PXE : can't boot (initramfs ?) [solved]

Question

Hi all !
I have followed these tutorials on pxe, step by step, more than once :
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Di … t_NFS_root
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Di … t_NBD_root
But I always have the same problem : "Boot failled".
The client computer is able to get the tftp server address and get the kernel.
So it loads the vmlinuz-linux and it's "OK".
Then it loads the initramfs and ... never end. After a moment, the client finally shows "Boot failled" (no other message ).
I tried to remake the initramfs with mkinitcpio, but nothing change. I had check the NFS share (for the first tutorial), and it was accessible through network.
So I need help please , I don't know what to do.
Currently, I have the exact same configuration that the second tutorial (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Di … t_NBD_root)
EDIT : The solution is :
brain0 wrote:
tuxtard wrote:
service tftp
    per_source = 11
    socket_type = dgram
    protocol = udp
    user = root
    server = /usr/sbin/tftpd
    server_args = /diskless/boot
    wait = yes
    cps = 100 2
/etc/conf.d/tftpd:
TFTPD_ARGS="-l -s /diskless"
@Brain0
I am using default tftp-hpa with xinetd.
That is not tftp-hpa, but iputils/tftpd, which is sort of broken. tftp-hpa is in /usr/sbin/in.tftpd, and there is no xinetd file for it currently (only rc.d script and systemd socket-activated unit).
tuxtard wrote:Well guys, that was IT! When I switched to tftp-hpa I was able to boot normally. Now we all know that we should stay clear of xinetd and use regular tftp-hpa. That was the only problem in the Network boot guide I was following. Thank you all so much on your help!
Thank you all !
Last edited by ealrann (2012-10-12 16:36:50)

Answer 1

arch-chroot, that sounds like you are using the LiveCD to do that with, and not daisychaining off of a running ArchLinux.
Check /etc/conf.d/tftpd to make sure it is pointing to /srv/tftp it used to be /var/tftpboot
And you changed the paths in pxelinux.cfg/default: kernel diskless/boot/vmlinuz-linux and not /diskless/boot/vmlinuz-linux
If you changed /etc/exports, you did exportfs -r
And you have mkinitcpio-nfs-utils installed?  For net HOOK and nfs modules it would have to be installed to make an initramfs image.
Just comment out everything below kernel and see what it does just for grins or comment out the default line and go to the pxelinux command line and type the kernel line manually.  It should respond back with some hexidecimal numbers showing it loaded properly.  Then type in initrd=diskless/boot/initramfs-linux.img without the rest of it and see if it takes the initramfs or what error it shows.
Your screenshot is missing a / for TFTP prefix, not sure if this would change anything.
If nothing else go to your initramfs-linux image and type lsinitcpio initramfs-linux.img | less to see it's contents.
It does say in the wiki article that tftp is basically just the pxelinux.cfg, pxelinux.0, and the vmlinuz-linux and initramfs-linux.img files, and that you could actually have the NFS root located on another server and mount it.  I just save the steps of having to copy the new kernel files over to tftp by just having the root filesystem underneath the tftp directory and have the pxelinux.cfg/default just call the kernel from underneath the tftp directory (in the same place), it just saves an extra step.  Maybe your network card is having collisions on the network and corrupting the image.
Last edited by nomorewindows (2012-10-11 18:56:11)