Boot Dell XPS 12 to USB to Network card

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid as cheap as they are, I’d say order them both. That cost is trivial to most I.T. departments.

Once you have one that works, you might want to order a few of them. Only more and more devices will come without wired Ethernet adapters.

Generally, Realtek chips work real well with Linux. Atheros is another great chip maker.

Here are some with realtek chips:

http://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Gigabit-Ethernet-software-required/dp/B013G4C8RE/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453312172&sr=1-2&keywords=realtek+usb+to+ethernet

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Chromebook/dp/B003VSTDFG/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453312172&sr=1-5&keywords=realtek+usb+to+ethernet

http://www.amazon.com/F-Dorla-Ethernet-Chromebook-Specific-USB-G1000/dp/B013W5J3CA/ref=sr_1_12?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453312172&sr=1-12&keywords=realtek+usb+to+ethernet

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman Great minds my friend I ordered 1 of each.

[george1421]

@Psycholiquid Great, when you have a working system, if you wouldn’t mind document what was done so we can create a wiki page.

You are pioneering a new process that will help others too. You are just the first to get there with the need and the skills to solve it.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 I most definitely will.

[Psycholiquid]

OK I was able to get two USB to Network dongles. I have tested with the Dell XPS 12 with no luck. I have tried the following:

taking the following files and booting to them each by renaming to bootx64.efi

intel.efi
realtek.efi
ipxe.efi
snponly.efi

The two devices are the following:

ASIX AX88178 Chipset USB-G1000
ASIX AX88772 chipset

Neither are showing up. I am at a loss here, is there a way to make a pxe.efi file with eh drivers in it. Like custom make one?

Basically I am looking for a bootable USB drive with drivers for USB to Network drivers. That will talk back to the FOG server to get it started. Just a down dirty one will work.

[Psycholiquid]

Also tried it with the Surface. No dice there either.

[Psycholiquid]

However I am getting this from the Surface using the docking station:

So after that screen it just sits there and eventually goes into Windows 10. This is a Surface 4 so I guess we are partially there.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid said:

OK I was able to get two USB to Network dongles. I have tested with the Dell XPS 12 with no luck. I have tried the following:

taking the following files and booting to them each by renaming to bootx64.efi

intel.efi
realtek.efi
ipxe.efi
snponly.efi

The two devices are the following:

ASIX AX88178 Chipset USB-G1000
ASIX AX88772 chipset

Neither are showing up. I am at a loss here, is there a way to make a pxe.efi file with eh drivers in it. Like custom make one?

Basically I am looking for a bootable USB drive with drivers for USB to Network drivers. That will talk back to the FOG server to get it started. Just a down dirty one will work.

Can you take a photo of what you’re seeing?

[george1421]

Looking at your original post again. I see you were following the hard way instructions and you are booting into bios mode. Do you have a usb 2.0 network adapter to try? Also ensure that you are plugging the usb 2.0 ethernet adapter into a usb 2.0 (black) port not a usb 3.0 (blue) port. The hard way should boot. I just booted the FOG Client debug kernel from the flash drive and I was able to pull an IP address with a sabrent usb adapter #USB-G1000. I’ll create a boot flash drive and see if I can boot in bios mode into the fog menu.

[edit] Wait, you mentioned the harder way, that is for uefi booting not bios booting. For Bios booting you can use these instructions: https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/6347/usb-boot-bios-client-into-fog-menu [/edit]

[Sebastian Roth]

The latest picture you posted shows an UEFI network boot screen I think. But it says: “NBP filename is undionly.kpxe”. This is a BIOS boot file and won’t work in UEFI netboot.

We have another thread with someone trying to PXE boot a Surface Pro 4 device and we haven’t succeeded yet as far as I know. Those devices will definitely cause some head aces in the next months I guess. From what we have tested so far it seams like our kernel is fine booting on those (using grub on a USB stick) but the hand off from iPXE might be an issue. I am still trying to get my head around on how to debug this any further.

[Tom Elliott]

@Sebastian-Roth maybe debug efi,bzImage on ipxe clauses?

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman Same as before in the video I posted, getting nothing at all.

