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SDA KBE Rebuild Issue

Well its time again after a new upgrade the KBE has to be rebuilt, and wouldn't you know we ran into another issue  : /

We are getting an error once we log into the SDA preboot screen that "Could not Boot connection timed out http://ipxe.org" xxxxxxxx 


The server is the most current release (along with Media Manager, KBE Drivers from portal).


Windows Version: 1809

SDA Version: 7.1.94


Things we have tried:

1.) Completely removed and rebuilt the KBE from the ground up (to also include the additional PXE drivers since this is an 1809 deployment) -no joy 

2.) Removed old driver packages from Driver store and added the most current releases -no joy

3.) Tested on other similar hardware (to rule out potential onboard nic failure) (along with switch ports/configs etc) -no joy

4.) Update BIOS on hardware (Latitude 5500 laptops) -no joy

5.) Rebooted SDA after each update performed above (also re-cached drivers) -no joy

6.) Reset BIOS on units to defaults and enabled exact known working settings we have always used prior -no joy

7.) Ruled out Faulty cabling -no joy

8.) Tried various USB dongles -no joy


I am sure there are some things I am forgetting, but what am I missing? It's strange because we can access the share, it can be pinged prior to booting into the environment, from a management side everything is normal. When it comes time to boot a laptop we have always imaged prior (That has had no hardware/mobo revision changes) it acts like it cannot boot fully into the environment to execute a scripted installation... any help or ideas would be much appreciated. We are very close to opening a support ticket but wanted to see if the community had any other ideas or have run across this before.

Asked 4 years ago 1069 views
6 Comments   [ + ] Show comments
  • Hi,

    what is the size of your KBE in "Library / Source Media"? - sven.hain 4 years ago
  • The current size is 5.02gb, we have used this same source media in prior version of SDA, but once we made the jump to the newest this is where we started to see this problem. I thought maybe the Source media got corrupted somehow and even tried to re-upload it (didnt work). - bwl84 4 years ago
  • One thing I did notice it under the "Source Media Detail section) (for the newly created KBE) The operating system is showing "SDA Boot environment (windows x64) whereas our previous KBE actually showed the full operating system (IE Microsoft Windows 10 1809 (x64) not sure if it matters or not, or if it will populate correctly once booted into the newly created KBE.

    I am starting to wonder if its a Nic driver, doesn't the driver pack from the Kace portal offer better support from a driver standpoint? (A15) at least that's what I thought I read. Before trying all of this we also deleted the old driver packs from the driver store and downloaded the current ones using driver feed. Still no luck...this one is leaving us scratching our heads. - bwl84 4 years ago
  • So if the source media is 5GB and it shows you as operating system "Windows 10 1809 (x64)", then you had uploaded an ISO file. You can not use this ISO file as boot environment. You can only use it for an scripted installation.

    If you want to upload an KBE you need to install the Windows 10 ADK from Microsoft and the PE Addon that you can find here:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

    In the new Media Manager you must choose on the left side "Create KBE" and if you have installed the ADK you can upload the KBE. From a drivers standpoint you only need the KBE driver pack in the following folder "\\KaceSDA\drivers\kbe_windows_x64" or "\\KaceSDA\drivers\kbe_windows_x86". Please see the following KB article to create a KBE for Windows 10:

    https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-deployment-appliance/kb/184391/how-to-create-a-kbe-for-windows-10

    Hope that helps you. - sven.hain 4 years ago
    • Thanks for the reply Sven. My apologies (I tend to ramble on in my sentences and lose some clarity) but that was the process we followed. We Installed the Windows 10 ADK (along with the PE addon) prior. We downloaded the current version of Media manager and the current driver pack from the KACE portal as well.

      We can create the KBE and upload it via the Media Manager utility (no problem there). We are only using the following folders that you highlighted (\KaceSDA\drivers\kbe_windows_x64" or "\\KaceSDA\drivers\kbe_windows_x86"." as our driver source (utilizing only the new A15 KBE driver pack from the portal).

      The only difference I am seeing from the old KBE and new KBE is the section under "Boot environment detail is the Source media (for new KBE is showing that its an "SDA Boot Environment" and not actually the ISO that is already loaded in the SDA like the old KBE. We like to use the old one for reference for issues such as these ;)

      So how do we point this new KBE to use the already loaded Windows 10 Media as its source media? I am thinking this is the problem. It's like the KBE is trying to image with itself. Hopefully, that clears it up some more. - bwl84 4 years ago
      • Ok, the source media of the KBE is always the WinPE from the ADK tools. You do not need to link that with the Windows 10 ISO file.

        If you now boot via PXE, you see the boot menu and if you choose your newly created KBE you get the error message, that the connection timed out, right? - sven.hain 4 years ago
  • Hello, just for clarification, are you creating a new KBE boot environment or uploading a new source media? The KBE boot environment does have a size limit, I do not recall the limit but I want to say nothing larger that 2gb.

    As for the name, when you are using media manager you are able to type in a name other than the default SDA Boot Environment. - jboling 4 years ago
  • Hi Jboling- yes sir JUST the KBE. We tried from scratch at one point with the media as a test. We are able to change the name of the KBE and everything which is very strange as to why its being labeled differently. - bwl84 4 years ago

Answers (1)

Posted by: Channeler 4 years ago
Red Belt
0

Endorsed by Nick The Ninja

hey

so the SDA uses an open source protocol called iPXE:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPXE


The SDA uses an unmodded version of iPXE, I guess that is the "SDA preboot screen" you're referring to... when iPXE fails, their developers will point you to a URL and an error message, that could determine what is going on.

"Could not Boot connection timed out http://ipxe.org" xxxxxxxx   it would be good to know what's the full URL printed on your error message.

Sometimes, the error goes away too fast, that's impossible to catch with naked eye, I would grab a smartphone, record a video, and slow-mo playback until the error happens.

iPXE issues are normally caused by:
-DHCP not properly configured (The DHCP is requesting the wrong tftp boot file and/or forwarding the wrong device IP to the SDA)
-Switches without the portfast enabled setting (Spanning Tree Protocol)
-TFTP Server on the SDA being flooded\spammed by other switches (check the TFTP log, and make sure the IPs there are from actual devices).
-Network issues (traffic shaping rules, network saturation)
-The BIOS+NIC are not compatible with iPXE. (Not all devices are iPXE compatible out of the box).

Things to try:
-If you were to spin up a Virtual Machine, on the same subnet as the KACE SDA, is this Virtual Machine able to iPXE boot just fine?  (VMs like VMware, Hyper-V , are 100% iPXE compatible, and being on the same subnet as the SDA, could rule out network issues).

 
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