Lenovo N22 PXE boot issues

[Tom Elliott]

What version of FOG are you running? Any potential Picture? DHCP Server information (nextserver/filename/etc…)?

FOG is running what OS? Are you running a trunk version? If so, are you using has_usb_nic flag?

We need a ton of information please.

[george1421]

Also does your N22 see your lenovo usb adapter in uefi mode. If you can then that is a good thing. If not, I would look for a usb 2.0 adapter and go the usb boot media route. You can get bios mode to work, the issue is the usb 3.0 devices typically require a special driver for usb 3.0 that may not be in the fog system.

Also you need to disable secure boot if that is still on.

[blue_steel]

@Tom-Elliott We are using 7945 on Ubuntu 14.04.4. Have tried the has_usb_nic flag.

[blue_steel]

@george1421 No dice on the usb 3 adapter. With the flash drive and usb 2.0 adapter I get IPXE initializing devices, then a black screen for 5 minutes, then it boots into windows.

[george1421]

@blue_steel Ok in uefi mode, you need to have a “supported” usb 3.0 device to pxe boot.

So in uefi or bios mode the usb boot (if you are on a current trunk release of FOG I have a different solution for you) method will work as long as the network adapter is supported by iPXE. If you are using r8050 or newer then you can use this method and bypass iPXE all together. https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7727/building-usb-booting-fos-image

BTW: The wiki page you referenced was a product of these tutorials.
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/6400/usb-boot-uefi-client-into-fog-menu-harder-way
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/6350/usb-boot-uefi-client-into-fog-menu-easy-way

[blue_steel]

@george1421 Thanks, the adapter is a Lenovo USB 3.0 Ethernet 4X90E51405, which should be supported. I am thinking we might need to update our version of fog… which atm I don’t have permission to do from our network admin yet.

Of note though is the usb drive seems to recognize and try to boot once, after that it seems to fail much faster.

[george1421]

@blue_steel OK, as a test and path forward here I want you to go ahead and follow these instructions.

https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/7727/building-usb-booting-fos-image

Understand you will not get full function until FOG has been updated past r8050 (I have a hack for that if you can install 2 files on your fog server) Once you build this usb boot device, I want you to select the bottom option (6 I think). This is the debug console. Press enter a few times. You should end up at a linux command prompt. Confirm that you can pick up an IP address if it does then we can talk about the next steps. But this WILL confirm that the FOS engine supports that network adapter. Plus you will have 2/3 of what you need to boot without iPXE.

[blue_steel]

@george1421 I will try it tomorrow. Have to make my case for updating it to my supervisor.

[george1421]

@blue_steel Just be aware that this part does not involve the fog server. We need to understand if even upgrading the FOG server will help with your issue. Those instructions are for building a boot usb. If your target system doesn’t work with the boot usb, there is no reason to upgrade.

[blue_steel]

@george1421 Ahh ok, I didn’t see part 2. I will get on that and let you know. Much appreciated. One question on step 7 for windows and moving the file. Not 100% sure on using putty to copy it.

[george1421]

@blue_steel That is using the linux system to create the usb boot drive from the .img file. If you want to use windows then you can use RUFUS to write the image file to the usb stick. As for moving the file from linux to windows you can use pscp (similar to scp for linux) from the putty stack.

[blue_steel]

@george1421 Ok, so I got as far as the .img file. Once I use RUFUS to make a dd bootable neither windows or linux recognize it. I most likely messed up somewhere earlier as I am a linux noob. For giggles, could I just copy the file in linux to a usb and go from there on my next go (since my linux and windows PCs will be the same machine)? Many apologies in advance.

[Wayne Workman]

@blue_steel in putty, to copy you select text and just right click. To paste something from the clipboard, just right click.

[blue_steel]

Ok, so maybe my issue is here…

mkfs.fat 3.0.28 (2015-05-16)
/dev/mapper/loop0p1: No such file or directory
Mount the filesystem via loopback
mount: special device /dev/mapper/loop0p1 does not exist
Install GRUB
grub-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/i386-efi/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist. Please specify --target or --directory.
grub-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist. Please specify --target or --directory.
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of `/cow’.

I am a linux noob running off of a live usb, so putty isn’t really possible. But I think my main issue might be in the above.

[george1421]

@blue_steel Let me make this img for you. I found out during testing that I have the best luck with ubuntu but there are adjustments needed to the script. I’ll create a current img file and upload it to dropbox so you can get it. That would address your issues.

[blue_steel]

@george1421 You are truly a wizard!

[blue_steel]

@george1421 Some success!!!

[george1421]

@blue_steel Excellent.

1. Make sure you have the network cable installed
2. Now select option 6.
3. When you see press enter to continue you will have to hit enter a few times.
4. That should drop you to a command prompt. (This is the FOS engine command shell)
5. Now key in ip addr show that should report the ip address of that target computer.

Hopefully the FOS engine sees your network adapter. If you can get this far then we can talk about part 2 if you don’t want to update your FOG server.

[blue_steel]

@george1421 Wamp Wamp. Hit a snag.

[george1421]

@blue_steel You might want to use the file info I sent you via DM to build that bootable usb drive. Something went wrong with the build you did.