PXE Not Working -- Other Minor Issues

[solaxyfox]

Looking for a whole house DVR setup has led me to this package, which appears to have the brawn to do just about everything I need to have done for house automation and DVR with a few minor wrinkles. I've done some forum searches and tried to hack my way through a few configuration files to no avail, so I'm hoping I can get some more in depth information. Tomorrow I will be attempting a full reinstall from DVD to see if that magically fixes everything.
 
My setup:
Dual Opteron Core/Hybrid attached to living room TV
Intel Mini-ITX diskless system for remote testing
Windows XP Machine with Shares for Movies/Music (will migrate to a file server eventually)
ISP Provided Modem/Router
 
Because the file server is another roommates computer, it won't be up 100% of the time, but usually is. Also because of this I am flattening the two networks, using the Core/Hybrid as the DHCP server (authoritive is a wonderful option) and the Modem/Router as the gateway. There doesn't seem to be an option for this in the advanced menu, but if everything else is set through it, the startup scripts do not appear to modify the gateway option in dhcpd.conf. My network is set up 192.168.1.0 with 100-150 reserved for MCE devices and 150-244 open to anything. Eth0 is disconnected, and I just use Eth1 with the firewall off (its behind the hardware firewall of the router)
 
I have done /usr/pluto/bin/Diskless_BuildDefaultImage.sh to set up the initial image, and it has done a setup for the MD specifically, but after wards does little but timing out. I've tried the two scripts I've found on the forums (one is the diskless initial setup and the other a restart for the MD function of the Hybrid/Core) and neither solution has worked.
 
As a big believer in not using the microsoft reinstall way (despite trying this tomorrow) does anyone have any words of wisdom or things to try? Should I worry that the intel mini-itx board has a wonky chipset? It doesn't appear to be an issue with network wiring or issues, even though I've had to tweak on the Dhcpd a bit. I'd really like to get this working.
 
Other issue I've been having is the mounting of the windows shared directory for media. I've gotten a manual mount point (located in public/data/movies/[hard drive]/rem-movies) to show up once or twice, but it will randomly unmount itself or the MD can't 'see' the files in the folder. After trying to add it as a Device, the media finder can see it from the admin panel, but the MD cannot. I'm hoping this too will get solved with a reinstall, but has anyone faced similar with non-dedicated media servers?

[purps]

Any reason why you're not getting rid of the modem/router altogether and just letting the core handle everything i.e. plug internet straight into the core? Then use the second NIC in the core for your internal network. Then no manual setup/configuration will be required.

[bongowongo]

Just use it as it is intended and it works like a charm. If you do not follow supported configs, people are hesitant to help.

[solaxyfox]

Any reason why you're not getting rid of the modem/router altogether and just letting the core handle everything i.e. plug internet straight into the core? Then use the second NIC in the core for your internal network. Then no manual setup/configuration will be required.

My ISP gives a black block modem/router that you can't really mess with. The physical location of where the DSL comes into the house vs where the Core/Hybrid is another issue (the house is wired oddly, and would require the modem->hybrid run go across the house, then across the house again to get to the rest of the rooms, cinderblock is not fun to drill through). Its a dumb setup, and I dislike the ISP for it, but the ISP is cheap and works decently otherwise.
 
More to the point though, there does not appear to be any problems with the network at this time. The Core's DHCP server has taken over, PXE boot will find the core, get the correct information (including where the Core is and the seperate gateway) but it is still timing out. I can successfully manually mount a samba share to the directory tree, but the Core seems to occasionally disconnect it, OR cannot retrieve a directory listing through the media pane.
 
While I understand that I am using a non-standard setup, all but the gateway value are options you can tweak in the Core's own setup, and shouldn't really be a block to anyone. This is a linux based solution afterall. So how about if I just ask some more specific questions:
 
Is there a default setup when creating a boot disk that does not accurately get information from the DHCP server's config file from the Core? Where could I find this file? Would that be a possible cause of an incorrect timeout?
 
Some of the sites for the software updates and modules are very very finicky, would missing one or two archives when running the create image script not only be ignored, but also create a faulty image?
 
Can we hope for the addition of a gateway field in the web admin for advanced network setup?
 
Hopefully asking for more specific answers may yield better responses.

[solaxyfox]

Just use it as it is intended and it works like a charm. If you do not follow supported configs, people are hesitant to help.

It really doesn't. Let's ignore eth0 for a moment, since we're dealing with just the 'internal' network to the Core/Hybrid. Diskless MD device connected, it ran the startup script, made an image did a reboot... and after that couldn't connect to the Core ever again, OR would kernel panic at boot. Upon removing the MD from the list and retrying it simply times out or again, kernel panics. I will try using a separated network with the eth0/eth1 and put the MD physically on the internal although the network setup will not truly work for me.
 
Any time a good half the problems are 'solved' through a reinstall, or not even adjusting the values in the web administration panel, there's an issue that needs to be corrected.
 
Not everyone can build a house around one of these, but it'd be nice.

[Techstyle]

My experience has always been if you can solve things with a reinstall you didn't read the news line above ^

it says " News: Rule #1 for LinuxMCE - Be Patient "

it is as important as not talking about Fightclub

did you run '/usr/pluto/bin/Diskless_CreateTBZ.sh' before trying to install an MD?
can you list your NIC chipset on your MD

[solaxyfox]

My experience has always been if you can solve things with a reinstall you didn't read the news line above ^

it says " News: Rule #1 for LinuxMCE - Be Patient "

it is as important as not talking about Fightclub

did you run '/usr/pluto/bin/Diskless_CreateTBZ.sh' before trying to install an MD?
can you list your NIC chipset on your MD

I did run the Diskless_CreateTBZ.sh prior to trying to get the MD to work. It uses an SiS card according to the bios SiS 900 on FoxConn 661. In the course of trying to get the MD to reboot and not freeze, it successfully managed to find the router. I am going to try replaced the Ethernet cable and see if perhaps that was the issue.
 
