Syslinux - Mar 2015 - Problems PXE booting syslinux.efi on HP EliteBook 2560p / 8460p

Hi there,
I have experienced problems on HP Elitebook 2560p and 8460p 
latest firmware installed:
2560p 68SSU ver. F50. 08/04/2014 
8460p 68SCF ver. F50. 08/04/2014


PXE boot, syslinux.efi gets perfectly TFTP transferred, it nevers asks for
ldlinux.e64, and immediately gives up.

I have traced the problem to:

/syslinux-6.03/efi/udp.c\core_udp_open()
/syslinux-6.03/efi/main.c\efi_create_binding(&Udp4ServiceBindingProtocol,
&Udp4Protocol);
/syslinux-6.03/gnu-efi/gnu-efi-3.0/lib/hand.c\LibLocateHandle(ByProtocol, bguid,
NULL, &nr_handles, &handles);

When LibLocateHandle() try to locate EFI_UDP4_SERVICE_BINDING_PROTOCOL it fails
with
EFI_NOT_FOUND (14) which looks like an HP firmware issue. 
Newer versions of the HP Elitebook family like 2570p and 8470p PXE boot
syslinux.efi correctly.
Unfortunately this error does not display any error message on 6.0.3.

I wonder if this problem with HP EFI firmware affecting current but not the
newest hardware it's not
somehow related to the recent thread "Problem boot PXE UEFI on HP ML350
Gen9"
http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2015-March/023305.html
In this case the ldlinux.e64 is requested but never received even when offered
by the TFTP server.


Best,
Patrick

> 
> Hi there,
> I have experienced problems on HP Elitebook 2560p and 8460p 
> latest firmware installed:
> 2560p 68SSU ver. F50. 08/04/2014 
> 8460p 68SCF ver. F50. 08/04/2014
> 
> 
> PXE boot, syslinux.efi gets perfectly TFTP transferred, it nevers asks for
ldlinux.e64, and immediately gives up.
> 
> I have traced the problem to:
> 
> /syslinux-6.03/efi/udp.c\core_udp_open()
>
/syslinux-6.03/efi/main.c\efi_create_binding(&Udp4ServiceBindingProtocol,
&Udp4Protocol);
> /syslinux-6.03/gnu-efi/gnu-efi-3.0/lib/hand.c\LibLocateHandle(ByProtocol,
bguid, NULL, &nr_handles, &handles);
> 
> When LibLocateHandle() try to locate EFI_UDP4_SERVICE_BINDING_PROTOCOL it
fails with
> EFI_NOT_FOUND (14) which looks like an HP firmware issue. 
> Newer versions of the HP Elitebook family like 2570p and 8470p PXE boot
syslinux.efi correctly.
> Unfortunately this error does not display any error message on 6.0.3.
> 
> I wonder if this problem with HP EFI firmware affecting current but not the
newest hardware it's not
> somehow related to the recent thread "Problem boot PXE UEFI on HP
ML350 Gen9"
> http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2015-March/023305.html
> In this case the ldlinux.e64 is requested but never received even when
offered by the TFTP server.
> 
> 
> Best,
> Patrick
> 
 
Some points that might, perhaps, be relevant for troubleshooting:

_ There have been some patches already merged after 6.03. 
Unfortunately, currently there is no _official_ git repository 
*publicly* available / accessible that would contain such patches.

_ There are pending patches, awaiting for review.

_ The official Syslinux 6.03 uses a one-year-old (ATM) gnu-efi code. 
Updating the gnu-efi submodule to current latest gnu-efi commit 
(2015Feb) might influence the results.

_ If similar newer HW can boot correctly, perhaps requesting from HP to 
release updated firmware versions for those systems that are failing 
might help?

_ I guess that pcap reports might help for additional debugging 
(whether to find a workaround or to find a potential bug in Syslinux)?

_ I am guessing that these systems are actually using UEFI x86_64. If 
they are not, then this would be a potential reason for strange 
behaviors regarding syslinux.efi and ldlinux.e64.

Regards,
Ady

> 
> 
> 
> 
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>_ There
>have been some patches already merged after 6.03. 
>Unfortunately, currently there is no _official_
>git repository *publicly* available /
> accessible that would contain such patches.
>
So bad; Any chance to get access to an updated git repository?
it takes long time debugging this kind of things. 
> _ The official Syslinux 6.03 uses a one-year-old (ATM) gnu-efi
>code. Updating the gnu-efi submodule to current latest gnu-efi 
>commit (2015Feb) might influence the results.
>
I really doubt it; the LibLocateHandle() answer is consistent with a 
missing Service Binding protocol, something that can be seen if the 
NIC EFI driver is not correctly implemented, but despite all this I'll 
give it a try.
 
>_ If similar newer HW can boot correctly,
>perhaps requesting from HP to 
>release updated firmware versions for those systems that 
>are failing might help?
>
I think we are aiming in the right direction here,
unfortunately HP (and other vendors) only update firmware bugs 
when either heavily impacting functionality or security.

>_ I guess that pcap reports might help for
>additional debugging (whether to find a
>workaround or to find a potential bug in Syslinux)?
>
In my case there is not a relevant pcap file;
syslinux.efi gets perfectly transferred and when it tries to get 
ldlinux.e64 it fails locating the Binding Service for UDP4, before 
aborting w/o generating any additional traffic.
>_ I am guessing that these
>systems are actually using UEFI x86_64. If 
>they are not, then this would be a potential reason for strange 
>behaviors regarding syslinux.efi and ldlinux.e64.
>
All my tests were conducted on 64 bit HP hardware using UEFI x86_64 firmware.

Best,
Patrick