@sebastian-roth Thanks for this reply.
I will try un inventory task to check bi-directional data exchange.
Luc.

Hi,
We use FOG to deploy training room at ENAC.
To monitor the process with promotheus, we plan to deploy some images in dry-run mode to preserve hard disk and compact-flash memories and to reduce test image size.
Parsing documentation I didn’t see :

1. Command line interface to engage task in FOG and to get their status.
2. Dry-run mode to simulate :
   1. upload image
   2. deploy image

Any link to help ?

Thanks,
Luc.

@Sebastian-Roth said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

@Luc-Novales Don’t want to sound rude but how many of those panel PCs do you have? If it’s just a handful of them you might be way faster installing/cloning them manually using other means of deployment instead of trying to get FOS Linux to rnu on this kind of mul-functioning hardware.

Today It’s the only reason to maintain an old server this an old version of clonezilla. All other stuff of our equipment in our learning rooms are managed on newer server with FOG. It should be better to integrate these panel PC too

Search the forums for “rcu_sched detected stalls on CPUs/tasks”…
I will…

In your signature :

…way more we need people to test things, update documentation…

Solving this problem, learning to compile new kernel… is perhaps the only way I have to update documentation and contribute to FOG

@george1421 said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Luc-Novales So let me understand even with the 486 kernel it does not boot, I would expect an error message as in the picture provided.

I made a report of actions in initial thread more adapted…
Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu

Thx,
Luc.

Hi,
I have to report some actions to explain where I am now.

Using IPXE

After a lot of tries 2 weeks ago, yesterday, I decide to compile IPXE “from scratch”, using a clean clone of ipxe git repository.

Applying “486 patch”

After removing definition TIVOLI_VMM_WORKAROUND in configuration file general.h as defined in the forum of ipxe “486er hangs on boot with iPXE floppy”, I obtain an USB boot media (ipxe.usb) to launch ipxe command and test FOG menu.

Compiling FOG IPXE

Compiling IPXE using IPXE part of the WIKI and applying “486 patch” (above) allow to obtain an undionly.kpxe usable with this panel PC.

Loading FOG menu

Configuring DHCP server to load new undionly.kpxe doesn’t load menu but allow to chain it manually.
Select “CLient System Information (Compatibiliy)” load effectively bzImage32 and stop with the message “This kernel requires an i686 CPU but only detected an i586 CPU”.

Using adapted linux kernel to i586

Trying to compile custom kernel, I opened another thread and George send me a bzImage file adapted to i486 (see FAQ page in WIKI should be updated).

Boot from FOG menu

Chain manually boot.php with MAC address parameter boot and the result is here

Fog menu for this host is here

TODO

• Determine why undionly.kpxe doesn’t load menu
• Determine why kernel loop on RCU grace-period stack dump.

@Quazz said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Luc-Novales Kernel building is now part of the init building process

https://github.com/FOGProject/fos is the github branch if you want to check it out.

I believe George sent you a chat message (top right) with the kernel he made though.

Yes, I have this kernel and I return to the initial post Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu, is better to resume my actions.

@Sebastian-Roth said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Luc-Novales said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

I should solve this problem, compiling a custom linux kernel and I downloaded linux-4.19.68 sources, but it seems that config file is not present in FOG sources as defined in Building a Custom Kernel. There is no kernel part in FOG sources, where can I find this config file ?

Sorry about this but it’s just another old wiki article - too bad! Here is the most current one and I believe this is up to date and should work: https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php/Build_TomElliott_Kernel#Build_TomElliott_Kernel_for_FOG_0.33b_and_newer

Ok, I will try it later, now I test the kernel provided by George ;-).

Thx,
Luc.

Hi George,

@george1421 said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Luc-Novales This is an issue with the bzImage32 kernel that we ran across a few weeks ago. I can’t remember where the issue stood. This system was listed as a 486 if I remember correctly.

Yes an AMD Geode LX @500mhz.
An old panel PC used in operational equipment.

I just looked in my dev environment and I looks like it was setup to build a compatible FOS kernel. Let me rebuild it then I will have you try it to see if it works with your processor. It should take just a few minutes to compile. If it works OK then we’ll have to talk to the devs to see if there is any value adding it to the main branch. I’m seeing this as a one off situation. If its decided to not add to the main branch then you can continue to use bzImage486 without issue even after FOG updates.

Thanks, I’m waiting for your kernel to solve my problem and I think that it should be interesting to update the section Building a Custom Kernel to allow user to debuig this part too. I could try to update it if I have information to make it.

Thx,
Luc.

Hi there,
I may have to update some pages in the WIKI relative to building a custom kernel).
Could you enable a acces for my account ?

Thx,
Luc.

