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General => Installation issues => Topic started by: remiv on July 10, 2008, 09:28:55 pm

Title: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 10, 2008, 09:28:55 pm
Hi everybody! i`m pritty much new to LinuxMCE. But I love it, and I`am REALLY trying to get it working.

In my house, I have installed one Core server that is running in my basement. The Core is running really nice, with 2 NIC and everything is working. NOW, I want to set up an "Thin client" in my living room. By booting it from LAN (DHCP). I have used my WHOLE day trying to figure this out. But everytime I try to boot from LAN I get this message at the end. "41.850137> r8169: eth0: link up" And then, after about 15 minuts the screen just go black.

It seems like the PC is getting a connection from the Core. Because there is no errors on the IP at the beginning.
Do anybody have a suggestion for me ? Do I have do "preconfigure" something in my Core to get this working ?

Thanks!

Ps: Sorry about my English. :)
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 11, 2008, 12:53:36 am
Ahh, we got bit by that at LinuxTag. The network card you have built into your motherboard is not properly recognised by Ubuntu 7.10. The best way to fix it is to replace it with another network card from a different brand. If both are the same, replace both. If both network ports are on the motherboard, then disable them in the bios before booting. Once you do this and replace the cards, you should be good to go.

Sorry about that bro, but hopefully this should help.
-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 11, 2008, 01:02:13 pm
Thanks tschak909! I will try this when I get home from work!
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 11, 2008, 11:15:59 pm
Well. I have now changed the Ethernet card, but it still won`t work. I have tried disabling the internal motherboard card. But when I do so. I can`t select the other ethernet card to boot from. Its just CDROM, HDD and DISABLE and can choose from. Hmm..
Do you kno what card is working fine ? Maby I can buy a new one. :)
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 11, 2008, 11:43:39 pm
you can also try one more thing:

when booting, you'll see a countdown...press esc.

this will take you to the grub menu
select the linux entry with the arrow keys (not recovery mode)
press c to change it
go to the line that says kernel ....
select it to edit it
go to the end of the line
then type noapic acpi=off
hit enter
and then hit b to boot it.

see if that helps.

-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 12, 2008, 12:16:31 am
Hmm. I think we talk about to different things now? Are you talking about the Core ? Because, the Core workes just fine. DHCP runs with no problem. I got a pc (with WinXP) connected to the Core also, and the pc is getting a IP from the DHCP from Core. No problems there.

The one im trying to install only MD on, is a thin client in my living room with no HDD connected.

Or is it me who got it wrong :D Forgive my questions.

I really appreciate you taking your time to help me!!
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 12, 2008, 12:46:20 am
whoa... okay..

let's back up, i'm sorry. :)

so you have two NICs in the core?

-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 12, 2008, 10:46:11 am
Yes. Two NICs in the Core. One internal on the Motherboard, and one "external" PCI. And this workes :)
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 12, 2008, 04:30:06 pm
you will need to edit a file in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg that matches your card's mac address, the file looks similar to: 01-00-13-49-bb-2a-39 ....

inside this file, look for the line beginning with APPEND ... once you're there, go to the end of the line, and add noapic acpi=off

save, and try to reboot the md. See if this works.

-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 12, 2008, 05:38:38 pm
When i got to /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/ there is only one file named default there.
I tried adding the code you gave me. And now the MD says:

47.505599> NET: Registered protocol family 17
P-Config: eth1 hardware address 00:1f:c6:3b:be:80 mtu 1500 DHCP RARP
48.306957: r8169: eth1: link up
P-Config: eth0 hardware address 00:50:04:99:2b:05 mtu 1500 DHCP RARP
48.309782> eth0: Setting half-duplex.

This is the last 5 lines the MD displayes when i try to boot from LAN.
I can let the PC on for hour without anything happening. :/
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 12, 2008, 05:40:10 pm
remove the other network card.

