Also, "boots straight to black screen with blinking white cursor" laptop

[malibu]

Analogous to the thread by kstedman . . .

my Sharp AL27 Mobile AMD 64 laptop - with IDE Primary Fujitsu MHT2060AT hard drive -
will only boot to a black screen with a blinking white cursor in the upper left.
Ultimately, I desire to try to boot a Fedora 11 Live USB to recover lost files in the installed Windows XP -Home SP2,
and then later just do a full linux install over the Windows XP.

I could also install PLoP Linux and/or just the plop_bootmanager later - but maybe I could do that now someway ?

I have followed the instructions at http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux.html#windows to burn the file ploplinux-v4.0.2.iso -
I have NOT tried to make or use my own (modified) ISO file - yet - but that may be necessary (?)

this PLoP Linux CD iso (PLoPLinux-v4.0.1 :60.7 MB) has worked just great in other computers booting USB Fedora 11 Live.

I now have also followed the instructions at  http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html#runwin for installing
plop_bootmanager (1.5 MB) from the plpbt-5.0.6 extracted file.

It also works great = and even easier of course - to boot up USB Fedora 11 Live on other computers.

But both - so far - only boot to a black screen with a blinking white cursor in the upper left on the Sharp laptop.
This also occurs as well with the 32 bit and even the 64 bit Fedora 11 CD iso - these will work in other computers.

So, my current thinking is either I can try
(1) a boot from LAN bios option, and I am starting on learning network configuration for that in linux,
(2) modify the ploplinux CD iso I have with a CD driver as that may be the problem with CD boot,
(3) try some new install (probably losing all the data files, but get my laptop back), or even
(4) try to boot DOS from either CD or LAN.

Any suggestions anybuddy?  Thanks.

[Elmar]

hi,

Analogous to the thread by kstedman . . .

yours is some kind different. kstedman made a mistake at installing the boot manager and he had only the hard drive to boot. no cd or floppy drive was available.

So, my current thinking is either I can try
(1) a boot from LAN bios option, and I am starting on learning network configuration for that in linux,

i think this is the last chance for you as you said in another thread that cd boot does not work even if the cd drive is the first boot device in the bios boot sequence

(2) modify the ploplinux CD iso I have with a CD driver as that may be the problem with CD boot,

this does not change anything. at the moment where the blinking cursor is, there are no linux drivers used. there are still bios functions used. thats why i think that there is a problem with the bios bootup sequence. does the cd drive blinks sometime?

the very last option for you is to remove the hard disk and connect it to another pc and rescue/repair your data.

regards
elmar

[malibu]

. . .yours is some kind different. kstedman made a mistake at installing the boot manager and he had only the hard drive to boot. no cd or floppy drive was available.

Yes, I do understand that it is NOT totally similar, and only analogous in that both our laptops only had the flashing cursor on boot -
and neither of us had a CD drive nor floppy working/available.

His hard drive had worked - so HAD mine - I DO have the advantage of LAN boot available -
and will be on Fedora Forum much of this semester winter break to learn that.

The plop bootmanager is even easier to use than plop linux -
it gets to my USB Fedora 11 Live right away on this university computer, so I can have full privileges and
set up my (TFTP ?) server over port 69 for LAN boot by direct ethernet cable to the internal network card on the no-boot laptop.

For some reason I am confident - since a LAN boot of plop bootmanager will be all I'll need.

Then, with Fedora 11 running over the network by diskless boot, I can rescue files off the other (and only) OS on the laptop hard drive.

Linux is great and the PLoP software is great for using linux on USB -
and both will be hard installed after this "rescue mission".

Thanks for your kind and thoughtful help.

[Elmar]

to start the plop boot manager over lan you have to setup only the dhcp server, tftp server. you use the pxelinux program to start the boot manager.

see here http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux.html#pxel
you dont need the complete ploplinux. you need only ploplinux-v4.0.2-pxeboot.tgz
setup dhcp and tftp and the you should be able to start the plop boot manager over lan

its simple, you need only a few things to configure

[malibu]

you dont need the complete ploplinux. you need only ploplinux-v4.0.2-pxeboot.tgz

At http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux.html#pxel

1. Extract the PLoP Linux files

      Extract the file ploplinux-v4.0.2-pxeboot.tgz to your root directory

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[root@localhost Download]# tar xfz ploplinux-v4.0.2-pxeboot.tgz -C /
     
      Now you have the basic directory structure and files in /tftpboot.