@george1421 said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Luc-Novales But fog now auto detects what kernel to use. If you have a system that is 64 bit but the manufacturer has pinned it as 32 bit (as in some inexpensive tablets) you can just update the kernel parameter in the host definition instead of swapping the bzImage/bzImage32 files. There are better and easier ways to go about it with FOG 1.2.0+ than with the really old versions of FOG.

It doesn’t works.
In my last reply of Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu, I said that trying for FUN your menu (Only for reference), load effectively bzImage32 and stop with the message “This kernel requires an i686 CPU but only detected an i586 CPU”.

Here the screenshot of this error :

There is the same result using the menu boot.php and select “CLient System Information (Compatibiliy)”.

I should solve this problem, compiling a custom linux kernel and I downloaded linux-4.19.68 sources, but it seems that config file is not present in FOG sources as defined in Building a Custom Kernel. There is no kernel part in FOG sources, where can I find this config file ?

Thx,
Luc.

@george1421 said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Sebastian-Roth … Plus the wiki page doesn’t really tell you what problem you are trying to solve.

Now, yes
I solved the ipxe problem and I have to build bzimage32 for i586…
Perhaps shortly solved

Thx,
Luc.

Hi Sebastian,

@Sebastian-Roth said in FAQ page in WIKI should be updated:

@Luc-Novales Thanks for mentioning this. I reckon we should remove that content altogether. @Moderators Any suggestions on this? I didn’t even know this existed but I feel it could be used for way better content if we’d have the time to update it.

I don’t request any account to the wiki because I don’t know how to update this page

I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to update a simple wiki page. If you are able to use FOG you can edit wiki just as well. It’s not complicated.

IT is easy to edit a page when you have the information to put inside.

Here there is wrong link on a non existent domain name (dyndns entry). There is no IP address to join the server and download bzImage.
I can’t solve that? it’s the problem

Thx,
Luc.

Hi,
I don’t request any account to the wiki because I don’t know how to update this page Kernel Panic or Drivers Not functioning
all links with https://mastacontrola.com are wrong.
Is there some links available ?
Thx,
Luc.

@george1421 said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

…

Only for reference so I don’t forget and lose it.

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 300
ONTIMEOUT local

MENU TITLE FOG PXE Menu

LABEL 1. FOG Image Deploy/Capture
        MENU LABEL 1. FOG Image Deploy/Capture
        KERNEL bzImage32
	APPEND loglevel=4 initrd=init_32.xz root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=275000 keymap= web=$myfogip/fog/ boottype=usb consoleblank=0 rootfstype=ext4

LABEL 2. Perform Full Host Registration and Inventory
        MENU LABEL 2. Perform Full Host Registration and Inventory
        KERNEL bzImage32
        APPEND loglevel=4 initrd=init_32.xz root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=275000 keymap= web=$myfogip/fog/ boottype=usb consoleblank=0 rootfstype=ext4 mode=manreg

LABEL 3. Quick Registration and Inventory
        MENU LABEL 3. Quick Registration and Inventory
        KERNEL bzImage32
        APPEND loglevel=4 initrd=init_32.xz root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=275000 keymap= web=$myfogip/fog/ boottype=usb consoleblank=0 rootfstype=ext4 mode=autoreg

LABEL 4. Client System Information (Compatibility)
        MENU LABEL 4. Client System Information (Compatibility)
        KERNEL bzImage32
        APPEND loglevel=4 initrd=init_32.xz root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=275000 keymap= web=$myfogip/fog/ boottype=usb consoleblank=0 rootfstype=ext4 mode=sysinfo

LABEL 5. FOG Debug Kernel
        MENU LABEL 5. FOG Debug Kernel
        KERNEL bzImage32
        APPEND loglevel=7 initrd=init_32.xz root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=275000 keymap= boottype=usb consoleblank=0 rootfstype=ext4 isdebug=yes

Only for fun, I tried it, result is here

@george1421 said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

@Luc-Novales Ok lets take a step back because I haven’t seen a picture yet from iPXE. Chain booting from syslinux to iPXE won’t work because you say that iPXE is hanging. Using syslinux to call boot.php won’t work since boot.php will make a menu for iPXE and not Syslinux. I suspect that pxelinux.0 (syslinux) will not like an iPXE style menu.

Lets first set dhcp options 67 to ipxe.kkpxe (this exact boot file) and pxe boot the target system. Using a mobile phone, take a screen shot of the error produced by ipxe (I know you have done this many times, but I want to see the error as well as the context of the error).

Here the screenshot resulting and tcpdump attached.

