PXE Boot Goldmemory

Shobi · Dec 15, 2011, 5:20 PM

Hi, I was just wondering if anybody has had any success booting Goldmemory (
[url]http://www.goldmemory.cz[/url]

) from a custom pxe menu? I’ve tried a hundred different ways of getting it to start with no luck.

I’m running my FOG server on Ubuntu 11 btw…
The closest I came was from using memdisk/initrd and a initrd.img + append the GoldMemory.exe but then it gives me a bootstrap too large error after starting to load Goldmemory. How Goldmemory boots is a mystery to me to begin with… the images for it that we use on USB/CD/floppy media only contain an executable file! *P.S.: Using memtest is not an option for me. I appreciate any help!

Jian Zhang · Dec 15, 2011, 6:40 PM

Shobi,

unzip gm692.zip to /tftpboot/fog/GM and download memdisk.zip attach file rename back to memdisk copy to /tftpboot/fog/GM
edit /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

LABEL GoldMemory
kernel fog/GM/memdisk
append initrd=fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG
MENU LABEL Memory Diagnostics
TEXT HELP
Memory Diagnostics
ENDTEXT

Hope this will help
Jian

[url=“/_imported_xf_attachments/0/1_memdisk.zip?:”]memdisk.zip[/url]

Shobi · Dec 15, 2011, 7:17 PM

[quote=“Jian Zhang, post: 21, member: 16”]Shobi,

unzip gm692.zip to /tftpboot/fog/GM and download memdisk.zip attach file rename back to memdisk copy to /tftpboot/fog/GM
edit /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

LABEL GoldMemory
kernel fog/GM/memdisk
append initrd=fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG
MENU LABEL Memory Diagnostics
TEXT HELP
Memory Diagnostics
ENDTEXT

Hope this will help
Jian[/quote]
Thanks so much for your quick response Jian,

I followed your instructions exactly. The only difference with my default.cfg file is with the paths.
Now I get the error I was getting before: “could not find ramdisk image: fog/Goldmem/FLOPPY.img”

Last time I got this error, I tried the following (please forgive my noobie-ness):
LABEL GoldMemory
kernel fog/Goldmem/memdisk
initrd fog/Goldmem/initrd.img
append fog/Goldmem/FLOPPY.IMG
MENU LABEL Memory Diagnostics
TEXT HELP
Memory Diagnostics
ENDTEXT

This seems to start to load Goldmemory, but gives me a Memdisk error: Image seems to ahve a fractional end cylinder.
Then it displays “Loading boot sector… booting…” indefinitely

Jian Zhang · Dec 15, 2011, 7:22 PM

append fog/Goldmem/FLOPPY.[B]IMG[/B]
“could not find ramdisk image: fog/Goldmem/FLOPPY.[B]img[/B]”

remove [B]initrd fog/Goldmem/initrd.img[/B]

Shobi · Dec 15, 2011, 8:28 PM

Ok I tried it both with the IMG in capitals and I removed initrd.img.
Also tried the append line with initrd= and without.

Now I get the message: “Memdisk: No ramdisk image specified!”

If I leave in initrd I get the message: “Could not find ramdisk image: fog/Goldmem/FLOPPY.IMG”

I must be doing something wrong?

*I’ve also just been informed that we are using Gold Memory 7.8 (latest), if that makes any difference?

Jian Zhang · Dec 15, 2011, 8:54 PM

I tested with [url]http://www.goldmemory.cz/gm692.zip[/url] and memdisk attached file. on Ubuntu 11.10

LABEL GoldMemory
kernel fog/GM/memdisk
append initrd=fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG
MENU LABEL Memory Diagnostics
TEXT HELP
Memory Diagnostics
ENDTEXT

Shobi · Dec 15, 2011, 9:10 PM

Hmm… ok I tried version 6.92 and this time I made it to the GMLoader… but then it hangs and I’m stuck at GMLoader with blinking cursor.
Thanks for your help, so far it looks promising. Maybe I should get in touch with Goldmemory’s author?

