Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL) / Discussion / Open Discussion: ULi ethernet card trouble

Nikolay Kasatkin - 2008-11-10

Hello DRBL team!

I have boot troubles with ULi M5263 ethernet card - PXE boot stops exactly like with SiS 900 ( http://drbl.sourceforge.net/screenshot/?in_path=/00_DRBL#xxx-sis900-client-hang.jpg ).

#> lspci | grep -i eth
00:1b.0 Ethernet Controller: ALi Corporation ULi 1689,1573 integrated ethernet. (rev 50)
#> lspci -ns 00:1b.0
00:1b.0 0200: 10b9:5263 (rev 50)

Which steps should I perform to debug this problem and whom should I ask for help (etherboot team or somebody else)?

If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Steven Shiau - 2008-11-10
  
  Did you check the known issues:
  http://drbl.nchc.org.tw/one4all/desktop/download/stable/Known_issues.txt
  ?
  
  You can switch the "sis900.zpxe" to the one support your network card. An alternative is to use the next generation of etherboot, i.e. gpxe. You can find more info about gpxe on http://www.etherboot.net.
  
  BTW, there is gpxe package from drbl:
  http://free.nchc.org.tw/drbl-core/i386/RPMS.drbl/
  or
  http://free.nchc.org.tw/drbl-core/pool/drbl/stable/g/gpxe/
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
  - Nikolay Kasatkin - 2008-11-10
    
    Yes, I tried to find my ethernet card in both "etherboot" and "gPXE" rom-o-matic, but I found only "tulip ali1563" 0x10b9,0x5261 (mine is "ALi M5263" 10b9:5263).
    Generated images for "ali1563" booted, but gPXE said "No more network devices" and etherboot said "probing pci nic... probing isa nic...".
    
    Is this card unsupported? =(
    
    If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
  - Nikolay Kasatkin - 2008-11-10
    
    Figured out gPXE issue - just get sources ( http://kernel.org/pub/software/utils/boot/gpxe/ ),
    compile with all network cards and can boot gPXE.
    But after switching to gPXE get stucked again on the same point ( http://drbl.nchc.org.tw/one4all/desktop/download/stable/Known_issues.txt )!
    
    Any ideas be good!
    
    If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
    - Steven Shiau - 2008-11-11
      
      Maybe you can try to upgrade the firmware of your network card. Or you can ask for help on etherboot/gpxe forum.
      
      If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Nikolay Kasatkin - 2009-02-13
  
  Finally I have managed issue with PXE booting from on-board ULi LAN adapter! If anyone interested, let me know in comments - I will post more details.
  
  My solution:
  - disable on-board buggy ULi network card;
  - use PCI network card (I prefer Realtek 8139);
  - modify BIOS firmware to support network booting from PCI card (replace ULi PXE module with Realtek PXE module in BIOS ROM file with special editor and flash this modified ROM to BIOS chip);
  - boot DRBL and enjoy! =)
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
  - Steven Shiau - 2009-02-14
    
    nikolay,
    Great. May you can post the details about "- modify BIOS firmware to support network booting from PCI card (replace ULi PXE module with Realtek PXE module in BIOS ROM file with special editor and flash this modified ROM to BIOS chip); "
    
    Thanks in advance.
    
    Steven.
    
    If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
    - Nikolay Kasatkin - 2009-02-17
      
      Yes, of course!
      But this steps is DANGER! Do it on your own risk! Etc... =)
      
