Thinstation Setup Help

[ICTNUT]

Hi All,

Just getting round to playing with thinstation as I need to put 17 Thin Clients into our lower site and have run into problems.

I have followed this faq on the thinstation website and also this one for prestaging and RIS

I have the PC able to boot directly from the RIS server and the correct image is being downloaded but the problem is it is taking an age for the 11mb image to get onto the PC, something like 4 hours, all I get is a screen full of little white dots.

Going mad, must have missed something, guidance please someone.....

[Geoff]

I assume your wiring is ok?
What mode has the network card been set to? What does the switch think? There might be some 10mb/100mb/Half Duplex/Full Duplex related confusion.

[ICTNUT]

On booting the PC the thinstation recognizes the NIC as an RTL8139 which is correct and is running at full duplex.

Probing PCI NIC....
[rtl8139] - ioaddr 0xdc00, irq 10, addr 00:20:ED:76:17:53 100Mbps full-duplex

If I RIS this PC I can image it in under 20mins so I don't think the switch or NIC is at fault.

I have just noticed this though@

Initialized UNDI NIC with IO 0xdc00, IRQ 10, MAC 00:20:ED:76:17:53
NDIS type Etherboot interface at 10Mbps <-- Look
Searching for server (DHCP)...
..Me: 192.168.x.x, Server: 192.168.x.x, Gateway: 192.168.x.x
Loading 192.168.0.1:thinstation.nbi ...(ELF).....

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[Geoff]

You've found a bug in Etherboot. Well done.

[ICTNUT]

Hmmm, anyideas on how to resolve it, or alternative methods of connection.

I did try installing TFTPD32 on the Terminal server itself and have it push the image from there but no joy with that as it would not even connect.

Any help would be great on this as I need to prove the concept works

[Geoff]

Well, I had a similar problem with a Dlink card. I narrowed it down to the PXE bootstrap re-read NIC status incorrectly. In the end I had to patch the code (near the serial console stuff). That fixed it up fine.

[Ric_]

I've used Netboot via Etherboot to successfulyl boot Thinstation on these cards. You could try that instead - maybe it's a bug in the PXE driver.

[Geoff]

Yes, I've heard of other people booting off local storage to get round this sort of problem (CF cards IIRC).

[ICTNUT]

@Ric_: I would prefer to boot off the local HD rather than via the network do you know anywhere that has an FAQ on how to get the ThinStation .nbi onto the HD and to boot from there, if thats is possible????

[Geoff]

If you use Rom-o-matic.net you can generate a suitable image for your hardware.

http://rom-o-matic.net/

You can then PXE into your Thinstation image. However with a working network adapter.

[Ric_]

@ICTNUT. There was a great guide on www.edugeekconference.net however the site is down

I'll see what I can dig out...

[ICTNUT]

Call me daft but when looking on the Rom-o-matic site where/what do I need to get to enable booting directly from the local HD??

I have been on the above site most of last week downloading the PXE drivers for various cards but have not found anything on there for local booting,

or

do I forget this and head over to thinstation to see if there is something there instead??

[Geoff]

change the ROM output format to whatever you want to use. I'd suggest either DOS executable, GRUB/LILO loadable kernel format or a HD partition image depending on how you want to do boot system on the local storage.

[Ric_]

@ICTNUT: Since my instructions have vanished...

1. Go to http://etherboot.anadex.de/ and download the boot disk that will allow you to boot from hard disk (Realtek drivers are included)
2. Install TFTP server somwhere
3. Add option 66 (TFTP server) and option 67 (boot filename - i.e. thinstation.nbi) to DHCP
4. Jobs a good 'un

That's basically what my instructions said. :P

[Geoff]

Snap! That's what I said too