After examining the tcpdump log, I came to the conclusion that the PXE firmware embedded in the Intel network card was too old to be trusted as reliable. For the archives then, the command I used to capture packets with tcpdump was:
tcpdump -i fxp0 -n -vvv -XX > tftpbootlog.txt After updating the pxe firmware, and compensating for a missing command in dhcpd and the wrong line commented out in Xaccess, thinBSD just plain worked. So as it turns out, the problem again isn't related to OpenBSD at all. Sorry for spamming the list! But a big thank you to those read/replied to this thread. Now the hard part begins: Automatic logins that only load web browsers to be displayed on every remote diskless terminal, that replace themselves with a clean copy should the user dare to log out (or if the connection breaks/crashes). In short: clean, remote kiosk stations. Cheers Peter On 29/09/05, Stuart Henderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --On 29 September 2005 15:52 -0600, Whyzzi wrote: > > > tcpdump. ARGH! Why the hell didn't I think of that? Currently I'm > ;) > > playing around with a couple of pre-built pxe loadable distrobutions - > > currently the one in question if ThinBSD (based on FreeBSD, > > thinstation is quite complicated, and pxelinux has no documentation > > for setup boot over pxe, other ideas on easy setup pxe clients > > welcome!). > > pxelinux isn't too fiddly (I use it to boot memtest86+ - looks like > <http://dev.brantleyonline.com/wiki/index.php/General_Network_(PXE)_Booting> > has info on setting it up for that, which might give enough pointers > for other use). > > > Getting the NIC to download to get the initial boot loader is not an > > issue. It is what happens after that I'm trying to follow. > >> FreeBSD/i386 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1 > > Looks like you're reasonably far then - if it was the problem with DHCP > parameter ordering I don't think you'd have the bootloader. (istr, it > wouldn't recognise the end of the filename it was followed by 'option', > I think some tftpd have a workaround to strip the extra junk added to > the req'd filename, but I'm sure you're past that point). > > If you want to verify that the bootloader has working network access, > place OpenBSD pxeboot and bsd.rd on the tftp server and boot into the > OpenBSD installer (filename pxeboot in dhcpd.conf, 'boot bsd.rd' at the > prompt). If that runs (and I'd pretty much guarantee it will, OpenBSD > pxe is typically very sane), the problem is in the somewhat trickier > FreeBSD PXE setup. > > >> start not found > > Think that's from loader.4th, there's a lot of cra^H^H^Hsupport files > that FreeBSD loads before it even starts whichever of 350+ > /boot/kernel/*.ko files it decides it wants. > > I think you're looking in the right place by looking to see which files > it loads (or rather, doesn't). A few iterations of booting while > monitoring the req'd filenames should give you enough insight to trace > it yourself, if you don't feel you're getting anywhere, I think > freebsd.org lists are your best bet. > > -- I know too much and yet not enough