And PCAP file is attached here
ipxe.kkpxe_2018-08-09.pcap

FOS Linux: This is the capture engine that runs on the target computer to capture and deploy images on the target hardware. Normally it is sent to the target hardware using iPXE via the menu produced by the boot.php page. FOS Linux is constructed out of 2 parts bzImage32 is the Linux 32 bit kernel and init_32.xz is the 32 bit virtual hard drive. Its iPXE’s job to transfer them to the target computer.

Ok.

Today we have a usb flash drive that can be used to transfer bzImage32 and init_32.xz to the target computer using a usb flash drive and a grub boot loader.

Is there a link to download or a script to make it from git clone ?
I didn’t see it.

Now with that said, we should be able to duplicate that grub boot menu using syslinux (pxelinux.0) Its not an ideal solution but if you have no choice, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to make things work. So if we can’t get things working with iPXE, then we can attempt to use syslinux to at least get FOS Linux to the target computer.

Good way for me. If I can deploy with syslinux before getting better solution with iPXE, I will. In a second time I can have help in C code

I know we are focusing on the CPU in this thread, but something I have to ask How much RAM does this device have?

1024MB of RAM.

/proc/meminfo: MemTotal:         994192 kB
/proc/meminfo: MemFree:          797440 kB
/proc/meminfo: MemAvailable:     738332 kB

from hardware-summary.txt

Only for reference so I don’t forget and lose it.

Ok.

Thx,
Luc.

Hi George,

Thanks for your help,

@george1421 said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

I just scanned this thread and all of the pictures I see for booting are syslinux not iPXE. The processor is 32 bits in size since its a 486 equiv, so that might make a difference. The ipxe.krn is (should be) a 16 bit application that should run on a 486 class machine.

It doesn’t start

So if iPXE is being a pain why not boot FOS directly from a usb stick. You will have to use the bzImage32 and init32.xz files instead of the 64 bit ones, but lets see if FOS Linux will boot on this system.

FOS Linux ???

iPXE doesn’t boot, PXE yes. I tried to make iPXE usb stick just for test and it doesn’t boot on this panel PC.
Usb stick is not a definitive solution to deploy these machines in a training room between two sessions. I have to integrate these equipment in our environment as the others PC used to deploy images.
I can boot linux kernel from PXE. Debug iPXE should be a better solution to download and chain “http://<fog server>/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php”, but I don’t know howto…

Luc.

@Sebastian-Roth said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

@Luc-Novales Unfortunately there is still no answer in the iPXE forum. Not sure what else we can try.

Are you good with C and assembly code?

Not really :-/.

Hi,
I can add some information.

@Luc-Novales said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

Is there some way to debug without compiling IPXE ?

I made iPXE USB-KEY using this howto, it doesn’t boot and stop with blinking cursor after “Verifying Pool Data…”, nothing done after, but it is due to this platform because this key boots on an other PC.
Adding some debug options did not change anything (no messages), perhaps I selected bad options ?

Even I build ipxelinux.0 as defined here, result is the same as using undionly.kkpxe file from FOG install.

Luc.

@Sebastian-Roth said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

@Luc-Novales Can you tell us more about this old hardware. What make and model is this?

This model is an IEI AFL-07A-LX : a panel PC used in an operational equipment.

System is detected as :

dmidecode: System Information
dmidecode: 	Manufacturer: ICP / iEi
dmidecode: 	Product Name: H605
dmidecode: 	Version: V1.00
...
dmidecode: Base Board Information
dmidecode: 	Manufacturer: ICP / iEi
dmidecode: 	Product Name: E089
dmidecode: 	Version: V1.00

This model is AMD Geode LX 800 500 MHz Processor
It is detected under linux as :

/proc/cpuinfo: processor	: 0
/proc/cpuinfo: vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
/proc/cpuinfo: cpu family	: 5
/proc/cpuinfo: model		: 10
/proc/cpuinfo: model name	: Geode(TM) Integrated Processor by AMD PCS
/proc/cpuinfo: stepping	: 2
/proc/cpuinfo: cpu MHz		: 498.042
/proc/cpuinfo: cache size	: 128 KB
/proc/cpuinfo: physical id	: 0
/proc/cpuinfo: siblings	: 1
/proc/cpuinfo: core id		: 0
/proc/cpuinfo: cpu cores	: 1
/proc/cpuinfo: apicid		: 0
/proc/cpuinfo: initial apicid	: 0
/proc/cpuinfo: fdiv_bug	: no
/proc/cpuinfo: f00f_bug	: no
/proc/cpuinfo: coma_bug	: no
/proc/cpuinfo: fpu		: yes
/proc/cpuinfo: fpu_exception	: yes
/proc/cpuinfo: cpuid level	: 1
/proc/cpuinfo: wp		: yes
/proc/cpuinfo: flags		: fpu de pse tsc msr cx8 sep pge cmov clflush mmx mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow cpuid 3dnowprefetch vmmcall
/proc/cpuinfo: bugs		: sysret_ss_attrs spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass
/proc/cpuinfo: bogomips	: 996.08
/proc/cpuinfo: clflush size	: 32
/proc/cpuinfo: cache_alignment	: 32
/proc/cpuinfo: address sizes	: 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
/proc/cpuinfo: power management:
/proc/cpuinfo: 

