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New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
2012-11-06, 12:01
Post: #1
New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
Dell Latitude E6320 A13 BIOS with 54a86 iPXE Release = No issues.
Dell Latitude E6320 A15 BIOS with 54a86 iPXE release = iPXE appears to exit cleanly, but Laptop stops at a blinking cursor.

Laptop does have AHCI enabled.

Nothing in the syslog or debug to indicate a problem; iPXE exits out normally. I know HPA has fought similar issues with pxelinux.0 in the past.

Changelog from Dell indicates Microcode update for Future Processors, Updated vPRO MEI, and an ACPI Update.

"Thus far, you have been adrift within the sheltered harbor of my patience..."
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2012-11-07, 13:29
Post: #2
RE: New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
(2012-11-06 12:01)MultimediaMan Wrote:  Dell Latitude E6320 A13 BIOS with 54a86 iPXE Release = No issues.
Dell Latitude E6320 A15 BIOS with 54a86 iPXE release = iPXE appears to exit cleanly, but Laptop stops at a blinking cursor.

Which build of iPXE is this? If it's undionly.kpxe, have you tried undionly.kkpxe (which sometimes manages to work around return-to-BIOS problems such as this)?

Michael
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2012-11-07, 13:32 (This post was last modified: 2012-11-07 13:37 by MultimediaMan.)
Post: #3
RE: New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
(2012-11-07 13:29)mcb30 Wrote:  
(2012-11-06 12:01)MultimediaMan Wrote:  Dell Latitude E6320 A13 BIOS with 54a86 iPXE Release = No issues.
Dell Latitude E6320 A15 BIOS with 54a86 iPXE release = iPXE appears to exit cleanly, but Laptop stops at a blinking cursor.

Which build of iPXE is this? If it's undionly.kpxe, have you tried undionly.kkpxe (which sometimes manages to work around return-to-BIOS problems such as this)?

Michael

54a86: Latest before the past couple of day's commits.

I will try kkpxe and get back to you today.

DOH! Actually, I was using ipxe.pxe;

PXE Boot undionly.kpxe (~65k TFTP File) -> ipxe.pxe (~350k HTTP File) -> Return to BIOS Hang

Again, 54a86 build.

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2012-11-08, 17:37
Post: #4
RE: New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
@mcb30: I've actually seen this behavior on my HP 6730b laptop with a tg3 onboard nic when I try to exit out of my menu script. On an older version of iPXE (using ipxe.pxe) it exited immediately, but since ~1-2 months now it hangs for about a minute before it continues the boot process (and it does continue). I have not updated the BIOS recently. All my other machines (including VMs) exit immediately.

I guess I should probably do a git bisect to figure out where it actually started to go wrong.
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2012-11-09, 00:58
Post: #5
RE: New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
I will do a git bisect as well.. it's not back too far, I'm sure.

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2012-12-16, 22:23 (This post was last modified: 2012-12-17 09:35 by robinsmidsrod.)
Post: #6
RE: New BIOS = Problems with iPXE...
From another thread: http://forum.ipxe.org/showthread.php?tid=6775

Code:
#!ipxe
#Boot the first local HDD
sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80

Is an acceptable workaround; I does mean a little governance needs to be put in for OS Standards - Thou shalt boot thine OS from the First Fixed Disk (...some maniac will undoubtedly want to boot from an alternate drive on the fourth Sunday of every month that has a blue moon, after all...), but this works.

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