-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 12, 2008, 05:58:20 pm
This is what i have tried now:
1. Booting from LAN with internal (on the motherboard) ethernet card. Enabling PXE boot in BIOS.
2. Putting in another ethernet card. And disabling the onboard ethernet card.
   When i did this, i lost the option on boot choises that says LAN.
3. Adding the code you gave me.
4. Taking out the extra card again, leaving the internal ofcourse.
5. Tried to boot from LAN again. Now i`m back to start.
   error: 48.325394> r8169: eth0: link up (the last line in booting from LAN).
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 12, 2008, 06:14:57 pm
well, damn.

the hanging that you're getting is because the rt8169 network card is not initializing properly. Please try another card, like an Intel e1000, or an skge/yukon based card..something OTHER than a realtek 8169....

-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 12, 2008, 11:40:36 pm
Have a look at: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC that might help.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 14, 2008, 05:55:30 pm
Okey. I`m really stuck now. I have tried changing the NIC to a 3Com based card, didnt work. And also purchased a new NIC with realtek rtl8169 gbit. This have according to the manual support for Kernel 2.2.x and 2.4.x.
But the problem now is that i can`t get the NIC to pop up as one of the boot options.. It is a Plug-And-Play card, so the BIOS should find it easy. I`m sorry if i sound a little stupid now. But i refuse to give up! :D

I hope somebody can help me!

Ps: The new NIC device supports Wake-On-LAN.
btw: I Found out that the card that is in my Motherboard. (Asus P5K18L) Is an realtek RTL8111B/C.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 14, 2008, 06:45:15 pm
Have a look at: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC that might help.

Thanks you Zaerc. I have tried this now. But still.. Won`t work :/
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 14, 2008, 08:41:13 pm
Hmmm, can you hook up a machine that has an OS on it which will get its IP from DHCP, maybe a laptop or something?  Wether it gets an IP and what number could give us some insight as to what the actual problem is.

And can you copy/paste the contents of the "Network Interfaces" field in the web-admin? (go to "CORE" in the devices tree, under "Device data")  So we can see if there's anything unusual there.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: niz23 on July 14, 2008, 10:41:20 pm
remiv.
Okey. I`m really stuck now. I have tried changing the NIC to a 3Com based card, didnt work. And also purchased a new NIC with realtek rtl8169 gbit. This have according to the manual support for Kernel 2.2.x and 2.4.x.
But the problem now is that i can`t get the NIC to pop up as one of the boot options.. It is a Plug-And-Play card, so the BIOS should find it easy. I`m sorry if i sound a little stupid now. But i refuse to give up! :D

I hope somebody can help me!

Ps: The new NIC device supports Wake-On-LAN.
btw: I Found out that the card that is in my Motherboard. (Asus P5K18L) Is an realtek RTL8111B/C.


Many "cheap" network cards do not have PXE boot rom on the card. Which mean you won´t see them as a boot device since they are unable to boot over lan.

I suggest you buy a Intel gigabit adapter. The desktop variant should be enough. But you must use intel utility program to activate pxe functionality.
An other card that I know work out of the box are cards based on broadcom BCM5704. Mostly found in servers. Probably only pci-xpress.

/niz23
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 14, 2008, 10:48:53 pm
Yeah Zearc: I actually got a WinXP PC connected at the same switch with the Core. And its working fine on the internet. It got the ip: 192.168.80.251 (from DHCP from Core).

I took some screenshots you can take a look at:
(http://bildr.no/thumb/227058.jpeg) (http://bildr.no/view/227058) - Core settings.
(http://bildr.no/thumb/227059.jpeg) (http://bildr.no/view/227059) - MD settings.
(http://bildr.no/thumb/227060.jpeg) (http://bildr.no/view/227060) - Network settings.

My firewall is also completely turned off.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 14, 2008, 10:53:23 pm
remiv.
Okey. I`m really stuck now. I have tried changing the NIC to a 3Com based card, didnt work. And also purchased a new NIC with realtek rtl8169 gbit. This have according to the manual support for Kernel 2.2.x and 2.4.x.
But the problem now is that i can`t get the NIC to pop up as one of the boot options.. It is a Plug-And-Play card, so the BIOS should find it easy. I`m sorry if i sound a little stupid now. But i refuse to give up! :D

I hope somebody can help me!

Ps: The new NIC device supports Wake-On-LAN.
btw: I Found out that the card that is in my Motherboard. (Asus P5K18L) Is an realtek RTL8111B/C.


