RE: [Etherboot-users] General Questions about Ethernet Boot Roms

[Timothy L. <tim...@al...>]

> Today my professor at college gave to me a bundle of EISA=20
> Intel Pro/10mbit Ethernet Cards, as he became aware of my=20
> interest in diskless machines and centralized operating=20
> system images. (Intel FA82595TX chip). On the card is a 32=20
> pin socket containing a ROM with an Intel sticker that has=20
> "Intel (C) 1994 352226-001" on it.  I assume this is the boot rom.

That would be a boot rom but it is difficult to say what type it might
be.  I forget when Intel introduced PXE.

> boot from here.  When loading the machine, I did not see any=20
> output messages out of the ordinary pertaining to the network=20
> card or its attempts to boot using the ROM.  All i ever=20
> received was an "invalid boot disk, press enter to continue."

There may be an option in the bios to enable boot from network, but more
likely you need to use an Intel utility to enable the boot rom on the
card.  It may be disabled by default.  The invalid boot disk may simply
be the bios not finding any thing to boot (no hard drive and os
perhaps).  Since the network boot is not starting it will try to find a
hard disk or floppy.

> I accepted this, as the network card was not connected to any=20
> other network interface, such as one with BOOTP or TFTP bound=20
> to it.  However, just to see if anything was going out the=20
> wire when the machine booted, i ran a protocol analyzer.

If I understand correctly you did not have the card connected to a RJ45
cable.  If this is the case it may not attempt to use the network boot
at all (I am unsure of this though).

> How does a computer that has a BIOS without a "boot from=20
> network" option know how to boot from the network?  The boot=20
> rom on the Intel Pro/10 is from 1994, and I dont recall=20
> seeing "boot from network" in any 586 or lower BIOS i have=20
> ever worked with.  Did these older BIOSES require a boot=20
> floppy to pass on booting to the old-style boot rom?

Typically you need to enable the rom using an Intel configuration
utility for that card.

> option in order to pass booting to the boot rom, then why is=20
> it that the protocol analyzer showed no traffic originating=20
> from the Intel Pro/10?  Should there have not been at least a=20
> broadcast ARP or BOOTP messages originating from it?

Not if the rom is disabled

> Or, should I have installed a BOOTP server first? Would the=20
> BOOTP server initiate a proper conversation with the Intel=20
> Pro/10 card, or is it up to the boot rom enabled card to=20
> initiate a conversation with the server?  I have not read the=20
> RFC on BOOTP yet, sorry about that one.

If the rom is enabled, a packet sniffer like Ethereal should show the
dhcp broadcast.

Tim

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