Syslinux - Aug 2008 - deepdive .0 extension

Hi!

I know the .0 extension is off limits for linux kernels but what happens when
the kernel file extension is .0 ?

I'm trying to troubleshoot our system because everytime someone tries to
boot a kernel image with a .0 extension it overwrites a large part of the
clients BIOS flash. I've tried it on a different system with other hardware
and it only hangs (like it should I presume) yet it is not an individual error
I've had several of these system in for fixing.

so what is the PXE code doing in the systems BIOS?


Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!
Thomas

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Thomas Ekstrand wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I know the .0 extension is off limits for linux kernels but what happens
when the kernel file extension is .0 ?
> 
> I'm trying to troubleshoot our system because everytime someone tries
to boot a kernel image with a .0 extension it overwrites a large part of the
clients BIOS flash. I've tried it on a different system with other hardware
and it only hangs (like it should I presume) yet it is not an individual error
I've had several of these system in for fixing.
> 
> so what is the PXE code doing in the systems BIOS?
> 
It overwrites random memory, which can of course have disastrous 
effects. However, a Linux kernel is way too big to fit in the low memory 
area; as a result, it will spill into the I/O area which contains the 
screen and the system BIOS RAM shadow.  It is *supposed* to be treated 
as a ROM at this point, but apparently on your system it triggers a 
flash command.

At one point there was a size test, but I believe it was dropped due to 
restructuring.  It looks like it really needs to come back.

	-hpa