[K12OSN] PXE boot Dell GX110--was compaq deskpros

[Kemp, Levi]

Not sure if it matters now, but we have quite a few Dells here, and at
the last place I worked and as far as I can tell most Dells can PXE
boot. I know the GX1, 110, and 150's can. I cannot remember which
dimensions or optiplex's the other place had, but I recall that option
being there. All I can say is that with Dells you need to make sure you
have the latest BIOS because they never have it right the first time. Or
the second. Or the third.. I cannot believe how much hardware went bad
on the 150's before they realized they didn't turn the fans on, which
was A11 I think.

Levi

-----Original Message-----
From: k12osn-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:k12osn-bounces at redhat.com] On
Behalf Of Peter Scheie
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 4:24 PM
To: Support list for open source software in schools.
Subject: [K12OSN] PXE boot Dell GX110--was compaq deskpros

Aha!  It IS possible to PXE boot the Dell gx110.  But it's pretty well
hidden.  In the 
BIOS, under the 'Boot Sequence', it normally only shows three choices:
CD, floppy, & 
hard drive.  In the main BIOS screen, you must scroll down to
'Integrated Devices', and 
within that, you'll see, among others, 'Network Interface Controller',
which is set to 
On by default.  But this is not just a binary, on or off option; rather,
it also 
contains the choice of 'On w/MBA'.  Choose this, save the changes,
reboot the box, go 
into the BIOS setup again, and now 'Boot Sequence' will list 'MBA
UNDI(Bus1 Slot12)' 
which is the PXE boot option.  Set that option to be the first choice,
and voila! the 
box PXE boots.  Hopefully, this info will be useful to someone.

Petre

Petre Scheie wrote:
> Ah, my mistake: This box is a GX110, not a GX1,  The latest BIOS
version 
> is A09, which I already have.  Nuts!  Oh well, etherboot floppies get 
> the job done.
> 
> Petre Scheie wrote:
>> I've got version A09.  Perhaps that's the key: maybe A10 allows 
>> net/PXE boot.  In the BIOS setup, there is only one screen, with a 
>> scroll bar on the right; Alt-P has no functionality on this machine.
>>
>> I'll see if there's a later BIOS version.
>>
>> Les Mikesell wrote:
>>> Petre Scheie wrote:
>>>> I suspect not all Dell GX1 machines are the same.  I have one that
I 
>>>> use for some other things, but thought I'd try to test it as a 
>>>> client.  Despite upgrading the BIOS, there's no option in the setup

>>>> for network booting (PXE or otherwise).  I'd love to be insulted by

>>>> someone telling me there is a way to make this happen.  An
etherboot 
>>>> floppy doesn't count, I'm already doing that; I want to make it
boot 
>>>> via BIOS setting.
>>>
>>> What bios version do you have (it should show on the first boot 
>>> screen).  I think you need
>>> A10 or whatever is the latest.  Then in the bios setup you hit alt-P

>>> to go to the second
>>> page and ctl-shift-right-arrow on boot order to set PXE ahead of the

>>> hard drive.
>>>
>>
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