EFI boot manager fail-over behavior question
Hi,
I am trying to verify the behavior of the EFI boot manager described in the EFI specific (Chapter 3). It is said that if a boot option executes and returns with an error code different from EFI_SUCCESS, the boot manager will pick the next option in the boot order and execute it. This goes on until the boot manager runs out of options, a nice built in fail-over mechanism.
I wanted to verify this behavior for elilo. I have the following order:
EFI Boot Manager ver 1.10 [14.61] Firmware ver 2.00 [4318]
Please select a boot option
EFI Shell [Built-in]
netboot
Debian GNU/Linux
Boot Option Maintenance Menu
System Configuration Menu
Then I select netboot, and make elilo fail. It exists with EFI_LOAD_ERROR. The correct return value is produced by elilo because I get:
ELILO boot: sdklfjasdflkasjelilo.c(line 70):Kernel file not found sdklfjasdflkasj Start of netboot failed: Load Error
Paused - press any key to continue
Then I press a key and I go back to the menu, the next option (Debian) is not triggered.
My guess is that because it is waiting for me to press a key, it assumes interactive mode, therefore the boot manager does not go to the next option.
Why is this message printed? Maybe because I am at the bottom of the page. I have seen the boot manager occasionally doing the right thing but I can't figure out what the logic is. The 'bottom of the page' key press message makes some sense when you don't want to loose error messages printed on the console. But then it is not quite what you want if going to the next option is what you really want, i.e. fail-over behavior.
Could somebody more familiar than me with the boot manager clarify this?
Thanks.
--
-Stephane
Stephane,
Quoted 1 line
EFI Boot Manager ver 1.10 [14.61] Firmware ver 2.00 [4318]
Looks like the sample implementation, yes?
Quoted 2 lines
Could somebody more familiar than me with the boot manager clarify this?
I have heard of similar problems specifically relating to netbooting with the sample implementation. Is the behavior correct (traverses the boot option list) if you select a different, non-netbooting option?
matt
Matt,
Quoted 5 lines · Matthew E
Quoted 2 lines
EFI Boot Manager ver 1.10 [14.61] Firmware ver 2.00 [4318]
Looks like the sample implementation, yes?
Yes, that is more or less the latest version of the firmware available for this rx2600.
Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 2 lines
Could somebody more familiar than me with the boot manager clarify this?
I have heard of similar problems specifically relating to netbooting with the sample implementation. Is the behavior correct (traverses the boot option list) if you select a different, non-netbooting option?
I have to try that.
Signature · 1 line
-Stephane
Matt,
Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 2 lines
Could somebody more familiar than me with the boot manager clarify this?
I have heard of similar problems specifically relating to netbooting with the sample implementation. Is the behavior correct (traverses the boot option list) if you select a different, non-netbooting option?
Yes, it seems to work when the failed session is not netbooting (tested with EFI 14.60).
Signature · 1 line
-Stephane