PXE SERVER not working

Hello Dirk!

Thank you for finding time to report about the issue. I completely understand your concern and will be glad to help you.

There can be several reasons for this issue, so the situation requires investigation.

Could you please make sure that you don't have PXE installed on the machine that holds DHCP? Should you have both on one machine, please make sure PXE is correctly configured.

Should the issue persist, please gather the following information:

1. What happens when you are trying to boot into the PXE? Any error, etc?
2. OS Deploy Server logs
   
3. Snap Deploy Agent logs
4. Acronis Info

After that please contact support directly with the information attached.

Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!

Thank you!

Hello Yana!

Thank you for responding so quickly.
When trying to boot into the PXE nothing at all happens, no error or other message. Just a slash / that keeps turning around.
The DHCP server is in fact a router in my LAN (Topcom Webracer 1254G+ /A) that I configured that way.
Could this be the problem?

Greetings

Dirk

Hello Dirk!

Thank you for your comment!

I have contacted our Experts' team - they got very interested in this issue.

Actually this shouldn't be the issue, so anyway we will need to check the diagnostic information. Could you please kindly in addition to the information requested take a shot on what exact step does your target machine hangs? 

Pleae submit a support request and let me know the case number - I would like to review it and show to the experts' team.

Let me know in case something seems confusing, I will be glad to clarify.

Thank you in advance for cooperation!

Hello Yana

I tried to submit a support request but that is not possible because I received no serial number for the software.
I received 5 free licenses after participating in a webinar on Acronis Snap Deploy 3 by your colleague Francis Orioha to test the program. If we are satisfied we will buy licenses for at least 50 machines.

I tried Snap Deploy 3 on a first machine in the LAN and everything went fine, including booting into the PXE server, wich was very fast. After that I installed the software on a new notebook running Windows XP (just as on the first machine). Now the PXE server isn't found. I tested the notebook in another LAN and there I have the same problem: no reaction when booting into PXE server. In eather case I don't have PXE installed on the machine that holds DHCP, because it's a router acting as the DHCP server. The target machine does not hang, in fact it keeps trying to boot from the DHCP but after 3-4 minutes it stops this effort and boots from the HD.

I include the log from the Deploy server which is running at the moment. I booted the target computer from the Acronuis media cd and not from the PXE server. I don't trust the warnings in the log.

The NIC in my notebook is a Marvell Yukon 88E8059 Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller.

Greetings
Dirk

This is the textscreen on the booting target machine:
-------
Broadcom UNDI PXE-2.1 v9.0.12
Copyright (C) 2000-2006 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
All rights reserved.

CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 1B 38 28 4B 03 GUID: 637EB564 188C 501A 240B 001B3828B03
DHCP..../

------

Dear Dirk!

Thank you keeping me posted and for the information provided! I really appreciate your cooperation.

As far as I understood one of your machines can successfully boot from PXE while notebook stalls on
CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 1B 38 28 4B 03 GUID: 637EB564 188C 501A 240B 001B3828B03
DHCP..../
in two different LANs.

Actually in this case the issue is not with PXE at all. Let me explain: 

Booting from PXE looks like this:

1. Checking MAC address (like in your case: CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 1B 38 28 4B 03 GUID: 637EB564 188C 501A 240B 001B3828B03)
2. Obtaining IP address from DHCP (in your case it stalls on this step)
3. After obtaining IP address - connecting to the local network and finding there PXE server

Since the notebook got stalled on obtaining the IP address, it means that somehow it cannot find your router. It's hard to say for sure, but I assume that somehow network booting is not working on this particular notebook. In order to resolve it you need to contact your notebook vendor's support - they will diagnose the issue and find a solution.

I'm really sorry for the situation you have faced. Could you keep me posted so that I could be sure that you are all set and everything is working fine?

Don't hesitate to let me know in case something is confusing or unclear - I will be glad to explain!

Thank you once again for cooperation.

Dear Yana

As I mentioned in my first posting , my C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Acronis\PXEServer didn't contain a 'Bootmenu' directory.
Inspired by your explanation about PXE Server booting I thought this was very suspicious. So I started the Acronis Snap Deploy Management Console and reconfigured the PXE Server.
And guess what? After this everything worked fine, the client obtains an IP address from DHCP and boots into PXE Server after a few seconds.
I think we can close this item. SOLUTION FOUND!

Thanks again a lot for your very appreciated help ans assistance
Dirk

Dear Dirk!

Thank you for your comment and for finding time to report that the issue got resolved. That's really great, and I'm really glad that everything is working now. Thank you very much for your kind cooperation and patience, it's hard tp express how it is appreciated!

Should you need anythings or have any new questions - don't hesitate to share with me, I will be glad to help!

Thank you once again!

I got same problem.

I´ve done some test over a Win XP desktop PC and worked fine, then moved to Windows 2003 Server.
Win 2k3 has no role at all, just Acronis installed, but has McAfee Antivirus installed.
When I boot client PC it got IP address from DCHP router, recognize PXE server but it got stuck on TFTP./
If I stop Acronis PXE server, by sure skips the TFTP.

What can i do?.

Thank you in advance

Hello Alfredo!

Thank you for your comment and for finding time to report about the issue.

There are several reasons for this issue, and unfortunately due to the lack of diagnostic information it is hard to identify the exact cause. So the problem requires investigation.

Please gather Wireshark and Acronis Info from the machine with the PXE server and contact support directly with the information attached. Keep in mind that should there be any procrastination with the reply, you can always specify us the case number. We will do our best to speed up the process.

Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!

Thank you!

Hello!

I have the same problem with a HP Mini 5103 that has the Marvell Yukon Ethernet.

I obtain an IP address with the DHCP, but then I see that it has another IP (something on the TFTP) and it does not manage to enter the console of administration. I have tried several options and have not found solution.

I would like that they were helping me with this problem, thank you!