PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[Kenneth Howlett]

The loadlin boot loader fails to boot 2.6.23 kernels.

I used msdos 6.22 in real mode, without himem.sys or any other memory
manager, without any tsrs; loadlin 1.6c; and kernel 2.6.23.1-42.fc8, which
is the install kernel for the fedora core 8 distribution. The normal loadlin
messages are displayed, the display is cleared and the cursor moves to the
upper left corner, and then nothing else happens. No kernel boot messages
are displayed. The computer does not respond to most keyboard actions, but
the computer does reboot when I press control-alternate-delete.

My computer is a dell dimension 4100 with pentium III 733mhz and intel
chipset, and ATI radeon all-in-wonder display controller.

The output of loadlin -d is:
LOADLIN v1.6c (C) 1994..2002 Hans Lermen <lermen@fgan.de>

Your current LINUX kernel boot configuration is:
  image file:       fed8.ker
  kernel version    2.6.23.1-42.fc8 (kojibuilder@xenbuilder1.fedora.redhat.com) #1 SMP Tue Oct 30 13:05:10 EDT 2007
  kernel size:     0x001E0300 (high loaded) setup size:  0x2C00, heap: 0x1200
  VGA mode:         0xFFFF
  command line (size 0x0013):
    BOOT_IMAGE=fed8.ker

Your current DOS/CPU configuration is:
  load buffer size: 0x00F60000 EXT , setup buffer size:  0x3E00
  lowmem buffer:    0x00080000 (part of load buffer)
  total memory:     0x040FFC00
  CPU is in REAL mode
  SetupIntercept: YES, legal intercept, setup header version 0206
  stat1: cpu in real 386 mode, no need to backswitch
  input params (size 0x0011):
    fed8.ker -d o.txt
  LOADLIN started from DOS-prompt

Option -t set, Linux not loaded


I tried using loadlin -f, and the result was the same. I tried using loadlin
-noheap, and the computer rebooted itself instead of crashing. I tried using
freedos 1.0 instead of msdos 6.22, and instead of crashing, the computer
displayed a message saying invalid opcode, and the dos prompt returned. I
tried using the 586, 686, and debug kernels from packages on the fedora core
8 dvd, and the result was the same. I tried using the pae kernel from the
package on the fedora core 8 dvd, and the computer crashed like before, but
this time the computer did not respond to control-alternate-delete.

Loadlin works ok with older kernels. The kernel works ok with other boot
loaders. I tested the integrity of my fedora core 8 dvd and it was ok.

I searched the web, and the only reference I found was
<a href="http://kerneltrap.org/node/14842">http://kerneltrap.org/node/14842</a>.
The first comment is from me. The person who wrote the original post
seems to be compiling his own kernels; therefore this is probably a kernel
problem, not a problem with the fedora core 8 distribution. The person who
wrote the original post says that kernel 2.6.22.12 did not have this
problem, therefore the problem probably appeared in the 2.6.23 kernels, and
earlier kernels are probably ok.

I do not know if the problem is with the kernel or with loadlin. Probably
some people will say it is the kernel's fault, and other people will say it
is loadlin's fault.

I am not knowledgable about the kernel boot process, but I am guessing that
the first thing the kernel does is uncompress itself, and the second thing
the kernel does is set the vga or framebuffer mode. I am guessing that the
clearing of the display is not done by loadlin, but is done as part of
setting the vga or framebuffer mode. Therefore I guessed that the kernel
successfully uncompressed itself, then got stuck setting the vga or
framebuffer mode. So I tried changing the vga options.

With vga=normal, the result is the same. With vga=771 (vesa framebuffer,
800x600, 256 colors), the computer crashes like before, but the cursor is
not visible in the upper left corner. With vga=ask, the computer displays a
message saying press enter for list, press space to continue. If I press
space, the computer crashes. If I press enter, the computer displays a list
of video modes. If I select 0, the computer crashes without changing the
display. If I select 1, the text becomes smaller and occupies a smaller part
of the display, and the computer crashes. If I select 2, the display
clears and the computer crashes. With all of these crashes, the computer can
still be rebooted by pressing control alternate delete.

I conclude that the problem occurs after or at the end of setting the vga or
framebuffer mode. The problem probably occurs before or at the beginning of
probing for hardware, because no kernel boot messages are displayed after
the vga=ask messages.

I do not know why this occurs with loadlin and not with other boot loaders.

