Re: [Trustedgrub-users] Newbie question

[<de...@de...>]

Replying to my own post...

I've been experimenting with the TPM lately; I set TrustedGRUB aside, =20=

thinking it was buggy, and tried to write my own code to extend =20
LILO's first stage bootloader to hash the second stage -- I know =20
there's a project that did this already (http://enforcer.sf.net), but =20=

the project is abandoned, and the patch was against an old version of =20=

LILO which won't compile on a recent system.

I was able to verify that, when an INT 0x1A instruction is issued =20
with AH =3D 0xBB (the BIOS interface for some TPM calls), my =20
motherboard will simply reboot. Indeed, by removing all INT 0x1A =20
calls from TrustedGRUB, I was able to make it work, though without =20
TPM support, obviously. Interestingly, INT 1A with some other value =20
of AH is used for the system's real time clock, and there's a couple =20
of calls to this function somewhere in the middle of TrustedGRUB's =20
stage2; they're working fine (assuming they're being called at all) =20
and not rebooting the machine. Only when AH =3D 0xBB will the machine =20=

reboot.

Right now, I'm guessing the problem is that TPM calls via INT 0x1A =20
are not implemented by my mainboard's BIOS. It might be a faulty TPM =20
chip as well, though this is unlikely since it's working fine in =20
other contexts, as noted in the original post. I'd appreciate if =20
someone had any info on that, perhaps a troubleshooting suggestion or =20=

some crucial BIOS/jumper/whatever setting that I may have forgotten, =20
and I'd particularly like to hear from other owners of Intel D915GMH =20
motherboards, whether they were able or not to run TrustedGRUB.

Thanks

D=E9cio

On Jun 28, 2006, at 12:22 AM, D=E9cio Luiz Gazzoni Filho wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I realize this is probably a stupid question, but since Trusted =20
> GRUB's documentation is lacking (as far as I could spot, it's just =20
> a quick HOWTO in the README file and something similar in the shell =20=

> script for compiling the software), I don't even know where to =20
> start troubleshooting.
>
> I'll state upfront that I'm not familiar with GRUB, only lilo. =20
> Also, I'm using Gentoo Linux. I emerged (installed) plain GRUB and =20
> modified the sample config file and I had a working bootloader. =20
> Then I unmerged (uninstalled) plain GRUB and installed Trusted GRUB =20=

> following the instructions (copying the newly compiled stage1 and =20
> stage2, plus the `default' file, to /boot/grub). I cleaned up the =20
> old stage1_5 loaders left over from the plain GRUB installation. =20
> Having kept my working config file from plain GRUB, I ran the newly =20=

> installed grub-install and everything seemed to go smoothly. =20
> However, when trying to boot the computer, I can only see a brief =20
> flash of `tGRUB' on the screen before the computer reboots itself. =20
> I tried recompiling with the -DDEBUG flag but no debugging info was =20=

> printed -- probably it's failing at an early point in the boot =20
> process, perhaps still at stage 1.
>
> My hardware is an Intel D915GMH mainboard with Infineon 1.1b TPM =20
> chip. I'm using kernel 2.6.17 and the Infineon TPM drivers in the =20
> kernel. The TPM itself is fine -- I succesfully configured it in =20
> Windows and did a little bit of fiddling with TrouSerS, tpm-tools =20
> and the apps bundled with IBM's libtpm.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> D=E9cioUsing Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web =20
> services, security?
> Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your =20
> job easier
> Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache =20
> Geronimo
> http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?=20
> cmd=3Dlnk&kid=3D120709&bid=3D263057&dat=3D121642________________________=
______=20
> _________________
> Trustedgrub-users mailing list
> Tru...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/trustedgrub-users