Many "cheap" network cards do not have PXE boot rom on the card. Which mean you won´t see them as a boot device since they are unable to boot over lan.

I suggest you buy a Intel gigabit adapter. The desktop variant should be enough. But you must use intel utility program to activate pxe functionality.
An other card that I know work out of the box are cards based on broadcom BCM5704. Mostly found in servers. Probably only pci-xpress.

/niz23

You are probably really right! But I know that the card I just purchased has the PXE boot rom support. But I`m not sure how to "activate" pxe functionality for this card.. So I can choose it from BIOS.. hmm  :-\
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: tschak909 on July 14, 2008, 11:58:38 pm
Some notes:

(1) you must set up your core with two NICs..one connected directly to your modem, the other connected to your network switch.
(2) Do not turn off the firewall. This is a _very_ _bad_ _idea_.

-Thom
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 12:05:10 am
Some notes:

(1) you must set up your core with two NICs..one connected directly to your modem, the other connected to your network switch.
(2) Do not turn off the firewall. This is a _very_ _bad_ _idea_.

-Thom

Hey Thom!
(1) I got the Core setup and connected just like you describe. (as you can see in my screenshots).
(2) I only turned the firewall off now, during my troubleshooting. I will turned it on again when I got my MD up and running.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 15, 2008, 12:25:36 am
Your settings seem ok, except for having turned off asterisk.  From what I remember that usually causes a lot of trouble. 

Anyway networking on the core side seems to work fine, maybe you could try PXE booting the XP machine?  No changes to it's HD will be made (unless you chose to use it within LMCE of course).  If that works we're 100% sure the problem is on your MD's end.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 12:55:13 am
Your settings seem ok, except for having turned off asterisk.  From what I remember that usually causes a lot of trouble. 

Anyway networking on the core side seems to work fine, maybe you could try PXE booting the XP machine?  No changes to it's HD will be made (unless you chose to use it within LMCE of course).  If that works we're 100% sure the problem is on your MD's end.

Hm, okey. Well, I actually just turned the asterisk off. Hehe, just for troubleshooting. But for now, I will not do any other changes to the Core.

I`ll try booting up the XP with PXE first thing in the morning! (I`m in norway;)) And I`ll get back to you with the result!

Thanks! :)
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 01:17:28 pm
Well guys..  :'( I`ve tried PXE booting my XP pc:
In the beginning it seems to work. But at the end of the compiling the pc reboots. Over and over again.

BUT, my XP pc is a AMD based CPU. And my Core is INTEL. Maby this has something to do with this..?

ps: The MD I`m trying to set up with Core is INTEL also.

The last lines when I`m trying to PXE boot the XP pc is:

****
We announced purselves to the router. *
***
Assigned permanent IP ´192.168.80.2´to device ´30
Running Diskless_Setup.sh
Running DHCP_config.sh

And then it pops up an error I cant read before it reboots. This is happening over and over again.
(http://bildr.no/thumb/227249.jpeg) (http://bildr.no/view/227249)

Status:
I have now moved my Core and MD to the same room.
Changed the internal NIC card at the Core to a gbit card.
Reinstalled LinuxMCE at the Core. And connected the MD and Core directly together (without any switch between).
Still won`t PXE boot..

I also have three PC infront of me now. :)
1. Intel with ASUS motherboard. (The MD I`m trying to get working).
2. An ASUS based XP pc.
3. And old PC I`m using to test.
NON of them would PXE boot.

What should I do now ?
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 15, 2008, 01:46:34 pm
Did you install from DVD or CD, and was it the i386 or amd64 version?  And are there any files in the /usr/pluto/diskless/##/ directory? (where ## is a device number assigned to the MD)
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 01:50:10 pm
I installed it from the DVD.
It was the i386 version.
And there is no such folder named /usr/pluto/diskless
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Techstyle on July 15, 2008, 02:18:08 pm
Is ACPI disabled in the BIOS of the PC's that you are trying as MD's?
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 02:40:29 pm
ACPI 2.0 Support   DISABLED
ACPI APIC support ENABLED
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 15, 2008, 02:40:47 pm
Do you see any diskless MDs in the web-admin under "Wizard | Media Directors", you can also try setting one up manually there.  It's been a while for me, but I think you only need to specify the MAC address.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 02:44:05 pm
Do you see any diskless MDs in the web-admin under "Wizard | Media Directors", you can also try setting one up manually there.  It's been a while for me, but I think you only need to specify the MAC address.

