MCE install on MD running 7.10

[krys]

Media Director is a laptop that I have Kubuntu 7.10 installed on hardwired into the internal LAN running off of the cores 2nd nic. I tried to do a network boot with no success, maybe my donor nic card doesnt support PCX... either way I tried to install LCME using the disc. Everything seemed to go as it should, it saw the core machine on my network and told me I should install as a MD to which I agreed. It did some install stuff, told me the install was complete and to reboot. I rebooted and MCE is no where to be found. No icon on the desktop, its not under media from the start menu??? any ideas? I tried installing again just for giggles and same outcome. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Krys

Oh ya, it also never prompted me for Disc 2, all the install instructions I read said it would prompt for disc two so this might be part of the problem.

[seth]

When you chose the option to install it as a media director, it meant for you to boot it from the network, pxe boot, that is why there is no icon on your dektop. The new release does not support a "disked" MD. It detected that there was a core already running, which is why you got the prompt, but it did not install any software, which is why you did not need disk 2.

The only way currently to get a MD to boot up, is to use the PXE boot from the core. If for whatever reason you can not identify where or how your nic card can be pxe booted, there is a software solution, you need to identify what make/model number your NIC card is, and then have this site http://www.rom-o-matic.net/  configure it for you. It will create a bootable floppy, or cd .iso image, which will PXE boot your system.

I have used this with the XBOX to some limited fashion (I have not been able to get the XBOX up as an MD) But I also had an old IBM desktop, that would not PXE boot. I went to Rom-O-Matic and got the cd iso image for a 3com card and it booted to the core with no issues. It now serves as a web terminal and Music player from the core, pxe booted using the cdrom.

Give that a whirl, and see how you fare. Y.M.M.V

Regards,

Seth

[pigdog]

Media Director's are diskless units (no HDD) that PXE boot over the LMCE network.  The core sets up the software/directories for the MD.  There's no software that needs to be loaded on the MD in this case your laptop.  You just need to have the device PXE boot.  Disked MD's are not supported on 7.10

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

[krys]

That clears that issue up, now as far as the netboot goes, do I have to configure anything on the core to add a new MD or should I just send the laptop into netboot and the core picks it up automatically? (as long as it is networked in properly).

[krys]

Also, I just went out and bought a new NIC. I am not sure about whether or not it will work, but it was the only one that said it had remote boot ROM and Wake on LAN. Here is the link if anyone would like to confirm whether or not it will work before I open it.

http://www.superwarehouse.com/D-Link_Express_EtherNetwork_PCI_10_100_Network_Adapter/DFE-530TX+/ps/32138

I am wondering if I would be better off doing a full re-install since I will be swapping out the internal LAN NIC and adding another 80gb HD. I have heard it is tough to install a new NIC on an existing system. So far I just have some test files so it wouldnt matter if I lost all of my data, plus I think the HD is formatted in NTFS.

[merkur2k]

There would be no need to modify anything on the MD's hard drive when swapping NICs. In fact, you could completely remove the hard drive, it isnt used.

[krys]

I was actually reffering to the NIC/HD on the Core, I assume that it is the one preventing me from doing a net boot since my laptops NIC gives me the option to do a net boot

[merkur2k]

No, the NIC in the server has no effect on the ability of a client to PXE boot. The boot rom you mention is what a client uses to PXE boot. There usually needs to be support in the bios on the client for it as well, but if not the floppy/cd image mentioned above is a workaround (and should also work with a nic that has no boot rom).

[krys]

hmmmm, I guess I have some other issue then. I assume that I couldnt netboot because of the 2nd NIC on my core. When I open the bios in my laptop MD it shows a net boot option, and it tries to net boot but then nothing happens on the MD or the core and it just ends up loading Vista. What other issues should i look into? I guess I can try to netboot from a different laptop just to be sure. One other thing, on the tutorial for setting up the internal LAN it said not to plug the Cat5 from the 2nd NIC on the core into the normal WAN jack but to plug it into one of the 4 ports you would usually plug your computer into, is this the case? I assume since I can access the internet on the laptop (on the internal LAN) that means my network is setup correctly.
Thanks,
Krys

[merkur2k]

yeah, if you are using a wifi router on the internal lan you would not be plugging anything into the WAN port. all PCs on the internal network must be on the same lan segment as the core; that is they connect through the core for internet access and it's ip address will be given to them as their gateway.

[krys]

i just figured part of it out. I disabled the wireless card on my laptop and re-tried, got further this time as it actually went through some boot sequence, however after it announced itself to the router a few lines down it got hung up on
RUNNING DHCP_config.sh
then it said md stopping all devices and just restarts the process all over again, getting hung at the same spot.

so i tried a different newer PC to see if it was the MD or the core at fault this one got hung on a diff part (it seems) with this message

/init: .: 1: Can't open /tmp/net-eth0.conf
[34.615491] Kernel Panic-not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

So any ideas?
Thanks,
Krys