HP ProBook 445 G2 Not Displaying iPXE Menu Correctly
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@quinniedid Good, then we might be able to find a quick fix for you. Open the file
/var/www/html/fog/lib/fog/bootmenu.class.phpand find the text “goto get_console” in line 1901 and change that to “goto alt_console”. Save the file and boot one of your ProBooks that show the issue. -
@sebastian-roth That change worked! The screen doesn’t have our background image and different colored text. What does that mean we need to do to get the regular console back?
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@quinniedid said in HP ProBook 445 G2 Not Displaying iPXE Menu Correctly:
The screen doesn’t have our background image and different colored text.
The “alt_console” is a backup console when everything else fails. Normally this console should never be called unless something happens configuring the default console. The alt_console only sets a standard text color and does not load any background images, or sets any fancy colors. It would be difficult for FOG to trap this issue unless it was something that iPXE could detect beforehand.
Again this points to a flaw in the target computer’s bios and not with fog directly.
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@quinniedid I have an idea but I need to see the inventory data for this computer. So register it with FOG and do a full inventory of the computer. Then go into the host definition and inventory page. Copy and paste the results as text into this thread. I don’t need to see anything like serial numbers, mac address, or anything that is personally/company identifiable. I do want to see what inventory (smbios) does say so that we can find something unique to identify this specific model of computer.
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@george1421 That is understandable.
Here is the data you requested:
System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard System Product HP ProBook 455 G2 System Version A3009DD10303 System Serial Number <omitted> System UUID <omitted> System Type Type: Notebook BIOS Vendor Hewlett-Packard BIOS Version M75 Ver. 01.09 BIOS Date 12/04/2014 Motherboard Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Motherboard Product Name 2235 Motherboard Version KBC Version 66.20 Motherboard Serial Number <omitted> Motherboard Asset Tag Base Board Asset Tag CPU Manufacturer AMD Corporation CPU Version AMD A8-7100 Radeon R5, 8 Compute Cores 4C+4G CPU Normal Speed Current Speed: 1800 MHz CPU Max Speed Max Speed: 1800 MHz Memory 3.30 GiB Hard Disk Model WDC WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0 Hard Disk Firmware 11.01A11 Hard Disk Serial Number WD-WXT0E59HNE56 Chassis Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Chassis Version Chassis Serial <omitted> Chassis Asset Not Specified -
@quinniedid said in HP ProBook 445 G2 Not Displaying iPXE Menu Correctly:
System Product: HP ProBook 455 G2
Motherboard Product Name: 2235Warning none of this gibberish will be understandable at the moment but I’m building a path to an answer. This won’t be a quick fix, but a durable one if what I’m thinking works well.
In ipxe terms the
productvariable might access one of these values.${product:uristring}Looking at the ipxe source code the ipxe settting
productpoints to System Product So for this hardwareproductshould equal “HP ProBook 455 G2”Offset +1898
+ if (isset($_REQUEST['alt_console'])) { + $gconsole = "alt_console"; + } else { + $gconsole = "get_console"; + } $Send['head'] = self::fastmerge( array( 'cpuid --ext 29 && set arch x86_64 || set arch i386', + 'goto ' . $gconsole, - 'goto get_console', ':console_set', ), explode("\n", $mainColors), explode("\n", $mainCpairs),OMG, if it was easy I guess everyone would be doing this. String functions in iPXE, to put it nicely… stink.
default.ipxe
#!ipxe cpuid --ext 29 && set arch x86_64 || set arch ${buildarch} set testalt HP ProBook 455 G2 params param mac0 ${net0/mac} param arch ${arch} param platform ${platform} param product ${product} param manufacturer ${product} param ipxever ${version} param filename ${filename} param sysuuid ${uuid} iseq ${product} ${testalt} && param alt_console 1 || isset ${net1/mac} && param mac1 ${net1/mac} || goto bootme isset ${net2/mac} && param mac2 ${net2/mac} || goto bootme :bootme chain http://<fog_server_ip_address>/fog/service/ipxe/boot.php##paramNothing is tested I can pass a param of alt_console=1 and the right code runs and creates the ipxe menu.
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@quinniedid said in HP ProBook 445 G2 Not Displaying iPXE Menu Correctly:
That change worked! The screen doesn’t have our background image and different colored text. What does that mean we need to do to get the regular console back?
Sounds like you were using a custom background image. I am wondering if it’s that in particular causing the scrembled output? Have you tried using the default picture that comes with the FOG install on the HP ProBook 445 G2 yet (download here if you don’t have it anymore)?
Great we figured out the background picture is causing this! A first major step. George’s idea is great to just use the alternative console (no picture) for this model. But still I would try to use the default picture first.
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@sebastian-roth I just wanted to check-in. Just letting you know I am trying to get this tested but because of the holidays and COVID exposure I am unable to be on-site to test this. It will most likely be in early January as to being able to go back on-site. I will provide an update once we are able to get this tested. We are using a custom background and will try to use a default background of both the white and black.
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@sebastian-roth Ok. We were finally able to test this today. I tried both the standard bg and bgdark images and all of them are doing the same thing.
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@quinniedid Ok, looks like this is not due to the picture you used but a general issue with displaying the image on the HP ProBook 445 G2. So far I have not found any hint on other people reporting this issue to iPXE and I would suspect this to be kind of an endeavor to figure out even with the help of iPXE developers. Though you can still report it on github or the forums.
The easier way is just using the workaround that George came up with. Not fancy but way less effort than figuring this one out I suppose.
