[1.5.10.2149] ipxe.kpxe regression breaks all exit-to-HDD methods on Legacy BIOS devices

[rpycroft]

Hi guys,

Legacy (BIOS) issue I wanted to report in case anyone else experiences the same problem. I’m going on leave for a couple of weeks from today (07/08/2026) so may be slow to respond to any follow-up questions, but happy to test further on my return.

We noticed a similar thing when upgrading to 1.5.10.1667 last year but found the below workaround. Since upgrading to 1.5.10.2149 we’re unable to use the below workaround.

Environment:

FOG Version: 1.5.10.2149 (upgraded from 1.5.10.1667)
Server: Ubuntu VM on Hyper-V
DHCP boot file served to Legacy BIOS clients: ipxe.kpxe
Affected hardware: Dell OptiPlex 390, 3010, 3020 (Legacy BIOS)
Unaffected: All UEFI devices

Issue:

After upgrading from 1.5.10.1667 to 1.5.10.2149, all Legacy BIOS devices fail to exit to the local hard drive after a PXE boot when no imaging task is assigned. UEFI devices are completely unaffected.

All exit-to-hard-drive methods were tested and failed with the new ipxe.kpxe:

Exit methods tested with the new ipxe.kpxe – all failed:

GRUB_FIRST_HDD – Fatal: DHCP_ACK failure! / PXE unload fails: 106
SANBOOT – Boot from SAN 0x00 … I/O error / hangs on 0x80
refind_efi – Flashing cursor, no boot (expected as this seems to be the UEFI boot option?)
GRUB_FIRST_FOUND_WINDOWS – OptiPlex 3010 and 3020 passed, OptiPlex 390 failed to get past PXE boot and presented with a BOOTMGR error

Fix:

Restoring ipxe.kpxe from the 1.5.10.1667 stable release commit (aa524d494) resolved the issue completely on all three Legacy BIOS models tested, with GRUB_FIRST_HDD as the exit method:

Shell
1
cd /root/fogproject
2
git show aa524d494:packages/tftp/ipxe.kpxe > /tftpboot/ipxe.kpxe
3
sudo chown fogproject:root /tftpboot/ipxe.kpxe
4
sudo chmod 754 /tftpboot/ipxe.kpxe
5
sudo systemctl restart tftpd-hpa
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Then set Exit to Hard Drive Type back to GRUB_FIRST_HDD in FOG Settings.

Confirmed working after fix:

OptiPlex 390 (Legacy BIOS)
OptiPlex 3010 (Legacy BIOS)
OptiPlex 3020 (Legacy BIOS)
UEFI devices (unaffected throughout)

This appears to be a regression in the ipxe.kpxe binary shipped with 1.5.10.2149, consistent with the UEFI-side binary issues reported in GitHub issue #978.

Thanks!

[Tom Elliott]

@rpycroft Please attempt to update to 2231.