Microsoft Surface Pro 4

[Sebastian Roth]

@Avaryan Please find a test plan in the spreadsheet and binaries here. Start from the bottom of the table. Download 01_ipxe.efi and point your DHCP to that file (I prefer this to renaming the file to not confuse the files while testing several different ones). Schedule an upload task for one of your surface clients and boot it up. With 01_ipxe.efi things should work fine - just to confirm. Then work your way up the list and update the status in column B - ok or hang…

[Tom Elliott]

@Sebastian-Roth The git commit is accurate (7156 was the starter). I’m not sure what’s changed since this was implemented all the way to now. My thoughts were to find the 7156 as “working” and the closest to “broken” and run git bisect from those so we could hopefully determine exactly when it was introduced.

[Avaryan]

@Sebastian-Roth I don’t have access to the DHCP server, so would renaming and uploading the file work? Will keep track of names.

I’m still waiting to get my hands on the surface device.

[Sebastian Roth]

@Avaryan Sure you can run the same tests and just rename the files to ipxe.efi every time. As we have the git commit rev in the binary we’ll always figure out which was which. When iPXE comes up, it says “iPXE 1.0.0+ (xxxxx) – Open Source Network Boot Firmware” where xxxxx is the start of the git commit rev you see in the spreadsheet.

I really hope we can find out what is causing this hang on surface devices…

[Sebastian Roth]

@Tom-Elliott While building all those binaries I was wondering if maybe a change in the iPXE header files (general.h, settings.h, console.h) was - and still is - causing iPXE to hang on those surface devices?! Well see.
Anyhow, I will stop building more binaries for now and wait for the firsts test results. Let’s see if the newly built 7156 actually is working… Looking forward to hear from you @Avaryan

[Sebastian Roth]

@Avaryan Did you get to test some of the binaries yet? I uploaded the full set now.

Would be great if others ( @sarge_212 , @jhuesser, @Psycholiquid, @fry_p, @Scott-Adams, @xerxes2985, @dylan123, @ecicerkofski, @Arsenal101) could also join the testing so we hopefully find what is actually causing this issue and eventually get rid of those extra-7156-ipxe binaries… Find the test plan and binaries here. Please start from the bottom of the table (01_ipxe.efi) and mark rows as you test those. Thanks in advance!

@Tom-Elliott In case none of those binaries work (not even the 7156 one) then I reckon we have an issue with the iPXE header files. For this I have put together another test plan in the subdirectory called ‘svn’ where I put all the iPXE binaries that were compiled around that time - plus the header files (in ‘svn/config’ dir).

[Avaryan]

@Sebastian-Roth Still waiting on the device.

[Sebastian Roth]

@Avaryan @sarge_212 , @jhuesser, @Psycholiquid, @fry_p, @Scott-Adams, @xerxes2985, @dylan123, @ecicerkofski, @Arsenal101 Please guys, get your MS Surface devices out and help us find this issue!

[Scott Adams]

@Sebastian-Roth I am currently out of the office on vacation. When I get back, I will be more than happy to get one and start testing.

[fry_p]

@Sebastian-Roth Sorry for the delay, I will hit this on Monday. We’ve been re-wiring Chromebook carts the past few weeks and I’ve been absent from FOG dealings and checking the forums. I will try to find a spare Pro 4 to fiddle with

[fry_p]

@fry_p said in Microsoft Surface Pro 4:

@Sebastian-Roth Sorry for the delay, I will hit this on Monday. We’ve been re-wiring Chromebook carts the past few weeks and I’ve been absent from FOG dealings and checking the forums. I will try to find a spare Pro 4 to fiddle with

Hi there, I came back that Monday and had to give away my last Pro 4 to a user. So I guess I’m out for testing this, my apologies. We aren’t planning on purchasing any more in the near future as they are not durable enough for our “rough” users. Sorry everyone

[Avaryan]

I’m still waiting for some. I heard they possibly might not arrive until September… which I really hope isn’t true.

edit: Confirmed ETA. Sometime in mid August.

[fry_p]

@Sebastian-Roth I got my hands on a Pro 4 and tested all 76 of the .efi files you had up in drive. I made notes. Let me know if you need more info. It seems to have worked up until the 5/4/17 commit.

EDIT: They took my surface away for a user before I was able to test the svn folder on the Google Drive folder you shared @Sebastian-Roth

[Sebastian Roth]

@fry_p Thanks heaps for testing the binaries so far! What does USB error mean? PXE boots fine or not?

From your tests it looks like the code change on EFI timer (git 757ab9) broke things. Is anyone else able to verify this (and test the SVN binaries too) before I get in contact with the iPXE devs? @Avaryan @Scott-Adams? You just need to test 04_ipxe.efi and 05_ipxe.efi! Plus testing the binaries in the svn subfolder would be highly appreciated as well. Find it all here.

[Avaryan]

I love how I started this topic and have made 0 contributions, lol.

Apparently the Surface 4 is in “high demand”; which is why it’s taking so long to come in. Eventually I’ll get my hands on one.

[fry_p]

@Sebastian-Roth I should have just put “OK” instead. With just the Surface Pro Ethernet adapter, I always get a USB error past the pxe boot, when it is preparing to image. I can use a powered USB hub to get it to work in those situations. You can change those to avoid confusion, but they pxe booted fine up until the commit you specified. If I can get my hands on another in the near future, I’ll get those svn versions as well.

@Avaryan , you can see that my Surfaces keep getting deployed to users before I can finish testing! They are certainly in high demand around where I work. You are right about that

[Avaryan]

Was informed that the Surface devices came in today. May have one next week.

[Sebastian Roth]

Right after verifying the tests on 04/05_ipxe (see below) you can also try the debug enabled iPXE binary (DEBUG=efi_timer) to see where it hangs/loops. Find 00_efi_timer_ipxe.efi in the same google drive folder as mentioned below.

[Avaryan]

Finally got a Surface Pro 4 to work with.

I’m not even sure where to start with this thing, lol. The USB NIC is from Dell.

I’ve disabled Secure Boot and Trusted Platform Module and left PXE Network as the only boot option. Doesn’t seem to do anything.

Where do I go from here?

[fry_p]

@avaryan From what I understand, it will only pxe boot from a microsoft dongle.

From the Website
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/ethernet-adapters-and-surface-device-deployment

“Third-party Ethernet adapters are also supported for network deployment, although they do not support PXE boot. To use a third-party Ethernet adapter, you must load the drivers into the deployment boot image and you must launch that boot image from a separate storage device, such as a USB stick”