Lenovo M70a Pxe boot

[Raymond Bell]

Unable to get Lenovo M70a to Pxe boot
Any help would be great
thanks

[george1421]

@raymond-bell So I’m suspicious of this error for a few reasons. Firstly do we know what ipxe kernel this is loading?

I can’t tell from the screen shot if this is a uefi or bios boot, as well as what ipxe boot loader is running (snponly, ipxe, realtek)??

What version of FOG are you running?

Have you tried to rebuild iPXE using the built in compile script. We have seen a lot of hardware changing since FOG 1.5.9 was released (assuming you are using the latest version of FOG).

[Raymond Bell]

@george1421 said in Lenovo M70a Pxe boot:

rebuild iPXE

I am running 1.5.9
These M70a are UEFi only
All other computers iPxe boot fine BOIS or UEFI
Not sure how to do the compile script

This is the video one of my techs sent me of the issue.```
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xb_qhRQoy46maZNsukWgL0e43QqYdaXE/view?usp=sharing

[george1421]

@raymond-bell This answer really depends on how you installed fog. If you used the git method then change to the fogproject directory, in there is utils/FOGiPXE/buildipxe.sh Run that script and it will rebuild ipxe with the current version. The FOG server WILL need internet access to download the latest build of iPXE source code.

Once the build is complete the quickest way to copy the files over is to rerun the fog installer script OR search for snponly.efi with find / -name snponly.efi This will find the location of the just compiled files. Copy the ones you use from this location to /tftpboot When you pxe boot once again pay attention to the iPXE version and build number. Your picture sows 1.20.1+ with a build version of [g4bd0] I suspect the build version will change. If it does not then the iPXE files didn’t get updated correctly.

[Raymond Bell]

@george1421
Updated iPXE via instructions still not working

Funny thing is i got it to boot into fog after about 3 reboots and when i click full host reg it hangs on bzImage… 0%

DHCP is set up like this

[george1421]

@raymond-bell Do do we know what boot file is being sent to the target computer? Is it snponly.efi or ipxe.efi?

Lately we’ve seen better success with snponly.efi as the uefi firmware has now matured. snponly.efi is to uefi as undionly.kpxe is to bios. Both use the built in network drivers in the network card’s firmware.

[Raymond Bell]

@george1421
I am not sure what file it is using… So i change dhcp to look like

this so it will only use snponly.efi and it is still hanging on this and rebooting

[george1421]

@raymond-bell If you have a dumb switch (unmanaged $20USD cheepie, etc) place that between the building switch and the pxe booting computer. See if that resolves the issue. This could be a spanning tree or green ethernet issue. We’ve hit on the hard problems to solve I can think of already.

[Raymond Bell]

@george1421 Ok tried a dummy switch and same issue but after reboots couple time it goes to fog screen the click full host reg and it hangs on

bzImage . . . 0%

[george1421]

@raymond-bell said in Lenovo M70a Pxe boot:

Ok tried a dummy switch and same issue but after reboots couple time it goes to fog screen the click full host reg and it hangs on
bzImage . . . 0%

OK this is a new one. It can’t initialize the network adapter but after several reboots it does but then fails to transfer bzImage.

Have you checked to see if the firmware is up to date on this computer including the nic driver firmware (this would be a hardware thing not related to any OS level driver).

Do all of this model act this way or only this one unit.

What kind of network adapter are you using? Is it built into the mobo or is it an external usb attached network adapter?

If this all fails to give us results we can always get it imaged form usb booting right into FOS Linux. There are some caveats to this, but we CAN still get the imaging job done.

[Raymond Bell]

@george1421
We just got in 3 of these M70a and they all do the same thing
Firmware looks to be up to date
Network adapter is built in

And i have never used the FOS Linux

[george1421]

@raymond-bell said in Lenovo M70a Pxe boot:

And i have never used the FOS Linux

You have, but you’ve never directly interacted with it.

The concepts are here: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7727/building-usb-booting-fos-image Understand your caveats and why this isn’t the first choice.

The concept here is that you will boot bzImage and init.xz from the USB stick and bypass iPXE and its interaction with your hardware. Look at the chat bubble in the upper right corner of this page for a few more hints.