[Soekris] net5501 hang up when no operating system is available

[Brian Candler]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 10:26:18PM +0100, Igor Sobrado wrote:
>   1. the comBIOS finds a disk without a valid bootsector and does
>      not look for a secondary (81) or PXE (F0) device to boot from.
> 
>      The reason for the PXE entry after "80" and "81" is being able to
>      boot a Soekris computer that has at least one internal drive
>      but no operating system installed on it, am I wrong?
> 
>      It is a way to do a network install of the operating system
>      on a new computer, so it should try a PXE boot if there is
>      a drive without a valid boot sector.
> 
>   2. the comBIOS stops at device "81" if there is not a secondary
>      drive, and does not look for PXE (F0) or entering monitor (FF).
> 
>      There is no reason a Soekris computer must have both a primary
>      and a secondary drive installed.  In fact, most Soekris computers
>      have only one drive installed (usually a CF).
> 
> Don't know if this problem happens on the net4801 (the first computer
> that included the BootDrive BIOS system parameter, I think.)

FWIW, on net4501 everything works perfectly:

- if the CF card has a bootable OS, it boots

- if you want to force PXE booting then you can type ctrl-P to get a combios
  prompt, then type "boot f0"

- if the CF card has no bootable OS, or the CF card is missing, then it
  goes into PXE boot automatically. If that fails, it leaves you at a
  combios prompt.