Boot Dell XPS 12 to USB to Network card

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman Heres the video:

https://youtu.be/xhgy31MCo3E

[Psycholiquid]

@Tom-Elliott So here is the USB and FOG server side by side. I tried moving the ipxe.efi file on the server to the flash drive and renaming. I got the same results as the website created one.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid said:

@Tom-Elliott Directly from the FOG tftpboot folder?

Yes. But you don’t need to bother the files. Just change your DHCP Server’s option 067 and try others. Make sure you fully power off the laptop and then turn it back on before each test.

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman Why would I change my DHCP options? Wouldnt that break the boot for all other machines?

[george1421]

I’m suspecting that since that nic is not showing up in the bios that it is not uefi compatible and uefi bootable.

It would be interesting to know if you inserted that usb ethernet adapter into a desktop computer that is in uefi mode and see if it shows up. Right now (in my mind) its not clear if the issue is the ipxe kernel, network adapter, or the xps 12 that is at fault. So if it was me I’d start changing one item at a time until you get to a working model.

I would first eliminate the xps 12. Take the usb ethernet adapter and the usb flash drive with the ipxe kernel from the tutorial, or even the one from fog and try to get the ipxe kernel to boot in uefi mode on another computer (like a desktop). This will test out uefi booting from that usb ethernet adapter. If that works then we can start focusing on the xps 12.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 Good call I am going to go try that now. I’ll report back with results.

[george1421]

really the only difference between the ipxe kernel from the tutorial and the official one from the fog server is where it gets the next server setting. If you look at the other uefi boot tutorial (easy way). In that one I just take the fog uefi boot kernel, move it to a flash drive and boot it. In that setup you have to key in the ip address of the fog server since it is not being provided by dhcp. There was a request to not have to key in the ip address of the fog server every time, that is what spurred me on to create the harder way.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid said:

Why would I change my DHCP options? Wouldnt that break the boot for all other machines?

You can configure DHCP to support many boot files, and have it distribute those boot file options based on how hosts identify themselves. We have an article on it in the Wiki. https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=BIOS_and_UEFI_Co-Existence

But that’s for later. What George suggested is good advice.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 OK so I used a dell with EFI and I can see where the onboard NIC is working but the USB to Network never shows. This leads me to believe it is the USB NIC. I tried the same thing with docking station and I get the same results. I am thinking I need to find a USB NIC that will work with EFI. Any suggestions?

[george1421]

@Psycholiquid I’m out of the office today, so I can’t give feedback on the one and only usb ethernet adapter I have. I will do that tomorrow.

But my google-fu found this post which talks about the XPS 13 and usb booting. No definitive answer here either other that to use an older usb ethernet adapter. http://support.plugable.com/plugable/topics/can_i_use_a_usb_network_adapter_for_boot_time_pxe_scenarios

This post does confirm some of my suspicions about why this isn’t working.

[edit] found reference to StarTech USB21000S2 working still trying to confirm [edit]
[edit2] I’m finding more references to the above startech usb working at least in bios mode. The other thing I found interesting is that usb2 ports (black) work more successfully than usb3 ports (blue). [edit2]
[edit3] I did find this article that gives pretty good background inforamtion. http://www.johnwillis.com/2014/03/pxe-booting-using-usb-to-ethernet-dongle.html I do have a usb 2 adapter in my office, when I’m back tomorrow I will confirm for sure if it works with uefi mode on a dell laptop [edit3]

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 Yeah I did some googling to on chip-sets of NIC and found the mot basic one gonna order it and see how it does: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00484IEJS/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid said:

I am thinking I need to find a USB NIC that will work with EFI. Any suggestions?

https://wiki.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=WorkingDevices#USB_Ethernet_Adapters

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman Good call. Do we know if the chipset in that one has been tested?

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Ethernet-Chromebook-Specific-USB-G1000/dp/B000XFVZ5G

OR

http://www.amazon.com/Support-AX88772-UtechSmart-Ethernet-Chromebook/dp/B00CBD2X5E

I’m thinking the latter will be fine but was hoping for the first one.

[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.