Discless MD

[remiv]

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 :/

[Zaerc]

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.

[niz23]

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!

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

[remiv]

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:
- Core settings.
- MD settings.
- Network settings.

My firewall is also completely turned off.

[remiv]

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!

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 

[tschak909]

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

[remiv]

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.

[Zaerc]

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.

[remiv]

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!

[remiv]

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.


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 ?

[Zaerc]

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)

[remiv]

I installed it from the DVD.
It was the i386 version.
And there is no such folder named /usr/pluto/diskless

[Techstyle]

Is ACPI disabled in the BIOS of the PC's that you are trying as MD's?

[remiv]

ACPI 2.0 Support   DISABLED
ACPI APIC support ENABLED

[Zaerc]

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.