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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hello Thomas,<br>
<br>
I've found a workaround, in the process identifying a likely cause
of the problem.<br>
<br>
On a hunch, I created a bootable Etherboot USB stick, as described
here:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://etherboot.org/wiki/removable">http://etherboot.org/wiki/removable</a><br>
<br>
Usually, this is done for systems with a network adapter that
doesn't have pxe capability, but in my case it also worked. This
indicates that the onboard implementation of pxe/ftp is somehow
broken on my computer. <br>
<br>
Now I get my root prompt and can continue forward. I will of
course have to use that USB stick for installs, but for my
handfull of machines, this is not really a problem.<br>
<br>
As for what gave me the hunch that something wasn't right with the
onboard software: The computers I use were former office PCs of a
big insurance company. Even before booting, they had the name of
that insurance company plastered all over them, indicating that
they had meddled with the bios/firmware...<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
Daniel<br>
<br>
On 07/16/2014 05:53 PM, "Dr. Daniel Löb" wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:53C69FFB.2070600@sardisverlag.de" type="cite">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 07/16/2014 03:53 PM, Thomas Lange
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:21446.33767.293969.753610@informatik.uni-koeln.de"
type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:20:40 +0200, "Dr. Daniel Löb" <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:daniel@sardisverlag.de"><daniel@sardisverlag.de></a> said:
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""> > When I boot the target machine after that, it _should_ start fai but then drop into a root@none prompt. What it instead does is to show these two messages:
> Received 001a Kbyte, sorted 001a Kbyte, invoked primary bootstrap
> C6e: can't start from RAM disk image
Mmm. I'm not sure when it drops into the prompt. Do you see the red
ascii text? Or does it drop into the rescue shell of the initrd?
I never saw this error message.</pre>
</blockquote>
Oh, it doesn't drop to the prompt. The Wiki said that it should
drop to the prompt if FAI is working (without having the target
system config properly set up).<br>
<br>
Instead, the error message appears and then the system immediately
boots from the next boot option (Hard Disk). <br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:21446.33767.293969.753610@informatik.uni-koeln.de"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">You can enable debugging the initrd by adding rd.debug=1 to the kernel
command line.
</pre>
</blockquote>
I tried it again with<br>
<blockquote type="cite">fai-chboot -FIv -k rd.debug=1 joffrey</blockquote>
unfortunately, the result is the same. System shows the error
message, then proceeds to boot from disk.<br>
<br>
I've also activated the --verbose option of tftp on the server and
it gives this output in the logs<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Jul 16 17:39:13 varys in.tftpd[8111]: RRQ
from 192.168.28.3 filename pxelinux.0</blockquote>
So it seems that something weird is happening on the target
machine, before/while the kernel is loaded...<br>
<br>
<br>
My Google searches showed that this problem has appeared every now
and then in the last 10 years for people trying to boot over pxe.
Somewhat dishearteningly, not a single one of the people asking
questions about it on forums managed to get it fixed...<br>
<br>
I'm grateful for any further suggestions.<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br>
Daniel<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">--<br>
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<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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<strong style="color:#333333; text-transform:uppercase;
font-size:10px;">Dr. Daniel Löb</strong>:<br>
Geschäftsführer <a href="http://www.sardisverlag.de">Sardis
Verlag UG (haftungsbeschränkt).</a><br>
Tel:: <a href="callto:+4916091236780">+4916091236780</a><br>
Web: <a href="http://www.sardisverlag.de">www.sardisverlag.de</a><br>
<br>
Sardis Verlag UG (haftungsbeschränkt)<br>
Alexanderstraße 9<br>
64732 Bad König<br>
<br>
Telefon: +4916091236780<br>
Registergericht: Amtsgericht Darmstadt<br>
Registernummer: HRB 93023<br>
Ust-ID: DE293817909<br>
<br>
Verantwortlicher i.S.d. § 55 Abs. 2 RStV: Dr. Daniel Löb,
Alexanderstraße 9 64732 Bad König
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