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[Bill Davidsen]

Kenneth Howlett wrote:
> The loadlin boot loader fails to boot 2.6.23 kernels.
> 
> I used msdos 6.22 in real mode, without himem.sys or any other memory
> manager, without any tsrs; loadlin 1.6c; and kernel 2.6.23.1-42.fc8, which
> is the install kernel for the fedora core 8 distribution. The normal loadlin
> messages are displayed, the display is cleared and the cursor moves to the
> upper left corner, and then nothing else happens. No kernel boot messages
> are displayed. The computer does not respond to most keyboard actions, but
> the computer does reboot when I press control-alternate-delete.
> 
> My computer is a dell dimension 4100 with pentium III 733mhz and intel
> chipset, and ATI radeon all-in-wonder display controller.
> 
> The output of loadlin -d is:
> LOADLIN v1.6c (C) 1994..2002 Hans Lermen <lermen@fgan.de>
> 
> Your current LINUX kernel boot configuration is:
>   image file:       fed8.ker
>   kernel version    2.6.23.1-42.fc8 (kojibuilder@xenbuilder1.fedora.redhat.com) #1 SMP Tue Oct 30 13:05:10 EDT 2007
>   kernel size:     0x001E0300 (high loaded) setup size:  0x2C00, heap: 0x1200
>   VGA mode:         0xFFFF
>   command line (size 0x0013):
>     BOOT_IMAGE=fed8.ker
> 
> Your current DOS/CPU configuration is:
>   load buffer size: 0x00F60000 EXT , setup buffer size:  0x3E00
>   lowmem buffer:    0x00080000 (part of load buffer)
>   total memory:     0x040FFC00
>   CPU is in REAL mode
>   SetupIntercept: YES, legal intercept, setup header version 0206
>   stat1: cpu in real 386 mode, no need to backswitch
>   input params (size 0x0011):
>     fed8.ker -d o.txt
>   LOADLIN started from DOS-prompt
> 
> Option -t set, Linux not loaded
> 
> 
> I tried using loadlin -f, and the result was the same. I tried using loadlin
> -noheap, and the computer rebooted itself instead of crashing. I tried using
> freedos 1.0 instead of msdos 6.22, and instead of crashing, the computer
> displayed a message saying invalid opcode, and the dos prompt returned. I
> tried using the 586, 686, and debug kernels from packages on the fedora core
> 8 dvd, and the result was the same. I tried using the pae kernel from the
> package on the fedora core 8 dvd, and the computer crashed like before, but
> this time the computer did not respond to control-alternate-delete.
> 
> Loadlin works ok with older kernels. The kernel works ok with other boot
> loaders. I tested the integrity of my fedora core 8 dvd and it was ok.
> 
> I searched the web, and the only reference I found was
> <a href="http://kerneltrap.org/node/14842">http://kerneltrap.org/node/14842</a>.
> The first comment is from me. The person who wrote the original post
> seems to be compiling his own kernels; therefore this is probably a kernel
> problem, not a problem with the fedora core 8 distribution. The person who
> wrote the original post says that kernel 2.6.22.12 did not have this
> problem, therefore the problem probably appeared in the 2.6.23 kernels, and
> earlier kernels are probably ok.
> 
> I do not know if the problem is with the kernel or with loadlin. Probably
> some people will say it is the kernel's fault, and other people will say it
> is loadlin's fault.
> 
> I am not knowledgable about the kernel boot process, but I am guessing that
> the first thing the kernel does is uncompress itself, and the second thing
> the kernel does is set the vga or framebuffer mode. I am guessing that the
> clearing of the display is not done by loadlin, but is done as part of
> setting the vga or framebuffer mode. Therefore I guessed that the kernel
> successfully uncompressed itself, then got stuck setting the vga or
> framebuffer mode. So I tried changing the vga options.
> 
> With vga=normal, the result is the same. With vga=771 (vesa framebuffer,
> 800x600, 256 colors), the computer crashes like before, but the cursor is
> not visible in the upper left corner. With vga=ask, the computer displays a
> message saying press enter for list, press space to continue. If I press
> space, the computer crashes. If I press enter, the computer displays a list
> of video modes. If I select 0, the computer crashes without changing the
> display. If I select 1, the text becomes smaller and occupies a smaller part
> of the display, and the computer crashes. If I select 2, the display
> clears and the computer crashes. With all of these crashes, the computer can
> still be rebooted by pressing control alternate delete.
> 
> I conclude that the problem occurs after or at the end of setting the vga or
> framebuffer mode. The problem probably occurs before or at the beginning of
> probing for hardware, because no kernel boot messages are displayed after
> the vga=ask messages.
> 
> I do not know why this occurs with loadlin and not with other boot loaders.
> 
Lots of stuff has changed in recent versions, if you can try booting 
with the option "acpi=off" that might or might not be informative. 
Haven't used loadlin in years, and be aware that the Fedora kernel is 
not entirely compatible with the kernel.org releases, although that's 
rarely a problem.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[H. Peter Anvin]

Kenneth Howlett wrote:
> I do not know if the problem is with the kernel or with loadlin. Probably
> some people will say it is the kernel's fault, and other people will say it
> is loadlin's fault.
> 
> I do not know why this occurs with loadlin and not with other boot loaders.

