Syslinux - Mar 2010 - 3.86-pre1 gpxelinux.0 SIS900 long boot time / fails to boot / no entries in tftp server log

Okay guys, This is separate from my last few messages. Along with those 
attempts, I decided to migrate from pxelinux.0 to gpxelinux.0 in my 
existing setup. Admittedly I haven't tried previous gpxelinux.0's but I 
am willing to if someone thinks it would be useful. Everything works as 
expected with pxelinux.0 of the same version.

With gpxelinux.0:

TFTP Prefix:
Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg/fffff- ..
(two minutes delay)
Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg/01-00...
(I believe also two minutes delay)
Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg/C0...
(same..)
...
Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg/default
(wait....)
Unable to locate configuration file

Boot failed: press a key to retry, or wait for reset...
........._

Server Side:
Mar 16 15:33:14 scrappy in.tftpd[60494]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
gpxelinux.0
Mar 16 15:33:14 scrappy in.tftpd[60494]: tftp: client does not accept 
options
Mar 16 15:33:14 scrappy in.tftpd[60495]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
gpxelinux.0
--snip next client/test here--


With pxelinux.0, I don't even see it go by, it trys, and instantly my 
menu.c32 pops up.

Server side:
Mar 16 15:32:21 scrappy in.tftpd[60444]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
pxelinux.0
Mar 16 15:32:21 scrappy in.tftpd[60444]: tftp: client does not accept 
options
Mar 16 15:32:21 scrappy in.tftpd[60445]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
pxelinux.0
Mar 16 15:32:21 scrappy in.tftpd[60446]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
pxelinux.cfg/ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff
--snip all normal responses here --
Mar 16 15:32:21 scrappy in.tftpd[60456]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
pxelinux.cfg/default
Mar 16 15:32:21 scrappy in.tftpd[60457]: RRQ from 192.168.1.198 filename 
menu.c32

I thought I read a message about someone else having a similar complaint 
a while back, but I couldn't find it. Any ideas? (Yes, I know.. replace 
the nic, sadly that isn't an option, also setting custom rules in dhcp 
isn't ideal, as I get a variety of these at different times..)


-Andrew

It's probably worth mentioning, that I don't have a lot of options with 
my DHCP server. Without some serious hacking, I can only influence the 
boot server, and boot filename.

It's probably also worth mentioning I tried this one machine multiple 
times, and the only difference between working/not is gpxelinux and 
pxelinux, both from 3.86-pre1

-A

hmm, I got curious. I set my dhcp to hand out pxelinux.0, and grabbed 
gPXE 1.0.0 from rom-o-matic and that works as expected.

So I am guessing it is a SIS900 rom issue. This does present a workable 
solution, but does anyone want to take a crack at trying to debug / 
solve this one?

-A

On 03/16/2010 04:52 PM, Andrew Stuart wrote:
> hmm, I got curious. I set my dhcp to hand out pxelinux.0, and grabbed
> gPXE 1.0.0 from rom-o-matic and that works as expected.
>
> So I am guessing it is a SIS900 rom issue. This does present a workable
> solution, but does anyone want to take a crack at trying to debug /
> solve this one?
>
The SiS900 ROM problems are well known, and the best thing you can do 
with it is replace it with a gPXE hardware driver, either via chainload 
or ROM flashing.  The vendor PXE stack for that card is simply 
hopelessly broken.

It used to be quite the FAQ years ago when this was still a common card.

	-hpa