Mailing List Archive: syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem

syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem

Jun 8, 2007, 11:15 AM

Post #1 of 7 (6120 views)

Hello,

I am using the pxelinux.0 and memdisk files from distribution syslinux-3.36.

I am no longer able to access the real floppy disk drive B: instead I just
get a mirrored copy of the emulated floppy disk A:

The default config file is as follows

label 1
kernel memdisk
append initrd=kd202.img

I was previously using the sysliunx-3.20 distribution which gave me access
to the real floppy disk drive using drive B: with Emulated Floppy Disk as
Drive A:.

Do I need to add any additional switches to the append line to enable the
latest version to enable me to access the real floppy disk drive?

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Re: syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem [ In reply to ]

hpa at zytor

Jun 8, 2007, 11:44 AM

Post #2 of 7 (6019 views)

Permalink

Desmond Boyd wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am using the pxelinux.0 and memdisk files from distribution syslinux-3.36.
>
> I am no longer able to access the real floppy disk drive B: instead I just
> get a mirrored copy of the emulated floppy disk A:
>
> The default config file is as follows
>
> label 1
> kernel memdisk
> append initrd=kd202.img
>
>
> I was previously using the sysliunx-3.20 distribution which gave me access
> to the real floppy disk drive using drive B: with Emulated Floppy Disk as
> Drive A:.
>
> Do I need to add any additional switches to the append line to enable the
> latest version to enable me to access the real floppy disk drive?
>

That should still work. I don't know why it would be broken for you now.

Please try the intervening versions, including prereleases, so we can
figure out where it broke.

-hpa

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Re: syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem [ In reply to ]

brokencode at hotmail

Jun 10, 2007, 11:56 PM

Post #3 of 7 (6019 views)

Permalink

As requested, I have tested the distributions listed below to try to isolate
when physical disk drive access for me was lost, results are as follows:

Physical Disk Drive B: OK with Virtual Disk Drive as A:
3.20
3.30
3.31
3.32 Pre1

Physical Disk Drive B: Not Present only Virtual Disks A: and B:
3.35
3.35 Pre1
3.35 Pre2
3.35 Pre3
3.35 Pre4
3.35 Pre5
3.36
3.50

It seems to be a problem with memdisk as I also tested each memdisk version
with the latest pxelinux.0, so currently I have in the tftpdroot:

Pxelinux.0 Version 3.50
memdisk Version 3.32

This combination gives me access to the phyical floppy disk b:

>
>Hello,
>
>I am using the pxelinux.0 and memdisk files from distribution
>syslinux-3.36.
>
>I am no longer able to access the real floppy disk drive B: instead I just
>get a mirrored copy of the emulated floppy disk A:
>
>The default config file is as follows
>
>label 1
> kernel memdisk
> append initrd=kd202.img
>
>
>I was previously using the sysliunx-3.20 distribution which gave me access
>to the real floppy disk drive using drive B: with Emulated Floppy Disk as
>Drive A:.
>
>Do I need to add any additional switches to the append line to enable the
>latest version to access the real floppy disk drive?
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Could you be the guest MSN Movies presenter? Click Here to Audition
>http://www.lightscameraaudition.co.uk
>
>_______________________________________________
>SYSLINUX mailing list
>Submissions to SYSLINUX@zytor.com
>Unsubscribe or set options at:
>http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
>Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
>

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Re: syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem [ In reply to ]

hpa at zytor

Jun 11, 2007, 10:16 AM

Post #4 of 7 (6773 views)

Permalink

Desmond Boyd wrote:
> As requested, I have tested the distributions listed below to try to isolate
> when physical disk drive access for me was lost, results are as follows:
>
> Physical Disk Drive B: OK with Virtual Disk Drive as A:
> 3.20
> 3.30
> 3.31
> 3.32 Pre1
>
> Physical Disk Drive B: Not Present only Virtual Disks A: and B:
> 3.35
> 3.35 Pre1
> 3.35 Pre2
> 3.35 Pre3
> 3.35 Pre4
> 3.35 Pre5
> 3.36
> 3.50
>

Could you also test the various 3.32-preX releases (2 to 8) to narrow
down the failure further?

The most likely failure seems to be between 3.32-pre3 and -pre4:

memdisk: Constrain input drive numbers both by equipment byte and
INT 13h

Apparently on some BIOSes, INT 13h return a bogus number of floppy
drives when the real value is zero (probably because the code
doesn't check the validity bit in the equipment byte.) Do it
ourselves if we need to.

There should be a line when MEMDISK boots up saying something about "INT
13 08", what is that printout?

