Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 240561
x86_64 diskboot.img no longer works
Last modified: 2010-10-22 11:09:55 EDT
Description of problem: Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): RedHat Enterprise 4 Update 5 WS x86_64 (regression - does not occur in earlier versions) How reproducible: dd diskboot.img from the images directory on the first CD of RHEL4 U5 WS x86_64 to a usbdisk and try to boot from it Steps to Reproduce: 1. dd if=diskboot.img of=/dev/sda 2. place usb key (sda) in USB drive of another machine 3. attempt to boot from it Actual results: SYSLINUX 2.11 2004-08-16 Copyright (C) 1994-2004 H. Peter Anvin Could not find kernel image: linux boot: _ Expected results: Boot and show RedHat selection screen Additional info: If I mount the diskboot.img loopback I notice the following: 1. The image only has 2KB of free space (compared to 118K in Update 4) 2. The syslinux.cfg file is zero length 3. Fixing the syslinux.cfg by hand, causes the boot to continue slightly further only to receive the following error: Loading vmlinuz... Loading initrd.img... Ready. Decompressing Linux... ran out of input data -- System halted
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release. Product Management has requested further review of this request by Red Hat Engineering, for potential inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release for currently deployed products. This request is not yet committed for inclusion in an Update release.
This bugzilla has Keywords: Regression. Since no regressions are allowed between releases, it is also being proposed as a blocker for this release. Please resolve ASAP.
Manually running mk-image for RHEL4.5/x86_64 seems to confirm this is a problem with overrunning the hardcoded 6M image size: cpio: ./isolinux/./syslinux-splash.png: No such file or directory cpio: ./isolinux/./syslinux.cfg: No such file or directory 163840 pixels, 6000 bytes, (92.68% compression) mv: cannot stat `./isolinux/syslinux.cfg': No such file or directory mkdosfs 2.8 (28 Feb 2001) cp: writing `./images/fobpath/vmlinuz': No space left on device grep: write error: No space left on device
Created attachment 157025 [details] experimental patch for mk-images.x86_64 Bump up the image size to 8M on x86_64. Boot tested & overcomes the initial problem, i.e. the image is actually bootable. Also add some error checking to make a failure copying files to the image fatal.
Manually hacking up the image to have the correct .buildstamp allows me to carry out a RHEL4.5 x86_64 install via diskboot.img
http://people.redhat.com/breeves/images/diskboot.img-rhel4.5-x86_64-TEST
Verified that replacing the rhel4u5 x86_64 supplied diskboot.img with the patched diskboot.img: http://people.redhat.com/breeves/images/diskboot.img-rhel4.5-x86_64-TEST fixes my syslinux based installation procedure. Thanks!
VERIFIED with a 64M USB MicroAdv QuickiDrive stick on a bensley x86_64 using the diskboot.img from RHEL4-U6-re20071017.0/x86_64/WS. 1) $ dd if=diskboot.img of=/dev/sdb 2) reboot 3) Presented with graphical boot option screen
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on the solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2007-0816.html