Jump to content

Nforce4 1GBit integrated ethernet on RIS

andrejc

By andrejc
in Unattended RIS Installation

 Share

Recommended Posts

andrejc

andrejc

Posted
Posted

Hello i am using windows server enterprise 2003 to deploy OS over network.

I have prepared a flat image from cd-rom and have succesfully installed many motherboards with VIA , Intel,Sis with 1Gbit network integrated but on this chipset Nforce4 with 1gbit network drivers which i add to i386 folder on server flat image doesnt seems to work. My network card is not recognized and i cant continue to install over RIS.

When i install windows without RIS it accepts drivers in windows and are working well.

Does anybody know where i can get drivers for RIS Nforce ethernet 1Gbit ?

Chip is vsc8201rx for onboard ethernet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 9 months later...

cluberti

cluberti

Posted
Posted (edited)

What motherboard was this? If it's an Asus K8N, you need a PXE BIOS update for the PXE boot to RIS to work properly. If not, apparently Nvidia has a special driver (or hack) to get the Nforce4 NIC to work with RIS (I've seen this many places via a simple google search for Nforce4 RIS).

I wish I had better information, but it looks like the problem is fairly widespread with Nforce4 motherboards. I've even had a client switch from Nforce4 to an ATI chipset (MSI R482) due to RIS problems with the Nforce4 chipset (which didn't exist in Nforce3 and 2 chipsets, btw).

I'd start by contacting Nvidia directly to see if they can provide you the "special RIS driver" that apparently exists. :blink:

Edited by cluberti
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thona

Thona

Posted
Posted

It is a shuttle SN25P - with Shuttles own motherboard.

The RIS in the BIOS does work, it starts. The problem is the text part of the setup, where things blow then. "Image does not contain a driver" blablabla. This type of error.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fencer128

Fencer128

Posted
Posted
It is a shuttle SN25P - with Shuttles own motherboard.

The RIS in the BIOS does work, it starts. The problem is the text part of the setup, where things blow then. "Image does not contain a driver" blablabla. This type of error.

Did you edit the inf file as per my suggestion above to see if it helped?

Cheers,

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thona

Thona

Posted
Posted

No. Becasue I have no clue which files to actually edit. Main problem is that you can not just install the nfroce driver, it requires another bus driver first.

As in: nfivdia seriously f****d this up.

Anyone has a clue where I can find this RIS driver everyone seems to talk about occasionally?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RogueSpear

RogueSpear

Posted
Posted

I can't say for certain, but I don't think you'll need the bus driver to perform a RIS boot. You use the same NIC driver for a RIS boot as you do for the actual PnP enumeration. BUT there are some slight differences here. For instance, often times the inf file needs to be modified in order for the RIS boot to see the driver and utilize it. Also, you don't need the .CAT file or any of the accompanying .dll files, etc if there happen to be any. Just the .INF and the .SYS files.

I don't have any personal experience with performing a RIS install of an nforce system, but I have heard in several threads here that it can be problematic at best. From what I can tell looking at one of the nforce NIC driver sets from DP LAN, there are two .inf files, nvenetfd.inf and nvnetbus.inf. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you need the first one for performing a RIS boot because it has all sorts of registry entries in it for the NIC settings.

Looking inside this .inf file I can see an immediate problem. Here is the begining of the .inf file:

[version]
Class	   = Net
ClassGUID   = {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Signature   = "$Chicago$"
Compatible  = 1
CatalogFile = NVENETFD.CAT
Provider	= %Nvidia%
DriverVer = 04/06/2005, 4.8.2


[Manufacturer]
%Nvidia%	   = Nvidia,NTx86.5.1


[ControlFlags]
ExcludeFromSelect = {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV008C,\
					{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV00DF,\
					{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0038,\
					{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0057

[Nvidia]
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_2k.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV008C
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_2k.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV00DF
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_2k.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0038
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_2k.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0057

[Nvidia.NTx86.5.1]
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV008C
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV00DF
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0038
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0057

There are two problems with it as far as RIS is concerned. First, we need to truncate the lone entry under [Manufacturer] and second we need to eliminate the section titled [Nvidia] and then rename the second section to [Nvidia]. So the above section of the .inf file will now look like this:

[version]
Class	   = Net
ClassGUID   = {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Signature   = "$Chicago$"
Compatible  = 1
CatalogFile = NVENETFD.CAT
Provider	= %Nvidia%
DriverVer = 04/06/2005, 4.8.2


[Manufacturer]
%Nvidia%	   = Nvidia


[ControlFlags]
ExcludeFromSelect = {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV008C,\
					{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV00DF,\
					{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0038,\
					{1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0057

[Nvidia]
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV008C
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV00DF
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0038
%NVENET.DeviceDesc%  =  NVENET_XP.NDI,  {1a3e09be-1e45-494b-9174-d7385b45bbf5}\NVNET_DEV0057

This procedure seems to be SOP for most vendor's default .inf files. Backing up just a little bit.. I think that all you need to perform a RIS boot will be your modified nvenetfd.inf and nvefdxp.sys. It's possible that you will have to rename nvefdxp.sys to nvenetfd.sys. I ran into a problem like that with RealTek. Give it a shot and let us know how you make out. Oh yea don't forget to restart that BINL service either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cluberti

cluberti

Posted
Posted

Note that I've seen this issue on other motherboard chipsets that use these Marvell gigabit network controllers as well. I think that RogueSpear is correct here, in that your best bet is to fiddle with the .inf files and see what happens.

Avoid Marvell Yukon NICs like the plague :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RogueSpear

RogueSpear

Posted
Posted

@cluberti, I can't even believe you mentioned that :D I just got a new work desktop and I specifically told the guy that the mobo had to be an Intel. I've always had the smoothest experiences with Intel's motherboards. Well don't you know it, it's an Intel mobo alright, but this thing has a friggin Marvell Yukon on it! I guess there's nothing that you can count on anymore. Next thing you know the sun will rise in the west.

My problems with the Yukon were even more insidious as the standard fare drivers were not working at all. Only the Intel supplied Yukon drivers worked. That is until Marvell released new drivers, which I luckily grabbed before they took them down again. And yes, I had to fiddle with the .inf even then. Talk about a fun day last week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fencer128

Fencer128

Posted
Posted

@RogueSpear

We use the Intel 915GUX as our standard platform. It comes in Pro/100 VE and - as you've just noticed - Marvell Yukon 1000 flavours.

Guess which one we went for... ;)

Even though we use the Intel version, I've had a test bed Marvell one working for months now (maybe even a year). Only initially did I have an issue with the drivers, where textmode setup failed at "TCP/IP". The next release fixed that though. Of course, I've had to edit the inf files as per usual on all of them.

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
systemsmb

systemsmb

Posted
Posted

I have successfully got RIS to boot with a Marvel Yukon. I had to add the driver to the i386 folder and then restart the RIS service and it then would boot.

I did have a problem booting from the Marvel Yukon LAN adaptor but a BIOS upgrade from Gigabyte tech support sorted that (note every BIOS version on their website did not boot from LAN, and they refused to accept this was the case!!).

I may be barking up the wrong tree but if this is a similar situation and you think I can help let me know and I will be happy to assist.

Systemsmb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...