PXE Boot Failure

[Davit2005]

I have setup a Ghost Server based on WDS as I have done about 6 times now at various employments.

 

We have Viglen Genie 620M machines which seem to buzz really quick (too quick) through the point where they boot from the network and not getting a boot file. We have Ergo laptops with the same LAN chipset and tested with the same cable, same switch, everything the same and they boot off the network fine. I have tried other Viglens of the same variant and they are all the same. I have reset the CMOS back to defaults and enabled the network boot.

 

The viglens seem to have no connectivity lights during the post section .

 

I have setup many ghost servers before but this seems to be an issue with the actual machines not the network.

 

Any Ideas people, I am going to go crazy if I have to go around and do machines 1 by 1 with an external HDD.

[icttech]

Hiya Divit.

 

Start the machine up and have a look at what network card is in the machine.

 

You will have to add the drivers for this card in the WDS console.

 

As why there is no lights is a bit strange as the network driver issue occurrs once WDS starts.

 

Another solution is trying puting in a external network card what happens then?

[plexer]

Adding the nic drivers into wds is not the solution for non pxe booting only for deployment of pe images.

 

Ben

[Davit2005]

Yep added the NIC drivers allready, the machine doesn't seem to download a filename I have successfully tried a Ergo with the same card as I have stated at the start. The Viglen flys through the bit where it should find the boot server.

[plexer]

Can you try with another intermediate switch in between?

 

Ben

[Martin]

Do the Viglens show a DHCP "spinny propeller" when they try to PXE-Boot?

 

If so, press the key to freeze the propeller for thirty seconds or so and then press to continue - just in case it is a timing issue.

 

Also, can you confirm any error messages when the PXE-Boot fails?

 

mb

[Davit2005]

Yep spinner is going but really fast, I have done this operation many times and this spinner seems at least double the speed it should be. The NIC port doesn't seem to initiate during this period and I'm thinking this is an issue. I have Ergo laptops with the same NIC chip that have no such problems while using the same cables, ports, switches etc.

 

I can't see this been a problem with the switch although I may try re-routing the server and the workstation through a different switch.

[Duke5A]

The viglens seem to have no connectivity lights during the post section .

 

Give a look in the BIOS for something called low power mode or something equivalent. Newer Dells have it enabled by default and it shuts the NIC down when the machine is powered off, or asleep. I'm thinking it might be on and the link isn't coming up off post for some reason.

[napsburypark]

Talk to Viglen as we had a similar issue last Summer and they solved it with some drivers I believe

[Davit2005]

Can't find anything in the BIOS. May test by making a Ghost DeployCentre setup on a spare box seperate from the network, just as an alternative to using WDS as a PXE boot medium, although I have booted 6 different machines off the network . I think this is the dreaded Viglen syndrome : (, even with booting from CD to a ghost console there is no network connectivity at the port. The original IT technician mentioned he had issues when trying to connect to the original ghost server when using a ghost boot CD. They had ghost v8 but now I've installed Ghost Solution Suite v2.5 so at least I can use Windows PE.

 

Even if it was a driver within the PE environment surely I should see some indication of the cable plugged in at the NIC port! When booted into windows there are no issues with network connectivity and the lights at the port blink healthly.

[Duke5A]

Even if it was a driver within the PE environment surely I should see some indication of the cable plugged in at the NIC port! When booted into windows there are no issues with network connectivity and the lights at the port blink healthly.

 

So you're not even getting a link light in the PE environment? If so, the NIC is shutdown and the driver that is loaded for it in the existing Windows installation knows how to enable it. The only other thing I can think of is to open the NIC up in device manager and browse through the advanced settings tab, then turn everything off related to power management.

 

I've seen goofy problems with LAN booting and WOL caused by the driver loaded into the existing Windows installs. Most recently I've got a lab of Optiplex 780 machines that run Windows XP. WOL worked beautifully until I reimaged the lab with Windows 7. Even though it was still enabled in the BIOS, they would not wake up. It turns out that the NIC driver included in Windows 7 was lacking some features and somehow disabled it. After installing drivers from Dell's site WOL magically started working again.

[Davit2005]

Sorry for the delay in reply, busy with Windows 7 image building, joy of joys. Lets hope my extensive testing of the image pays off before mass roll out and accelerated hair loss .

 

Looked through BIOS and found nowt, also looked at the NIC driver which I have updated to the latest Realtek driver and disabled all the power management options. I have cleared the CMOS settings also as a test.

 

Looks like I am faced with either updating the BIOS or imaging from external HDD (only takes about 20mins per image x 60 of this type of base unit on site should be done in a week).

 

Past experience of Viglen subcontract engineers replacing motherboards with different makes/models does not really build confidence when mass BIOS updating without individually checking each machine first.

 

HP's are much easier to deal with, once you get past the helpdesk support that is : ( .

 

Regards,

David