[Closed] Help me with my MBR bootloader!

babaliaris · 2020-08-10 16:38:26

EDITED
To help you, I uploaded the code here https://github.com/babaliaris/bootloader
There are 3 branches, master, noorg-50kb and noorg-50bytes.
master-> second code in this post
noorg-50kb-> first code in this port
noorg-50bytes-> last code in this post

I'm trying to understand how to initialize the segments (ds, es, ss) in a bootloader but I can't make it work unless I use the [org 0x7c00] directive of the nasm assember.

The code below does not work:

First Code

   1 [bits 16]
   2 ;[org 0x7c00]
   3 
   4 ;Alocate 50kb for the stack  above the end of the 512 boot sector.
   5 mov bp, 0x7e00 ;location where the boot loader code ends.
   6 add bp, 0xC350 ; 50kb above 0x7e00
   7 mov sp, bp
   8 
   9 ;Clean the es and ss
  10 xor ax, ax
  11 mov es, ax
  12 mov ss, ax
  13 
  14 ;Initialize the ds
  15 mov ax, 0x7c0
  16 mov ds, ax
  17 
  18 ;Call print_hex with in:0xabcd
  19 mov bx, 0xabcd
  20 call print_hex
  21 
  22 ;Call printf with message hello
  23 mov bx, hello
  24 call printf
  25 
  26 ;Load 5 sectors starting at sector 2 of cylinder 0 and head 0
  27 mov al, 5
  28 mov ch, 0
  29 mov cl, 2
  30 mov dh, 0
  31 mov dl, 0x80
  32 call read_disk
  33 
  34 jmp $
  35 
  36 %include "include/print_hex.asm"
  37 %include "include/printf.asm"
  38 %include "include/read_disk.asm"
  39 
  40 hello: db "Hello World!", 0
  41 
  42 times 510 - ($-$$) db 0
  43 dw 0xaa55

but if I comment out the 16 line and uncomment the 2 line, then it works:

Second Code

   1 [bits 16]
   2 [org 0x7c00]
   3 
   4 ;Alocate 50kb for the stack  above the end of the 512 boot sector.
   5 mov bp, 0x7e00 ;location where the boot loader code ends.
   6 add bp, 0xC350 ; 50kb above 0x7e00
   7 mov sp, bp
   8 
   9 ;Clean the es and ss
  10 xor ax, ax
  11 mov es, ax
  12 mov ss, ax
  13 
  14 ;Initialize the ds
  15 mov ax, 0x7c0
  16 ;mov ds, ax
  17 
  18 ;Call print_hex with in:0xabcd
  19 mov bx, 0xabcd
  20 call print_hex
  21 
  22 ;Call printf with message hello
  23 mov bx, hello
  24 call printf
  25 
  26 ;Load 5 sectors starting at sector 2 of cylinder 0 and head 0
  27 mov al, 5
  28 mov ch, 0
  29 mov cl, 2
  30 mov dh, 0
  31 mov dl, 0x80
  32 call read_disk
  33 
  34 jmp $
  35 
  36 %include "include/print_hex.asm"
  37 %include "include/printf.asm"
  38 %include "include/read_disk.asm"
  39 
  40 hello: db "Hello World!", 0
  41 
  42 times 510 - ($-$$) db 0
  43 dw 0xaa55

The expected output is:

0xabdc. Hello World! Disk Error!

But I can't understand why the first try doesn't work... The lines

  14 ;Initialize the ds
  15 mov ax, 0x7c0
  16 mov ds, ax

should do the trick without having to say [org 0x7c00] at the beginning.

Last Code
I also noticed that I can make it work If I change the lines

   4 ;Alocate 50kb for the stack  above the end of the 512 boot sector.
   5 mov bp, 0x7e00 ;location where the boot loader code ends.
   6 add bp, 0xC350 ; 50kb above 0x7e00
   7 mov sp, bp

to allocate a smaller stack.

(By the way, the reason I use 0x7e00 + amount of allocation is that I believe
this is the address where the boot loader 512bytes ends and above that, there are 638kb free)

For example, if I change

   6 add bp, 0xC350 ; 50kb above 0x7e00

to

   6 add bp, 50 ; 50bytes above 0x7e00

then it works.

This seems like the first method (not using [org] but initializing ds manually) affects the way I initialize the bs and sp
but I can't understand what is happening at all...

These includes

  36 %include "include/print_hex.asm"
  37 %include "include/printf.asm"
  38 %include "include/read_disk.asm"

just include some functions which use the stack.

Last edited by babaliaris (2023-01-09 01:41:49)

ewaller · 2020-08-10 17:08:21

Why are we doing this?
This smells a little like an school assignment.
Why Arch Linux forums and not Stack Overflow?

babaliaris · 2020-08-10 20:09:26

ewaller wrote:

Why are we doing this?

I'm doing it for learning purposes.

ewaller wrote:

Why Arch Linux forums and not Stack Overflow?

I'm banned at stack overflow. I'm not getting any upvotes in my questions...

Also, I thought that arch Linux could be a good place to ask this question since
a lot of people dive deep into operating systems.

I might send an email to the professor who teaches operating systems
at my University but I don't think he will write me back...

PS: This is not an assignment, just personal interest

Last edited by babaliaris (2020-08-10 20:53:40)

dimich · 2020-08-24 01:24:13

babaliaris wrote:

But I can't understand why the first try doesn't work... The lines
  14 ;Initialize the ds
  15 mov ax, 0x7c0
  16 mov ds, ax
should do the trick without having to say [org 0x7c00] at the beginning.

EDITED
"org" directive affects all absolute addresses. E.g. when the code is loaded to 0:7C00 but assumes it's at 0, instruction pointer will get invalid address after "call" instruction.
Near call use relative address, it's not the reason.
But

babaliaris wrote:

   5 mov bp, 0x7e00 ;location where the boot loader code ends.
   6 add bp, 0xC350 ; 50kb above 0x7e00

leads to 16-bit overflow. Stack pointer value becomes 0x4150.

Last edited by dimich (2020-08-24 01:40:17)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-08-10 16:38:26

[Closed] Help me with my MBR bootloader!

#2 2020-08-10 17:08:21

Re: [Closed] Help me with my MBR bootloader!

#3 2020-08-10 20:09:26

Re: [Closed] Help me with my MBR bootloader!

#4 2020-08-24 01:24:13

Re: [Closed] Help me with my MBR bootloader!

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