      For example my motherboard is Asrock 775twins-HDTV and I:
      - get "vendor id" and "device id" for on-board buggy card and for new PCI card (using `lspci` and `lspci -n`) and write them down (my is 10b9:5263 and 10ec:8139);
      - download fresh BIOS ROM image from mainboard manufacturer site (for ex. my is 512 KB binary file "775twins.rom" from www.asrock.com);
      - download flash utility for DOS from mainboard manufacturer site (for ex. for Asrock it is ASRFLASH);
      - download BIOS ROM editor tool - MMTOOL32 for windows* (http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/MMTool.shtml);
      - get "binary ROM image (.zrom)" for new network card (http://rom-o-matic.net/etherboot/etherboot-git/etherboot.git/contrib/rom-o-matic);
      - run MMTOOL32 in wine (wine ./mmtool32.exe) or in windows;
      - load "775twins.rom" (button "Load ROM");
      - select "Delete" tab;
      - search for on-board card "vendor id":"device id" pair in "RunLoc" values and select founded module (for ex. my "RunLoc" is 10b9:5263);
      - if in wine - press 'Tab' 4 times and press 'Enter' (you may discover a little wine bug - button is not visible);
      - go to "Insert" tab;
      - browse for rom-o-matic module;
      - if in wine - press 'Tab' 5 times and press 'Enter' (you may discover a little wine bug - button is not visible);
      - you must see new module (for ex. my new module have "PCI option ROM" ID = 20 and "RunLoc" = 10ec:8139);
      - save ROM (for ex. as "modified.rom");
      - make boot DOS diskette and delete everything on it except COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS;
      - put on diskette your files: modified.rom, asrflash.exe;
      - boot to DOS, flash your BIOS ROM (for ex. `ASRFLASH MODIFIED.ROM`), reboot and pray =);
      - if all good, you may now go to BIOS SETUP and disable on-board card, enable network booting (after this step my mainboard must be rebooted to apply changes) and turn on boot from PXE-enabled PCI card!
      
      __________________
      * Do not use AMIBCP ROM editor for DOS! In my case it silently generates corrupt ROM images and after flashing BIOS computer is 'dead' =) But you may recover this 'dead' computer by putting BIOS chip from it to booted into DOS another PC (better with same mainboard) and flashing it with 'normal' ROM image ("hotswap" method).
      
      P.S.:
      With this method I get done two jobs - update BIOS ROM to new version and made PCI Realtek card PXE-bootable =)
      I will try this method with another buggy on-board network card - SiS 900. I believe that this would work, and SiS900 hack in dhcpd.conf will not be needed anymore ;-)
      
      Good luck!
      
      --
      Nikolay Kasatkin
      
      If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
      - Steven Shiau - 2009-02-18
        
        Nikolay,
        Thanks. We put a link on FAQ/Q&A:
        http://drbl.sourceforge.net/faq/fine-print.php?path=./2_System/61_hack_buggy_PXE_bootrom.faq#61_hack_buggy_PXE_bootrom.faq
        
        Steven.
        
        If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
- Sanjay Jude D'Souza - 2009-07-07
  
  I don't have a built-in network card which has network boot option. I installed a PCI network card from Dlink 530.
  
  For the PXE boot I downloaded the network boot image for floppy from rom-o-matic.net for the model via-rhine:dlink-530tx.
  
  booting from floppy gives the DRBL menu and I select the 1st option. The booting and loading of pxelinux.0 file goes through but then ends up with the shell prompt. The PC hangs. Before this 3 option checklist is displayed. 1 for either network card, etc. As the PC hands I cannot copy the lines here.
  
  I also changed the client boot options to text and even tried with Clonezilla create image but in all cases the PC hangs with same prompt.
  
  How to include the network card drivers in the client boot image.
  
  If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
  - Steven Shiau - 2009-07-10
    
    DFE-530 is really an annoying network card, it has different chips, but with the same model name.
    I suggest if you can find Realtek 8139 NIC, use that, instead of DFE-530.
    
    Steven..
    
    If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:

ULi ethernet card trouble

Forums

Help

ULi ethernet card trouble

ULi ethernet card trouble

Forums

Help

ULi ethernet card trouble document.SUBSCRIPTION_OPTIONS = { "thing": "topic", "subscribed": false, "url": "subscribe", "icon": { "css": "fa fa-envelope-o" } };

ULi ethernet card trouble