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[root@localhost /]# dir
bin   dev  home  lost+found  mnt  proc sbin srv  tftpboot usr
boot  etc  lib media      opt  root selinux  sys  tmp var

Gosh, that was simple . . . So, DONE ! - to here - but then are you saying to skip the next steps ?
(as listed next at http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux.html#pxel)

      Extract the file ploplinux-v4.0.2.tgz to /tmp
      tar xfz ploplinux-v4.0.2.tgz -C /tmp
      Move the files to /tftpboot/ploplinux/
      mv /tmp/ploplinux-v4.0.2/* /tftpboot/ploplinux/
      Now you should have the following directories and files :

and now going to
2. Setup the DHCP server
-and -
3. Setup the TFTP server

- and then on to in my case maybe Samba . . ?

Thanks.

[Elmar]

if you only want to start the boot manager then samba or nfs is not required

if you configured dhcpd and tftpd correct, then try to boot from lan

[malibu]

The dhcp and tftp servers I have had running - still missing a few items I think yet.

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[root@localhost ~]# service dhcpd start
Starting dhcpd:                                            [  OK  ]
[root@localhost ~]# service xinetd start
Starting xinetd:                                           [  OK  ]

the etc/dhcpd.conf file includes

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. . .
filename "/ploplinux/pxelinux.0";
. . .
and the etc/xinetd.d/tftp file includes

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. . .
server_args = -s /tftpboot
disable = no
. . .

But in etc/xinetd.conf I may need enable = true

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# enabled =
# disabled =

By also using these instructions . . .
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/ltsp.xml
they mention "All workstations must be listed in /etc/hosts."

I have not touched this, so I surely need to add to the etc/hosts file . . . ?

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127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
::1 localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6

It seems closer to me but I definitely need a few more steps done.

I'll be sure to post any additions I needed to the excellent instructions I have followed at :
http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux.html#pxel

Any other thoughts ? Thanks.

[Elmar]

oh yes, i forgot to say that xinetd has to be setup too

the xinetd config from my page should work for you system too.

its not required to setup the hosts file.

what is happening when you try to boot from lan? does your pc get an ip address from your dhcp server?

[malibu]

. . .
see here http://www.plop.at/en/ploplinux.html#pxel
. . . you need only ploplinux-v4.0.2-pxeboot.tgz
setup dhcp and tftp . . .

It has been fairly simple . . .

. . . xinetd has to be setup too

its not required to setup the hosts file.

. . .does your pc get an ip address from your dhcp server?

One thing I have learned is I have to correctly set (reset) my IP address/netmask/broadcast address using linux fedora ifconfig -options
( I go on internet first as a live version to download files etc. then unplug ethernet to go into laptop point-to-point -
so I first must manually configure  to correct, new IP addresses that are different than were first assigned when started on internet )

Also as a learning aid I have used gadmin-dhcpd tool - a gui to help set-up the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file.
http://www.gtkfiles.org/app.php/GAdmin-DHCPD
Among everything else, it prompts for a "netboot GRUB menu" and suggests a /tftpboot/your_OS/menu.lst file and inserts it as shown below . . .
I know that there is no such file in ploplinux so I just comment that out.
But is there one of the ploplinux files as listed in /tftpboot/ploplinux/ directory that I should use there ?

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. . .
option T150 code 150 = string;
. . .
subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.128.0.0 {
    interface eth0;

  # option T150 "tftpboot/ploplinux/menu.lst";
    filename "/tftpboot/ploplinux/pxelinux.0";
    option root-path "10.0.0.209:/tftpboot/ploplinux";
    next-server 10.0.0.209;

}

Also, it should be ok to get rid of the following line the gadmin-dhcpd tool generates as well ?

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option T150 code 150 = string;

I could pretty much write my own dhcpd.conf file from scratch with vi editor now.
Best regards and Thanks again.

[malibu]

And yes, the good news is that the dhcp server is working fine - assigning IP address fine.

The really interesting thing  - by using snort - to sniff out the packets ( as well as tcpdump)
I now have the MAC address for the laptop  -which I never had before -
so I can re-do the dhcpd.conf file for a fixed address declaration as are in your instructions.

I am still tweaking the tftp server a bit right now. I imagine the

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cps = 100 2
line should be the same in both /etc/xinetd.conf and the /etc/xinetd.d/tftp

The tftp server was pre-setup with cps = 50 10 in the xinetd.conf file,
while you had cps = 100 2 in your example /etc/xinetd.d/tftp instructions -
. . .  if that makes any difference.

