Model : GPU 4
CPU Brand : AMD      Model : 2300+      Speed : 1800 I guess
Operation System : Linux      SP :
Memory Brand : Kingston      Type : DDR
Memory Size : 1024      Speed : 400
Power Supply : 480 Thermaltake W


2 SATA HD-DRIVES 4ATAPI-DRIVES FLOPPY UNIT, TV CAPTURE CARD, EXTRA NETWORK 
CARD, 2 EXTRA USB CARD, and a lot of peripherals trow firewire & usb.
-- 
Gustavo Guillermo P?rez
Compunauta uLinux
www.compunauta.com

Gustavo Guillermo P?rez wrote:
> Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. About the issue you mentioned,
in
> fact, USB boot up feature is not PC standard and AWARD BIOS can not support
> all type of USB boot devices, therefore, we can't make sure all USB
boot
> devices will work properly with our MBs.
Wow, talk about cluelessness.  Sigh.

	-hpa

Answer : 	Dear Gustavo,

Thank you for your kindly mail and supporting GIGABYTE.
About the issue you mentioned in your earlier mail, we are really sorry for 
the inconvenience and trouble you encounter. In fact, we never actually 
suffer the same problem at our side or receive such complaint from other 
customers before. Thus, the problem could be a single case is caused by H/W 
and we suggest you contact your retailer/supplier, or, contact with local 
distributor for further checking/testing. For their information, please 
kindly visit our website by following link: 
http://tw.giga-byte.com/RedirectURL.aspx?URL=/WhereToBuy/Default.aspx


At last, we apology if our past service was not satisfactory. Due to the vast 
amounts of questions we receive daily, we understand the inconvenience of 
waiting for e-mail responses. If you still have any further question or 
suggestion about our product, please do not hesitate to contact with us. 
Thanks again for your understanding, and please receive our sincerely 
apology.

******** Thank you for supporting GIGABYTE products ***********

:( :( :( :( :(
I guess I'll never buy a Gigabyte again, pure ASUS.

