Can't boot on PXE with a specific computer

[Kusa555]

Hello everyone ,

I recently installed a FOG server and i was able to capture and deploy image for the majority of the computer we use at my company.
However with a specific computer, i get a error message (see on the screen capture) and i would like some advices on what i can try to make it work.

A little bit of context :
-I use the 1.5.10 version of FOG
-The computer is a Hp pro 3130
-I was able to boot on PXE on this network with other computers
-the bootfile i tried is undionly.kpxe and undionly.kkpxe .
-I tried to capture the dhcp request to see what pxe architecture the computer is using. on the “vendor class identifier” i get : PXEClient:Arch:00000 : UNDI:002001

Thanks a lot for the help,
Laurent

[FoggyBottoms]

@Kusa555

Was having a similar issue on new uefi only Dell PC’s/laptops
Switched from undionly.pxe to ipxe.efi as the boot file, and all my new systems are now PXE booting and imaging successfully (after secure boot disabled)

[george1421]

@Kusa555 So this system just stays at the initializing devices and never leaves? This is rare for undi (bios) mode. The undionly.kpxe boot loader is correct since your computer is in bios mode.

It looks like that hardware was released in 2010 so it should be well supported by FOG.

Check to see if there is a bios (firmware) update for this computer. This issue is specifically between iPXE, bios, and the hardware. Technically FOG hasn’t started in the screen shot.

The last thing I can think of is if this computer has any abnormal add in cards (like networking) where iPXE might have an issue configuring them.

[Kusa555]

This post is deleted!

[Kusa555]

@george1421 @FoggyBottoms

Thank you both for your response.
I tried a couple of different bootfiles and i found one that works.

However i would like to understand the difference between bootfiles such as undionly.kpxe , ipxe.pxe , ipxe.efi
I tried with these 3 files and it only boots with ipxe.pxe .

Can someone explain to me the differences between these 3 and why does it works now ?

Thanks a lot ,
Laurent

[Tom Elliott]

@Kusa555 The ipxe files are multifold.

The pxe/kpxe/kkpxe are for MBR (legacy) boot systems
The efi labelled files are newer systems for booting (UEFI/EFI based)

ipxe.<label> is using drivers built and maintained for the use in the ipxe code
undionly.pxe/kpxe/kkpxe is attempting to use and surpass (hence kpxe/kkpxe) some mild bugs using the well known and programmed standard by all legacy NIC booting.

snp/snponly.efi is attempting to do the same type of thing for UEFI based systems as k/kkpxe files for MBR/Legacy based systems.

[george1421]

@Kusa555 To add on to what Tom said just remember this,

ipxe.{efi or kpxe} contains all of the common network drivers much like linux or windows OS’ contains all of the common network drivers already built in.

The undionly.kpxe only contains 1 network driver for the undi network protocol that is built into each bios network adapter’s firmware.
The snp.efi and snponly.efi only contain 1 network driver for the snp network protocol built into each uefi network adapter’s firmware.

Boot loaders that end in .pxe, .kpxe, .kkpxe are bios boot loaders
Boot loaders that end in .efi are uefi boot loaders

So what should you use?

For bios, undionly.kpxe
For older uefi system (older than 4 years) use ipxe.efi.
For current uefi systems you may have better utility from snp.efi