HP Gen8 fail to boot winpe by ipxe

[zhang_liang]

Similar to the issue fail wimboot.
Not only in this kind of server, we have another kind of server encouter the same question.
boot.wim is loaded, and it prompts "Enter bootmgr.exe with parameters at 0x240b4", but it enter a black screen, and nothing can do with it.
For the detail, I posted a picture below.
Any help is appreciated!

[ipxe2windows]

HP Gen8 fail to boot winpe by ipxe: Enter bootmgr.exe with parameters at 0x240b4

Similar to the issue.

But our problem happend to not only HP g8 server but also another kind of server from antoher vendor.

After ipxe try to boot winpe on this server, it enter "black screen" after the screen below:


In fact, this problem has block us for a long time, any help will be appreciated.

[robinsmidsrod]

It seems you might miss this font mentioned on the thread you linked to: segoen_slboot.ttf

The wimboot and winpe tutorials have been updated to include this font.

[zhang_liang]

(2013-11-12 17:30)robinsmidsrod Wrote:  It seems you might miss this font mentioned on the thread you linked to: segoen_slboot.ttf

The wimboot and winpe tutorials have been updated to include this font.

Thank you for the reply.
It's not the missing font caused this problem, in fact I make taht HP Gen7 server boot winpe successfully, but it failed for HP Gen8.
I add the missing font but still fail to boot winpe, see the detail below:

[robinsmidsrod]

It could be a compatibility issue with wimboot and the HP G8, it could also be a issue with bootmgr and the G8.

Have you confirmed that Microsoft's traditional WDSNBP netboot works with the G8? If it does, then there is possibly an issue in wimboot. If it doesn't, then you should be talking with Microsoft or HP about it, most likely HP.

Have you checked for a BIOS update for the G8?

Unfortunately, this is not an easy problem to tackle without access to the hardware. You might need to venture deep into Windows debugging land to find your answers.

[mcb30]

(2013-11-13 03:18)zhang_liang Wrote:  It's not the missing font caused this problem, in fact I make taht HP Gen7 server boot winpe successfully, but it failed for HP Gen8.

You will probably need to update the BCD to enable Windows kernel debugging, and use windbg to find out what is happening. (Hopefully the problem occurs after the Windows kernel starts up; if not then you may also need to enable debugging of bootmgr.exe as well.)

Michael

[zhang_liang]

(2013-11-14 08:54)robinsmidsrod Wrote:  It could be a compatibility issue with wimboot and the HP G8, it could also be a issue with bootmgr and the G8.

Have you confirmed that Microsoft's traditional WDSNBP netboot works with the G8? If it does, then there is possibly an issue in wimboot. If it doesn't, then you should be talking with Microsoft or HP about it, most likely HP.

Have you checked for a BIOS update for the G8?

Unfortunately, this is not an easy problem to tackle without access to the hardware. You might need to venture deep into Windows debugging land to find your answers.

Thank you for the reply, it could be traditional pxe boot but failed when it comes to ipxe.
In fact, not only HP gen8 server, another kind brand of server encount the same issue.

[zhang_liang]

(2013-11-14 11:50)mcb30 Wrote:  

(2013-11-13 03:18)zhang_liang Wrote:  It's not the missing font caused this problem, in fact I make taht HP Gen7 server boot winpe successfully, but it failed for HP Gen8.

You will probably need to update the BCD to enable Windows kernel debugging, and use windbg to find out what is happening. (Hopefully the problem occurs after the Windows kernel starts up; if not then you may also need to enable debugging of bootmgr.exe as well.)

Michael

Thank you for the reply, michael. I do appreciated it.
Because I'm not farmilar with windbg, it will take me sometime to debug as you suggested. Or could you please introduce some tutorials about how to debug in this kind of situation?

By the way, I'm thinking about a workaroud for this issue. Is it possible to use ipxe to boot another kind of bootloader(eg: grub4dos) and use this bootloader to boot winpe from lan? It may sound wired, but is that possible? We need ipxe because it's flexable to boot different OS images, at the same time we hope to sovle this issue as soon as possible.

Is there any other suggestions? Anyone is welcome. Thank you very much.

[zhang_liang]

Update:
I get a workaroud to resolve this problem, it seems stupid about could work.
Let ipxe chain pxelinux.0 and pxelinux cloud boot winpe.iso.
It may sound easy but really takes me much time, may it could help others.

ipxe scripts

Code:

dhcp net0
chain tftp://{tftp-server-ip}/pxelinux.0

In the tftp server, you need have memdisk, winpe.iso and pxelinux.cfg/default. These file would be sent to server after ipxe chain here.
pxelinux.cfg/default content could be like this simplely.

Code:

default winpe
noescape 1
lable winpe
kernel /memdisk
initrd winpe.iso
append iso raw

Finally, winpe boot successfully.
It's just a workaroud, I hope ipxe could solve this boot winpe issue directly, will keep an eye on this problem and try other better solutions.

[robinsmidsrod]

zhang_liang: It does seem like this particular HP G8 server has some form of incompatibility with wimboot, and debugging it does require extensive skills with the Windows debugger (windbg). Unfortunately it is almost impossible for someone to debug this remotely without access to the hardware in question. Commercial support options are available, if it is important for you to resolve. Check the contact page on the iPXE wiki.

[mcb30]

This issue should be fixed as of wimboot v2.4.0.

Michael

[zhang_liang]

(2014-11-07 11:33)mcb30 Wrote:  This issue should be fixed as of wimboot v2.4.0.

Michael

I have tried wimboot v2.4.0 to boot winpe for HP380Gen8 server, but it still go red screen.
Maybe I will get another server to try again.
Anyway, thank you very much.
Will update my result soon.

[mcb30]

(2014-11-09 12:50)zhang_liang Wrote:  I have tried wimboot v2.4.0 to boot winpe for HP380Gen8 server, but it still go red screen.

Could you post a screenshot of the red screen?

Thanks,

Michael

[zhang_liang]

(2014-11-10 14:45)mcb30 Wrote:  

(2014-11-09 12:50)zhang_liang Wrote:  I have tried wimboot v2.4.0 to boot winpe for HP380Gen8 server, but it still go red screen.

Could you post a screenshot of the red screen?

Thanks,

Michael

Below are the screenshots including the one before red screen.

[zhang_liang]

This problem is solved after HP nic firmware upgraded.

ProLiant DL380p Gen8
HP EtherNet 1Gb 4-port 331FLR Adapter
Bootcode update to 1.38 from 1.31
PXE update to 16.6.0 from 15.4.2

Then， using latest wimboot(2.4.0), ipxe boot winpe for this HPGen8 server successfully.

In our case, we use two kinds of HP server below:
ProLiant DL360e Gen8
ProLiant DL380p Gen8
Both could be boot winpe by ipxe with latest winboot(>2.4.0).

[mcb30]

(2014-11-14 04:40)zhang_liang Wrote:  This problem is solved after HP nic firmware upgraded.

Fantastic. Thanks for posting this information; hopefully it will help the next person to hit problems on Gen8.

Michael