El Mi?rcoles, 16 de Agosto de 2006 18:39, Gustavo Guillermo P?rez
escribi?:
> Hello list, I'm having problems with newest BIOS updates from Gigabyte
to
> my Mother Boards, they don't want to boot syslinux, extlinux y usb-hdd
> mode.
>
> Then I need to know if someone else are having same problem, and can send
> me the Mother Board versions and bios versions to report as a bios bug.
>
> this is from the support, I'm awaiting for answer.
> -------------------------------------------
>
> >From : 	Gustavo Guillermo P?rez [ madgus at gmail.com ]
>
> Sent : 	2006/8/17 03:09
> Question : 	Dear Gigabyte Stuff, I was considering your test, and borrow
> from some firends many diferent usb-ide bridges to try, and I have two of
> your list, and on my other models of Gigabytes (recent ones) [K8VM800M-R2]
> got the same problem. On this model I do not have two bios, and of course I
> do not want to update casue is obious I'll got the same, this bios is
more
> recent than my older one.
> The boot message is this:
> This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and
> press any key to try again ...
> Then, I was doing a new bootable disk, small one about 60MB to overwrite
> over diferent media, like a usb flash, micro sd reader, real hard drive
> over the proper adaptor, and so on, to try to fix this problem on Gigabyte
> mother boardas, thinking may be I'm doing something wrong.
> The main problem is that we use to buy and recommend to our customers
> Gigabyte models over years, and this new issue, will start to corrupt our
> terminal system.
> There is my new test, that can boot on many other Mother Board vendors, but
> I don't want the other ones.
> http://www.compunauta.com/forums/linux/instalarlinux/img/memtest_usbhdd.zip
>
> The Normal procedure to make a bootable usb:
> make a partition as fat32/16(windows users) or ext2/3(linux users) and mark
> as bootable, install over there syslinux or extlinux
> and use the mbr.bin bootsector provided by syslinux package, the mbr will
> boot the bootable flagged partition.
>
> To use my example without making nothing, borrow some Linux Live distro and
> over there plug your usb device and execute dmesg 10 seconds later to see
> the device name assigned, for example if it was sda then, if my raw file
> provided into a zip file is on another CD unit, try something like:
> dd if=/media/cdrom2/memtest_usbhdd.raw of=/dev/sda it will overwrite the
> device doesn't matter if is a 40GB real hard drive over USB or if is a
usb
> stick about 64MB or more, it will allways should boot, and you'll see a
> nice boot with memtest on it, checking your ram, as I said if I downgrade
> bios versions I can boot it as on many other M.B. from other vendors, but
> new BIOS code from yours, doesn't.
>
> USB-CDROM boots perfect, is not corrupted, the only problem is with
> usb-hdd.
>
> Syslinux is used to boot many rescue diagnostic tools, windows 98 emulation
> disquetes to update your bios mother boards, Linux on USB media to intall
> Linux and friends, and so on, I guess syslinux is more used to boot usb-hdd
> than any other boot loader, I really hope if you can take a look.
>
> Best regards.
> Answer - 382418
> Answer : 	Dear Gustavo,
>
> Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. About the issue you mentioned,
> in fact, USB boot up feature is not PC standard and AWARD BIOS can not
> support all type of USB boot devices, therefore, we can't make sure all
USB
> boot devices will work properly with our MBs. If your USB boot device
can't
> work properly, please try to change USB boot device type by BOOT DEVICE
> setting of BIOS setup prgram or use other USB boot devices for testing
> again later.
>
> BTW, we have tested the USB bootable devices in our lab and provide the
> info. for your reference:
>
> Terasys 2.5" External HDD
> SONY DRX-710UL
> I-O DATA HAD-i40G/i-80G
> BUSLINK or IMPULSE CD-RW
> I-O DATA CRWP-i24B
> Transcend TS40GSJ25
> Apacer USB1.1/2.0 128MB/256MB Pen Drive
> Gigabyte USB1.1/2.0 128MB Pen Drive
>
> At last, if you still have any further question or suggestion about our
> products/service, please do not hesitate to contact with us directly. We
> will try our best to help you resolve the problem ASAP.
>
> ******** Thank you for supporting Gigabyte products ***********
> Question - 382418
>
> >From : 	Gustavo Guillermo P?rez [ madgus at gmail.com ]
>
> Sent : 	2006/8/5 02:32
> Question : 	Well, I was tried the F7 version of the BIOS making a bootable
> ISO CD under linux, very well done and upgrade, (thanks for giving me 2
> bios on the model),
> In fact, F7 has a lot of new options, like sata boot order ( I wonder this
> option), BUT 2 MORE IMPORTANTs HAS GONE and NOT WORKING, PXE BOOT it just
> disappear, and I can not BOOT my USB Hard drive anymore, my bootsector
> complains that is invalid and replace to continue, cause we are developers,
> we should have 32 and 64 bit platforms as well, and I can not just upgrade
> my motherboard. There is any consideration to fix at least USB-HDD boot,
> cause I do really wish to have SATA boot order priority, and PXE STACK can
> be replaced with fake system code on system loaders.
> Chainloading System loaders into partitions and fake ram floppys to have
> usb-hdd boot or pxe is a hell.
>
> I roll back the bios to F4, that is on backup bios :)
> Best regards
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---- Model Name : GA-7VT600 1394
> --------------------------
> M/B Rev : 1394
> BIOS Ver : F4 or F7
> Serial No. : :)
> Purchase Dealer : :)
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---- VGA Brand : Nvidia      Model : GPU 4
> CPU Brand : AMD      Model : 2300+      Speed : 1800 I guess
> Operation System : Linux      SP :
> Memory Brand : Kingston      Type : DDR
> Memory Size : 1024      Speed : 400
> Power Supply : 480 Thermaltake W
>
>
> 2 SATA HD-DRIVES 4ATAPI-DRIVES FLOPPY UNIT, TV CAPTURE CARD, EXTRA NETWORK
> CARD, 2 EXTRA USB CARD, and a lot of peripherals trow firewire & usb.
-- 
Gustavo Guillermo P?rez
Compunauta uLinux
www.compunauta.com

To feedback stuff [period end of story] No more Gigabytes on my lab:

Well, There is no problem with hardware, is just the bios code, if you 
downgrade BIOS it works, if you upgrade to recent ones doesn't.
The other customers that try to boot trow USB-HDD may be didn't know there 
exist feedback, and may be buy another brand of M.B. without asking support, 
or replace the code with a CD-CARD.
In fact the problem can be fixed easy, just buying compatible M.B. and testing 
with dealers before to go for many ones. And of course this problem does 
affect more to you than me.

I am not awaiting response.

:(
>Answer : ???????Dear Gustavo,
>
>Thank you for your kindly mail and supporting GIGABYTE.
>About the issue you mentioned in your earlier mail, we are really sorry for 
>the inconvenience and trouble you encounter. In fact, we never actually 
>suffer the same problem at our side or receive such complaint from other 
>customers before. Thus, the problem could be a single case is caused by H/W 
>and we suggest you contact your retailer/supplier, or, contact with local 
>distributor for further checking/testing. For their information, please 
>kindly visit our website by following link: 
>http://tw.giga-byte.com/RedirectURL.aspx?URL=/WhereToBuy/Default.aspx
>
>
>At last, we apology if our past service was not satisfactory. Due to the
vast
>amounts of questions we receive daily, we understand the inconvenience of 
>waiting for e-mail responses. If you still have any further question or 
>suggestion about our product, please do not hesitate to contact with us. 
>Thanks again for your understanding, and please receive our sincerely 
>apology.
>******** Thank you for supporting GIGABYTE products ***********
>:( :( :( :( :(
>I guess I'll never buy a Gigabyte again, pure ASUS.
-- 
Gustavo Guillermo P?rez
Compunauta uLinux
www.compunauta.com