Boot Dell XPS 12 to USB to Network card

[Sebastian Roth]

The latest picture you posted shows an UEFI network boot screen I think. But it says: “NBP filename is undionly.kpxe”. This is a BIOS boot file and won’t work in UEFI netboot.

We have another thread with someone trying to PXE boot a Surface Pro 4 device and we haven’t succeeded yet as far as I know. Those devices will definitely cause some head aces in the next months I guess. From what we have tested so far it seams like our kernel is fine booting on those (using grub on a USB stick) but the hand off from iPXE might be an issue. I am still trying to get my head around on how to debug this any further.

[Tom Elliott]

@Sebastian-Roth maybe debug efi,bzImage on ipxe clauses?

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman Same as before in the video I posted, getting nothing at all.

@george1421 Both adapters are USB 2.0 and ports are USB 2.0. I am going to try to create the efi file form that website you had posted again today to see if the file makes a difference. I was using the files from the FOG server this go around. I only have the option to UEFI boot in these devices. The Surface gives me a PXE boot but it isn’t using BIOS it is emulating it from what I am gathering. But I will get on that more once I get the Dell issue ironed out.

@Sebastian-Roth I’m not sure what you are saying, should I use a bootable USB like I do with the Dell and it will pick up form there? I will try that today and see what I get. Those things are a pain to get into the UEFI interface. they love to just rebooting into Windows even when you know how to hit the button correctly. LOL

@Tom-Elliott I will try all the above suggestions and report back my findings. Hopefully I can carve out some time today to try all this. My boss is the only one with a Surface I can test on and he forgot it at home. I will be sending him out to retrieve it. Meh bosses, so undependable.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 OK I just recreated the ipxe.efi file and migrated it to the flash drive and renamed. It is working, but the Sabrent USB-G1000 is still not being seen by the flash boot process. I have tried the following:

Plugged directly into the USB port on the side of the Dell XPS 12

Connected the Dell docking station and plugged both the flash drive and the USB network into the docking station (Which still seed the flash drive fine and boots from it, but never sees the USB dongle)

I am doing all this using the UEFI boot process form the dell. Hitting F12 and choosing to boot from the flash drive. I am thinking I am missing something here but I am not sure what it might be.

I have changed the settings in the UEFI to UEFI with Legacy OPROM; Secure Boot: OFF per the instructions of the Dell forums, but so far no dice. Is this the same process you are using?

Here is a screenshot (Have I mentioned I hate Dell yet?)

[george1421]

ok lets make sure I’m in the right thread.

You created a usb flash drive using the tutorial with the harder way. When you boot from that drive with the usb ethernet adapter installed do you get to the fog menu. What we did here was install the ipxe.efi boot kernel onto the usb drive and we are booting off that. This takes the place if the efi network booting that does not exist in some devices. (noted o790, e6420, e6430). Once you get to the FOG menu, when you select an option (like register) the FOG Client kernel is transferred to the client and the that takes over. Neither of these processes will fix efi network booting from this device.

[Wayne Workman]

Random thought… try updating the firmware.

[Psycholiquid]

OK after much cussing and screaming I just got off the phone with Dell. According to their tech and I am not sure if I totally believe him, you have to order the following:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=&cs=04&sku=443-BBBD&dgc=ST&cid=293344&lid=5616479&acd=12309152537461010&ven1=sE1inYhPj&ven2=,

This is the only one that is compatible with their BIOS at this time. I asked him what chipset it was and was told a proprietary one. So i am going to say unless someone has that nic the XPS laptops are a bust

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid I think the guy you talked to was trained to sell Dell products, and him saying “this is the only one compatible” is just a way to ensure you get something they know will work. I’m almost sure that there is other adapters out there that will work with this device.

I feel like we should continue to press forward with the two adapters that you have, but this will mostly be up to @george1421 and @Sebastian because I don’t know enough about it.

My recommendation is to update the firmware on the device with the latest available and then try again and follow George’s and Sebastian’s advice.