The only MD that is in the "Wizard > Media Directors" are the Core..
Yeah, well.. I can try setting it up manually.. I`ll give it a shot! :D

Damn. How do I find my MAC adress ?
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 03:22:17 pm
WOW. I just hooked my work laptop to the Core to test it. AND my Acer (with Intel Core) work laptop worked.
It boots up with PXE and now I`m in the Welcome Wizard.. DAMN!

Sooo.. There must be something really wrong with the Asus motherboard.. You guys think so too ?
I`m thinking about going back to where I purchased it.. And tell them that the internal NIC dosen`t work.. Should I do that ?
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: niz23 on July 15, 2008, 03:23:41 pm
Do you see any diskless MDs in the web-admin under "Wizard | Media Directors", you can also try setting one up manually there.  It's been a while for me, but I think you only need to specify the MAC address.

The only MD that is in the "Wizard > Media Directors" are the Core..
Yeah, well.. I can try setting it up manually.. I`ll give it a shot! :D

Damn. How do I find my MAC adress ?

One way is to boot your machine with a livecd, like kubuntu 7.10, 8.4 or any other live cd distribution.
From console do: ifconfig

It is possible that there is a sticker on your network card that tell you which mac addr it has.

If you have your macine connected to lmce internal network, then from your cores console do:
arp -a
You get a list with IPs and their mac addr.

Hope it will help you to find out.

/niz23
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 15, 2008, 03:55:17 pm
The mac address was also in that screenshot you posted, only you blacked it out apparently.

Booting that machine from a live-cd like niz23 suggested is also a good idea, if you do please show us the output of "dmesg|grep eth0", "lspci|grep Ethernet" and "lsmod".
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 04:03:47 pm
The mac address was also in that screenshot you posted, only you blacked it out apparently.

Booting that machine from a live-cd like niz23 suggested is also a good idea, if you do please show us the output of "dmesg|grep eth0", "lspci|grep Ethernet" and "lsmod".

Hehe. Yeah. I figured that out. (The MAC address). *embarrassed*

Okey Zaerc. Where do you want me to run those commands. On the Core, or the MD I`m trying to setup?

When I try to boot up Kubuntu LIVE cd it says he cannot find any Ethernet device. And he is asking if I want to use an Fireware ethernet device.
I ofcourse says "No". And it hangs up with the last line: "*Checking battery state..."  ???
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 15, 2008, 10:05:02 pm
Oh that sucks, looks like we found your actual problem though.  If you can get Kubuntu to work we should be able to solve the lmce as well.  And those commands were to be executed on the MD when it's running the livecd.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 15, 2008, 10:18:43 pm
Damn! Well.. I can install a SATA hdd in the MD pc and install Kubuntu on it if that will help us finding the PXE problem.. ?
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 16, 2008, 03:35:30 pm
Damn! Well.. I can install a SATA hdd in the MD pc and install Kubuntu on it if that will help us finding the PXE problem.. ?
Worth a shot, would be nice to figure out why the network isn't working on that board.  Maybe the alternate install CD works if the live (desktop) cd doesn't.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: remiv on July 17, 2008, 05:55:40 pm
Damn! Well.. I can install a SATA hdd in the MD pc and install Kubuntu on it if that will help us finding the PXE problem.. ?
Worth a shot, would be nice to figure out why the network isn't working on that board.  Maybe the alternate install CD works if the live (desktop) cd doesn't.
Alright Zaerc! :D I have now installed the MCE DVD on the pc with the problems, and I also runned the commands you gave me.
Take a look at them: http://pastebin.com/m1796af75 (http://pastebin.com/m1796af75)
Thanks!
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: Zaerc on July 19, 2008, 05:57:05 pm
From the looks of the network appears to be working now, and the system is using the r8169 kernel module for the NIC.  But I don't understand why it fails to boot a kubuntu-7.10 live CD.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: justdeb on August 01, 2008, 11:09:35 am
Hmm,

