GA311 problem

[Gustavus]

I recently upgraded my LAN to gigabit capability using a D-Link DIR-655 router. I purchased Netgear GA-311 gigabit NIC's to replace the older 10/100 NICs in all four computers that are hardwired to the router.

Now when a computer is booted there is a long delay while it attempts to boot from the LAN. After that fails an error message;

PXE-E53: No boot filename received
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM

pops up and a normal boot into Windows XP takes place.

I have done a lot of troubleshooting -- and net reading -- so there is no question this is what is happening. There is no place in the BIOS to either select or disable LAN booting. I have both read the motherboard manuals with great care and worked though the BIOS set up screens with even greater care. Nowhere is there a choice to boot from the LAN. The bootup sequence on all machines is: Floppy, Hard Disk, CDROM. All machines boot normally after the long wait for a LAN boot address times out.

On net I find many hundreds of people reporting this same problem, but no solution. Lots of suggestions to change the boot sequence in the BIOS, to disable the LAN boot etc.

The GA-311 is a popular gigabit NIC and this problem apparently comes with the software for the card, so I thought I would ask here if any of you have encountered and solved the problem. I could always buy another brand gigabit NIC but that is a pretty drastic -- and expensive -- solution.

Thanks for help or suggestions.

Note added:
I have uninstalled the Netgear drivers, physically removed the NIC and allowed Windows to find new hardware on reboot etc. several times. Without the GA-311 installed the computers boot normally from the hard drive. As soon as the Netgear drivers are installed the problem reappears.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That's pretty wierd. Do these NICs have an onboard boot ROM? (Their own BIOS?) If so, it should show up as a boot option in your main BIOS, probably under the bootable devices list.

Either that, or if you have a boot option in the main BIOS "Boot other devices", turn this OFF.

 

[Gustavus]

VirtualLarry

Thanks for the reply. I had disabled the "Boot Other Device" in the BIOS -- with no effect on the problem.

With the GA-311 installed a computer tries to get a LAN address for the boot, A line appears:

DHCP:\ followed by a series of periods that are added one-by-one during the long delay. When it fails to get a LAN address for the boot, the error boxes I gave above appear.

Nothing I have read on net suggests it is trying to boot from a ROM on the NIC. Searching on the terms that appear during the long attempt to boot (of which I only gave the final ones) turns up literally hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people who have encountered this same problem, And yes I have tried the latest version 6.0.2 of the Netgear software. The cards came with a CD having version 6.0 but the problem is present when either the old or new software is used. Netgear tech support should be legally classified as "torture" by international standards.

That Damn smiley is an artifact of the Anand software interpreting a : followed by a \ as a Smiley. PITA.

 

[Fardringle]

If the computer is trying to boot from the network, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Netgear software since you aren't even getting to a point where software is loaded. The computer's BIOS (or the NIC card's BIOS) are attempting to use a PXE/network boot. If you have disabled the Boot Other Devices, and PXE Boot (or Boot From Network, or other similar options) in the BIOS and this is still happening, then the card itself is doing it. Some old network cards had a physical switch or jumper to disable this function. I don't know if the GA-311 has something similar, but you might want to take a look at the card to see if it does.

 

[Gustavus]

Fardringle,
Thanks for the reply. There are no jumpers on the GA-311 and no pins where jumpers could be. I have searched -- both motherboard manuals and in the BIOS setup screens -- and can find no place where network boot is selected or where it could be enabled or disabled. If I use one of the old D-Link 10\100 DFE-530TX+ NICs with the same BIOS settings Windows boots from the hard drive just as it should. Must be the GA-311 itself that is causing the problem.

 

[Gustavus]

This one has me beat. I have tested on two different motherboards today -- hence completely different BIOS -- and if the GA-311 is installed the bootup tries to get a boot address for Net boot, and if it isn't the boot is normal. Apparently the GA-311 has some some sort of boot ROM that is not mentioned anywhere in the Netgear literature. Since it times out to a normal boot from the hard disk I won't rush out to buy four new Nic's but will watch e-Bay for a bargain after the first of the year.

In my searching on net, no one else ever reported a solution either.

 

[Gustavus]

Well, this is a story with a happy ending. Hope some of those other folk who have this problem will find this post.

At the beginning of bootup -- the time where you would normally press DEL to get into the BIOS setup -- press both Shift and F10 at the same time. A page headed:

Realtek RTL8110S/8169S Gigabit Boot Agent will open

There will be four lines of text. In my case the lines read:

Network Boot Protocol PXE
Boot Order Int19h
Show Config Message Enable
Show Message Time 3 seconds

The critical thing is that an orange bar at the bottom of the page says:

Always boot network first, then local devices

Use Enter to scroll down to the second line labeled Boot Order. Press Space to step through the available choices and select "ROM Disable'. The orange bar will change to:

Network boot disabled, boot local devices.

Press F4 to save and exit. The boot will then be normal and will follow the boot order you have set in the BIOS.