Deployment Solution

A while ago when we upgraded to 6.8 SP2, when systems in the console were selected to push/pull an image. After the system rebooted, the system stop auto selecting the PXE boot option at the F8, instead they just reboot back to local boot device. We have seen this problem many times over the years of upgrades but I have not found the problem this time. Any ideas?

If I we select F8 manually and select the PXE boot (130), the system images fine and does everything else.

Thank you for any help. -Billy F.

Check your Intial Deploy boot option. Under PXE Configuration Utility....Shared Configuration....DS tab. Make sure it set to DOS or Winpe (auto-select).

It was already set to (auto-Select), I changed it and saved and changed it back and saved it. I tested it once with no luck. We are run Linux PXE OS, but we were not having the problem on 6.8 and I think it was working on 6.8 SP1. Any other ideas?

Is this what you mean?
https://kb.altiris.co............=37671&p=1

Note the change that was made for 6.8 SP2

Also, check your inital deployment job in the DS to make sure the Workstatins/Clients check box didn't get checked under Advanced.

That KB is talking about Initial deployment. And our Initial deployment does work like it should, if a new system plugs into our network and boots up in PXE get goes into the Initial Deployment menu with no problems.

The problem is when we push a image from the Console, the system reboots to go to PXE and at the F8 option/count down. The system does not choose the PXE boot; instead it goes to the local boot.

I did check that the "disable Initial Deployment" is not check.
-Billy

Silly question, but is your NIC card the first thing in the BIOS boot order? Are you saying PXE runs then counts down to 0 and picks the next boot device(local boot), or are you saying it never even goes into a PXE boot?

thank you for reading my questions and asking. But yes it is the first in boot, we can image if we push the F8 and select PXE boot. It just will not auto-Select, if there is an image waiting to push to the system. So yes to the first part of your last questions, it counts down to 0 then, it goes to the next boot device(local boot).

We had a bad image built this summer and have to reimage over a 1100 computers across the district and I need to be able to push and image without being onsite to push the F8.

-Billy

For what it's worth, it sounds like your PXE may have not updated cleanly. You may want to verify that your PXE install completed without error. There's a KB3724 on cleaning up and reinstalling PXE.

Screenshots of your PXE configuration utility of the PXE Server and DS tabs may help. Also what is the primary lookup key(s) in your DS? Could it be hitting a duplicate serial no. or mac?

ok here are the screen shots.. I think darmitage might be right; I am not sure when I take PXE down to try and clean it out. But it seems like that my DHCP/PXE server when talking to the workstation is not getting all the right info back from the DS server about jobs waiting for workstation. I can open the PXE configuration utility and see what looks like some communication with the DS server and that the points are "green". Please let me know if you need anything else. –Billy

the Primary lookup key is: mac address. and I am not sure what you mean by Duplicate? if you are talk about duplicate client MAC addressse then the answer is no. That is not the issue. -Billy

Well before rebuilding turn the pxe services off then rename pxe.ini. Start the services and let it generate that file again. Your screenshots never attached to the post.

sry, here is the PIC's.

Do I do the PXE service and PXE.ini on both of the servers; DHCP/PXE server and DS server?

It may be a timing thing. Uncheck the only manage computers with active assignments. See if that makes a difference.

As far as the .ini, check the append server name box, see which PXE server is handling it, then try re-generating the .ini on that one first. As long as you only rename and not delete you can always change it back.