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman I agree with you Wayne, “Bob” didnt sound like he was trying to hard. I did try the Firmware first to see if it would add functionality. It was a no starter. I want to find out what chipset that Dell USB to Network device is so I can try and find a comparable item. I am sure “Dell” doesn’t make their own network cards.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid What happens when you try in BIOS/Legacy mode?

Is there any option anywhere in the firmware for booting from USB, or enabling network booting? Can you go into the setup and comb through it ?

[george1421]

OK what I just created a usb flash drive that will pxe boot a 6430 into the fog menu in efi mode. The Dell e6430 doesn’t support efi pxe booting from its own internal network adapter. But I can efi pxe boot from a flash drive connected to the laptop. I can run through quick registration (not going to deploy to this box) without issue. For those bios’s (bad word) that don’t support efi pxe booting using the onboard nic, using this usb stick works.

[edit] when I insert the usb ethernet adapter ipxe still tries to boot via the onboard nic. I’m going to test if I disable the onboard nic if it will boot using the usb ethernet adapter. [/edit]

[edit2] It appears that the ipxe kernel in efi mode does not have the driver for the sabrent USB-G1000. Not done yet but I may have to give-up. UEFI doesn’t appear to be ready for prime time [/edit2]

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman When I try from Legacy mode it never sees the flash drive, just says there is no boot device and reboots.

But then again wouldn’t it do that since it is not trying to boot using the .efi file on the USB drive (Basically using BIOS instead of UEFI)

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 Yeah that is kinda the same scenario I was seeing with a EFI booting Desktop. It never saw my USB NIC but kept trying to use the onboard one.

[george1421]

@Psycholiquid The FOG client debug kernel does support the usb ethernet adapter in efi mode. SO… what needs to happen is to get the ipxe kernel to support the usb ethernet adapter in efi mode.

(easier said than done, but now we know what needs to be done…)

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 I think I understand what you are saying.

[george1421]

@Psycholiquid At the risk of just saying fork over the $40 to Mr. Dell and be done with it. It sounds like that solution has some merit.

Doing a bit of google-fu I found this quote.

“So here is where the newly integrated nice-ness begins, with the new USB support a driver in iPXE will for the usb nic there. At present you’ll need a USB controller (i.e. xHCI) and a device supporting either ECM or NCM, which probably means a USB3 NIC, but then again you dont want to build over a 100 Mb/s USB2 adapter anyway. So this means we are not depending on certain HW manufacturers at all. Most adapters should work as long as they are xHCI and supports either ECM and NCM. This means that this scenario will work for tablets without PXE capabilities as well, or any other device that cannot boot from PXE but has a USB port to boot from.”

So if I understand correctly, to pxe boot in efi mode the usb ethernet adapter must support ECM or NCM modes and be usb 3.0.

The risks are: the ipxe (not a FOG project product) won’t support this $40 dell network adapter. Or the FOG kernel (is a FOG project product) won’t support the dell network adapter even after ipxe has transfer this to the client. The latter risk could be mitigated with Mr. Tom integrating the driver into the FOG kernel.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 Yeah I was coming to the first conclusion on my own after reading through a bit of this blog:

http://www.johnwillis.com/2014/03/pxe-booting-using-usb-to-ethernet-dongle.html

[george1421]

@Psycholiquid said:

@george1421 I think I understand what you are saying.

To say it another way: the key is the ipxe software doesn’t support my usb ethernet adapter. FOG uses ipxe to download the bzImage+inits (FOG Client OS) from the FOG server. Once the FOG kernels get to the target computer, the FOG OS does support that usb 2.0 ethernet adapter so it will function as designed.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 I’m gona run by my Walmart tonight and pick this up:

http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=USB21000S2&stores=2967,1510,2447,1961,2250

From what I am reading it may work for the Dell (Not to say it will work with all UEFI)

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 At this stage of the game it is a point of pride that I will not let this beat me.