Re: GRUB fails when kernel is LZMA/BZIP2-compressed

[Ersin Akinci]

Thanks for the tip.  I think there's something wrong with the kernel's
LZMA/BZIP2 code and my platform, because I noticed that it won't load
my initramfs files when they're compressed with LZMA/BZIP2.  I'm using
a very old computer, a Toshiba Satellite 420CDT w/ ISA bus and P5
processor.  Haven't tried running lzma or bzip2 on it yet.

Best,
Ersin

On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 8:28 PM, Michael Evans <address@hidden> wrote:
> The issue isn't grub.  Grub doesn't worry about decompressing the kernel
> image.  Grub just puts the kernel and initrd in memory, along with some
> hardware info tables the bios had provided grub, and tells the kernel to
> start executing it's init.
>
> It's at that point when Linux will unpack and uncompress it's self and
> possibly an initrd.
>
> Chances are good you have some issue with your boot floppy and/or grub's
> configuration.
>
> To start off with, I don't believe any recent kernel + initrd is likely to
> fit within 1440KB.
>
> You should probable take advantage of grub's filesystem support (hit escape
> while in the grub menu to get a console) and 'find ' a marker file you
> create in whatever filesystem contains your kernel+initrd.  Please consult
> the grub manual for details, but...
>
> If you have a /boot filesystem and touch a file in /boot/marker (when /boot
> is mounted) then you would try to "find /marker" .
>
> On Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:40 PM, Ersin Akinci <address@hidden>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Is anyone aware of GRUB failing to boot a system when the Linux kernel
>> is compressed using LZMA or BZIP2?  If so, is this a bug in GRUB or
>> the kernel?  I'm using kernel 2.6.31 and GRUB 0.97 and I'm trying to
>> make a boot floppy, but unless I select GZIP compression in the kernel
>> config, GRUB hangs for a little after loading the kernel and initramfs
>> image and then reboots the computer.  No kernel printk's come up.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Ersin
>>
>> --
>>
>> =========
>>
>> Ersin Y. Akinci -- http://www.ersinakinci.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Help-grub mailing list
>> address@hidden
>> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-grub
>
>



-- 

=========

Ersin Y. Akinci -- http://www.ersinakinci.com