Cant PXE boot to fog server

[Jaymes Driver]

Have you ever imaged any of your machines with FOG?

Do you have another model of computer that will pxe boot?

Did you set up Options 66/67 like Tom suggested? It is part of the installation script that tells you to add values to your DHCP server. If you can not modify your DHCP server we have a work around.

[BPSTravis]

This sounds like an issue with this particular machine being able to do LAN booting as it will not even talk to your DHCP server until it is actually running the OS.

Lenovo has really good support, have you tried contacting them yet? Maybe they can shed some light on this.

[drew2268]

Im using fog as the DHCP server i have tried 2 other models and the pxe boot with no issues and deploy and upload images, the other models are the m71z, and m72z, ive done hp elite books as well the only machine ive had issues pxe booting so far is the m73z.

ill have to check options 66/67 im not quite sure if i have access to modify it

[Tom Elliott]

Have you tested that things are working since you started seeing these issues?

[Jaymes Driver]

At this point I would scour the BIOS and check settings, if you can pxe boot other clients and not this particular model, the problem most likely lies in the hardware, or the BIOS settings.

If adjusting the BIOS settings does not have an affect or if you have already exhausted all methods to enable the LAN Option Rom, Pxe boot options, Next server options, etc then I would contact Lenovo and see if there is a BIOS Flash that you can acquire to make the units PXE boot.

[drew2268]

yes the M71z and M72z and hp elite books still upload and deploy with no issues, i also have already contacted lenovo and sent them a pc as well to tested a new bios on the machine here. lenovo states right out of the box the machine works but when they sent the machine back right out of the box it still dint pxe boot and all settings are the same in bios as they left them.

i dont know if this may help but Would knowing my setup help as well, cause to make this even weirder. the m71z, m72z have no problem pxe booting from a dell switch power connect 6224, but when i connect the m73z it never pxes boot . so i decide to take a direct connection from the wall and to the computer and took the switch out of the picture [ATTACH=full]575[/ATTACH] and it pxe boots but hangs here, let me know if this helps

[url=“/_imported_xf_attachments/0/575_rsz_hang_on_pc_from_wall_to_pc.jpg?:”]rsz_hang_on_pc_from_wall_to_pc.jpg[/url]

[Tom Elliott]

Looks like a problem with the kernel.

Try mine:
[url]https://mastacontrola.com/fogboot/kernel/bzImage32[/url]

[drew2268]

okay thank you would the kernel effect how it boots through a switch and why some devices work and others don’t?

[Tom Elliott]

No it shouldn’t, but we never know what could be causing an issue. If removing the switch fixes the problem, it would seem likely there was a problem with the switch in the first place.

[drew2268]

okay im going to try the kernel ill update shortly with the findings thanks guys for all the help so far

[drew2268]

Okay sorry to ask this but how do i upload that kernel though the web interface, or do i have to do it on the server ?

[BPSTravis]

You will need to copy it over to the server and then set that kernel for that one host or all hosts(default kernel).

It goes in the directory /tftpboot/fog/kernel.

[drew2268]

does the kernel update have to be updated through the server or can it be done through the gui

[drew2268]

okay thank you

[BPSTravis]

through the server for Tom’s custom kernel.

There are lots of defaults that can be done through the GUI but Tom’s requires you to add it without the GUI unless you go to FOG 33b.

[drew2268]

okay thank you

[drew2268]

how do i set it for the host or as the default kerenal for all hosts , sorry this is the first time Ive ever done any thing with the kerenals

[Tom Elliott]

You just copy it to the /tftpboot/fog/kernel/ directory as bzImage
A sample of commands you could perform this with would be:
[code]cd /tftpboot/fog/kernel/
mv bzImage bzImage.orig.2014MAR11
wget --no-check-certificate -O bzImage https://mastacontrola.com/fogboot/kernel/bzImage32
[/code]

That should do the trick for you.

[drew2268]

thank you so much

[mkstreet]

i found this thread while searching for my hardware. I’m not sure if my problem would be fixed by this kernel or not?

I have Lenovo M72z and it PXE boots ok, but if I choose (or it times out on the pxe menu) to the first option: “boot from local disk”… well, it doesn’t happen.

I get a black screen that says “Booting from local disk…” in the upper left corner, then it hangs there forever.

As far as I can tell, everything else seems to be ok. I can upload and deploy images. Sometimes when I multicast, one computer in the group (of five computers) won’t wake (for unknown reasons) and then the multicast will be stuck at “Please Wait” (blue screen) until I go power up the offending hardware. Then it takes off fine.

After I deploy an image, it tries to reboot and I get to the black screen “booting from local disk” hang (as noted above) again. When I hit ESC to skip the pxe menu, I can get in just fine… but then it will reboot once the first time after a deploy after a minute or so… I think this must be a delayed reboot command from FOG left over from the image deploy (because the black screen hang didnt ever complete successfully).

I did the hardware inventory option and I noticed a message fly by about unknown/unrecognized BIOS “please report”. Though I am not sure where to report this?

Here are the results from the hardware inventory of a typical machine:

System Manufacturer
LENOVO

System Product
3554CTO

System Version
ThinkCentre M72z

System Serial Number
PBG8GDG

System Type
Desktop

BIOS Vendor
LENOVO

BIOS Version
F6KT32AUS

BIOS Date
09/03/2013

Motherboard Manufacturer
LENOVO

Motherboard Product Name
MAHOBAY

Motherboard Version
NOK

Motherboard Serial Number

Motherboard Asset Tag

CPU Manufacturer
Intel Corporation

CPU Version
Intel Core i5-3470S CPU @ 2.90GHz

CPU Normal Speed
2900 MHz

CPU Max Speed
2900 MHz

Memory
3433056 kB

Hard Disk Model
WDC WD10EZEX-08RKKA0

Hard Disk Firmware
80.00A80

Hard Disk Serial Number
WD-WCC1S6883074