@george1421 Both adapters are USB 2.0 and ports are USB 2.0. I am going to try to create the efi file form that website you had posted again today to see if the file makes a difference. I was using the files from the FOG server this go around. I only have the option to UEFI boot in these devices. The Surface gives me a PXE boot but it isn’t using BIOS it is emulating it from what I am gathering. But I will get on that more once I get the Dell issue ironed out.

@Sebastian-Roth I’m not sure what you are saying, should I use a bootable USB like I do with the Dell and it will pick up form there? I will try that today and see what I get. Those things are a pain to get into the UEFI interface. they love to just rebooting into Windows even when you know how to hit the button correctly. LOL

@Tom-Elliott I will try all the above suggestions and report back my findings. Hopefully I can carve out some time today to try all this. My boss is the only one with a Surface I can test on and he forgot it at home. I will be sending him out to retrieve it. Meh bosses, so undependable.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 OK I just recreated the ipxe.efi file and migrated it to the flash drive and renamed. It is working, but the Sabrent USB-G1000 is still not being seen by the flash boot process. I have tried the following:

Plugged directly into the USB port on the side of the Dell XPS 12

Connected the Dell docking station and plugged both the flash drive and the USB network into the docking station (Which still seed the flash drive fine and boots from it, but never sees the USB dongle)

I am doing all this using the UEFI boot process form the dell. Hitting F12 and choosing to boot from the flash drive. I am thinking I am missing something here but I am not sure what it might be.

I have changed the settings in the UEFI to UEFI with Legacy OPROM; Secure Boot: OFF per the instructions of the Dell forums, but so far no dice. Is this the same process you are using?

Here is a screenshot (Have I mentioned I hate Dell yet?)

[george1421]

ok lets make sure I’m in the right thread.

You created a usb flash drive using the tutorial with the harder way. When you boot from that drive with the usb ethernet adapter installed do you get to the fog menu. What we did here was install the ipxe.efi boot kernel onto the usb drive and we are booting off that. This takes the place if the efi network booting that does not exist in some devices. (noted o790, e6420, e6430). Once you get to the FOG menu, when you select an option (like register) the FOG Client kernel is transferred to the client and the that takes over. Neither of these processes will fix efi network booting from this device.

[Wayne Workman]

Random thought… try updating the firmware.

[Psycholiquid]

OK after much cussing and screaming I just got off the phone with Dell. According to their tech and I am not sure if I totally believe him, you have to order the following:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=&cs=04&sku=443-BBBD&dgc=ST&cid=293344&lid=5616479&acd=12309152537461010&ven1=sE1inYhPj&ven2=,

This is the only one that is compatible with their BIOS at this time. I asked him what chipset it was and was told a proprietary one. So i am going to say unless someone has that nic the XPS laptops are a bust

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid I think the guy you talked to was trained to sell Dell products, and him saying “this is the only one compatible” is just a way to ensure you get something they know will work. I’m almost sure that there is other adapters out there that will work with this device.

I feel like we should continue to press forward with the two adapters that you have, but this will mostly be up to @george1421 and @Sebastian because I don’t know enough about it.

My recommendation is to update the firmware on the device with the latest available and then try again and follow George’s and Sebastian’s advice.

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman I agree with you Wayne, “Bob” didnt sound like he was trying to hard. I did try the Firmware first to see if it would add functionality. It was a no starter. I want to find out what chipset that Dell USB to Network device is so I can try and find a comparable item. I am sure “Dell” doesn’t make their own network cards.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid What happens when you try in BIOS/Legacy mode?

Is there any option anywhere in the firmware for booting from USB, or enabling network booting? Can you go into the setup and comb through it ?

[george1421]

OK what I just created a usb flash drive that will pxe boot a 6430 into the fog menu in efi mode. The Dell e6430 doesn’t support efi pxe booting from its own internal network adapter. But I can efi pxe boot from a flash drive connected to the laptop. I can run through quick registration (not going to deploy to this box) without issue. For those bios’s (bad word) that don’t support efi pxe booting using the onboard nic, using this usb stick works.

[edit] when I insert the usb ethernet adapter ipxe still tries to boot via the onboard nic. I’m going to test if I disable the onboard nic if it will boot using the usb ethernet adapter. [/edit]

[edit2] It appears that the ipxe kernel in efi mode does not have the driver for the sabrent USB-G1000. Not done yet but I may have to give-up. UEFI doesn’t appear to be ready for prime time [/edit2]