Thanks

[Elmar]

cps is connections per second and the timeout if the maximum is reached. you can set the same values as in xinetd.conf if you want.

[malibu]

Thanks.

I now have a second 8GB USB Fedora 11 live version - this one in KDE -
since I would need a second USB anyway plugged into the laptop ( I had a Ubuntu 1GB live plugged in just if I got really lucky).
But this USB has a persistent overlay (1GB) so now my ploplinux files and /tftboot are all in place with the dhcp and tftp servers staying installed and configured - a nice help and time saver.

snort also stays installed and has been a big help - the laptop MAC address is a
"multicast" (01:00:5E:xx:xx:xx) and the laptop only communicates through port 5353 so far . . .

In etc/xinetd.conf

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#       mdns            = yes
needs to probably be uncommented . . . ?

snort also does show the /tftpboot/ploplinux/pxelinux.0 file packet moving between port 67 and port 68 on the system machine.
So just maybe a couple config changes more to getting really close and "pxelinux.0" into port 68 of the laptop.

Thanks again.

[Elmar]

no, its not required to uncomment.

i dont know whats the problem, did you enable pxe in you lan boot bios? then it must boot already

[malibu]

OK, well I won't divert my attention on that multicast aspect of it.

In bios set-up the LAN Boot is enabled by a seperate drop down menu of the set-up screen, in same menu list along with a Wake On LAN enabled -
In boot sequence menu of the set-up screen, the only 3 choices are
(1) Floppy Drive (which the laptop doesn't have anyway),
(2) CD-ROM drive (which is not booting up from), and
(3) Hard Drive (which is Windows XP but with a system file in the Recycle Bin).

PXE boot should work if I get my servers set up perfectly. (?)

[Elmar]

mostly there is an extra configure option for boot from lan when the pc boots. you have to activate it with a hotkey after the bios post. the hotkey should be shown on the screen.

what do you see when the laptop is booting? does it request and get the ip address from dhcp? does it show anything else?

[malibu]

The laptop screen only goes to the blinking cursor still -
I will look into the possibility of also needing a hotkey for a LAN boot -
that is a good lead - but none shows on the screen anywhere.

From snort, I know two different IP addresses get asssigned - to the two slightly different multicast MAC addresses -
the laptop single NIC with multicast MAC has the MAC last two hex digits either FB or 16.
It's interesting that the the dhcp server reports 1 lease is assigned.

I will try to do a hardware ethernet declaration for two different hosts with these two MAC addresses to assign different fixed IP address to each.

I am also learning and fine tuning snort a bit - as it will miss stuff printed to screen - for an even closer look at what packets are moving.
But it was definitely encouuraging to see the /tftpboot/ploplinux/pxelinux.0 be moved from a bootp server (port 67) to a bootp client (port 68) - just needs to be to the laptop port 68 though.

I will definitely look into the hotkey possibilities to wake up that port . . . Thanks.

[Elmar]

i would say, try it with another pc that has a good boot from lan pxe bios to test that your settings are working. basically booting from lan is simple, but i think you need a success. and its always good to know that something works. then you can better solve troubles

[malibu]

Well, I now know - for what it is worth - that multicast IP addresses are in a different range . . .

http://www.iana.org/assignments/multicast-addresses/

http://www.cotse.com/CIE/RFC/1700/5.htm

not sure what the 224.0.0.12 or 224.0.1.141 for DHCP server means to my situation just yet . . .
but maybe I need to assign something like this for my dhcp server side instead of 10.0.0.1  . . .

[Elmar]

why don't you use my config files?

[malibu]

i would say, try it with another pc that has a good boot from lan pxe bios to test that your settings are working . . .

why don't you use my config files?

Yes, the idea of trying the LAN boot to another pc other than the laptop is good advice and learning exercise.

I was very surprised to realize how extensive the bios setup is on those university pc that I can access setup.  I tried the ploplinux LAN boot after
changing the Integrated Netword Card settings from the default ON to the choice ON w/PXE Enabled -
there are no choices like that in the simple laptop bios - just LAN Boot Enable - so maybe the same effect.

And I've used your config files both at first and most recently ( but at first I didn't have the laptop client MAC address
for the hardware ethernet declaration line in dhcpd.conf ) but now with snort I have that MAC address (it is multicast MAC though).

I have used your config files nearly verbatim (except the full path used in
/etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf ? ). . .

