No Entry Sign when trying to netboot new MacMini to Mountain Lion Server

Question

My company just purchased a new MacMini i5 2.5 GHz and I am trying to netboot it to my Mountain Lion Server 10.8.2 but I am getting the No Entry sign when it tries to boot to the server.  I tested my other Mac computers that are in my environment and they are able to netboot to the server fine.  It just seems to be an issue with this latest Mac Mini. 
As part of my troubleshooting, I created a new netrestore image from the new Mac Mini using System Image Utility on the Mountain Lion Server.  The server successfully created it and I set it as the new default image in the NetBoot server.  After taking these steps, I am still getting a No Entry sign.
I checked the log on the server to see what is happening when it tries to boot and this is what is displays:
Any ideas?
11/16/12 1:36:21.318 PM netbiosd[148]: name servers down?
11/16/12 1:36:53.638 PM bootpd[6740]: BSDP INFORM [en1] 1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0 NetBoot006 arch=i386 sysid=Macmini6,1
11/16/12 1:36:53.638 PM bootpd[6740]: NetBoot: [1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0] BSDP ACK[LIST] sent 172.16.124.63 pktsize 380
11/16/12 1:36:54.159 PM bootpd[6740]: BSDP INFORM [en1] 1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0 NetBoot006 arch=i386 sysid=Macmini6,1
11/16/12 1:36:54.160 PM bootpd[6740]: NetBoot: [1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0] BSDP ACK[SELECT] sent 172.16.124.63 pktsize 388
11/16/12 1:37:46.498 PM bootpd[6740]: BSDP INFORM [en1] 1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0 NetBoot006 arch=i386 sysid=Macmini6,1
11/16/12 1:37:46.498 PM bootpd[6740]: NetBoot: [1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0] BSDP ACK[LIST] sent 172.16.124.63 pktsize 380
11/16/12 1:37:47.018 PM bootpd[6740]: BSDP INFORM [en1] 1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0 NetBoot006 arch=i386 sysid=Macmini6,1
11/16/12 1:37:47.018 PM bootpd[6740]: NetBoot: [1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0] BSDP ACK[SELECT] sent 172.16.124.63 pktsize 388
11/16/12 2:03:21.107 PM netbiosd[148]: name servers down?
11/16/12 2:04:50.429 PM bootpd[6791]: BSDP INFORM [en1] 1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0 NetBoot006 arch=i386 sysid=Macmini6,1
11/16/12 2:04:50.429 PM bootpd[6791]: NetBoot: [1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0] BSDP ACK[LIST] sent 172.16.124.63 pktsize 380
11/16/12 2:04:50.931 PM bootpd[6791]: BSDP INFORM [en1] 1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0 NetBoot006 arch=i386 sysid=Macmini6,1
11/16/12 2:04:50.932 PM bootpd[6791]: NetBoot: [1,a8:20:66:31:ad:e0] BSDP ACK[SELECT] sent 172.16.124.63 pktsize 388
11/16/12 2:17:33.919 PM netbiosd[148]: name servers down?
11/16/12 2:20:58.585 PM netbiosd[148]: name servers down?
11/16/12 2:34:09.562 PM netbiosd[148]: name servers down?
11/16/12 2:39:03.753 PM netbiosd[148]: name servers down?

Answer 1

I'm seeing the same behavior with a new Late 2012 Macmini6,2 (2.3GHz quadcore i7).
I have a lab with several variants of minis up through the last generation.  One of those minis is a NetBoot/DeployStudio server.  I have it hosting a 10.8.2 NetBoot image, which works for all of the other lab minis but this new one.
I have tried 3 different methods for NetBoot:
Holding the 'N' key at boot
Holding option and seeing my NetBoot disk in the selectable options
Booting into the restore partition and selecting my NetBook disk from the Startup Disk preference pane
All 3 options result in what is described above - the Ghostbusters (minus the ghost) no entry sign.  My particular mini then shuts itself down shortly thereafter.
My NetBoot server log looks similar to the above, where my BSD INFORM messages have sysid=Macmini6,2.
I have confirmed that - on the restore partition at least - the shipping OS on the new mini 6,2 is 10.8.1.  It's likely a custom edition for this new hardware.  It's possible that a component of a 10.8.3 update would fix it, but I'm unfortunately leaning toward this being an EFI firmware issue.  I've noted on another site that these minis seem to have issues with VMware's ESXi, where the suggested course of action will be an Apple firmware update: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/423099
As the lab is hoping to purchase 40 of these systems, NetBoot support is rather critical.