LOADLIN uses memory it isn't allowed to use by the boot protocol.  Newer 
kernels use more memory than previous ones, and starts using memory 
LOADLIN expects to use.

Unfortunately LOADLIN hasn't been updated for a very long time, and 
there doesn't seem to be much interest in maintaining it.

	-hpa

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[Samuel Thibault]

Hello,

H. Peter Anvin, le Wed 21 Jan 2009 15:09:27 -0800, a écrit :
> Kenneth Howlett wrote:
> >I do not know if the problem is with the kernel or with loadlin. Probably
> >some people will say it is the kernel's fault, and other people will say it
> >is loadlin's fault.
> >
> >I do not know why this occurs with loadlin and not with other boot loaders.
> 
> LOADLIN uses memory it isn't allowed to use by the boot protocol.  Newer 
> kernels use more memory than previous ones, and starts using memory 
> LOADLIN expects to use.
> 
> Unfortunately LOADLIN hasn't been updated for a very long time, and 
> there doesn't seem to be much interest in maintaining it.

I've fixed loadlin in debian and actually plan to maintain it upstream.
I had to patch it quite a bit to make it compilable by yasm, but it can
now boot recent big kernels & initrds.

Samuel

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[H. Peter Anvin]

Samuel Thibault wrote:
>>
>> Unfortunately LOADLIN hasn't been updated for a very long time, and 
>> there doesn't seem to be much interest in maintaining it.
> 
> I've fixed loadlin in debian and actually plan to maintain it upstream.
> I had to patch it quite a bit to make it compilable by yasm, but it can
> now boot recent big kernels & initrds.
> 

Excellent news!  Is there a new upstream location (or do you need one)?

	-hpa

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[Samuel Thibault]

H. Peter Anvin, le Wed 21 Jan 2009 16:16:02 -0800, a écrit :
> Samuel Thibault wrote:
> >>
> >>Unfortunately LOADLIN hasn't been updated for a very long time, and 
> >>there doesn't seem to be much interest in maintaining it.
> >
> >I've fixed loadlin in debian and actually plan to maintain it upstream.
> >I had to patch it quite a bit to make it compilable by yasm, but it can
> >now boot recent big kernels & initrds.
> >
> 
> Excellent news!  Is there a new upstream location (or do you need one)?

Not yet, there will be when I take some time to settle one on
thefreecat.org.  In the meanwhile you can just get it from debian.

Samuel

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[Samuel Thibault]

H. Peter Anvin, le Wed 21 Jan 2009 16:16:02 -0800, a écrit :
> Samuel Thibault wrote:
> >>
> >>Unfortunately LOADLIN hasn't been updated for a very long time, and 
> >>there doesn't seem to be much interest in maintaining it.
> >
> >I've fixed loadlin in debian and actually plan to maintain it upstream.
> >I had to patch it quite a bit to make it compilable by yasm, but it can
> >now boot recent big kernels & initrds.
> >
> 
> Excellent news!  Is there a new upstream location (or do you need one)?

Here it is:

http://youpibouh.thefreecat.org/loadlin/

Samuel

Re: PROBLEM: loadlin incompatible with 2.6.23 kernels

[Etienne Lorrain]

Kenneth Howlett wrote:
> The loadlin boot loader fails to boot 2.6.23 kernels.

 Maybe not a solution with loadlin, but is it working with the "tiny.exe" version
of Gujin?
 Download:
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/download.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/g/gu/gujin/install-2.3.tar.gz/install/tiny.exe?extract=true
 and execute under DOS:
tiny c:\vmlinuz c:\initrd.img root=/dev/hda4 ro
 or maybe (to use an alternate way to collect BIOS data and the 32 bits entry point):
tiny /p c:\vmlinuz c:\initrd.img root=/dev/hda4 ro

 To have debug data on a DOS file named "DBG" you may download:
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/download.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/g/gu/gujin/standard-2.3.tar.gz/lotiny.exe?extract=true
 and execute (with or without /p):
lotiny c:\vmlinuz c:\initrd.img root=/dev/hda4 ro
 If you want that debug on screen (screen will be messy, but the last few lines may
tell you the problem, and that is the only solution if the DBG file is not properly
closed by DOS), download:
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/download.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/g/gu/gujin/standard-2.3.tar.gz/lodtiny.exe?extract=true
 and execute (with or without /p):
lodtiny c:\vmlinuz c:\initrd.img root=/dev/hda4 ro

 It may not help if you are stuck with loadlin, but may tell if it is a kernel problem
or a loadlin problem.
 More info for Gujin at http://gujin.org - current version v2.3

 Etienne.


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