Blackout · Dec 15, 2011, 9:38 PM

If Jian has it working through Grub and you can boot it from the CD, then it must be something with your GRUB configuration.

Shobi · Dec 15, 2011, 9:59 PM

I’m sure that’s possible. But I just can’t figure it out.
I’ve been at this for a few days already, on and off.
I just tried a Ghost config with a Netboot Disk image and I’m having similar problems getting it to work as well.

I’ve attached a pic of one of the client machines trying to pxe boot goldmemory.

[url=“/_imported_xf_attachments/0/2_GMLOADER.jpg?:”]GMLOADER.jpg[/url]

Blackout · Dec 15, 2011, 10:27 PM

Is this on a physical machine? Have you tried it on another set of hardware, or a Virtual Machine?

Shobi · Dec 16, 2011, 1:00 PM

Server and client are physical desktop systems with similar hardware. I can boot Goldmemory and Netboot disk on either one with a CD-ROM. I haven’t tried a second client machine yet but I’ll give it a shot.

Shobi · Dec 16, 2011, 6:25 PM

Ok I’m perplexed…
I tried another client machine and this one did boot Goldmemory 6.92 shareware. Great!
However, I still get a Ramdisk missing error if I try to use our copy of Goldmemory 7.8 full (FLOPPY.IMG).
The second test client also was unable to boot our iso of Netboot disk with the same error (Ramdisk not found).

Blackout · Dec 16, 2011, 9:09 PM

What “ramdisk missing” error?

Shobi · Dec 16, 2011, 9:49 PM

“Could not find ramdisk image: fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG”

Blackout · Dec 16, 2011, 10:17 PM

Can you verify that the file exists on your FOG server.

/tftpboot/fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG

Keep in mind that Linux is case sensitive.

Running this:
[code]ls -la /tftpboot/fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG[/code]
Should return something like this:
[code]-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 1474560 2007-03-23 00:00 /tftpboot/fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG[/code]

Shobi · Dec 17, 2011, 5:02 PM

I can’t access the server over the weekend, as it’s on an isolated network where I work. I’m sure the files are all there though.
As it stands, the only one that loads successfully on one client, is GM 6.92. The other versions simply don’t work on any clients.
I copied several different .iso and .img files to the /fog/GM directory to test. I’ll check again Monday though, if there is any doubt the files might not be there.

Is it relevant to mention that I made this modification to the server?
[url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Using_FOG_with_an_unmodifiable_DHCP_server/_Using_FOG_with_no_DHCP_server[/url]

It changes the directory structure a little bit, but I otherwise don’t see how it could bork loading any images.

Thanks for all your help!

Shobi · Dec 19, 2011, 7:05 PM

Is this alright?

[CODE]-rw------- 1 root root 1474560 2010-07-20 00:00 /tftpboot/ltsp/i386/fog/GM/FLOPPY.IMG[/CODE]

Shobi · Jan 3, 2012, 3:57 PM

Any other ideas? I’m high and dry

rixter · Jan 4, 2012, 6:09 PM

Memdisk with a floppy image is pretty particular with things, have you tried booting from the cd iso?

An entry like

[code]LABEL GoldMemory
MENU LABEL GoldMemory
LINUX memdisk
append iso initrd=isos/GoldMemory.iso
[/code]
should work.

btw… in this setup I would have the directory isos under /tftpboot (/tftpboot/isos)

Shobi · Jan 4, 2012, 6:23 PM

Thanks Rixter,

As a matter of fact, I have tried isos too. I get the same result.
Just maybe the append line wasn’t exactly the same as yours.
I thought that booting isos with memdisk was relatively a new thing?

I am now in the process of completely reinstalling the server on Ubuntu 10.04 (it was running on 11.10).

I’ll give it a try as soon as I’m up and running again (in between other projects).

Thanks again!

PXE Boot Goldmemory

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