Mailing List Archive: Debugging gPXE -> PXELinux -> LTSP

Debugging gPXE -> PXELinux -> LTSP

Feb 6, 2008, 1:27 AM

Post #1 of 4 (6151 views)

Hi,

I'm investigating using LTSP for thin clients at my place of work, and
I've encountered a problem that I don't know how to approach. I don't
know if the problem is with gPXE, PXELinux, or the LTSP kernel, but I
think PXELinux is probably the right level to investigate it.

My situation is as follows:

I've installed the LTSP system from Ubuntu Gutsy. I've tested it with
an HP t5530 dedicated thin client, which has PXE network booting and
this works fine. The LTSP image boots, and connects to the server with
ssh as expected.

I've then gone on to test with an old PC. This machine doesn't have a
network boot ROM, and so I've downloaded gPXE from git, and built a boot
CD. Now as far as I can determine, gPXE is working fine, it gets itself
a DHCP lease, and loads PXELinux from the tftp server. It then goes on
to print:

Loading vmlinuz...... aborted.
boot:

I need to know what's causing the boot to fail. I know that this
machine is capable of running Linux, as I've run an Ubuntu live CD on
it. Is there any way that I can get more information out of PXELinux,
such as the size of the kernel that it's downloaded, or what has caused
it to abort?

Thanks,

Peter Russell
--
Peter Russell
Web Developer
Leeds University Union

(t) 0113 3801218
(f) 0113 3801205

_______________________________________________
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.

Re: Debugging gPXE -> PXELinux -> LTSP [ In reply to ]

stappers at stappers

Feb 14, 2008, 4:52 AM

Post #2 of 4 (5905 views)

Permalink

Op 06-02-2008 om 09:27 schreef Peter Russell:
> Hi,
>
> I'm investigating using LTSP for thin clients at my place of work, and
> I've encountered a problem that I don't know how to approach. I don't
> know if the problem is with gPXE, PXELinux, or the LTSP kernel, but I
> think PXELinux is probably the right level to investigate it.
>
> My situation is as follows:
>
> I've installed the LTSP system from Ubuntu Gutsy. I've tested it with
> an HP t5530 dedicated thin client, which has PXE network booting and
> this works fine. The LTSP image boots, and connects to the server with
> ssh as expected.
>
> I've then gone on to test with an old PC. This machine doesn't have a
> network boot ROM, and so I've downloaded gPXE from git, and built a boot
> CD. Now as far as I can determine, gPXE is working fine, it gets itself
> a DHCP lease, and loads PXELinux from the tftp server. It then goes on
> to print:
>
> Loading vmlinuz...... aborted.
> boot:

Seems like an error in PXELINUX
(PXELINUX is the one that is loading vmlinux,
the 'boot:' prompt is also from PXELINUX )

> I need to know what's causing the boot to fail. I know that this
> machine is capable of running Linux, as I've run an Ubuntu live CD on
> it. Is there any way that I can get more information out of PXELinux,
> such as the size of the kernel that it's downloaded, or what has caused
> it to abort?

I guess it is the amount of RAM in the old PC.
(as the setup works with the HP t5530)

Geert Stappers
Feeling sorry for not being able to tell how to activate output in PXELINUX

_______________________________________________
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.

Re: Debugging gPXE -> PXELinux -> LTSP [ In reply to ]

P.S.Russell at leeds

Feb 14, 2008, 5:47 AM

Post #3 of 4 (5919 views)

Permalink

On Thu, 2008-02-14 at 13:52 +0100, Geert Stappers wrote:
> Op 06-02-2008 om 09:27 schreef Peter Russell:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm investigating using LTSP for thin clients at my place of work, and
> > I've encountered a problem that I don't know how to approach. I don't
> > know if the problem is with gPXE, PXELinux, or the LTSP kernel, but I
> > think PXELinux is probably the right level to investigate it.
> >
> > My situation is as follows:
> >
> > I've installed the LTSP system from Ubuntu Gutsy. I've tested it with
> > an HP t5530 dedicated thin client, which has PXE network booting and
> > this works fine. The LTSP image boots, and connects to the server with
> > ssh as expected.
> >
> > I've then gone on to test with an old PC. This machine doesn't have a
> > network boot ROM, and so I've downloaded gPXE from git, and built a boot
> > CD. Now as far as I can determine, gPXE is working fine, it gets itself
> > a DHCP lease, and loads PXELinux from the tftp server. It then goes on
> > to print:
> >
> > Loading vmlinuz...... aborted.
> > boot:
>
> Seems like an error in PXELINUX
> (PXELINUX is the one that is loading vmlinux,
> the 'boot:' prompt is also from PXELINUX )

Sadly we've had to cancel our LTSP project, so I'm no longer too
concerned about this, but FYI I later switched the network card in the
old PC for a 3COM 3C905 with a built in PXE ROM, and PXELinux worked
fine. That suggests to me that it's a conflict between gPXE and
PXELinux.

> > I need to know what's causing the boot to fail. I know that this
> > machine is capable of running Linux, as I've run an Ubuntu live CD on
> > it. Is there any way that I can get more information out of PXELinux,
> > such as the size of the kernel that it's downloaded, or what has caused
> > it to abort?
>
> I guess it is the amount of RAM in the old PC.
> (as the setup works with the HP t5530)

When I said old, it's old in terms of desktop hardware, but far from
ancient. It has 256 MB of RAM, and a PIII processor.

> Geert Stappers
> Feeling sorry for not being able to tell how to activate output in PXELINUX

Yeah, I guess debugging in this sort of minimal environment is pretty
difficult.

Peter
--
Peter Russell
Web Developer
Leeds University Union

(t) 0113 3801218
(f) 0113 3801205

_______________________________________________
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.

Re: Debugging gPXE -> PXELinux -> LTSP [ In reply to ]

hpa at zytor

Feb 14, 2008, 8:53 AM

Post #4 of 4 (5914 views)

Permalink

Peter Russell wrote:
>>>
>>> Loading vmlinuz...... aborted.
>>> boot:
>> Seems like an error in PXELINUX
>> (PXELINUX is the one that is loading vmlinux,
>> the 'boot:' prompt is also from PXELINUX )
>
> Sadly we've had to cancel our LTSP project, so I'm no longer too
> concerned about this, but FYI I later switched the network card in the
> old PC for a 3COM 3C905 with a built in PXE ROM, and PXELinux worked
> fine. That suggests to me that it's a conflict between gPXE and
> PXELinux.
>

"aborted" meant it read ^C or Esc from either the keyboard or the serial
port (if enabled).

If you have a serial port enabled, but not plugged in, you might be
seeing glitches. Unfortunately ^C is a reasonably easy pattern to
generate by mistake (three bit-times of RS-232 "space").

-hpa

_______________________________________________
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.