Syslinux - Nov 2009 - Trying to multiboot bartpe & puppy linux on a usb flash with syslinux

Hey list,

I have an older 2005 Uniwill 259ia3 with a Phoenix bios.

Flash booting is limited to keys 512 MB or less!

Here's my setup recipe:

used the HP utility v. 2.0.6 giving me this geometry
---------------- fdisk -l -----------
Disk /dev/sdb: 493 MB, 493879296 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          61      482272+   e  W95 FAT16 (LBA)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(59, 254, 63) logical=(60, 11, 15)
------------------- unsnip -----------------

I copied over the 5 bartpe files known to work on another flashkey.
I include the bootsector, pe2usb.bin, renamed as pe2usb.bss, planning later
to chain boot with syslinux.

This works as-is and boots into bartpe.

Next I mount the puppy iso and copy over the isolinux setup. Then I change
isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg, edit, and add these lines for bartpe

------------- bartpe boot ---------
label bartpe
bss pe2usb.bss
append -
-------------- unsnip -------------

I test in qemu on Centos5 and it now multiboots both OS!

However when I try it on the Uniwill (with crippled bios), syslinux boots fine,
but only puppy boots. When I enter bartpe at the prompt, I get the message:
Disk error
enter any key to restart

Worse yet, is this flashkey works on all 4 other boxes in my office! Only the
laptop fails to boot the bartpe part.

Any advice is appreciated. I'm starting to think that the bios is the only
thing working against me here. The OEM has made a low blow with the manipulated
bios.

-- 
Mark

--- On Sat, 11/14/09, Mr. X <tlviewer at yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: Mr. X <tlviewer at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [syslinux] Trying to multiboot bartpe & puppy linux on a usb
flash with syslinux
> To: syslinux at zytor.com
> Date: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 6:46 PM
> Hey list,
> 
> I have an older 2005 Uniwill 259ia3 with a Phoenix bios.
> 
> Flash booting is limited to keys 512 MB or less!
> 
> Here's my setup recipe:
> 
> used the HP utility v. 2.0.6 giving me this geometry
> ---------------- fdisk -l -----------
> Disk /dev/sdb: 493 MB, 493879296 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> 
>    Device Boot     
> Start         End   
>   Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdb1   *       
>    1         
> 61      482272+   e  W95
> FAT16 (LBA)
> Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
>      phys=(59, 254, 63) logical=(60,
> 11, 15)
> ------------------- unsnip -----------------
> 
> I copied over the 5 bartpe files known to work on another
> flashkey.
> I include the bootsector, pe2usb.bin, renamed as
> pe2usb.bss, planning later
> to chain boot with syslinux.
> 
> This works as-is and boots into bartpe.
> 
> Next I mount the puppy iso and copy over the isolinux
> setup. Then I change
> isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg, edit, and add these lines for
> bartpe
> 
> ------------- bartpe boot ---------
> label bartpe
> bss pe2usb.bss
> append -
> -------------- unsnip -------------
> 
I left out the most important part:
#syslinux -s /dev/sdb1

$ rpm -q syslinux
syslinux-3.63-1.el5.rf

I also tried writing the pe2usb.bss bootsector to the device, then calling
syslinux again. The results are the same across all 5 machines. The Uniwill
still won't multiboot both - only puppy works.

-- 
Mark

On Sunday, November 15, 2009, 3:46:18, Mr. X wrote:
> Next I mount the puppy iso and copy over the isolinux setup. Then I change
> isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg, edit, and add these lines for bartpe
I successfully boot BartPE using this:

label bartpe
        kernel chain.c32
        append hd0 ntldr=/minint/setupldr.bin

label bartmem
        kernel chain.c32
        append hd0 ntldr=/sdildr

The first line boots BartPE directly off USB pendrive (you just need
to copy the CD contents and rename i386 to minint), while the second
line is for booting BartPE from ramdrive (sdildr is ntldr for ramdisk
boot, you also need to prepare a .sdi image and winnt.sif and include
ntdetect.com in the root of the pendrive). I used to use boot sector
chainloading in the past, but it wasn't reliable - it worked on some
machines and failed on others, completely randomly.

-- 
< Jernej Simon?i? ><><><><><
http://eternallybored.org/ >

All inanimate objects can move just enough to get in your way.
       -- Law of Inanimate Mobility