Hi all i am having a similar problem with one of the diskless md's. The mobo i am using is a GB GA-M52S-S3P and it uses the RTL8110D nic chipset and according to the wiki it is supposed to work out of the box since 7.04. I get to the 'Announced to the router' msg screen and then it fails. The md is the same architecture as the core ie amd64 but it just seems to fail. This has been bugging me for several days and i am hoping someone is using a similar board and has been able to get the md to work.

 - I assume i am correct in continuing this thread ?
TIA

Justin
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: pigdog on August 01, 2008, 03:23:50 pm
Justin,

Just before the we announce ourselves message does your system report that you are using architecture amd64?

If so try changing it to i386.

On the core system open admin website and select Devices/Media Director.

Under the Device column you'll see the architecture field set to amd64.

Edit this to i386 and on the bottom of the page click the update button.

Restart the diskless MD.

Hope this helps.
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: justdeb on August 02, 2008, 08:34:36 am
Yes my system shows that it is using the amd64 architecture. I changed it as suggested and it has now gone on the net to look for updates - which is excellent. It then finally booted but there were alot of errors about incorrect password for sql server.  However it will not load the orbitor screen. I changed the details in the connections tab to point to the core ip 192.168.80.1 and the SQL server to the same. I have left the un as root and the pw is still blank. When i hit test - it tells me that the connection to the specified server has failed. Is there something missing.

Have i missed something?
Any help would be great.

Regards

Justin
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: justdeb on August 03, 2008, 01:58:01 am
I decided to kill the diskless image on the core and rebooted the md. After some time it went through the normal steps, but again failed at the SQL server login. I get several msgs still - basically sqlserver cannot log in. I have copied several lines from the launch managerprogress.log which outlines what has occured. I can't see why this has failed as i am using the same credentials on the core and it tests ok and there are no issues. Is there something in the md template on the core that i need to alter to get around this issue?

01      08/03/08 9:26:39.179            Connect failed Access denied for user 'r                                                                                                                       oot'@'192.168.80.2' (using password: NO) <0x2aafbece2310>
01      08/03/08 9:26:39.180            Query failed (MySQL server has gone away                                                                                                                       ): select FK_Device,IK_DeviceData FROM Device_DeviceData JOIN Device ON FK_Devic                                                                                                                       e = PK_Device where FK_Device_ControlledVia IS NULL AND FK_DeviceData = 233 (1)                                                                                                                        <0x2aafbece2310>
05      08/03/08 9:26:39.180            Resetting db_wrapper connection <0x2aafb                                                                                                                       ece2310>
01      08/03/08 9:26:39.182            Connect failed Access denied for user 'r                                                                                                                       oot'@'192.168.80.2' (using password: NO) <0x2aafbece2310>
05      08/03/08 9:26:39.182            UpdatesManager::Init : SQL FAILED : sele                                                                                                                       ct FK_Device,IK_DeviceData FROM Device_DeviceData JOIN Device ON FK_Device = PK_                                                                                                                       Device where FK_Device_ControlledVia IS NULL AND FK_DeviceData = 233 <0x2aafbece                                                                                                                       2310>
01      08/03/08 9:26:39.182            Updates manager failure. <0x2aafbece2310

Is there anywhere else i need to look for more detail on this error?

TIA
Justin
Title: Re: Discless MD
Post by: justdeb on August 05, 2008, 01:29:46 am
Hi All,

As this was giving me the u know whats i decided to blow the core away again. I did this and finally worked out why i could not get it to work from dvd. As i use wireless keyboard and mouse my keystrokes were not getting recorded after the initial screen. I used a ps2 k/b and mouse and all worked perfectly. After 40 minutes it came up and i followed the wizzard - sweet.

In relation to my problems that i was hjaving with the orbitor not loading and the sql password issues. They dissappeared - it even worked using the standard amd64 build. I didn't have to trick it by changing it to i386. Thanks to everyone for their assitance.

Justin