[gPXE] USB-HDD boot on VIA C3 CPU

[Geert Stappers]

Op 20100204 om 18:33 schreef Geert Stappers:
> Hello,
> 
> While trying to boot  gPXE from a USB memory stick
> on a computer with VIA C3  CPU  I got stuck
> on a "frozen computer", the system hangs for unknown reason.
> 
> Now I asking what my options are,
> to get a succesfull boot on that low power  computer.
> 
> What I have working is a develop system
> where I have succesfull booting gPXE with
> 
>     kvm -m 256 -hda /dev/sdb
> 
> (    kvm: qemu didn't work on my x86_64 sytem
> /dev/sdb: to make sure I have a working USBstick for the target ) 
> 
> 
> To me it seems that the most value thing,
> would be a "Hello World" printed with BIOS routines.
> It would mean that one can see that the gPXE code
> came alive.
> 
> Right now it is not clear if the BIOS is executing
> or that the BIOS allready did handover execution to gPXE.

It is something like
--- a/src/arch/i386/prefix/mbr.S
+++ b/src/arch/i386/prefix/mbr.S
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
        .org 0
 
 mbr:
+       movw    $10f, %si
+       jmp     boot_error
+10:    .asciz  "\r\n\r\nHello VIA C3\r\n\r\n"
+
        movw    $exec_sector, %bp
        jmp     find_active_partition
 exec_sector:

that I'm looking for.

Other early print statements are also welcome.


Groeten
Geert Stappers