PXE boot fails with FreeType FontConfigurator Displayed

[archived]

We have installed Pluto 2.0.17 on a new dedicated PC. When we PXE boot a Media Director we get partway through the boot and we see a FreeType Font Configurator screen displayed. The screen offers 3 options but none work and we cannot get past this screen in the PXE boot process.

We have never seen this FreeType Font Configurator screen displayed before. This PC has previously worked fine when remote booted.

Any ideas?

Totallymaxed

[archived]

We have installed Pluto 2.0.17 on a new dedicated PC. When we PXE boot a Media Director we get partway through the boot and we see a FreeType Font Configurator screen displayed. The screen offers 3 options but none work and we cannot get past this screen in the PXE boot process.

We have never seen this FreeType Font Configurator screen displayed before. This PC has previously worked fine when remote booted.

Any ideas?

Totallymaxed

We have now downloaded a new Boot CD ISO image and created a new Boot CD with this image. We have then reinstalled 2.0.0.17 successfully except for some errors when automatically configuring our internally facing Ethernet adapter for DHCP. We continued with the installation and the DCErouter booted sucessfully. We then remote booted one of our Media Directors...the boot went ok until we go to the following point;

'unpacking replacement xserver-xfree86'
nfs server 192.168.80.1 not responding, still trying

After several attempts Media Director boot grinds to a halt...

No sign of the FontConfigurator screen seen previously

Any ideas? Is this just internal DHCP config error and if it is what might be causing it?

Thanks for your help.

Totallymaxed

[archived]

We have installed Pluto 2.0.17 on a new dedicated PC. When we PXE boot a Media Director we get partway through the boot and we see a FreeType Font Configurator screen displayed. The screen offers 3 options but none work and we cannot get past this screen in the PXE boot process.

We have never seen this FreeType Font Configurator screen displayed before. This PC has previously worked fine when remote booted.

Any ideas?

I didn't see that happening, but it's cause could be that the diskless stations use the "Dialog" package configuration front-end, while the Core uses the "Noninteractive" front-end. I fixed that in SVN anyway.

In the mean time, you have to go to the diskless station's directory on the Core: /home/diskless/<IP>/var/cache/debconf/ and edit config.dat. In the config.dat, search for "Name: debconf/frontend". Below it there's, a line that says "Value: Dialog". Change it to "Value: Noninteractive". Then restart the diskless.

[archived]

We have now downloaded a new Boot CD ISO image and created a new Boot CD with this image. We have then reinstalled 2.0.0.17 successfully except for some errors when automatically configuring our internally facing Ethernet adapter for DHCP. We continued with the installation and the DCErouter booted sucessfully. We then remote booted one of our Media Directors...the boot went ok until we go to the following point;

'unpacking replacement xserver-xfree86'
nfs server 192.168.80.1 not responding, still trying

After several attempts Media Director boot grinds to a halt...

No sign of the FontConfigurator screen seen previously

Any ideas? Is this just internal DHCP config error and if it is what might be causing it?

What was the DHCP error? Normally DHCP gives an error when its config file is wrong and it refuses to start. With DHCP off, the diskless can't boot at all.

When the Core's NFS server stopped responding, did you notice any unusual behavior on it (i.e. hard drive thrashing, 100% CPU usage, high system load - use "top" for these)? Also try pinging the diskless when the message is displayed to see if it replies back; maybe there's a network problem. What network cards are you using?

[archived]

We have now downloaded a new Boot CD ISO image and created a new Boot CD with this image. We have then reinstalled 2.0.0.17 successfully except for some errors when automatically configuring our internally facing Ethernet adapter for DHCP. We continued with the installation and the DCErouter booted sucessfully. We then remote booted one of our Media Directors...the boot went ok until we go to the following point;

'unpacking replacement xserver-xfree86'
nfs server 192.168.80.1 not responding, still trying

After several attempts Media Director boot grinds to a halt...

No sign of the FontConfigurator screen seen previously

Any ideas? Is this just internal DHCP config error and if it is what might be causing it?

What was the DHCP error? Normally DHCP gives an error when its config file is wrong and it refuses to start. With DHCP off, the diskless can't boot at all.

When the Core's NFS server stopped responding, did you notice any unusual behavior on it (i.e. hard drive thrashing, 100% CPU usage, high system load - use "top" for these)? Also try pinging the diskless when the message is displayed to see if it replies back; maybe there's a network problem. What network cards are you using?

The error we get when we install the Core is;

[!!] CONFIGURE NETWORK
Network Autoconfiguration Failed
Your network is probably not using the DHCP protocol. Alternatively the DHCP server may be slow or some Network hardware is not working properly.
<CONTINUE>

If we then 'Continue' and then manually configure the network all appears to be ok with the Debian install completing ok and the reboot and subsequent install of the Core completing normally. However we get the the;

'unpacking replacement xserver-xfree86'
nfs server 192.168.80.1 not responding, still trying

Error during the Media Director PXE boot.

Thanks

totallymaxed

[archived]

The error we get when we install the Core is;

[!!] CONFIGURE NETWORK
Network Autoconfiguration Failed
Your network is probably not using the DHCP protocol. Alternatively the DHCP server may be slow or some Network hardware is not working properly.
<CONTINUE>

This is ok. It's about using a DHCP server for your primary network interface, and if none is found, you are asked for static IP details.

If we then 'Continue' and then manually configure the network all appears to be ok with the Debian install completing ok and the reboot and subsequent install of the Core completing normally. However we get the the;

'unpacking replacement xserver-xfree86'
nfs server 192.168.80.1 not responding, still trying

Error during the Media Director PXE boot.

This means that the Network FileSystem (NFS) server isn't responding. This can have multiple causes, but the bottom line is that the diskless NFS client isn't communicating with the Core NFS server.

To troubleshoot this, I'll need to know if it stops at the same place all the time, if you can see the machine from the Core (ping, ssh) while it displays that message, if the Core is overloaded with something at the time that happens (use the "top" Linux utility)...