Syslinux - Jul 2016 - Syslinux Text menu not redrawing/resetting the screen

Hi,

 I have been using syslinux on my portable disk with success on many
types of machines  (both bios boot and EFI boot)

 I however hit a small issue recently

 If I use menu.c32, on some UEFI systems (HP) the menu does not appear
after the vendor splash screen. The system however goes ahead and
after the timeout configured in the menu system syslinux boots the
kernel. I can then (after kernel is loaded) see the kernel messages

 If I change menu.c32 to vesamenu.c32, the menu is now displayed.
 I think menu.c32 must reset the display which is missing ?

Is there a config line where I can explicitly reset the display so
that the text menu is shown compulsarily ?


Thanks
Bhasker C V

> Hi,
> 
>  I have been using syslinux on my portable disk with success on many
> types of machines  (both bios boot and EFI boot)
> 
>  I however hit a small issue recently
> 
>  If I use menu.c32, on some UEFI systems (HP) the menu does not appear
> after the vendor splash screen. The system however goes ahead and
> after the timeout configured in the menu system syslinux boots the
> kernel. I can then (after kernel is loaded) see the kernel messages
> 
>  If I change menu.c32 to vesamenu.c32, the menu is now displayed.
>  I think menu.c32 must reset the display which is missing ?
> 
> Is there a config line where I can explicitly reset the display so
> that the text menu is shown compulsarily ?
> 
> 
> Thanks
> Bhasker C V
 
 
UEFI tries to replace the traditional VGA BIOS standards with something 
else (UGA in some implementations, GOP in newer ones).

My guess would be that your UEFI implementation doesn't completely / 
correctly support the default display mode for menu.c32.

There might be some setting in your firmware, such as "fastboot" or 
some additional / similar names; have you tried disabling / changing 
their status?

Is this HP model capable of booting in Legacy BIOS (CSM) mode, or only 
in UEFI mode? This might give us a clue about its video capabilities / 
support.

What is the screen resolution being displayed when you are using 
vesamenu.c32? Do you also use a menu background image and/or the MENU 
RESOLUTION directive?

Have you tried updating your firmware?

Are you able to boot to the Syslinux boot prompt instead of using a 
menu?

Are you able to boot into a UEFI shell and then select syslinux.efi 
from it?

In the past we have seen some people from HP(E) posting in this 
Syslinux Mailing List, although I doubt they are following it. Their 
input / comments might be helpful, not only for this particular case 
but for others, and for improving both, the UEFI implementations in HP 
machines and (vesa)menu.c32 under UEFI.

Regards,
Ady.

PS: MS requires 1024x768 32bpp as minimum GOP mode in WHQL. I would not 
be surprised if some UEFI Class 3 systems end up not supporting 
640x480.

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On Fri, Jul 8, 2016 at 11:46 AM, Ady Ady via Syslinux
<syslinux at zytor.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>  I have been using syslinux on my portable disk with success on many
>> types of machines  (both bios boot and EFI boot)
>>
>>  I however hit a small issue recently
>>
>>  If I use menu.c32, on some UEFI systems (HP) the menu does not appear
>> after the vendor splash screen. The system however goes ahead and
>> after the timeout configured in the menu system syslinux boots the
>> kernel. I can then (after kernel is loaded) see the kernel messages
>>
>>  If I change menu.c32 to vesamenu.c32, the menu is now displayed.
>>  I think menu.c32 must reset the display which is missing ?
>>
>> Is there a config line where I can explicitly reset the display so
>> that the text menu is shown compulsarily ?
>>
>>
>> Thanks
>> Bhasker C V
>
>
> UEFI tries to replace the traditional VGA BIOS standards with something
> else (UGA in some implementations, GOP in newer ones).
>
> My guess would be that your UEFI implementation doesn't completely /
> correctly support the default display mode for menu.c32.
>
> There might be some setting in your firmware, such as "fastboot"
or
> some additional / similar names; have you tried disabling / changing
> their status?
The bios/firmware does not at present show any  secure boot or similar
menu options.
>
> Is this HP model capable of booting in Legacy BIOS (CSM) mode, or only
> in UEFI mode? This might give us a clue about its video capabilities /
> support.
Legacy BIOS boot shows the menu properly. It is only the UEFI boot
which does not show the text menu
>
> What is the screen resolution being displayed when you are using
> vesamenu.c32? Do you also use a menu background image and/or the MENU
> RESOLUTION directive?
When I try a vesamenu.c32, the screen appears and the menu appears.
But any attempt to set
the MENU BACKGROUND leads to a black screen with brown menu. The menu
works but no-matter what I do, the
image does not get loaded. If someone has a working image, please can
then send me so that I can try it out directly
on my system.
I am also not sure how to find the screen resolution used.
>
> Have you tried updating your firmware?
>
> Are you able to boot to the Syslinux boot prompt instead of using a
> menu?
the boot prompt does not show up.
>
> Are you able to boot into a UEFI shell and then select syslinux.efi
> from it?
Yes. If I use UEFI boot from file or shell, the menu shows up
properly.
>
> In the past we have seen some people from HP(E) posting in this
> Syslinux Mailing List, although I doubt they are following it. Their
> input / comments might be helpful, not only for this particular case
> but for others, and for improving both, the UEFI implementations in HP
> machines and (vesa)menu.c32 under UEFI.
>
> Regards,
> Ady.
>
> PS: MS requires 1024x768 32bpp as minimum GOP mode in WHQL. I would not
> be surprised if some UEFI Class 3 systems end up not supporting
> 640x480.
>
>
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>
>
>
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