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# filename "/ploplinux/pxelinux.0";
filename "/tftpboot/ploplinux/pxelinux.0";

Anyway the university pc - done late last night at campus library just as I had to leave for closing -
had some differences . . . but hung at a

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tftp> prompt on the booting Dell pc.

Good learning experience as you said, especially with snort running on dhcp server / tftp server . . .
as that Dell pc Broadcom NIC is NOT a multicast MAC and the hardware ethernet declaration assigned the fixed-address IP ok - didn't boot plop after that first try.

I am approaching this all from the tftp server now . . .
I wonder if I even need a dhcp server with the laptop since it basically overrides any fixed-address I would try to assign by your config files or other ways.

I've learned there are other dhcp servers needed for multicast . . . or I do a zero configuration, unicast, anycast, yada yada yada (translate to German as etc.)(all new terms to me)
without any dhcp server at all - only tftp server.

So I will experiment (and learn more) with the tftp server only tonight - both trying to boot plop boot manager to the university Dell pc and my Sharp laptop.

Finally, a friend brings me an old floppy disk tomorrow -
I learned the laptop bios floppy drive probably is for a USB floppy since the laptop doesn't have a floppy drive -
so I may be trying your instructions etc. about plop boot manager from a floppy using the linux command

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Linux: dd if=plpbt.img of=/dev/fd0
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html#noinstall

Thanks for all your help, education, and understanding.

[malibu]

the PXE error message I get on the client laptop is

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PXE-E32 TFTP open timeout

results from running snort command

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# snort -veX support the following interpretation of the error rather than some of the google search results
(i.e. - yes the tftp service status is running)

"The PXE client was able to get a DHCP address and a boot file name,
but timed out when attempting to download the boot file using TFTP . . ."
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/rdp/knowledgebase/00000138.html

snort gives the message

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. . .
DESTINATION UNREACHABLE: ADMINSTRATIVELY PROHIBITED HOST FILTERED
. . .
with packets from the server IP to the client IP that contain the  /ploplinux/pxelinux.0 filename.

Packets from the client to the server that contain the boot filename are ok
and I presume are asking for the file.

Any ideas where in my config to look at carefully . . . ?

And would wireshark give me any other valuable info ?
(though it seems a bear to set up, I am starting on that install as well)

Thanks.

[Elmar]

i have no idea whats wrong

[malibu]

i would say, try it with another pc that has a good boot from lan pxe bios to test that your settings are working . . .

why don't you use my config files?

. . . the university pc . . . hung at

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tftp> prompt on the booting Dell pc.

As it now stands, both results are the same.

The routing at least seems to be just fine having the proper physical MAC layer addresses
on both the server and now the client sides - and both server and client having unicast, fixed IP addresses.

So at this late juncture it points to the tftp server configuration -
although that wasn't always the case with the laptop -
and to be even more specific, it is only the authorization of the client(s) to get the LAN bootable /ploplinux/pxelinux.0 file.

File permissions in linux do get messy sometimes - although this is specific to the tftp server or UDP ports.
I may see what happens trying to send just the CD or floppy bootmanager boot/boot.img file
(not including the plop_bootmanager/readme.txt) or something ?

But LAN boot of this laptop will be definitely doable someway! Thanks.

[Elmar]

if you see tftp> then pxelinux.0 is not loaded on the client, but this is required to start anything else on the client.

what do you see when you enter "ls" at the tftp prompt?

[malibu]

. . . pxelinux.0 is not loaded on the client, but this is required to start anything else . . .

what do you see when you enter "ls" at the tftp prompt?

Thanks for the reply Elmar.

I can not enter anything on the laptop client at the

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tftp . . .
It may not really be a "prompt" per se on the laptop (I would have to test if that is really the case with other campus pc client trials).
But the laptop with the tftp . . . will stay connected like that forever (server - laptop interface stays connected).
It can be powered down or the laptop could be restarted by <ctrl-alt-del> back to that point again
(with dhcpd and xinetd still running on server of course).

An  etc/hosts_allow file has no entries listed (only # comments )
as does a nearly superfluous etc/hosts_deny file
(which mentions that a deny option could be also included in the hosts_allow file to deny hosts).

An etc/hosts file does list both IP and hostname for both server computer (linux) and the laptop client's fixed IP and hostname,
along with the lo loopback interface "localhost".

An etc/host.conf file reads . . .

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multi on
order hosts,bind

These all came this way after the yum install of the server and the network configuration -
it is the first time I have looked at these "etc/host ..." files.

I appreciate any further ideas while I'll be experimenting with these.
Thanks again.