Syslinux - Nov 2012 - syslinux problem... (?)

I'm an archlinux user. Arch linux installation ISO uses syslinux as
bootloader

I'm coping (not verbatim) this from bugs.archlinux.org/32774

--------
I wrote:

The CD boots fine, but when it reaches at the initial screen which displays the 
available options (Install x86_32 or x86_64 version etc) the screen scrolls up 
and I get a screen filled with   [14;5H[H[19;5 

If I press a key a few times it displays the initial screen for a few moments 
and then it scrolls up again displaying the above strange sequence. This is an 
endless loop.

My board is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (v1.6) bios version FK.

Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied

According to your description such string appears in syslinux screen.
Verify if it was burned OK MD5SUM is 1ceb835d6b3c8e390d0ec4b6c913dc27. If is 
right, then such BIOS is really broken.

I wrote:

I've just checked. MD5SUM is OK.

Bios problem? It's been at least two years since I've installed arch
linux
(using AIF). I came from debian. My question is how/why my pc boots fine 
archlinux (x86_64 - grub2) all this time?

My pc has the same hardware. Nothing changed all these years.

A month ago after a problem (due to my mistake), locked me out of arch. I had 
to boot from a cd and to chroot to my system. I had switched to systemd 
already and it was a very tricky to use the old AIF cd I had.

That's why I've tried to get an updated installation cd for just in case
but
when I've tested it, I had this strange problem.

Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied

Since two years installation ISO uses syslinux as bootloader, previously grub 
(grub-gfx) was used.

If you hit "ESC" you will see a "boot:" prompt for syslinux.
You can try to prepare a syslinux boot usb-disk.

I wrote:

I've prepared a usb boot disk as described at the link above.

It boots but I've got the same problem as above. If a press nothing screen 
fills with L.............. 
If I press enter, the menu screen (archlinux istallation options) shows for a 
second and scrolls up filling the screen with m..............

I've pressed enter a lot of times to be able to read a message just before
the
scrolling up.

There are two lines. The first line says bla bla bla /vmlinuz .......
The second one says bla bla bla /archlinux.img ........ aborted

Then it scrolls up as the screen fills with m..............
Esc key at any point does nothing (ie I don't get a "boot:"
prompt)

Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied

OK. Then syslinux does not work in your machine. You can try to contact 
upstream, maybe they can help to you to debug the issue and found a 
workaround.
You can also try other syslinux versions, compiling yourself or using 
precompiled binaries from webpage.
Anyway you can prepare a usb boot disk with grub, that works in your system, 
with arch/ directoy.

("aborted" if you did not hit any key?, weird...)

---------

This is my problem. Is this a syslinux problem? I can test / try anything you 
want. Sorry for the email length...

> I'm an archlinux user. Arch linux installation ISO uses syslinux as
bootloader
> 
> I'm coping (not verbatim) this from bugs.archlinux.org/32774
> 
> --------
> I wrote:
> 
> The CD boots fine, but when it reaches at the initial screen which displays
the
> available options (Install x86_32 or x86_64 version etc) the screen scrolls
up
> and I get a screen filled with   [14;5H[H[19;5 
> 
Could you please post your syslinux.cfg file?

On Nov 25, 2012 1:00 PM, "???????? ????????????" <anyidea at
hol.gr> wrote:
>
> I'm an archlinux user. Arch linux installation ISO uses syslinux as
bootloader
>
> I'm coping (not verbatim) this from bugs.archlinux.org/32774
>
> --------
> I wrote:
>
> The CD boots fine, but when it reaches at the initial screen which displays
the
> available options (Install x86_32 or x86_64 version etc) the screen scrolls
up
> and I get a screen filled with   [14;5H[H[19;5
Looks like unused ANSI escape sequences.  Please post the contents or
web links to the contents of all Syslinux config files, includung
INCLUDEs and CONFIG references.  Likely (vesa)menu.c32 or gfxboot.c32
was used (hopefully as UI not DEFAULT).
> If I press a key a few times it displays the initial screen for a few
moments
> and then it scrolls up again displaying the above strange sequence. This is
an
> endless loop.
Sounds like TIMEOUT is set.
> My board is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (v1.6) bios version FK.
Sounds like an Intel X58 chipset.  What video card?  Onboard from processor GPU?
> Gerardo Exequiel Pozzi (djgera) replied
>
> According to your description such string appears in syslinux screen.
> Verify if it was burned OK MD5SUM is 1ceb835d6b3c8e390d0ec4b6c913dc27. If
is
> right, then such BIOS is really broken.
>
> I wrote:
>
> I've just checked. MD5SUM is OK.
I presume something like 'dd bs=2048 count=NNN if=/dev/sr0 | md5sum' ?
 I've seen plenty of other people have issues when burning at full
rate and I've personally had some CDs that are unreadable in some
machines so I've standardized on no more than 8xCD and 4xDVD with a
verify.

--
-Gene

YES. Problem solved!!!

removing "SERIAL 0 38400" from archiso_head.cfg fixes the problem.

Every menu option is selectable and bootable.

Everything is working as expected!

THANKS A LOT.

On 11/26/2012 10:04 AM, ???????? ???????????? wrote:
> YES. Problem solved!!!
> 
> removing "SERIAL 0 38400" from archiso_head.cfg fixes the
problem.
> 
> Every menu option is selectable and bootable.
> 
> Everything is working as expected!
> 
Now, why on Earth is the serial port redirecting to the screen????  That
is the real gajillion-dollar question.

Are you actually connecting a normal screen through a normal video card,
or is there some kind of special management thing in the way?

	-hpa