Boot Dell XPS 12 to USB to Network card

[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.

[george1421]

@Psycholiquid said:

@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)

According to what I just posted this network adapter needs to be usb 3.0 and support the protocols I mentioned. IMO: This will not work, but I’ve been wrong before and will be again (soon).

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 Well I the StarTech USB31000 sitting here and it hasn’t worked either, basically the updated version of what I am getting tonight. So I am thinking the USB 3.0 route might not be the route to go unless the FOG kernel supports USB 3.0 once that kernel takes over unless it supports it it will drop connection and not pick back up.

But this is all theory we will know after tomorrow.

[Psycholiquid]

@george1421 If this does work FOG needs to start selling USB flashdrive and USB to Ethernet packages for support money LOL.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid said:

the USB 3.0 route might not be the route to go unless the FOG kernel supports USB 3.0

Well if it doesn’t work, it’s an easy fix. The @Tom-Elliott can easily compile a new kernel with this support if that is what it takes to get fog working on your device.

[Wayne Workman]

@Psycholiquid said:

@george1421 If this does work FOG needs to start selling USB flashdrive and USB to Ethernet packages for support money LOL.

Not a bad idea actually.

[Psycholiquid]

@Wayne-Workman So i read farther down in the comments and expanded the long lines of chats, I found this gem:

Kenneth Fortner1 year ago

1
Reply

+John Willis John, thanks for the great response. I currently have a XPS 12 that will PXE boot to undonly.kpxe using the LAn7500 and then attempts to use wimboot to kick off winpe. It fails for either the BCD or cannot find bootmgr.exe, but there is other weirdness going on that does not happen on embedded NICs. I will go read your post as well. I had also noticed on the iPXE forum that robinsmidsrod had asked for your solution as well. I will forward him to you post.
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Looks to me I am on the right track now