-hpa

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syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem [ In reply to ]

brokencode at hotmail

Jun 13, 2007, 4:00 AM

Post #5 of 7 (6105 views)

Permalink

>Desmond Boyd wrote:
> > As requested, I have tested the distributions listed below to try to
>isolate
> > when physical disk drive access for me was lost, results are as follows:
> >
> > Physical Disk Drive B: OK with Virtual Disk Drive as A:
> > 3.20
> > 3.30
> > 3.31
> > 3.32 Pre1
> >
> > Physical Disk Drive B: Not Present only Virtual Disks A: and B:
> > 3.35
> > 3.35 Pre1
> > 3.35 Pre2
> > 3.35 Pre3
> > 3.35 Pre4
> > 3.35 Pre5
> > 3.36
> > 3.50
> >
>
>Could you also test the various 3.32-preX releases (2 to 8) to narrow
>down the failure further?
>
>The most likely failure seems to be between 3.32-pre3 and -pre4:
>
> memdisk: Constrain input drive numbers both by equipment byte and
> INT 13h
>
> Apparently on some BIOSes, INT 13h return a bogus number of floppy
> drives when the real value is zero (probably because the code
> doesn't check the validity bit in the equipment byte.) Do it
> ourselves if we need to.
>
>There should be a line when MEMDISK boots up saying something about "INT
>13 08", what is that printout?
>
> -hpa
>

Hi,

Version 3.32-pre3 Physical Disk Drive B: OK with Virtual Disk Drive as A:
Version 3.32-pre4 Physical Disk Drive B: Not Present only Virtual Disks A:
and B:

INT 13 08 Success, Count = 1, BPT = f000:a137
old int13=f00023cb, int15=f000f859
new int13= 9ec00008, int15=9ec00375

All memory addresses listed on the memdisk info page @ bootup for pre3/pre4
are identical but pre4 does not see the physical floppy disk.

If you need the exact screen information from both versions I can write each
one down unless there is a way to save the boot information with a switch to
the virtual fdd then I can upload the info to a networkshare.

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Re: syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem [ In reply to ]

stappers at stappers

Jun 30, 2007, 7:20 AM

Post #6 of 7 (5948 views)

Permalink

Op 13-06-2007 om 12:00 schreef Desmond Boyd:
> hpa:
<snip/>
> >The most likely failure seems to be between 3.32-pre3 and -pre4:
> >
> > memdisk: Constrain input drive numbers both by equipment byte and
> > INT 13h
> >
> > Apparently on some BIOSes, INT 13h return a bogus number of floppy
> > drives when the real value is zero (probably because the code
> > doesn't check the validity bit in the equipment byte.) Do it
> > ourselves if we need to.
> >
> >There should be a line when MEMDISK boots up saying something about "INT
> >13 08", what is that printout?
> >
> > -hpa
> >
>
> Hi,
>
> Version 3.32-pre3 Physical Disk Drive B: OK with Virtual Disk Drive as A:
> Version 3.32-pre4 Physical Disk Drive B: Not Present only Virtual Disks A:
> and B:
>
> INT 13 08 Success, Count = 1, BPT = f000:a137
> old int13=f00023cb, int15=f000f859
> new int13= 9ec00008, int15=9ec00375
>
> All memory addresses listed on the memdisk info page @ bootup for pre3/pre4
> are identical but pre4 does not see the physical floppy disk.
>
> If you need the exact screen information from both versions I can write each
> one down unless there is a way to save the boot information with a switch to
> the virtual fdd then I can upload the info to a networkshare.

For your information:
It was this posting that previous didn't get any follow-up.
The Message-ID is <BAY125-F248E32928DB0FE52C4048180180@phx.gbl>

I hope this helps.

Cheers
Geert Stappers

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Re: syslinux-3.36 Physical Floppy Disk Access Problem [ In reply to ]

hpa at zytor

Jun 30, 2007, 8:17 AM

Post #7 of 7 (5956 views)

Permalink

Desmond Boyd wrote:
>>
>> There should be a line when MEMDISK boots up saying something about "INT
>> 13 08", what is that printout?
>>
>> -hpa
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> Version 3.32-pre3 Physical Disk Drive B: OK with Virtual Disk Drive as A:
> Version 3.32-pre4 Physical Disk Drive B: Not Present only Virtual Disks A:
> and B:
>
> INT 13 08 Success, Count = 1, BPT = f000:a137
> old int13=f00023cb, int15=f000f859
> new int13= 9ec00008, int15=9ec00375
>
> All memory addresses listed on the memdisk info page @ bootup for pre3/pre4
> are identical but pre4 does not see the physical floppy disk.
>
> If you need the exact screen information from both versions I can write each
> one down unless there is a way to save the boot information with a switch to
> the virtual fdd then I can upload the info to a networkshare.
>

I went and looked over the patches between 3.32-pre3 and 3.32-pre4, and
I found a likely cause for this failure. I have pushed out a 3.53-pre3
prerelease with a test fix; if you could please test that out I would
appreciate it.

-hpa

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