Gene, I'm lurking on this issue. Just in general it's fascinating because I basically use syslinux in a monkey-see-monkey do manner. Can you explain why you used the menu entries that way? What they actually do? You mentioned logging... How is the enabled/configured? Inquiring minds want to know and links to docs will do :) On 10/03/2017 03:30 AM, Gene Cumm via Syslinux wrote:> On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 8:00 PM, Locane via Syslinux <syslinux at zytor.com> wrote: >> Hello all! I have a server at work that we're using for PXE OS >> installation and LiveCD loading. It's based on CentOS 7.3, and CentOS >> comes with Syslinux version 4.05. > > Thanks for noting the version. Are they the binaries from CentOS? > >> We've been having this issue, very rarely, with some systems that refuse to >> load a LiveCD from the menu, claiming they're "out of memory" when we know >> that is absolutely not the case; there's plenty of RAM. This video >> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-rfNxA4VH0&feature=youtu.be> is of a >> Supermicro H11DSU-iN motherboard throwing the error on LiveCD load. > > It's partially true. It's out of memory in the spot it attempted to > load the files. Are your logs verbose enough to see how much data of > the initrd is actually transferred? If not, have you attempted a > packet capture to see how much is moved? > >> To be clear, we've had literally thousands of diverse other systems and >> servers run this LiveCD menu option with no issues; it's just this >> motherboard and weirdly, any Celeron-based Intel NUCs - the NUC6CAYH. > > It's all about how the underlying firmware sets things up. > >> If no one has any ideas on why this might be happening, is there a guide or >> tutorial on how to set up a newer version of the Syslinux PXE files under >> CentOS 7.3? I've been taking stabs at it by just replacing the 3 files >> documented in the Syslinux PXELINUX wiki page >> <http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Install#PXELINUX>, but it's >> behaving weirdly and, frankly, I'm kinda just taking stumbling around in >> the dark here. >> >> Would appreciate some expert advice. > > meminfo.c32 should give more insight. > > linux.c32, although a lot less verbose during the loading of files, > should be more intelligent in how it attempts to load files into > memory. > > LABEL livecd > MENU LABEL LiveCD_Unstable > LINUX /images/LiveCD_Unstable/unstable_vmlinuz > APPEND initrd=/images/LiveCD_Unstable/unstable_initrd.img my-options-here > > LABEL livecd1 > MENU LABEL LiveCD_Unstable1 > COM32 linux.c32 > APPEND /images/LiveCD_Unstable/unstable_vmlinuz > initrd=/images/LiveCD_Unstable/unstable_initrd.img my-options-here >
> Inquiring minds want to know and links to docs will do :)Just a minor suggestion (and a way for me to vent?)... There is a "search" box in the official wiki. Searching for "linux.c32" might result in some relevant info (assuming that the wiki is working/on-line). I am aware that, for a user to be able to perform such search, the user would need to know about the existence of this c32 module, or at least about Syslinux's configuration syntax. OK, so how about searching for "config", or "configuration", or "menu", or "COM32", or "KERNEL-LIKE DIRECTIVES", or something. I sincerely hope it helps. FWIW, the _need_ to use linux.c32 is becoming more common (in the sense that other loading methods are not always capable of loading newer/current kernels+initrams+additional_files, considering their sizes). Unfortunately, only a minority of users seem to be aware of Syslinux's syntax and modules, while the Syslinux-related packages are, generally speaking and IMO, not reaching the level of maintenance/support that common users seem to expect. Regards, Ady.
On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 11:10 AM, Ady Ady via Syslinux <syslinux at zytor.com> wrote:> FWIW, the _need_ to use linux.c32 is becoming more common (in the sense > that other loading methods are not always capable of loading > newer/current kernels+initrams+additional_files, considering their > sizes). Unfortunately, only a minority of users seem to be aware of > Syslinux's syntax and modules, while the Syslinux-related packages are, > generally speaking and IMO, not reaching the level of > maintenance/support that common users seem to expect.It should no longer be relevant as of 5.00. IIRC, as of v5.00, the loader code that was in linux.c32 is now the code used in SYSLINUX itself and linux.c32 is merely a method to call that core code. -- -Gene
To an extent Ady, it does help and not all at once. Unfortunately, as you point out, you have to know what to look for before you look. It's been my impression since the beginning of wiki's that the unstructured nature of a wiki tends to leads to that unless someone imposes a structure in the form tables of contents or something else that leads one through the structure of what can be. Otherwise, we're left with monkey-see-monkey-do and lose the available richness of all that can be, vs only what we see. (mine own little rant) On 10/04/2017 08:10 AM, Ady Ady via Syslinux wrote:> >> Inquiring minds want to know and links to docs will do :) > > Just a minor suggestion (and a way for me to vent?)... > > There is a "search" box in the official wiki. Searching for "linux.c32" > might result in some relevant info (assuming that the wiki is > working/on-line). > > I am aware that, for a user to be able to perform such search, the user > would need to know about the existence of this c32 module, or at least > about Syslinux's configuration syntax. OK, so how about searching for > "config", or "configuration", or "menu", or "COM32", or "KERNEL-LIKE > DIRECTIVES", or something. I sincerely hope it helps. > > FWIW, the _need_ to use linux.c32 is becoming more common (in the sense > that other loading methods are not always capable of loading > newer/current kernels+initrams+additional_files, considering their > sizes). Unfortunately, only a minority of users seem to be aware of > Syslinux's syntax and modules, while the Syslinux-related packages are, > generally speaking and IMO, not reaching the level of > maintenance/support that common users seem to expect. > > Regards, > Ady. > > _______________________________________________ > Syslinux mailing list > Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com > Unsubscribe or set options at: > http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux >