Incidentally, what are the other possible formats in which the kernel can be built?
I have little to no experience building linux kernels of any kind. I only know that all of the documentation I have seen talks about building the kernel as “bzImage”. The only other kernel mentioned in the documentation is called something like “vmlinuz”, but I have no clue how it is built since make complains there is no recipe to build “vmlinuz”.
Thanks again for the help!
Hey! No problem! I understand FOG comes with binaries included. The reason I am going through all of this building the source code is the included binaries that came with FOG were the first to throw the error 0x2e00801. I began researching the issue. In the beginning, my effort was limited solely to the ipxe client, thinking it was the cause.
Now, you have confirmed what the code was “saying” when you said, “This is from 2013 but as far as I know this is still valid. Loading the Linux kernel in bzImage format is only possible when iPXE is build for legacy BIOS - *.(kk)pxe binaries. Modern kernels (about since around version 3.3 I think) do have something called EFI_STUB which makes it possible to chainload such a kernel image from iPXE in UEFI mode.”
I haven’t really tried to boot anything else other than these winbooks in UEFI mode since they all have been working up to now. I will test booting the ipxe client after I get back from luck today.
And…Yes, the “Could not select: Exec format error” is what has spurred me to go through this building the kernel bit since it doesn’t seem the the kernels that came with my installed version of FOG have EFI support enabled.
These N23 WinBooks are the 3rd model of Lenovo computer I’ve run across to have any issues with talking to the FOG server. The N23 WinBooks issues started with their lack of a built-in Ethernet port to which an Ethernet cable could be attached and have escalated from there. I swear these winbooks have been little more than a reminder that Murphy’s Law is in full effect.
So, in short, for the last 5 years or so, I have had very good luck with Lenovo and FOG with any hiccups being overcome by simply booting to some form of bootable media containing the ipxe client. These N23’s are the first model to give me any real issues.
Anyway, thanks for the help…
You are right, I forgot to mention some of those points in the original post. Here is what I have:
Hardware I’m trying to boot:
Lenovo N23 WinBooks (NOT the ChromeBook, but the one running Windows)
Model/Type: 80UR0004US
Firmware Version: 2QCN18WW (Most recent available on the manufacturer’s website)
Firmware Date: 12/04/2016
Processor: Intel Celeron N3060
Wireless Network Adapter: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260
Ethernet Adapter: None, Wireless Networking Enabled Only
I am using a USB 3.0 to Ethernet Adapter purchased from Lenovo to to do the PXE
booting since wireless support is not enabled by default within the iPXE client that
I got off of the ipxe.org website.
Yes, the firmware is up-to-date.
Target computer is UEFI mode.
IF I can get this UEFI boot issue resolved, I am going to dispense with legacy booting
altogether and just start configuring the computers for UEFI boot only.
DHCP Option 067 = ipxe.efi
Version of FOG I am using is:
FOG Version: v1.4.4
SVN Revision: 6077
I have already set my FOG server to back to its “just out of the box” state and is ready to go.
Incidentally, I have been using FOG for my deployments for almost 5 years now. My employer, during the entirety of the 10-11 years I have been working here, has only bought Lenovo machines. That said, I have only run into 1 or 2 models of Lenovo computers that had any trouble talking to my FOG server. Both of those two machines would not PXE boot directly off the network, but would PXE boot with no issues if I loaded the ipxe client onto a bootable CD/DVD/USB Key and booted the machine off the media. I don’t remember which models of Lenovo computers had issues off the top of my head, and they aren’t relevant at this time. I have just had good luck booting “problem” machines with ipxe burned onto bootable media.
Speaking of which, I am booting my N23 WinBook off of a USB key I made containing my ipxe client. For the ipxe client, I used the following make statement:
make bin-x86_64-efi/ipxe.efi
To make the bootable media, I copied the resulting ipxe.efi of the make statement to the following directory structure on my USB key and changed its name from “ipxe.efi” to “bootx64.efi”.
Directory tree of bootable USB key:
/EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi
Hello,
I’m having an issue doing an iPXE UEFI boot to FOG. Specifically, no matter what I do, I get the “Could not Select: Exec format error (http://ipxe.org/2e008081)” error.
I have read everything at ipxe.org and the FOG Wiki concerning the issue and I have also scoured the Google and Bing search results for anything and everything related to the issue. All of the reference sources from ipxe.org, the FOG Wiki, the FOG forum posts I was able to locate, and the online documentation from my web-searches agree that the issue is caused by ipxe.efi attempting to load a non-EFI image (bzImage) and to fix it, I needed to build a new bzImage with EFI Stub support enabled. However, every single custom kernel I have built fails with the same 0x2e008081 error code.
I have even booted to the ipxe command line interface and tried various configuration settings to try and determine exactly where the issue comes up. In all cases, I only receive the error when the call to load the bzImage file occurs, regardless of whether or not the EFI_STUB is enabled within the kernel.
Incidentally, with my Windows DHCP options 066 and 067 set as follows, my client will successfully load the FOG boot menu:
option 066: <ip address of FOG deployment server>
option 067: ipxe.efi
However, any task involving either bzImage or bzImage32 to be loaded causes the above mentioned error to be thrown.
Kernel config files used for building the kernels are both TomElliott.config.32 and TomElliott.config.64 located at:
https://svn.code.sf.net/p/freeghost/code/trunk/kernel/
I have even attempted to build using the kitchensink.config and TomElliott.config.32/64 files the FOG 1.4.4 installation archive lists in its directory
./fog_1.4.4/kernel/
I am at a complete loss as to what else to do. Architectures of the ipxe.efi builds I have attempted are x86_64 (for 64-bit kernel) and x86/i386 (for the 32-bit kernel).
This one issue has had me stumped for a long while, and I think I’m too close to the issue now to properly see the solution.
Also, I have built the ipxe.efi from source, also. I have been using the following modified header files to build ipxe.efi:
#ifndef CONFIG_CONSOLE_H
#define CONFIG_CONSOLE_H
/** @file
*
* Console configuration
*
* These options specify the console types that iPXE will use for
* interaction with the user.
*
*/
FILE_LICENCE ( GPL2_OR_LATER_OR_UBDL );
#include <config/defaults.h>
/*
* Default console types
*
* These are all enabled by default for the appropriate platforms.
* You may disable them if needed.
*
*/
//#undef CONSOLE_PCBIOS /* Default BIOS console */
//#undef CONSOLE_EFI /* Default EFI console */
//#undef CONSOLE_LINUX /* Default Linux console */
/*
* Additional console types
*
* These are not enabled by default, but may be useful in your
* environment.
*
*/
//#define CONSOLE_SERIAL /* Serial port console */
#define CONSOLE_FRAMEBUFFER /* Graphical framebuffer console */
//#define CONSOLE_SYSLOG /* Syslog console */
//#define CONSOLE_SYSLOGS /* Encrypted syslog console */
//#define CONSOLE_VMWARE /* VMware logfile console */
//#define CONSOLE_DEBUGCON /* Bochs/QEMU/KVM debug port console */
//#define CONSOLE_INT13 /* INT13 disk log console */
/*
* Very obscure console types
*
* You almost certainly do not need to enable these.
*
*/
//#define CONSOLE_DIRECT_VGA /* Direct access to VGA card */
//#define CONSOLE_PC_KBD /* Direct access to PC keyboard */
/* Keyboard map (available maps in hci/keymap/) */
#define KEYBOARD_MAP us
/* Control which syslog() messages are generated.
*
* Note that this is not related in any way to CONSOLE_SYSLOG.
*/
#define LOG_LEVEL LOG_NONE
#include <config/named.h>
#include NAMED_CONFIG(console.h)
#include <config/local/console.h>
#include LOCAL_NAMED_CONFIG(console.h)
#endif /* CONFIG_CONSOLE_H */
#ifndef CONFIG_GENERAL_H
#define CONFIG_GENERAL_H
/** @file
*
* General configuration
*
*/
FILE_LICENCE ( GPL2_OR_LATER_OR_UBDL );
#include <config/defaults.h>
/*
* Banner timeout configuration
*
* This controls the timeout for the "Press Ctrl-B for the iPXE
* command line" banner displayed when iPXE starts up. The value is
* specified in tenths of a second for which the banner should appear.
* A value of 0 disables the banner.
*
* ROM_BANNER_TIMEOUT controls the "Press Ctrl-B to configure iPXE"
* banner displayed only by ROM builds of iPXE during POST. This
* defaults to being twice the length of BANNER_TIMEOUT, to allow for
* BIOSes that switch video modes immediately before calling the
* initialisation vector, thus rendering the banner almost invisible
* to the user.
*/
#define BANNER_TIMEOUT 20
#define ROM_BANNER_TIMEOUT ( 2 * BANNER_TIMEOUT )
/*
* Network protocols
*
*/
#define NET_PROTO_IPV4 /* IPv4 protocol */
#undef NET_PROTO_IPV6 /* IPv6 protocol */
#undef NET_PROTO_FCOE /* Fibre Channel over Ethernet protocol */
#define NET_PROTO_STP /* Spanning Tree protocol */
#define NET_PROTO_LACP /* Link Aggregation control protocol */
/*
* PXE support
*
*/
//#undef PXE_STACK /* PXE stack in iPXE - you want this! */
//#undef PXE_MENU /* PXE menu booting */
/*
* Download protocols
*
*/
#define DOWNLOAD_PROTO_TFTP /* Trivial File Transfer Protocol */
#define DOWNLOAD_PROTO_HTTP /* Hypertext Transfer Protocol */
#define DOWNLOAD_PROTO_HTTPS /* Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol */
#define DOWNLOAD_PROTO_FTP /* File Transfer Protocol */
#undef DOWNLOAD_PROTO_SLAM /* Scalable Local Area Multicast */
#define DOWNLOAD_PROTO_NFS /* Network File System Protocol */
//#undef DOWNLOAD_PROTO_FILE /* Local filesystem access */
/*
* SAN boot protocols
*
*/
//#undef SANBOOT_PROTO_ISCSI /* iSCSI protocol */
//#undef SANBOOT_PROTO_AOE /* AoE protocol */
//#undef SANBOOT_PROTO_IB_SRP /* Infiniband SCSI RDMA protocol */
//#undef SANBOOT_PROTO_FCP /* Fibre Channel protocol */
//#undef SANBOOT_PROTO_HTTP /* HTTP SAN protocol */
/*
* HTTP extensions
*
*/
#define HTTP_AUTH_BASIC /* Basic authentication */
#define HTTP_AUTH_DIGEST /* Digest authentication */
//#define HTTP_ENC_PEERDIST /* PeerDist content encoding */
//#define HTTP_HACK_GCE /* Google Computer Engine hacks */
/*
* 802.11 cryptosystems and handshaking protocols
*
*/
#define CRYPTO_80211_WEP /* WEP encryption (deprecated and insecure!) */
#define CRYPTO_80211_WPA /* WPA Personal, authenticating with passphrase */
#define CRYPTO_80211_WPA2 /* Add support for stronger WPA cryptography */
/*
* Name resolution modules
*
*/
#define DNS_RESOLVER /* DNS resolver */
/*
* Image types
*
* Etherboot supports various image formats. Select whichever ones
* you want to use.
*
*/
//#define IMAGE_NBI /* NBI image support */
//#define IMAGE_ELF /* ELF image support */
//#define IMAGE_MULTIBOOT /* MultiBoot image support */
//#define IMAGE_PXE /* PXE image support */
#define IMAGE_SCRIPT /* iPXE script image support */
//#define IMAGE_BZIMAGE /* Linux bzImage image support */
//#define IMAGE_COMBOOT /* SYSLINUX COMBOOT image support */
#define IMAGE_EFI /* EFI image support */
//#define IMAGE_SDI /* SDI image support */
//#define IMAGE_PNM /* PNM image support */
#define IMAGE_PNG /* PNG image support */
#define IMAGE_DER /* DER image support */
#define IMAGE_PEM /* PEM image support */
/*
* Command-line commands to include
*
*/
#define AUTOBOOT_CMD /* Automatic booting */
#define NVO_CMD /* Non-volatile option storage commands */
#define CONFIG_CMD /* Option configuration console */
#define IFMGMT_CMD /* Interface management commands */
//#define IWMGMT_CMD /* Wireless interface management commands */
#define IBMGMT_CMD /* Infiniband management commands */
#define FCMGMT_CMD /* Fibre Channel management commands */
#define ROUTE_CMD /* Routing table management commands */
#define IMAGE_CMD /* Image management commands */
#define DHCP_CMD /* DHCP management commands */
#define SANBOOT_CMD /* SAN boot commands */
#define MENU_CMD /* Menu commands */
#define LOGIN_CMD /* Login command */
#define SYNC_CMD /* Sync command */
#define NSLOOKUP_CMD /* DNS resolving command */
#define TIME_CMD /* Time commands */
#define DIGEST_CMD /* Image crypto digest commands */
#define LOTEST_CMD /* Loopback testing commands */
#define VLAN_CMD /* VLAN commands */
//#define PXE_CMD /* PXE commands */
#define REBOOT_CMD /* Reboot command */
#define POWEROFF_CMD /* Power off command */
#define IMAGE_TRUST_CMD /* Image trust management commands */
#define PCI_CMD /* PCI commands */
#define PARAM_CMD /* Form parameter commands */
#define NEIGHBOUR_CMD /* Neighbour management commands */
#define PING_CMD /* Ping command */
#define CONSOLE_CMD /* Console command */
#define IPSTAT_CMD /* IP statistics commands */
//#define PROFSTAT_CMD /* Profiling commands */
//#define NTP_CMD /* NTP commands */
//#define CERT_CMD /* Certificate management commands */
/*
* ROM-specific options
*
*/
#undef NONPNP_HOOK_INT19 /* Hook INT19 on non-PnP BIOSes */
#define AUTOBOOT_ROM_FILTER /* Autoboot only devices matching our ROM */
/*
* Virtual network devices
*
*/
#define VNIC_IPOIB /* Infiniband IPoIB virtual NICs */
//#define VNIC_XSIGO /* Infiniband Xsigo virtual NICs */
/*
* Error message tables to include
*
*/
#undef ERRMSG_80211 /* All 802.11 error descriptions (~3.3kb) */
/*
* Obscure configuration options
*
* You probably don't need to touch these.
*
*/
#undef BUILD_SERIAL /* Include an automatic build serial
* number. Add "bs" to the list of
* make targets. For example:
* "make bin/rtl8139.dsk bs" */
#undef BUILD_ID /* Include a custom build ID string,
* e.g "test-foo" */
#undef NULL_TRAP /* Attempt to catch NULL function calls */
#undef GDBSERIAL /* Remote GDB debugging over serial */
#undef GDBUDP /* Remote GDB debugging over UDP
* (both may be set) */
//#define EFI_DOWNGRADE_UX /* Downgrade UEFI user experience */
#define TIVOLI_VMM_WORKAROUND /* Work around the Tivoli VMM's garbling of SSE
* registers when iPXE traps to it due to
* privileged instructions */
#include <config/named.h>
#include NAMED_CONFIG(general.h)
#include <config/local/general.h>
#include LOCAL_NAMED_CONFIG(general.h)
#endif /* CONFIG_GENERAL_H */
#ifndef CONFIG_SETTINGS_H
#define CONFIG_SETTINGS_H
/** @file
*
* Configuration settings sources
*
*/
FILE_LICENCE ( GPL2_OR_LATER_OR_UBDL );
#define PCI_SETTINGS /* PCI device settings */
//#define CPUID_SETTINGS /* CPUID settings */
//#define MEMMAP_SETTINGS /* Memory map settings */
//#define VMWARE_SETTINGS /* VMware GuestInfo settings */
//#define VRAM_SETTINGS /* Video RAM dump settings */
//#define ACPI_SETTINGS /* ACPI settings */
#include <config/named.h>
#include NAMED_CONFIG(settings.h)
#include <config/local/settings.h>
#include LOCAL_NAMED_CONFIG(settings.h)
#endif /* CONFIG_SETTINGS_H */
One other thought is that, since ipxe will not build with both IMAGE_EFI and IMAGE_BZIMAGE enabled, the entire reason for my issue is my FOG kernels are all bzImage files. It is a stretch, I know. The only way I have found for ipxe.efi to build is if the IMAGE_BZIMAGE option is disabled as an image type ipxe.efi will be able to process. Again, I’m not prone to thinking that particular “possible cause” actually holds water, but I can’t rule it out with how little I actually know about the ipxe code.
Anyone have an idea why the kernel will still throw the exec format error in spite of the EFI_STUB setting have been turned on?