[ipxe-devel] Request for Network support for HP Elitebook 745 G3 (Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Plus)

[Michael Brown]

On 03/02/16 19:59, Krizak, Paul wrote:
> 3. make bin/ipxe.kkpxe EMBED=/tmp/menu.ipxe

Stop.  Do not pass go.  Do not attempt to use this binary.

What you're creating there is a binary that says:

- bin/ipxe.* : include native drivers for all known NICs
- *.kkpxe    : leave the underlying PXE stack active on startup

So, iPXE will choose _not_ to shut down the underlying PXE stack (due to 
the ".kkpxe").  It will then find a native driver for the NIC, which 
will most likely reset the hardware and completely blow away any 
configuration done by the underlying PXE stack.

The underlying PXE stack (a) has no idea that this has happened, and (b) 
may still have an interrupt service routine hooked.

This is not a recipe for happiness.  You might get away with it on some 
hardware, but you're basically playing Russian roulette with network 
packets.


Try the following tests:

1. Try booting from bin/ipxe.usb (on a USB key) to see if iPXE actually 
has a working native driver for your network card.

2a. If bin/ipxe.usb works, then try replacing ipxe.kkpxe with ipxe.pxe 
(which _will_ shut down the underlying PXE stack).

2b. If bin/ipxe.usb does not work, then try replacing ipxe.kkpxe with 
undionly.kpxe (which will _not_ load a native driver).

Michael