Thank you for noting the reinstall thing. I was hoping someone here would be willing to look a little deeper into things then the fact I didn't just install and go!
 
More information: After setting up its own image for the MD and trying to reboot I get this error: /init: .: Line 1: can't open /tmp/net-eth0.conf

Is the SiS/FoxConn chipset one of the ones I need to do a fix for? I remember installing it on Ubuntu/Kubuntu before when I was running this unit as a gateway/router on a USB stick. No issues then.

[solaxyfox]

OK, found the problem with PXE booting, it turns out that my trusty red commercial cat-5 cable had an internal break of went by too many interferance sources. Replaced the cable with my shielded one, and suddenly it all seems to work more or less as advertised. Trying to bring it up fully now (setup completed for it OK).
 
This is a good thing, it means all that nonsense about mucking about with the networking had nothing to do with it! PXE booting must be *really* sensitive to timeouts.
 
That just leaves setting up the file share off of my roommates PC as a repository for movies and music.

[wierdbeard65]

all that nonsense about mucking about with the networking had nothing to do with it!

I trust you are referring to your actions and not to the advice given? Using the system is a non-standard configuration is something most of us have contemplated for various reasons. Many have tried it with varying degrees of success. Having seen many many threads on the subject, two facts seem to be apparent:

• If you stick with the standard, recommended settings. You will have less pain. (I hestate to say "it just works" or "it's painless", but you get the idea.)
• If you want to go "non-standard" you REALLY need to know what you are doing. The system is complex and many apparently independant systems are actually heavily reliant on each other.

This is why so many of the more seasoned people here get so irritated when people insist on mucking around with the standard!

[solaxyfox]

I trust you are referring to your actions and not to the advice given? Using the system is a non-standard configuration is something most of us have contemplated for various reasons. Many have tried it with varying degrees of success. Having seen many many threads on the subject, two facts seem to be apparent:

• If you stick with the standard, recommended settings. You will have less pain. (I hestate to say "it just works" or "it's painless", but you get the idea.)
• If you want to go "non-standard" you REALLY need to know what you are doing. The system is complex and many apparently independant systems are actually heavily reliant on each other.

This is why so many of the more seasoned people here get so irritated when people insist on mucking around with the standard!

Altering the DHCP and firewall settings are hardly non-standard, when you can do so from withing the LinuxMCE interface as checkboxes. If the system is unable to have the settings it allows you to change be changed, there is an issue that should be reported as a possible bug, to help out the development. I may not be a programmer or part of the project, but I consider myself at least an above-average linux user.
 
If having to stick to the basic and unchanging install setting is the only answer, it loses all pretense of being helpful. As it turns out, the network settings ended up being fine, and the only helpful advice was from Techstyle, which I appreciate. The mucking about I did was perfectly fine, and the server so far is handling it without issue, although I think I may need to find a better way to drive the video on my Intel mini-ITX system, since its having trouble decoding videos and doing the screen saver without lurching. I can do that research though.
 
No hits yet on how to handle a samba share off of a windows XP machine to have it show up under movies on the Core/Hybrid. THAT problem is starting to irk me, since I'm not getting any error reporting through the admin interface and don't know where the logs are.
 
Also found out that if you remotely restart the Hybrid MD interface from a web-administration interface, it seems to start *two* instances of the MD, which then fight endlessly until you restart.

[phenigma]

Altering the DHCP and firewall settings are hardly non-standard, when you can do so from withing the LinuxMCE interface as checkboxes. If the system is unable to have the settings it allows you to change be changed, there is an issue that should be reported as a possible bug, to help out the development. I may not be a programmer or part of the project, but I consider myself at least an above-average linux user.

Have you verified this is an actual bug and not caused by 'mucking around'.  Try from a scratch installation following the recommended setup.
 

If having to stick to the basic and unchanging install setting is the only answer, it loses all pretense of being helpful. As it turns out, the

The software is in BETA, do not expect it to work properly or completely.  The network and firewall settings in the webadmin do work.

network settings ended up being fine, and the only helpful advice was from Techstyle, which I appreciate. The mucking about I did was perfectly fine, and the server so far is handling it without issue, although I think I may need to find a better way to drive the video on

There has been excellent advice from more than just Techstyle in this forum, you are simply picking and choosing what to accept and what not to accept.  You are quickly alienating yourself by ignoring these people.  From your final statement about multiple MDs I would suggest that your 'mucking' about may have caused some issues you are completely unaware of.

my Intel mini-ITX system, since its having trouble decoding videos and doing the screen saver without lurching. I can do that research though.

I expect you are using UI1 on the Intel graphics, UI2 has problems on Intel graphics with UI2.

No hits yet on how to handle a samba share off of a windows XP machine to have it show up under movies on the Core/Hybrid. THAT problem is starting to irk me, since I'm not getting any error reporting through the admin interface and don't know where the logs are.

If you use the recommended network settings and don't 'muck' around with it it will automatically detect your Windows shares...

Also found out that if you remotely restart the Hybrid MD interface from a web-administration interface, it seems to start *two* instances of the MD, which then fight endlessly until you restart.

This is not normal operation for the system, you have likely 'mucked' something up.  I suggest you start from a fresh installation without 'mucking' with the system.  Read thoroughly through the forums and the wiki and don't 'muck' with it.  Be patient.

J.