and dmidecode defines CPU as 80486 family

dmidecode: Processor Information
dmidecode: 	Socket Designation: Geode LX 
dmidecode: 	Type: Central Processor
dmidecode: 	Family: 80486
dmidecode: 	Manufacturer: AMD
dmidecode: 	ID: A2 05 00 00 3D A9 88 00
dmidecode: 	Signature: Type 0, Family 5, Model 10, Stepping 2
dmidecode: 	Version: Geode LX
dmidecode: 	Voltage: 1.2 V
dmidecode: 	External Clock: 64 MHz
dmidecode: 	Max Speed: 500 MHz
dmidecode: 	Current Speed: 500 MHz
dmidecode: 	Status: Populated, Enabled
dmidecode: 	Upgrade: ZIF Socket
dmidecode: 	L1 Cache Handle: 0x0004
dmidecode: 	L2 Cache Handle: 0x0005
dmidecode: 	L3 Cache Handle: No L3 Cache

BIOS information is :

dmidecode: BIOS Information
dmidecode: 	Vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmidecode: 	Version: 6.00 PG
dmidecode: 	Release Date: 05/18/2010
dmidecode: 	Address: 0xE0000
dmidecode: 	Runtime Size: 128 kB
dmidecode: 	ROM Size: 512 kB
dmidecode: 	Characteristics:
dmidecode: 		ISA is supported
dmidecode: 		PCI is supported
dmidecode: 		PNP is supported
dmidecode: 		APM is supported
dmidecode: 		BIOS is upgradeable
dmidecode: 		BIOS shadowing is allowed
dmidecode: 		Boot from CD is supported
dmidecode: 		Selectable boot is supported
dmidecode: 		BIOS ROM is socketed
dmidecode: 		EDD is supported
dmidecode: 		5.25"/360 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
dmidecode: 		5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
dmidecode: 		3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
dmidecode: 		3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
dmidecode: 		Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
dmidecode: 		8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
dmidecode: 		Serial services are supported (int 14h)
dmidecode: 		Printer services are supported (int 17h)
dmidecode: 		CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)
dmidecode: 		ACPI is supported
dmidecode: 		LS-120 boot is supported

Others information as memory… in attached hardware-summary.txt.

I posted in the iPXE forum to see if they can help us debugging this. So far I have only done debugging in the higher level code and don’t know where to start here in the very early assembly code: http://forum.ipxe.org/showthread.php?tid=18855

Thanks,
Luc.

Hi Sebastian,

@Sebastian-Roth said in Black screen and blinking cursor after vesamenu:

@Luc-Novales Ok, great you posted such detailed information an pictures of the screens. That helps a lot!

The first thing that comes to my mind is trying different iPXE binaries. Instead of undionly.kpxe try the following realtek.pxe, realtek.kpxe, realtek.kkpxe, undionly.pxe, undionly.kkpxe, ipxe.pxe, ipxe.kpxe, ipxe.kkpxe. It’s interesting we see it hanging even before the “iPXE initialzing devices…” output.

Using realtek.pxe, realtek.kpxe, realtek.kkpxe, undionly.pxe, undionly.kkpxe, ipxe.pxe, ipxe.kpxe, ipxe.kkpxe, result is exactly the same as previous screenshot (PXE, entry point, UNDI code and data segments). Only free base memory unload change between 562k, 601k and 630k.

After acknowledgment of last block of retrieved pxe file, client doesn’t reply to ARP requests from FOG server, and nothing is emitted (http request…).

The other route we can go is compiling iPXE with debugging enabled but let’s keep that for later.

Can you tell us more about this old hardware. What make and model is this? Please boot into the operating system from disk and get us some more information about the network card. In Windows you open Device Manager -> select network card -> properties -> see if you can find the so called hardware IDs there. In Linux you simply run lspci -nn | grep -i net and post the full output you get here.
Windows XP embedded does not allow anything.
The challenge was to solve kernel panic on boot of GRML due to kernel bug #917569.
Using debian installer recovery mode, detailed hardware detection is attached
hardware-summary.txt.

For network part, here a summary :

00:0b.0 Network controller [0280]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6655 WiFi Adapter, 802.11a/b/g [1106:3253]
00:0c.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter [10ec:8139] (rev 10)
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8100/8101L/8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter [10ec:8139] (rev 10)

Is there something I can do to debug ?

Thx,
Luc.