> Unfortunately there are no command line options on
> unipd.com to force the line speed settings, as this
> is not part of the PXE standard. Sometimes you can
> configure your switches to force it from the other
> end.
>
I notice that if I call undipd.com directly from the command line, it returns a list of possible command line arguments:
usage: undipd <packet_int_no> {connector} {speed} {duplex}
connector= speed= duplex=
-i -- Force driver to report itself as IEEE 802.3 instead of Ethernet II.
-d -- Delayed initialization. Used for diskless booting
-n -- NetWare conversion. Converts 802.3 packets into 8137 packets
-w -- Windows hack, obsoleted by winpkt
-p -- Promiscuous mode disable
-u -- Uninstall
Will Symantec re-enable these command line options in an updated release of the packet driver? If this isn't planned, I would highly suggest it, given the plethora of problems we are seeing here and given the fact that many of us cannot force 100FULL on the switch side in order to maintain backwards compatibility with older networking equipment.
> Using the PRO100 drivers should work, but if you are
> using Ghost from a virtual or Ghost Boot partiton you
> may need to change the "Plug'n'Play OS" setting in
> the BIOS to "no". This is because the BIOS will not
> initialise the card properly if it assumes that an OS
> will do it later, and some DOS NIC drivers assume
> that the BIOS has already done the work.
Unfortunately, the Dell BIOS (similar to many other OEM BIOSes) is extremely crippled in terms of what options can be modified. For example, there is no option to assign IRQs manually nor does the a Plug and Play OS setting have any beneficial effect. Whether the setting is enabled or disabled, the client can connect to the Ghostcast server and participate in single unicast connections but connecting as one of multiple multicast, broadcast, or unicast sessions results in the failures described above.
We're getting ready for another yearly round of reimaging at Cal, so if anyone has any suggestions about making multicast work with the Dell Dimension 4700 or other hardware with this issue, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Brian Toy